Chapter 140: Two Paths and the Little Beginnings of Madness

Mira spent 2 weeks training Nova. Since it offered more power her energy control needed to be more precise to control her output, a little too much and she could blow herself sky high or even hurt herself. After the two weeks she could control, although not perfectly, her power output.

She decided to put Nova to the test in combat. She signed up for extermination missions and during her battles she learnt about another problem with Nova. It didn't invade the bodies of creatures she hit; it just stayed in place like a solid. The layer that protected the explosion was very tough and didn't break easily; it was as tough as a proper Rank 6 armor.

Mira brought the issue to Samuel after her first day of testing. Samuel studied the ball of golden light for a moment and then covered his hands in purple aura. The aura morphed into a gauntlet as Samuel used a partial aura manifestation. He squeezed the ball in his palm and a muffled explosion rang out.

Mira was surprised at the power he displayed, the explosion that would usually throw her away was easily contained with Samuel's skills and he easily broke the layer of protection with only his palm. Samuel smiled seeing Mira's surprise and said "You did good. You've taken the first step to Rank 7. Your skill quality is at Rank 7 now you just need to bring your prowess and stats to the same level. There are two paths before you.

The first is that you can focus on your prowess and improve it until you can perfectly control the skill. The con is that this will take time and reduce the amount of en-code you can get while you're at it. The pros are that getting enough en-code to get your stats to Rank 7 standards will be a breeze after you achieve this and your prowess will greatly increase when your stats catch up to your prowess.

The second is that you can focus on making the best use of the skill as it is currently and increase your stats so that you can use the skill better. The Nova, as you call it, is the same as a bubble it just meets Rank 7 standards so increasing your stats will make the skill easy to use. There are no cons to this approach and the pro is that you will spend less time getting to Rank 7."

Mira thought 'If I can display the power of a Rank 7 with Rank 6 stats, won't that make me OP when I get Rank 7 stats… would I be able to beat Rank 8 monsters if I use the first approach?' Mira asked "Will I be able to beat Rank 8 monsters with the first approach?"

Samuel shook his head and said "I don't know for sure since I can't beat every Rank 7 monster out there but I'm sure you'll be able to beat a lot of Rank 7 monsters if you use the first path. Rank 8? I don't think so".

Mira thought 'I want to get a job quick but the first approach has two pros. I can't just ignore it because it will take more time'. Mira said "I'll use the first approach". She wanted to get the best out her skill so she decided to take a path with more prospects even if it took more time.

Hence Mira began a training schedule that involved her fighting Rank 6 monsters as best as she could with Nova and High Mind, no armor, and practicing control when she wasn't fighting. Her aim was to replicate the capabilities of her bubble armor with Nova, she was sure that when she succeeded she would be capable of killing Rank 7s.

…

On Jade's side things were more peaceful… kinda. Studying and experimentation took the whole of Jade's time after his deal with the Daimyos and Satoshi was complete.

As one would expect studying and experimentation would be relatively more peaceful than fighting monsters but Jade wasn't getting any of that. Watching the recordings of himself at the end of every week had turned into a sort of nightmare for Jade.

He could only watch 6 days of activity in less than one day because he wasn't literally watching it, he was sending the videos to his mind in the form of psychic energy so he could process them faster than the information his eyes and ears gave him.

Every weekend when Jade watched his own recordings he kept finding his actions strange. This feeling had only increased as the weeks went by; from small actions that didn't conform with his personality to big behavior changes that made him wonder who he was happened as the weeks went by.

It started with him revealing the presence of the Daimyos who were hiding. A small action but unusual when he compared how cautious he usually was. Normally he would have pretended to know nothing to make the Daimyos think he was weak but he had revealed his knowledge quickly.

Still such an action could just be seen as him being sure of his power because of the Magic he just acquired. But then he noticed a very unusual event related to the hiding of the Daimyos. His IP didn't alert him even though they were there.

The IP always alerts the user whenever a creature comes within a certain range of them. This happened with the Infant Ocean Master, Jade hadn't sensed it but his IP had told him about it. The only way to go past the IP was to use Hunter's Camouflage to remove all the details that the IPs show like Jade did with Daisuke.

But the Daimyos were unnoticeable even though they were in right in front of Jade. Jade already had Plant Magic so he knew that whatever Yubi did wasn't enough to fool IPs.

Jade only had one guess 'Satoshi's job'. It was the most probable variable, Jade now knew that jobs got more complex and versatile at Rank 15 so he was sure that Satoshi could have a privilege that allowed him Camouflage others.

Jade found it weird since he was very cautious around unknown people, like when he met the people from Banu city, but now it seemed the parasite had affected that if only a little.

As the weeks went by such events filled Jade's days and they amplified as time went on. But Jade could do nothing about the problem, he was already doing the best he could so if damages were still happening then they were unavoidable. At least they didn't affect his work too much.

Along with his studying and experimentation Jade also made weapons and devices for the Daimyos, Satoshi and Night City and in turn they gave him scientific knowledge. His contact with the sanctuary had gone dark; they didn't send his blue box back to him after he sent it back to them.