I came up with the best way to ask questions of my untrusting disciple.

The answer is simple. It's money and items.

Yup.

It's totally not suspicious, like some random adult offering candy to a little kid. Not at all.

I'm too curious to spend weeks gaining her trust, so I have decided to use some things I bought from the 4th floor. I try with rare items, mana stones, more food, and the little girl loves it, even though she tries to hide it.

After hours of observing her, I’ve come to notice the imperfections in her facade. It's easier than usual, probably because it feels like talking to myself.

“What is your race?” I ask her after sliding a rare amulet to her. The item is capable of creating a barrier to shield against mana-based attacks.

It’s useless to me, but her hands nearly shake as she takes it.

While she quickly hides it under her new clothes, I notice a subtle and mischievous smirk on her face. As if she thinks she is scamming me.

“I will need more to answer that,” she says, already becoming braver in my presence.

She seems to think I'm someone rich and powerful, who has no idea how much these items are worth, so she’s decided to scam me for more.

How cute.

“Sure,” I say and put a few lower-grade mana stones and a small bag in front of her.

After grabbing it all, she puts her newly gained things inside.

“I'm half-demon, half-human,” her voice quietly sounds, and she examines me carefully, “I don’t know who my parents are or which one of them was a demon.”

“Are demons feared where you come from?”

“People don't like them very much…” she doesn’t say more.

The half-demon girl becomes more rigid, and it's easy to see how they treat her wherever she is from. A young kid without any parents or family, from a race that is feared and hated. They probably treat her extremely poorly, all while thinking they did her a favor just by letting her live.

I don't like that very much. It's only been a few hours, but she is my disciple, and my disciple being treated like this shows disrespect for me as her master.

Okay, it's decided, before she returns back, I will teach her some nice explosive skills and where to kick to make it hurt as much as possible. The little half-demon has a lot of self-control, but she is timid and weak, and that’s something I can help with.

I take more food and throw in some sweets and set it in front of her. As if trained, she waits for my question.

“Tell me your level, your skills, your class, and your passives.”

When she hesitates, I add a bit more to the pile.

“Level 6, skills are [Concentration] and [Mana Manipulation], I have no class and one passive, it's common Mana Channeling.”

I nod, and she quickly takes all the food, keeping some on hand to slowly nom on.

It looks like the system didn't lie and even our skills are similar. So, what is the exact purpose of this Floor? To train someone like me to become as strong as possible and then get as high a reward as possible?

Whatever, I will find out sooner or later.

“Okay, my silly disciple,” I say, changing my bearing, much to her surprise.

I quite like her personality and the skills she has. She also feels like an underdog to me. Bullied, at the bottom of the ladder, and who doesn’t want the underdog to win? Especially when this one is my disciple.

Oh no, we can’t have that. I will turn this half-demon into a terrifying being.

“My name is Nathaniel; use it if you want or do not; it's up to you. You can call me master or ‘hey you’; I don’t mind. I will train you and I will protect you while you are here. I will ensure that you do not go hungry and that you have nice clothes.”

Her expression isn't exactly trusting, but that’s fine. I will say what I want to say and prove the rest with action.

“In exchange, I will need information regarding your skills, your classes, and your growth so we can make you as strong as possible. I might also ask a few things about the place you came from. As always, you can decide not to answer any questions you are uncomfortable answering. Is everything understandable so far?”

She nods.

“Good, now I would like to set a few ground rules. First, never betray me. I’m trusting you and I promise that I will never betray you if you don’t betray me first.”

The little half-demon nods once more, her big red eyes observing me, “Master…” she asks carefully.

“Yes?”

“Do you not hate me? Do you not find my eyes ugly and horns disgusting?”

Damn, I’m quite good with kids, am I not? The change is staggering. Oh, maybe it's because of the food? Or maybe she feels a kinship with me as well.

In place of an answer, I lean in close and let her look me in the eyes, “Do you find my eyes ugly?”

“No! Master’s eyes are beautiful!” she shouts, maybe she really thinks that, or perhaps she has a fear of antagonizing me.

“Thank you. I also find your eyes pretty and your horns cute,” led by curiosity, I also reach out and touch one of her horns, pulling on it.

The texture is nice and it doesn’t feel cold, rather it has a strange warmth to it. When I move it from side to side while holding it, her head moves too and the shock on her face almost makes me laugh.

I let go and she puts her hands over her horn protectively.

She looks angry, but to me, it's more like an angry little kitten rather than anything to be taken seriously. Even as her face tries to remain expressionless.

“Try filling this mana stone with your mana,” I say and hand her one of the smaller mana stones I used for practice some time ago.

I take a moment to add some simple inscriptions to the mana stone, making it easier to infuse it with mana.

