Swindler at Work

The next day came without anything notable happening. Winston stayed inside his own room, experimenting with his newfound abilities, practicing cogitation, trying out the very basics of ritualistic magic which included putting up spiritual walls and the interaction of spiritual energies with the surrounding spirit world; and finally and most importantly, he practiced with the shinsu he could gather.

And while doing so, he came across some very interesting things.

As a scientist, it is my duty to find out about the intricacies of Shinsu! He had declared and gone headfirst into research.

From what he could find out on the Box, and considering the ranker, Lero ro's description of it, he could not accurately define Shinsu to be a thing or even an energy. If anything, any description he could come up with to accurately describe the shinsu came short of capturing its true unadulterated essence.

What was actually Shinsu? And more importantly, how did it interact with all of his abilities, mainly spirituality itself? Having spent the entire day and the entire night researching on this, only taking a brake on the time of lunch and dinner, he could not come to any accurate conclusion. His knowledge in either of the two subjects to name was not sufficient enough to come to any concrete conclusion.

The best he could come up with, was the fact that spirituality and shinsu seemed to be awfully close in nature, yet still seeming like polar opposites. Spirituality, although the prime resource for beyonders of all pathways to utilize their beyonder powers, was essentially not the root cause of the emergence of those abilities in the first place. On the other hand, shinsu seemed to be a much more stronger resource to name, more versatile than anything he had ever imagined.

The most important yet confusing fact was, spirituality and shinsu essentially had no difference, as least none that he could pinpoint from his own observation and intuition, which, in itself was a testament to their similarity. At one point, he even suspected if they were one and the same and he was just too stupid to see otherwise. However, even that he could not say for sure.

And so, after having spent an entire night scratching his own head over them, he decided to head outside and not worry about it for now.

He opened the door and stepped outside, yawning as he did so. With the new and improved physique from his promotion, his body felt unnaturally lighter and more energetic. That was the reason, that despite having spent the entire night without sleep, he did not feel sleepy; as contrary as that might seem because of the yawn. A yawn can happen even without the need or desire for sleep, as behavioral science would tell you.

He headed for the cafeteria without needing to look around. His intuition was already enough for him to gather that there was no one around him at the time.

As he reached the cafeteria door, a sudden scene filled his head.

On the multitude of tables, a singular figure sat so early in the morning. It was one of the cloaked figures, the young woman who had fought with the masked woman. She didn't have her cloak on her and her beauty was bare for the world to see; a shame no one was in the cafeteria to observe it. She had short brown hair and yellow brown eyes along with a fair face that no blemish would dare set foot on. She wore an orange coloured top draped over with a brown overcoat. Her lower body couldn't be seen as she sat on the tables quietly eating her food in boredom.

Winston raised a brow and walked into the cafeteria, beginning to manipulate his own expressions as he did so.

As he opened the doors, he noticed how the young woman's eyes briefly turned towards the doors, scanning over his figure and turning away as soon as she laid her eyes upon him. He observed her subtle action from his peripheral vision, his trickmaster potion's observation skills helping him take in her expressions and mannerisms.

He turned away from her direction without sparing her a direct glance and turned towards the food counter. Then ordering one of the dishes he had found about just yesterday, the cheapest one to be precise, his eyes turned to catch her figure.

His eyes turned the slightest bit wide as he looked at her. The woman seemingly noticed this too, from the way she subtly shifted in her seat.

Damn... this observational ability is crazy. He thought in delight. I can get used to this.

He walked towards the woman with a slight smile. Then upon reaching her table, he spoke.

"Good morning!" He greeted. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He inquired.

The young woman's eyes turned to him, roaming up and down his face as if she had just now took notice of another person in the cafeteria.

Her eyes gleamed a little with interest.

"You can sit wherever you want. I has nothing to do with me." She replied, taking a sip from her drink through the straw.

