"What, you don't know what a manameter is?" Xiang Peng asked, raising an eyebrow at my seemingly ridiculous question. "Wait, do you guys not have those outside of Fragment?"
"Uh… no?" I replied hesitantly, glancing at the other girls just for confirmation.
"I have never heard of such a thing before," Yu An Yan shrugged.
"Mm… yeah, me neither," Lan Xiao Su added. "It may just be a Fragment-only technology."
"Huh… that's interesting," Xiang Peng murmured to herself.
"What about you, Feng Mian?" I asked, trying to ease up the atmosphere between her and I right now.
"I-I haven't!" she yelped, blushing furiously and unable to meet my gaze. I sighed.
"Well, basically, a Manameter is a device used on spells and Magic Artifacts to determine the mana density of the spell — how powerful they are. This is measured in a unit called a 'manibel'," Xiang Peng explained. "Experiments are currently being conducted for version of the Manameter that can be used on people and Magic Beasts as well, since that would be extremely useful both in combat and for verification reasons, but I don't know too much about that."
Mana and decibel… clever. Kinda. It sounds a bit weird, but that's alright I guess.
"So, hyow pyowerful is a Nyevel Thwee spell?" Amane asked, tilting her head.
"Eh… a Level Three spell would be roughly 1,000 manibels in terms of raw mana density," Xiang Peng replied thoughtfully. "There's no way of exactly setting a standard for this, so what I said is not too precise, but most Level Three spells are within the 950 to 1,050 manibel range."
"Hm… let's test out how powerful my spells are, in that case," I chuckled, then opened my hand.
Level One Light Magic — Illumination.
"Here," I said, walking closer to Xiang Peng, orb of light in my hand. "Measure this."
She opened up her Space Locket, a necklace, and took out a scanner-type device. She pressed a button on it and aimed the red laser point that appeared towards the orb of light I created, hovering above my hand, then read the number displayed on the screen on the other side of the manameter.
"Hm… 80 manibels," she said. "For the record, most Level One spells are only 10 manibels, so…"
"My magic is amplified eight times… that makes sense with what Mei Gui told me back when I unlocked the Origin Chaos stage..."
"Owigin Chaos?" Amane wagged her tail and blinked in confusion. "Nya, Xuwan Kwai, what is that?"
"Er… it's a bit complicated to explain," I sighed. "Just think of it like an… alternative cultivation system I alone have."
"Hm… I dyon't weally get it, but mkay~"
"That aside…" Yu An Yan interjected, looking at me. "Shouldn't we be more concerned about what Obsidia said earlier, during her fight?"
"… Forbidden Magic, huh…" I sank into thought.
"If they end up being suspicious of us because of this…"
"Then let's just hope they don't," Qing Yue interrupted suddenly, stretching her arms. She had been taking a nap just now, exhausted from both her fight and healing Yu An Yan.
"When did you wake up?" I snickered as she dove into my arms.
"Just now, hehe. Does Obsidia need healing?"
"Are you recovered yet?" I asked. "If so, then you could heal her and make her wake up, like, right now. That would be great."
"Sure, I'm okay~" Qing Yue winked and hopped over to Obsidia giddily, ready to apply Blessing Magic on her. "Alright… here we go. Level Three Blessing Magic — Cure All."
A bright lime glow encased Obsidia's body, shimmering and radiant. The glow faded away soon after, as Qing Yue let out a deep breath and returned to her seat (my lap).
"Was a Level Three spell really necessary for that…?" Yu An Yan asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know you said you've recovered, but it's still best to use mana sparingly. You never know when you might need it, after all."
"That's true, but I just used it for some extra practice, hehe," Qing Yue sniffed her nose proudly. "Cure All will be really useful in the future, when we get into more battles. It can heal fatigue, wounds, psychological damage, poison, you name it! I'd like to get some practice in now so that I'll be more familiar with the spell when we actually need it."
"Oho, interesting," Xiang Peng smirked. "You seem pretty natural using it already, even though it's a Level Three spell."
"Hehe, thanks~"
"Guys! I think Obsidia's waking up!" Lan Xiao Su suddenly exclaimed, directing all of our attention to the dragon girl.