Then I stand up and fly high into the air. Even now, I keep myself afloat as if I were laying on a bed and position myself so I can see her just in case. The little half-demon doesn't seem to notice the anchor I left next to her, just in case.

Further away, I have some space to think about how I should deal with her. There are multiple options.

One of them is keeping my distance, training her and making her as strong as possible for the best possible reward.

Another one is to be fair, a bit harsh and use training methods that are more demanding, producing better results. That would include some pain from her side and the risk of her hating me.

Of course, I also have the option to become unhinged, treat her poorly, and train her through fear. She is just a fake so that wouldn’t be so bad, right?

I don’t like that last option at all and there is no need for it.

My disciple seems to have a personality I can appreciate. She seems to be the type that likes to keep her distance while tending towards honesty when she has no reason to lie. And I won’t lie, I pity her a bit. As with the many times before, it's hard for me to treat kids harshly.

But this is dangerous as well.

I just ended the 4th floor and Myrra, someone I've come to appreciate and befriend, stayed there with little more than a tiny speck of hope of Lissandra reaching her. Heck, for all I know, the floor disappeared immediately. Or maybe even nothing changed. Maybe Lissandra already counts as a tutorial attendee and even though she is not showing in the community, maybe the system still has some errors that need to be fixed.

Bringing me back to the main point - should I open up a bit? Should I allow myself to befriend my disciple, only to end up saddened when the floor ends?

As I like, I leave it up to future Nathaniel to deal with and open the Community.

I click on the Normal difficulty and a chat opens.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - hello.

One (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - oh, there is really someone from Hell difficulty!

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I thought they were making fun of us.

One (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - Noname, how is Hell difficulty? Is it true that you have a corgi and a snake that are probably stronger than us, lol?

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I think that little girl was just making fun of us, One.

Patriot (Normal, OnlyDads) - she sounded honest.

Patriot (Normal, OnlyDads) - hello, Noname!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I don’t know about the snake, but the corgi would surely take on some people from Hard difficulty.

One (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - heh, they are all the same.

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I told you, all people from Hell difficulty have a screw loose

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - please, Noname, don’t add fuel to the fire. These two are annoying enough as it is.

One (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - that’s not what you said on our date.

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - screw off, you made me pay even for you!

One (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - equality.

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - how is that equality!?

Patriot (Normal, OnlyDads) - what level are you, Noname?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I would rather keep it to myself. How come you guys didn’t join our Community?

Patriot (Normal, OnlyDads) - heh, that’s fine. You don’t have to tell.

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - you can’t join a Community that is in a higher difficulty than yours. This means Hell can join every Community while Hard can join every other than Hell etc.

Oh? That’s interesting and it explains why these people haven’t been in our Community.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - On the first floor, we had to survive for 30 days in a forest full of monsters that became harder over time. Cinderbear, battle trolls, phantom goblins. The second was to watch the end of the world caused by a skill powered by an unknown rarity sword, the third was to kill the body of a dead Saint Absolute that caused the end of the world, the 4th was to kill one of 4 calamities, each of them over level 250. What were your quests?

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - holy fuck, is he lying?

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I think that girl said something similar.

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - they could be both lying.

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - there is no real reason to.

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - Our first floor was similar but the monsters were probably weaker. The second floor was to survive a war between two small nations. The third we had to find the cause of the Decay. The fourth one did have this race of cat girls! They were so tall and cute, I wish I could take a picture! There we had to help free an old capital from the Living Tree.

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I want my lynthari mommy back

What the fuck?

Eve (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - creep.

Two (Normal, Ominous Latin Name) - I saw you trying to pull their tails!

I leave the Community before they continue.

It's interesting to see the differences between each Community and seeing Easy and Normal it looks like a lot of them take it much easier than any of us here in Hell. The proof will come when we finally meet face to face and I'm already curious about their level of skill.

A bit over a month remains until the tournament and more questions come. What will happen to the floor and floor quest during the tournament? Will they pause?

I float a bit lower to get a better view of the half-demon below me.

The entire time I'm up here, she keeps working on the mana stone. Her brow is furrowed, and as she does so, she even ignores the items she's been holding so covetously ever since I gave them to her.

She doesn't nibble on the food; the bag is forgotten on the side, and she only has eyes for the mana stone.

Her mask cracks even more, and the corner of her lips lifts up in a smile as she manipulates her mana and works on the task I gave her.

What she is showing me right now is something I know very well, and the moment I see her like that, I know I won't be able to treat her harshly or keep my distance. No, she and I both share the same love for this thing called mana.

And just like that, it's decided.

System, you bastard, the end of this floor is going to hurt, isn't it?