Winston nodded and seated himself opposite her.

~~~

The small wisps of sunlight filtered through the glass and curtains, making a thin line of yellow glow on the floor. A young man with light blue hair sat beside a bed, atop which a boy with dark brown hair lay asleep. On his head was a wrap of bandages somewhat stained in red. The blue haired boy read through a book he held in his hands, passing the time in complete silence.

Khun Ageuro Agnis, the abandoned son of the Khun family gazed melancholically at his teammate, his eyes a bit unfocused.

He could not help but recall the exact moment when Bam had jumped off of the throne to protect the unknown girl.

He sighed.

Rachel huh...

As he was lost in thought, he heard someone knock on his door.

Knock knock!

He looked towards the door.

"Come inside. It's open." He said.

The door opened, revealing a cloaked figure whose face was barely visible. It was a young girl with freckles on her face, her head covered in blond hair.

"Good morning Mr. Khun." The girl greeted.

Khun narrowed his eyes, recognizing the girl.

"Who are you? What brings you here?" He inquired.

The girl took the hood off her head, her yellow eyes gazing intently at Khun.

"My name is Rachel. I'm... I'm the one Bam's looking for." She said.

And then, there was silence in the room.

Khun's eyes scanned the girl's figure, narrowing in suspicion.

"You're.... Rachel?" He asked for confirmation.

She nodded in response.

"There's something I have to talk to you about." She said resolutely.

Khun looked on in silence for a moment before nodding. Then, he grabbed another chair from the corner and put it down right beside the bed, some distance from his own.

"Take a seat, please." He said.

Rachel didn't delay and took the chair without worry.

Then, breathing in, she began.

"I... I don't know where to begin." Her eyes looked at the sleeping figure of the boy in sadness and regret.

"Did you know Bam?" Khun asked suddenly.

"Yeah... I knew him since before I entered the tower." She looked at her legs.

"It's amazing how you two ended up being in the same testing zone." Khun smiled.

"Bam... he was a lonely boy." She continued. "Before entering the tower, his only friend was me. I was all he could ever talk to.

"Maybe that's why, when I told him that I was going up the tower, he was devastated. I told him not to follow me. But he said that he would follow me no matter what." She looked at Bam again.

"So, when I recognized him during the crown game, I couldn't take the crown from him and wanted to help him win the game."

Then, she smiled and pointed towards the fruit basket kept close.

"By the way, can I take that."

"Oh, help yourself." Khun chuckled.

Rachel took one of the bananas and peeled off it's skin. Then, she took a bite.

"I wish to go up the tower. But my existence is also something that blocks Bam from going up."

Khun raised an eyebrow.

Taking another bite, Rachel explained. "Bam's only wish is to stay with me. If I stay with him he won't go up the tower." Her tone was a mix of sadness and melancholy.

"So, that's why... can you not tell Bam about my identity?" She smiled at him.

"What do you mean? You want me to hide the fact that you're here?"

Rachel nodded in confirmation.

"If he stays with me, he wouldn't let me go. And if I stay with him, he has no reason to continue on."

Khun raised an eyebrow.

"If he wants to be with you so much... why not stay together here?" Khun asked in confusion.

Rachel smiled sweetly.

"Have you... heard of the legend at the top of the tower?" She asked him.

"The top of the tower?" He continued. "You mean the legend that one can see the infinite sky at the top? And the stars that shine within it?"

She nodded again.

"Yes. Since I heard about it when I was young, I had always dreamed about going to the top of the tower and seeing the beautiful starry sky shining overhead.

"Even when I close my eyes, I see the infinite sky shining with bright dots. Even in my imagination, its so beautiful that it makes my heart pound every time I think about it."

She smiled at him again.

"My one and only goal in life is to reach the top and see the stars.

"I really want to be with Bam, that's why I gave up the crown and stayed with him here. But even now." She closed her eyes and turned her head upwards.

"Even now, as I close my eyes, I can't help but imagine that glorious scenery. Such light fills my chest... such beautiful light fills my heart.. it makes me unable to sleep at night."

Khun looked at her, and then back at Bam.

His eyes turned a bit thoughtful.

~~~

"So, what's your name?" Winston asked, stuffing his mouth with food.

His eyes scanned the figure of the young woman before him with interest. He had his spirit vision activated at this point, allowing him to see her emotional colours. It was a chaotic blend of red, blue and green; symbolizing passion, thought and calmness respectively.

The woman raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why should I tell you?" She answered with a smile.

"That lies entirely up to you." Winston smiled without care. "But don't you feel the breakfast to be somewhat dull without company?" He said.

"I enjoy the quietness, I'm an introvert." She replied.

"For a beautiful and flashy woman like you, being an introvert is the last thing I'll expect." Winston shrugged. "Well, whatever. You choice." He smiled internally, observing her mood lighten up and smile turn richer upon being called 'beautiful and flashy'.

Heh. So she's the vain kind huh? Winston mused internally.

"Alright! If you're being so insistent, I'll tell you my name." She twirled around the straw in her drink.

"My name is Endorsi Jahad. One of the chosen princesses of Jahad. Remember this day, you might not get the chance to be seated at the same table as me in the future."

She winked an eye at him.

While for Winston, internally, he became somewhat shocked, not expecting one of the Princesses of Jahad which he had researched about to be in his own testing zone. He had found out about Anaak being a princess when the bet happened, but he had certainly not been expecting not one, but two princesses in the same testing zone!

However, none of that showed on his face.

"Nice to meet you princess. The name's Winston Heath." He nodded at her.

~~~

A/N: Throw me dem stones.

*puts on monocle* The swindler is at work already.