Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 355: Miwa

I teleport back after the auction ends, I check the result and receive just over three thousand shards for the five items. The tournament shop has already covered our rent for the house and workshop, and a few days still remain.

It's not as good as looting the Veil Ignition Station, but it's good enough that I should be able to make a few thousand extra shards before the tournament ends.

As I check the crafter ranking, I'm still first, with the second person being someone called Miwa and even Adam is there. For a moment, I consider buying their things to examine them but then decide not to. Looking at my results and 1st place, it's obvious I'm doing better. So, there probably wouldn't be all that much I could learn from them. I still might do it before the tournament ends.

Sensing a few signatures on the roof, I boost myself into the air and land on top of it. Lily and Tacita are still in the same spot, and Maya and Sophie seem to have joined them. The women observe Tacita while talking to Lily.

Maya is closer to the mute girl. Maybe too close. Unlike me, she doesn't seem to notice the tension in Tacita's body every time someone moves too quickly, gets close, or speaks too loudly. It's obvious to me after dealing with her for a bit, but Tacita seems to be about as twisted as the rest of us.

Maya, being as straightforward as she is, smiles and holds out her hand by way of introduction.

When Tacita ignores her, Maya makes a bit of a mistake. She presses closer and reaches out to her with a kind word.

In a flash, her hand is severed, and Maya staggers back, a dagger sprouting from her neck. She coughs, blood spraying from her mouth and soiling her clothes.

Maya doesn't panic and her face takes on the deep calm of the skill we share. Before Lily or Sophie can move, Maya puts a hand on the wound after pulling the dagger free, blood seeping between her fingers. A blade made of mana extends from the stump of her severed hand. Even bleeding, her expression turns dangerous.

Lily lets go of everything and moves at a speed rivaling Tacita's, reaching Maya and putting a hand on her to heal her quicker. She heals her even before the tournament healing aura activates, the wound closing within a blink.

Then the three of them stand there, skills at the ready to launch an attack on Tacita.

On the other side, the mute girl is calm, her slim body relaxed, arms hanging along her body, and fingers slightly bent. Her feet are placed just so, priming her for a sudden burst of speed.

Not to escape, but to attack. Even facing three powerful members of Hell difficulty, Tacita doesn't hesitate.

It might be sociopathic, but I want them to fight. I bet Sophie and Maya would go down, almost without a struggle, and only Lily could defend herself. However, the knowledge of our immortality in this space takes the sting from such thoughts.

But I don't forget to warn them, “If you damage the house, I will expect an item equal to the damage caused.”

Tacita lifts her hands and gestures at the trio opposite her after meeting my eyes.

“You too, I don’t go around destroying your stuff, so I would expect you to extend the same courtesy.”

That causes her to deflate a bit, and her stance becomes more relaxed.

"You saw what she did to Maya," Lily says through clenched teeth. Maya, unlike her, maintains a mask of calm, her eyes on Tacita.

Have they forgotten who this girl is? She’s been solo climbing the floors, the same as Savant. She has time and again proved herself to be an extremely dangerous individual and she’s unstable to boot. Maybe the way she acted made them forget? Tacita's behavior tends towards the playful, most of the time, not to mention the silly emoticons she uses instead of speech.

It's amusing, to be honest. How little it takes for people to let their guard down. Just a few smiles, a bit of childish behavior, and an innocent face.

Unlike them, I strengthen my body every time I see even a shadow of Tacita and keep a barrier under my skin, ready to activate. Not even once have I forgotten to do so.

I also know that Tacita has taken notice; she knows that I'm ready to fight her anytime. But being twisted as she is, she doesn't mind my lack of trust. No, it almost seems like she prefers it, she’s actually more comfortable when I try to keep her at arm's length.

Tacita looks down on those who’ve grown complacent. But I guess that's the inevitable result of her climbing the floors alone and being on constant guard.

So I just tell Maya, "Dennis told me you know about someone who can make pizza."

While keeping her eyes on Tacita, Maya says in a calm tone, "Yes, I’ve already spoken with her already and can arrange a meeting."

"Sounds good. Can we go?"

Maya glances at me and then at the mute girl. Her expression slowly returns to normal, and she examines her bloody clothes. Her expression clearly shows that she realized she made a mistake and that she’s really dissatisfied with the result.

Cursing, Maya says, "Yes, just let me change clothes." She then jumps off the roof and enters the house.

For a while, I sit there observing the standoff between Sophie, Lily, and Tacita, but in the end, it looks like there will be no fight.

"Boring," I mutter and jump off the roof, and take a seat on one of the benches outside, waiting for Maya.

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Maya and I enter the common area and only then does she turn to me, "I fucked up."

"A bit," I nod. "Do you know where?"

"I thought of her as harmless and allowed myself to get lulled into a false sense of security by the safety of the tournament."

"I agree, you have [Focus] too so you should keep it running in the background constantly. Use it to keep your strengthening just a blink from activating or to monitor your surroundings. Whatever you like."

We pass through the plaza as she leads us through the crowds.

After a while, she asks, "Would she still act this way outside the tournament? If there was no field preventing us from dying?"

"Yup," I say.

I know that without a speck of doubt. Tacita’s actions would be the same even out of the bounds of the tournament. Whether it be a native or a real person. It doesn't matter. That's how she is.