"Mngh…" she groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, blocking the light with her hand. Yu An Yan and Qing Yue hurried over to help her sit up.
"Finally awake, huh?" I folded my arms, staring at her.
She met my gaze, but for some reason, I could feel anger being directed at me.
Then, shaking off Yu An Yan and Qing Yue, she stood up and walked towards me. I blinked in surprise; the room was silent.
In a few large strides with her long legs, she was here.
"Uh… hi," I said awkwardly.
She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. Gritting her teeth as her body trembled, a single tear streaked down her right cheek.
"H-Hey…" I began moving my hand to comfort her, but quite awkwardly since I was unsure how to deal with this situation.
Then, suddenly grabbing my collar, she heaved me up from my chair with her draconic strength, taking me by surprise. My eyes widened as I was pulled upwards against my own voilition, forced to stare into her beautiful red eyes, the same as my own.
"Those eyes… yes… they are still the same."
"Huh?"
"N-Never mind," she said, letting go of my collar and letting me fall back to my seat, before turning around and wiping the tear off of her face.
T-The hell was that all about?
The other girls watched this exchange in confusion and curiosity, then directed their gazes at me, expecting answers.
Listen, I'm just as confused as you are… don't look at me.
It was then that the door swung open and Mei Gui walked inside, not a single scratch on her.
"Master, I have returned."
I blinked. "Finished already?"
"Naturally. As Master's partner, this is the least I must be able to do," she replied stoically, as if this were a simple fact. "I was able to conclude the fight in approximately two minutes and thirty-four seconds. I apologize, Master. This is not an ideal time."
"It's already far better than enough," I smiled, patting her head as she hugged me. "Now… Obsidia, Mei Gui, I have some questions, but before that, Amane…"
"Mhm~ it's my turn nyow, isn't it?" she smiled happily, leaping up from her chair and heading over to the door, tail wagging in excitement. I wasn't too worried about this next fight of hers, since the boy she would be battling wasn't all that strong, and was also the impatient, hot-headed type.
Definitely, the easiest type of opponent to beat.
At the door, the IMF employee was already waiting, apparently happy he didn't have to say anything this time around. It seemed I really scared him, for whatever reason. He seemed fine this morning, though… did something happen between these hours?
As the door clanked shut behind Amane, I turned to Obsidia.
"Alright, Obsidia. Mind explaining what happened in your fight against Xiao Zhan?"
"You mean the final move I used, correct?" she bit her lip. "To be honest… I am not certain what that was either."
"… How do you not know what your own attack was?" Yu An Yan asked, skeptical.
Obsidia fell into thought. "The string of words I said… they just suddenly appeared in my head. I was not really thinking when I cast that spell. At the time… I was just consumed by fury and let all hell break loose."
"Yeah, we could see that," Xiang Peng chuckled. "Honestly, I'm already grateful you didn't outright turn into a dragon. That could've been… troublesome."
"But what caused that fury?" I asked curiously. "I mean, what did you see when he was using his mental attack artifact on you?"
Obsidia glared at me in an unexplainable anger. "… Tch."
"Why that hateful look…?" I murmured to myself, confused. Deciding to read her mind to find out, I discretely used a tiny spell.
Level Three Psychic Magic — Mind Read.
I peeked into her soul — and there, I saw exactly what she said during her fight. The nightmares of her parents, of her past, and… of me?
The hell is this?! Why the hell am I so weak?!
Those were my thoughts as I saw my dream self getting pinned down by Obsidia.
Shit, if that happened in real life, I would've Zero'd her by now…
Zero was my affectionate nickname for the Forbidden Magic of the same name that Mei Gui had taught me, of course.
I continued watching the scene.
Man… if only I had popcorn. Sitting here and watching through Obsidia's memories is quite entertaining and infuriating at the same time, almost like a movie…
Unfortunately, a stone-cold female voice disrupted all of that.
"… Xuan Kai."
"Huh?" I snapped out of it to see Obsidia glaring into my eyes, brows furrowed and expression dark. The other girls were looking at me awkwardly as well.
"… Do you want to die?"
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