NOVEL WEB Chapter 81
Minho being shocked wasn’t exactly surprising. No matter how much of a workaholic you are, a Hero isn’t supposed to have accommodation within the office.
Plus, the Academy said they usually book hotels for accommodations unless it’s a special case, so that might explain it.
After changing clothes, having a hearty meal, and returning to the office, Minho still looked like he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“It really exists…?”
“You can unpack your stuff. There’s only one empty room, so the three of us will have to share. If need be, one person can sleep in my room.”
“Together…?”
Minho mumbled this with a blank stare at me and Katyann, lingering on my side a bit longer. What’s going on in his head?
As if I would share a room with Minho! It should’ve been Katyann’s job, not mine.
If I don’t get tangled up now, there won’t be any huge events later to deal with. Even if Minho wanted to share, I had to decline.
Besides, Minho made me feel a bit uneasy too. If we shared a room, it felt like an intense interrogation would be waiting for me rather than some fun.
Katyann tried to throw herself onto the bed, but she didn’t actually reach it.
Justitia zapped her with some light before she could make contact. Justitia took off Katyann’s shoes before loosening her grip to let her flop onto the bed.
“You can walk around with your shoes on, but when you get on the bed, please take them off.”
Katyann nodded in a bit of a daze, clearly surprised.
“It’s surprisingly soft.”
Minho pressed on the bed, assessing it, and seemed to be giving it a thumbs up for being better than expected.
“Of course. It was meant to be shared if we got more sidekicks.”
While the place wasn’t exactly extraordinary, it was definitely better than my monthly rental. There was a window, a TV, and even a fridge!
It felt a bit cramped with everything stuffed in one room, but still, it had all the essentials for living like a human being, so I had to give it a high score.
“Rest until 9:30. I’ll call you after that.”
“Huh? Isn’t that the end of the schedule?”
Minho bewilderedly asked if there was still more to do. Justitia answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“No. Although it will be brief, we’ll have a time to explore the clues for your awakening together. You can sleep if you’d rather not participate… will you?”
With Justitia’s response, no one dared to say they would just laze around and sleep.
In all honesty, I was about to suggest it, but the mood made me hold back. Still, if I’m the only one missing out, it might look a bit weird, so maybe it’s best to join in.
But there wouldn’t be any real point. Justitia hadn’t found any clues about my awakening either.
Before entering the Academy, not long after I was taken away by that person, I spent around 8 years learning from Justitia and other abilities users trying to awaken my power.
But it was futile. Completely.
I even tried near-death experiences, but that didn’t work.
I could figure out new uses and applications for my ability, but I could never reach the stage of awakening.
Maybe I’ve hit my peak, or perhaps I awakened my ability when I was force-fed that serum, and I just don’t know it.
Why was I overthinking this as if it mattered? Not like me at all. I let out a big yawn and stretched out.
Time to unpack.
Minho and Katyann were chatting via text while unpacking their stuff, so I left them to go wash up in the bathroom and drink some tap water.
If I could just get a little more resources to allocate to my ability, creating a second production line wouldn’t seem out of reach.
But where would I find those resources? Am I supposed to wait for my ability to grow as I mature? Or should I focus solely on training my powers to improve them?
Even training didn’t seem to be yielding any improvements.
To be of any help to that person, I needed to grow beyond my current self. But I had no sharp ideas on how to achieve that.
No need to dwell on it right now… right?
As I stepped out of the bathroom, Katyann was looking at me with a somewhat pitying expression.
Suddenly, a text from her popped up on my phone.
– So, that happened.
It was so out of the blue that I didn’t know how to react, so I just stayed silent, and Minho quickly filled the gap.
“Katyann asked Justitia why it seems like Blanca is unusually close to you… sorry.”
“You told her? Sigh. It’s not like I care if it gets out, but… it’s going to spread everywhere at this rate.”
Katyann quickly typed back that it wouldn’t happen, and Minho assured her that it wouldn’t go that way either.
“That would be nice. I don’t really care either way.”
After all, by next year, whether I wanted to or not, everyone would know.
Hearing my nonchalant response, they both relaxed a bit and then seemed to remember something, asking me a question.