My answer seems to strike the usually straightforward and talkative Maya silent, as she retreats deep into her thoughts.

I, on the other hand, try to look as weak as possible. There are even a few people trying to probe my mana, in an attempt to scan me with their skills. Even Maya notices them, but I act as if I haven’t and merely reduce the amount of mana leaking from my body.

All in an effort to help the disinformation campaign.

It’s in this fashion that we reach a smaller house, carved deep into a nice grassy hill, covered with colorful flowers. Outside of that house is a small workshop, issuing the constant ringing of a hammer striking iron, along with a lot of heat.

"Let's wait outside, apparently she’s sensitive about being interrupted," Maya says.

Though it leaves me curious, I plop down on a stone nearby and Maya does the same, and we wait.

I do not send my mana sense toward the blacksmith Miwa’s workshop. She is the second ranked crafter in the tournament shop and it looks like she may be the person I need to help me make pizza for my minion.

It takes about an hour and in that hour, I die four times. All caused by black mana turning my brain to mush as I experiment with it. It's mostly part of my experiments with [Focus], It’s eitherthat or directly infusions into my brain. All the while I keep a field around me to stop mana from seeping into the area and keeping as much as I can inside of my body.

At this point, I start thinking that before the event ends I will have to be a bit more careful and stop relying on passive healing of the tournament. It would be unfortunate if I tried something like this outside.

Anyway, I'm learning a lot and the control I’ve refined with the help of my Duplicate improves even further. Now even more so than before, I realize how much time experimenting with him saved me. Months, half a year, maybe even a year that I would’ve needed to practice on my own, slowly to avoid blowing my head off.

Maya also trains as she sits next to me, a focused expression on her face while she moves mana through her body.

Another hour passes before a woman in her forties finally exits the workshop. She has a youthful face and seems to be Asian, Japanese if I had to guess. The heat seems to radiate from her skin while she wipes the sweat from her brow and glances at us, then taking a few steps she greets us with a nod.

A few seconds later she coughs and tells me, “Hey, my eyes are up here.”

Maya seems to be shocked for some reason and pokes me.

I lift my eyes from her right arm, which is made entirely of metal. It’s clearly some sort of heavily articulated prosthetic, covered in delicate inscriptions. Looking up at her I ask, “You didn't make it, where did you get it?”.

The metal itself is an alloy I do not recognize. Possessed of a silvery color with a pinkish luster.

The arm is beautiful and I'm unable to take my eyes off it.

She looks at me, “I'm Miwa, I would like to hear your names first.”

“Noname.”

“Knight, nice to meet you, Miwa.”

Miwa nods, “Thanks, even if they are aliases. Now then, I thought you wanted help with pizza, offering an epic item in exchange?”

“I have a healer in my group. She can restore your flesh and blood arm. I will add two epic items in exchange for your metal arm,” I offer.

“I apologize, but no.”

“Five epic items and my healer will make your new arm stronger than the original should be.”

“I already said no,” Miwa repeats decisively.

Should I try to steal it later? I mean, she’s only in Hard difficulty, it should be easy enough. It might be worth the hell Tess would raise or Gareth's complaining. I’ve seen a few prostheses, but this arm is something else, there’s only one floor where she could have gotten it.

“You got the arm on the second floor, right?”

Seeing no reason to lie, Miwa nods, “I got it from a man called Keiron.” She lifts her arm, it moves perfectly, fingers reacting immediately and nimbly as their natural counterparts. Even the metal seems to bend slightly at the required places.

The arm is a masterpiece and more so given by Champion Keiron. Maybe he was nerfed on Hard difficulty or not, no matter what it's not something to ignore. More so him being a descendant of Lissandra.

I want to offer another trade, but Maya pokes me before I can and when I look at Miwa I do realize that if I ask again she will send us away. Even now, this polite reception is little more than an act.

I will think of something later.

“Yes, we came here because of pizza. Apparently, you can make one.”

Miwa gestures to us to follow her and heads towards the house, “I like to cook so when we reached the common area I traded with other people and got a lot of ingredients. With what I have, I should be able to make pizza as well.”

We enter the hallways at which point she takes off her shoes and puts them to the side. We follow her example and wait for her to invite us in.

She leads us to a small, but lovely kitchen, and the woman, still in her work clothes, starts preparing tea, her metal arm as if not more nimble than a normal one. Me and Maya both sit there awkwardly. Even Miwa seems to be somewhat cold because of my offers.

Well, I think I know what will make her more friendly.

“I can give you an item for the pizza, but what do you think about this instead?” I put a few pieces of metal on the table.

Turning back to us, Miwa sighs, “Please, do not try to change…” she cuts off. Miwa quickly puts the kettle away and takes a quick step towards the table from which she grabs a small piece of metal.

It's voidsteel, not a blade, just a few pieces of the metal I found in Veil Ignition Station.

As expected, the woman seems to be even more interested now. Voidsteel is extremely expensive in the system shop and is mostly sold in ingots for one or two thousand shards. Then there is the problem that they are difficult to work with, especially for us from Earth with only a year of experience. So the pieces I gave her should be even more enticing given the way they should allow her more freedom to experiment.

Then I decide to push more, “I also have a damaged arcane grade item.” I lower my voice, trying to make my offer sound as enticing as possible. “I will let you look at it if you let me look at your arm.”