Chapter 7

–Coriana–

She grabbed one of the sodas and popped it open before taking a nice refreshing gulp. A pleasant sigh escaped her mouth as she enjoyed the tingly sensation.

"Why does it have to be a soda?" Kuisha complained with a tired sigh.

"Because," Michael chirped without really explaining as he sat down on the bench before taking out an ice cream from the mini freezer next to it.

Misteeta was splayed out next to him, and looked at Michael with pleading eyes. He rolled his eyes at the younger boy, though he still handed him one as well.

"Ugh, you can just as easily make juice or even ice tea." Kuisha looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"I can." Michael nodded at her with a grin.

"Then why don't you?" Kuisha asked while she continued staring at him.

"Because." He continued grinning at her. "Look, if you want juice or tea, you can just make it yourself."

"I will remember this." Kuisha shot him a glare, but that only caused him to burst out laughing for some reason. He didn't elaborate on what was so funny to him and instead just grabbed his new laptop before he opened it up.

Cori watched their little byplay with an amused smile, enjoying how easily he could get under Kuisha's skin without even really trying to. Michael's addition to their little group was a nice boon, even if they had to train that much more now due to him. He just made things a bit more lively, plus he was quite the sight.

Her eyes hungrily looked over his shirtless form, greatly enjoying his very defined muscles. Such a lovely sight indeed. She stepped back and her gaze focused on his back. Cori's eyes narrowed as she stared at the little black dots on his shoulders, watching as a new one appeared out of nowhere. They looked like ink blots, but she knew better.

Strength of a Hundred Seal, was what Michael called it. A new spell that he had developed that allowed him to store excess Ki in the form of those little dots. He had some control of how they formed, and he could even move them around a bit, so he planned on making a large tattoo on his back in the future. She'd have to ask if she could design it for him.

Regardless, this was an extraordinary spell as it basically made his Ki reserves infinite. As long as he didn't use them all, that is. The only real downside to this ability was that it ensured that he would never be able to escape the sight of any Senjutsu user, even the unskilled ones, as he would appear like a bright star to their sight.

Nevertheless, this was an amazing achievement. What made it even more impressive was the way he developed it. Honestly, Cori still found it hard to believe, but she didn't have a better explanation herself.

"I just studied batteries and made one myself before coming up with this."

Who does that? Just study something for a bit and then create an entirely new Spell? All in less than a day? Seriously, who does that?

According to Michael, this wasn't even what he had been aiming for. No, he was trying to find a solution to his low Magic reserves and came up with this as a side effect. He failed as he only developed a way to store Magic in objects, but she still saw this as a major success.

Of course, Michael didn't stop just there. He might have failed, but he tried taking a different approach by studying generators and cobbling up one to better understand them. His idea was to create a technique that would let him make energy ex nihilo, but he ended up with an ability that allowed him to consume things to restore his energy. Something he was already capable of doing with his food.

But seriously, who just came up with entirely spells like that by studying some random objects? How many others could achieve the same in just a day? Only two names came to her mind. One of them had revolutionized Magic for the human race, and the other was a complete freak of nature.

Cori shook her head. It was too early to compare Michael to those two. He clearly was a freak of nature himself, but he had only been part of the supernatural for just a few weeks now. A couple of more years, and he would probably earn the right to have his name spoken in the same sentence as those two.

For now? Well, for now Cori would enjoy looking at his shirtless form. Though she couldn't help but notice how intently he was staring at the boys who were still continuing with their workout. His eyes were laser focused on Liban, and she smiled mischievously as she sat down next to him.

"What's a girl gotta do to be stared at like that?"

Michael's head snapped towards her, his eyes blinking a few times before he grinned. "She just has to look like you."

Cori hummed appreciatively, more than pleased by his response. Though she couldn't let him know that just yet.

"So you say, so you say, but I've seen your eyes wander to another pretty blonde quite frequently," she replied and pointedly looked at Kuisha.

MIchael followed her gaze and nodded to himself before asking. "Can you blame me?"

"No." Cori shook her head, her smile widening as she watched Kuisha stare at the ground, doing her best to pretend that she wasn't listening to their conversation. "No, I cannot."

"Though you do seem to have a preference for blondes, considering how intently you were staring at Liban just now," Cori switched the topic before Kuisha could explode from embarrassment. Their Queen barely had experience with flirting, so it was better to not push too much.

"I was trying to figure out how his Sacred Gear works," Michael quickly explained.

Cori blinked at him. That answer shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did. Perhaps it was because her perception was coloured as she quite enjoyed watching the boys working out instead of trying to figure out how their abilities worked.

"So you're trying to learn Gravity Magic just by watching?" She still had to ask, just to make sure she got it right.