“Uh… Blanca. Since Katyann asked, and I’m curious too, is it really true you’re 17?”
I was about to react, thinking if that’s even a question worth asking right now, but I stopped myself when the words hit the tip of my tongue.
Let’s think this through. My past… what did I say? When I got my head straight, I was 10 years old, hmm.
“Maybe? I didn’t know my age when I was sold, and I had no clue how old I was then. The nomads just figured I looked 10 and used that as a reference to get me through the gate.”
I might be older or younger than you guys.
Even I thought my answer sounded a bit shaky, but it was enough to generate some sympathy.
– That must have been tough.
“Is that supposed to be a proper comment? Then you have no more questions?”
“…Uh. It must have been a tough question, so thanks for answering.”
Minho said something that didn’t sound heartfelt to comfort me. But I didn’t find that fakeness unpleasant.
“Oh, it’s already 9:30. Katyann, Blanca. Before I go get you…”
Minho was about to suggest we all go out to lighten the mood, but before he could finish, the door swung open and Justitia appeared.
“It’s 9:30. Please come out. Since it’s the first day, we’ll keep it light, just about an hour.”
“I was just about to ask, and look who showed up!”
Minho awkwardly finished his sentence.
Following Justitia into the office, we found Basqana and a guy sidekick I’d never seen before waiting for us.
“Basqana doesn’t need another introduction. This is Scanner. Scanner?”
“…I’ll make sure to get paid for any extra work. Nice to meet you. I’m Scanner. As you can guess from my hero name, I can scan others with my eyes.”
Scanner’s expression didn’t reveal much, but his words carried a subtle curse.
The kids greeted Scanner and Basqana, then asked what we would be doing from here.
“Simple. We’ll put you in a temporary trance using Basqana’s abilities. You could also call it hypnosis.”
“Huh?”
Minho was taken aback by the mention of hypnosis, but Justitia didn’t stop explaining.
“Then you’ll each be able to see your own mental images. Scanner will scan you to find ways to improve those images.”
“W-wait a minute. Scanning mental images means looking into our heads, right? Can that even be done?”
“Normally, it wouldn’t be possible. But if you’re in an extremely focused state, where your mind is completely filled with that one thought, it can work. Don’t worry. No other thoughts will get scanned along with it.”
Scanner nodded at Minho as if assuring him that his worries wouldn’t come true.
He probably thought Minho was worried about any embarrassing first crush or dark history being revealed.
But he was wrong. What Minho feared was that his possessed status would be exposed.
Still, with that reassurance, it should be fine.
“If I can see my mental image by myself, do I even need to be hypnotized?”
As Katyann and Minho were still wrapped in a slight unease, I raised my hand and asked Justitia.
“If that’s possible, then go ahead. Just know there will still be some scanning involved, so bear with it. Basqana? Let’s start.”
That sounded manageable.
I distanced myself slightly from Minho and Katyann, closed my eyes, and sank down to reach my mental image, as I always did.
There, a never-ending row of machines stretched before me. If I removed even one gear, the entire production line would explode into chaos.
It would be impossible to cut a part of this line and create a second one.
If I needed two production lines, I’d have to tear down all this machinery and reassemble it into two separate setups.
And that was pure madness.
This mental image took forever to adapt my body to my ability; tearing it apart would revert me back to square one, like I’d just awakened my powers for the first time in the lab.
Reassembling everything would take another excruciatingly long time.
Only if I could scavenge extra materials somewhere!
Still fiddling with the cold metal, I soon resurfaced back to reality.
“Great job, everyone.”
“Ugh… it felt like a dream… wait, it’s already over?”
“Yep. You can go ahead and sleep now.”
Wow, an hour really passed already. Did I linger too long?
Katyann and Minho, still puzzled about what had just happened, quickly retreated to their rooms.
“Hey, Blanca, gonna sleep somewhere else?”
“Yeah. I’m headed to the gamer room.”
“Gotcha… what a bummer. Sleep tight.”
After hearing from Justitia where her room was, I entered my own room and tried to catch some Zs.
And before falling asleep, I contemplated how to deal with the upcoming events.