The trauma of people finding out I was a no-mage was still etched deeply for her words to cause fear. Not many treated me the same once they found out and her reaction wasn’t a great start.
“Are you sure you were concentrating properly?” I tossed her remark back with my own head tilted in wonder.
“Yes, the only mana I felt was the one directly supplied into your hand by me.” Rachel squinted suspiciously.
“Maybe my magic is too strong for you to detect or something?” I quickly countered.
“I’ve never heard of that kind of situation.” Rachel took in a breath. “I can take a hint. I won’t push the topic, you can keep your secrets.”
“That may be for the best, though we’ll be together for the next three days and possibly longer. I’m sure things will come to light in due time on whether or not I can trust you.” I appreciated her holding back and pinned it as another good quality she had.
“There’s something I should tell you then.” She made sure to take a seat before continuing. “All VIPs are provided attendants as a quality of life for your stay here, but there’s a hidden agenda attached to our purpose. We’re meant to gather intel, all while building up a good rapport with our clients.”
“Does that mean you’re going to report back to your higher-up about me?” It was a tense matter though my tone remained calm. I knew the implications of her telling me all this in the first place. It wouldn’t make sense to tell me everything and risk messing up any possible relationship we could end up with.
“On the contrary, I’m taking a risk telling you all of this and I have no intention of relaying sensitive information about you to them.” I couldn't sense any anxiety from her words.
“Why the change of heart, or do you say this to all of your other clients too?”
“You are the first.” Rachel held eye contact. “Call it intuition, I’d rather not make an enemy out of someone that can easily kill me in a fight.”
“I wouldn’t say easily, I’m actually hoping to win you over to my side. You would do good as a dojo instructor.” I added in a laugh thinking about her transformation into a dojo uniform.
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” She giggled at the prospect and her gratitude sounded sincere. “Now can we get out of this mess?” My sight went down to the mess of apple her finger was pointing to and the bits covering her unbuttoned blouse.
“Oh right, I missed my moment for excitement. Why don’t you wash up in your unit and meet me back in the training center when you’re ready.” I acted like a kid that wanted to test out his new toy, all I could think about was recreating the apple explosion and getting stronger.
“Okay…, I’ll be quick and meet you there then.” There was a lag between her agreement almost like she was disappointed a little by my decision. I gave it no further attention as she made her way to the door.
“Oh, could you get housekeeping for me as well, please?” I heard a yep shouted back in kind and followed after her to leave for the training center.
I remembered seeing a gravity chamber that would be handy to train in. The only other time I’ve stepped foot into one was the encounter with saving Seric’s life and with Dorian at the military's event. Both instances where I was mostly stationary and not using it as a means to train. I found one currently available for use without much hassle and I understood the gist of it after skimming through the operating instructions.
Turning the circular dial clockwise activated the gravity field in the room with the multiplier displayed on the dials front-facing led panel. In the event of an emergency, the only way to deactivate the gravity field was from this dial or the kill switch outside. The warning set in place urged you to have a spotter if you desired to push limits and any repercussions were your own responsibility.
I shrugged that portion of the rules aside, not really concerned about supposed danger. I found it surprising that the multiplier for this room went up to fifty times normal gravity and even more so the rate at which it stabilized at. The setup for the military’s event took a minute for each level above forty times. It must have something to do with theirs being portable compared to this one.
I found it strange the undercity had tech that could rival the military’s version. I saw the chart for the gravity room when I saved Seric. The highest it could reach up to was a times ten multiplier. Just another mystery shrouding the undercity that I’d have to figure out.
I thought that as my hand turned the dial right up to forty. In a span of thirty seconds, a beep resounded to notify the acclimation of gravity. My movements were normal, this time I wasn’t wearing the military’s battlesuit but the unique set provided by Balthazar.
I never noticed any advantages from it in battle except for the durability and ability to wear it in public without getting a second glance. After enacting a wide range of acrobatic flips and jumps I was ready to practice external ki attacks.
I did the same thing as before and focused ki into my fingertips. During the process of gathering my ki, my mind accidentally shifted to the image of Rachel licking the apple juice from her lips. I shook my head and almost jumped in shock as I opened them. There Rachel was, staring in at me from outside the glass door.
Either she used her magic to be good on her word or I took too long on reading the instructions for this room. I slowly closed my eyes again as if to ignore and say I didn’t see her and refocused on my fingertips.
“It was just like this...” I mumbled aloud and the sensation from my fingertips sounded and felt like a miniature lightning strike releasing from imprisonment.
I could feel the gust of wind going forward and the pressure pushing me backward. I caught myself from falling on my ass and wondered about the sort of damage my new attack could do on a physical target. In my bout of celebration, I ran to switch off the dial so that Rachel could enter to talk about it.
“How are you able to move so fast at that level of gravity?” Rachel opened the door once the safety lock allowed entry.
“It’s not any faster than when I was chasing after you in our spar.” I was stumped for a second since her question didn’t relate to my ki blast. It was invisible so maybe it went unnoticed by her.
“Look...” Rachel reached for the dial and cranked it back up to the level I previously had it set to. Her shoulders and legs drooped from the increasing weight until it stabilized at the setting. She wasn’t struggling but her movements topped at the speed of a casual walk with no wasted steps. I was amazed she could move at all since the settings were high enough to cause some strain for Dorian wearing my battlesuit.
“This is me rapidly depleting my mana to avoid crashing and becoming one with the ground.” The way she phrased it made me smile. She had a good point though, my speed in normal gravity should be many times faster than hers.
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