"Ah…" Michael scratched his head. "Not necessarily. My Magic reserves are hot garbage, and it will take a long time to increase them even with my food, so I doubt I'll be able to use something like Gravity Magic any time soon."

"Then?" She prompted him to continue.

"I was… mostly trying to see if I can get inspired on how to create a device that could replicate his Sacred Gear." And then he proceeded to drop a bomb on her.

Kuisha and Misteeta focused on him, both interested in what he had to say about this. For one, this would ensure that their physical training was even more torturous in the future as Liban had a hard time focusing on multiple people if they weren't close to each other. And two… it would prove yet again exactly how remarkable Michael was.

"I already have a vague idea of what I want to do, a Gravity Chamber," Michael said before releasing a tired sigh. "But the biggest issue with that is how energy intensive it will be. Unless I make it a tiny room that could barely fit a single person inside, but what's the point of that?"

Michael paused, thoughtfully looking to the side, and Cori absentmindedly grabbed one of the ice creams from the mini fridge. She started licking it without really paying attention, her mind going over what he just told her, and her thoughts became clearer and faster thanks to the ice cream. If he could really create a functioning Gravity Chamber…

Well, their training would become even more intense. On the one hand, she'd have to suffer even more. On the other hand, she'd get to enjoy watching the boys sweat it out even more.

"Maybe I can figure out a way to convert Magic energy or Demonic Power into electricity and vice versa?" MIchael continued on.

"Is that even possible?" Misteeta curiously asked with a tilt of his head.

"I mean… they are all a type of energy, so I don't think it's impossible," Michael answered, and his eyes lit up. "Yeah… I believe I can make it work. Then I can set up some large batteries that you can all charge up with your Demonic Power. Yeah, that will be a good start."

"And if all of that works… maybe I can even turn it into a Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but that will require so much more energy."

"Judging by its name, I'm going to assume that it will somehow affect time," Kuisha said, pointedly looking at him.

"Yep." Michael nodded. "It will compress time, making it pass much faster inside compared to the outside world."

"Basically, you want to replicate the Agares Clan trait," Cori noted, realizing this could be problematic.

"I'm not sure how they would respond to such a thing." Kuisha bit her lips as she came to the same conclusion.

The Agares might try to shut it down completely or they could force Michael to join their House in some way to ensure they had monopoly on this invention. The problem was that they could do very little to protect him in such a scenario. Sai might be the heir of the Bael Clan, but he held very little authority himself due to his situation.

"We just don't tell them about it," Michael said with a shrug. "They can't make a fuss if they don't know about its existence, now can they? Plus, they aren't the only ones that can manipulate time. Plenty of Gods can do the same."

"True." Kuisa hesitantly nodded. "But you aren't associated with any of those Gods."

"Again, we just don't tell them about it and that's that. Plus, it will take me a few weeks if not months before I can even attempt to make such a thing."

A few weeks to replicate the Clan trait of the Agares? Did he even hear himself? Then again… hadn't he already proven that he could do things others believed were impossible? Hell, Cori was currently enjoying an ice cream that made her mind sharper! Not to even mention the fact that he created a bunch of new spells in just a day!

"Enough about this." Cori really wasn't in the mood to talk about Devil politics.

She leaned closer to him, taking a look at what he was doing on his laptop. There was a bunch of text and numbers on it, and she didn't quite understand what they were all about. It looked like a bunch of nonsense to her. "What's this about?"

"A side project," he replied as he looked at the screen. "A fun little browser game that I plan to build on in the future. I'm making a surprising amount of progress, though I'll need to hire someone to do the art for me since I'm not very good at drawing and painting."

"Oh?" Cori wasn't interested in the first half of what he said, but the last part caught her attention. "I happen to enjoy drawing in my free time. Perhaps I can help with that?"

"Cori's paintings are really pretty," Misteeta helpfully said, and she saw him give her a wink.

'Good job.' She winked right back at him.

"Is that so?" Michael turned to her and froze for a second as he realized exactly how close they were, but he quickly recovered. "Maybe we can discuss it over dinner?"

"I like the sound of that," Cori replied with a pleasant smile.

"I think we've rested enough," Kuisha suddenly said as she abruptly stood up. "It's about time we start working on our Magic."

Hohoho. Now this was something new! Was Kuisha getting jealous? Oh, my! What an interesting development.

"Give me a call later," Cori told Michael with a wink while paying attention to Kuisha out of the corner of her eyes to see how she would react.

"Sure." He nodded at her as he got up.

"I brought the books about Mind and Illusion Magic you asked, so you will be working with me," Kuisha said and pointed at Michael.

She really was jealous! Cori wanted to tease her so badly at that moment, but she decided to keep quiet for the time being. She could needle their Queen after they finished with their training and after Michael left.