Chapter 120: Fluids
Milia began to approach Alvin while clacking her fists. Poor Alvin felt a chill on his back as he desperately tried to think about some excuse. Finally, an idea appeared in his mind. "Milia, what about Nori?"
Milia immediately stopped. Indeed, what about Nori. he must have gone through the same test. Milia looked around and found Nori's core lying near where she woke up. She quickly grabbed it, confirming that it was truly Nori, although he gave no answer.
'Linfel,' Milia asked straight away. 'Can you take a look at his dream?'
'No,' Linfel immediately shook his head.
Both Alvin and Milia were taken aback. 'Why? Is it because he is a Familiar?'
Linfel shook his head, though. 'That's not it. The problem is that we attracted too much attention.'
Alvin and Milia seemed to have understood and glanced back. There on the stage, a few elders seemed to be looking at them. Over 99% of the Maguses and Familiars were still asleep. Yet, Linfel's group, in which the elders definitely got the information they were friends, got three of their members to wake up. Wasn't that too much coincidence?
Linfel sighed... or he would if he had lungs... 'They weren't paying much attention when I entered Alvin's mind. However, after we got to help Milia to wake up, I started feeling those elders' senses focused on us. They seem all able to use Soul Power, and they are skeptical about us... or me, to be more precise.
I'm afraid that if I try to use Soul Power now, I will definitely be caught. It seems like Soul Power isn't something you should be able to use at my level, or we would have heard about it in the past.'
Milia and Alvin looked at each other and then back at Linfel. They couldn't feel Soul Power, but even they felt like they were being watched now that Linfel pointed it out.
'But... what if he gets trapped in his dream with his mental demons?' Milia couldn't help but ask Linfel. 'Will he stay asleep forever?'
'Not at all,' Linfel assured her. 'I could have woken you up straight away if I wished. I just didn't do so because I thought it was important for you to overcome your mental demons. I'm pretty sure the elders on the stage can do the same thing if they wish so. Even if they can't, I can do it another time after we are over here, so don't worry.'
Milia still didn't like it. If Nori truly doesn't wake up, he will fail the test. Different from most of the Familiars in this place, Nori is an independent Familiar. If he fails the test, he will be considered a single individual instead of Milia's Familiar. She won't be able to bring him to the Ventis Sect with her.
It was then that Milia remembered something. She turned to the elders on the stage, curious. "Seniors, we have passed the test... but what exactly are the rules? Is there a time frame for my Familiar to wake up if he wants to pass the test?"
Alexandra answered that. "There is. How many of them will wake up, we don't know. Unless, of course, we intervene, in which case they will wake straight away. This test lasts 10 Clicks, which is a little more than ten hours in your planet. If your Familiar doesn't wake up by then, we will consider he failed the test and we will wake him up together with the others who are still asleep by that time."
Milia nodded. "I understand, seniors. Would you please tell me how long it has been since the test started?"
"You could have just checked your MCOM, you know?" Alexandra asked back. "Oh well, anyway. Two and a half Clicks have gone by already. He has Seven and a half Clicks."
"Thank you," Milia showed her gratitude before she found a place to sit and put Nori's core on her lap. "You can do it; I know it!"
Alvin got concerned. Considering Milia's Mental Demons and the fact Nori had always been with Milia since he was born, perhaps his mental demons were as strong or even stronger than Milia's. 'Linfel,' Alvin asked the wisp alone, 'If we didn't intervene, do you think Milia would have woken up?'
Linfel pondered a bit and shook his head. 'Highly doubt so. You witnessed her state yourself. Milia simply didn't even want to try to fight her mental demons. They probably kept eating her and resetting the dream many, many times before you and I appeared there.'
'I see...' Alvin nodded as he began to think about some way to help Nori wake up. Obviously, it can't be with Linfel's help if they don't want to be found out. He couldn't help but wonder. 'Linfel, Milia, do you think he can hear us even in this state?'
Milia wondered the same thing, while Linfel didn't have an answer. 'I don't know. When I helped Alvin, I never tried to call him out from the outside. Same thing for Milia; we simply went into her dreams and never tried to speak to her.'
'It would be good if he could...' Milia commented. 'I'll try to call him out.'
'Yes, give it a try. Perhaps it will help,' Alvin agreed with her.
Milia then proceeded to call Nori and talked about some things between the two of them for quite some time. Yet, Nori didn't seem to answer at all, making Milia more concerned. 'Perhaps he can't hear after all.'
It was at that moment Linfel had an idea. 'Hum... it is still not guaranteed he can't hear you, Milia.'
Milia and Alvin got interested. 'Did you get an idea?'
Linfel nodded, feeling pretty sure it would work. 'Yes. There is one thing, and one thing only, that Nori absolutely doesn't want to happen.'
'Something he doesn't want to happen?' Milia only had to think about it for a second to remember what. 'This...'
What has Nori always tried to do? He always tried to get Alvin away from Milia! He simply didn't like Alvin at all, especially since he noticed Milia seemed to have feeling for Alvin. Pretty much nothing bothered him more than that.
'Oh!' Alvin finally caught the gist. 'Wait! But that...'
Linfel shrugged. 'We still have six Clicks. If you don't want to give it a try, then just wait until near the end.'
Alvin and Milia got embarrassed and nodded. 'Let's... Let's wai-'
'But,' Linfel continued, 'the longer we take, the deeper he might fall into the hands of his own mental demons. Well, he is not my Familiar, so you decide for yourself.'
Milia immediately made up her mind. 'Let's do it!'
Alvin was taken aback, but Milia didn't give him time to think. She stopped using her Magic Energy to speak to Linfel and Alvin alone and switched back to her normal voice. "Alvin, I w-w-want to be with y-y-y-y-ou..." Too bad she struggled a lot to speak the words.
Alvin felt nervous. "I also w-want to be wi-with you..."
The elders and the few Maguses and Familiars who woke up looked at that, feeling uncomfortable. 'Is this truly the place to confess your love...?' Of course, none of them intervened. If anything, they very much wanted to watch the show.
Linfel smiled and remembered what humans liked to do. He didn't understand why, but who cares? It should help. "Alright, since you want to procreate, you might as well start with exchanging mouth fluids."
Alvin and Milia felt like dying. The wisp was truly terrible with these things.
"Ahem..." Alvin tried to calm down. "C-Can, I kiss... you?"
Milia, red as a tomato, nodded. "Yes... please."
Alvin and Milia's hearts beat like crazy to the point they felt they would come out of their mouths. Alvin, of course, was still the man, so he took the initiative. He approached Milia's face, ready to have his first experience when suddenly.
"You dare!"
*Shaaaaaaaaa!*
A burst of flames came from the Core on Milia's lap, hitting Alvin's face and burning his lips.
"Arrrghhh! Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" Alvin immediately jumped that, putting out the flames while using his Magic Energy.
He then looked at Milia's lap, seeing a small ethereal boy with an extremely angry expression. It was Nori. "Try to get close to my Milia again. I'll burn you to a crisp!"
"Nori!" Milia didn't care about anything else anymore. She just caught the little boy by the core and hugged it. "I knew you would wake up!"