Chapter 655 Nina, Teammate
The room inside was comfortable and spacious. A wide window ran along one wall, giving a clear view of the sky outside. Two fluffy couches faced each other across a low table and a small refreshment counter sat against the far wall, stocked with drinks and light snacks.
The lighting was warm and unobtrusive.
Moon sat down on one of the couches and Nina took the seat opposite him.
She was quiet for a moment. Her hands folded in her lap, her eyes drifting downward to the low table between them, and her expression carried a small complicated gaze before she looked back up at him.
"About what happened inside that gate... I'm sorry. I really don't know why I was acting the way I was. It wasn't like me. It was unprofessional, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about it since. I honestly believe something inside that gate was making me act that way. I've never felt that kind of hostility toward anyone before, and I've never felt it toward anyone since. Whatever it was, I promise I won't do anything like that again."
Moon listened her without interrupting.
She continued.
"I also never got the chance to thank you properly. Mara told me about how you saved my life inside that gate... And I didn't say a single decent word to you about it before we all went our separate ways."
Her eyes met his.
"Thank you, really. Maybe I could invite you to dinner one day. To make up for how I acted."
Moon shook his head, "It's okay. I knew you didn't mean any of it. Whatever was affecting you affected everyone in different ways. You handled yourself better than most people would have under those conditions."
He paused, "As for dinner. Sure. Once we come out of the gate, we can go out."
Nina's face brightened immediately.
"Nice."
Her earlier confidence returned, no longer strained by the guilt she had clearly been carrying since the S-Rank gate closed.
Moon watched her expression change and felt no need to correct any of her assumptions.
She didn't know about the Three-Tailed Fox. None of the team members who had entered the S-Rank gate knew about it, because while every one of them had been trapped inside the fox's illusion during the final phase, Moon had been the only one actually fighting it to the death. The team's memories of that final segment were fragmentary at best.
Moon had never corrected them.
The Three-Tailed Fox' existence, capabilities, and history were his secrets to keep.
Nina's belief that some general environmental effect had been influencing her behavior was close enough to the truth to be useful, and far enough from the truth to protect the information he wanted to protect.
He smiled at her.
"So. Tell me what you've been doing since the gate."
Nina leaned back on the couch and started to fill him in.
She had spent the first few days after the gate on medical leave. Her family had insisted on a full rest cycle before letting her return to active duty. After the leave, she proceeded with her evolution.
Her Second Sanctuary spawning point had appeared inside an allied base run by her family's older generation. Her father had cultivated relationships with the base's leadership over decades, and the inheritance of those relationships translated into immediate access to premium resources.
She had received a suite of rare treasures her family had been holding for exactly this kind of opportunity. Her fighting curriculum had been personally supervised by a family Surpasser which resulted in the rapid growth of her strength.
She had crossed from Zero Star to Two Star within her first month back in active duty. She was now sitting comfortably at Four Star Evolver prowess. Unfortunately, it was now difficult to maintain the same rate of progress as before.
Moon listened to everything silently.
When she finished, he applauded her efforts. Nina was a genius knight. Once given the right resources, optimal environment and help she needed, it made sense for her to almost match his pace.
He had reached his five star combat prowess in unfavorable conditions.
"That's excellent work. Congratulations."
Nina's cheeks colored slightly at the praise, shaking her head in dismissal.
"It's nothing compared to you. My father works in the Association. The things I've heard about you since the tournament... you're truly one of a kind. Some of the reports crossing his desk read like fiction. With you on the team, I'm much more confident about tackling whatever comes at us in the gate."
Moon smiled at the compliment without responding directly to it.
He stood up.
"We still have several hours before we arrive at our destination. I'm going to use them to train a bit. What about you?"
Nina grinned.
"I will join you, rest is temporary, but training is eternal."
Moon led her out of the private cabin and toward the training room at the rear of the orbital.
The chamber was well-designed. The walls were reinforced with durable materials rated for powerful Second Order impacts.
The room was filled with powerful containment runes that would catch the attacks and safely dissipate them.
However, the limitation of the room was clearly posted at the entrance. Maximum attack strength permitted was Three Star Evolver rank. Anything above that risked destabilizing the orbital in the long term or disturbing the other passengers.
Moon didn't mind.
He was planning to work exclusively on his assimilation technique, and that drill required no offensive output at all.
Moon walked to a section of the room and Nina walked to a different section of the room to run her own drills.
The two of them settled into their respective training rhythm.
For the next several hours, Moon continued to practice the Assimilation technique. He began to experiment with his six elements rather than simply sticking to one.
His thought process was simple, perhaps, training the different elements might given him an insight on how the element integrated itself.
And after several hours, the result was...
Author's Notes: We are out of the top 10 in GT. If possible, let's try get back into top 10! Thank you for the support