Chapter 178 - Thundercloud of Magical Power
There was one option. It was an extremely specific one. It was so situational, it was barely worth mentioning. Yet, the exact situation had popped up that made it viable, despite how, frankly, nonsensical it was.
It was a procedure, which, technically, anyone magician could do. But the pre-requisites were insane.
"Lena."
That got her attention. She immediately perked up. "Yes darling?"
"We’re leaving."
"Yes!" She raised a fist in the air. "Time for that v-" She was about to scream out vault, then realized the various pixies still around her. "U-um. I mean, uwu bedroom time."
???
He didn’t even bother retorting. As long as it kept the pixies from thinking they were going to harm them, then any explanation worked.
He led her away from the gathering pixies, navigating through the forest until they reached a concealed location. They had gone back to their airship. She immediately climbed in and, as usual, settled onto his lap without hesitation.
Lumi gave a small smile. Lena was so nice...
He wrapped his arms around her. "I love you."
She returned the hug with ten times more enthusiasm. "Marry me!"
He nodded, then activated the controls. The airship lifted and began ascending.
The ride was, as expected, not quiet. Lena started talking immediately and didn’t stop.
"Do you think there could be penguins made of steel?"
?
Before Lumi could even respond with yes or no, Lena continued by herself.
"But you know what it’s like? It’s like I’m not talking about robotic penguins. Hm... I need to find a metaphor. Metaphor. Meta? The meta in metaphor. The M stands for..."
She furrowed her brows. "Hey Lumi?"
Now that he could finally get a word in, he responded to her inquiry naturally. "Yeah?"
She was silent for a couple moments, before finally muttering. "Whose Micheal?"
"Huh!?" Lena was the last place Lumi expected to hear that name from. What the hell was even up with that guy? Why was there a Micheal everywhere all of a sudden!?
He could not tell if he was just overthinking and overanalyzing, if it was just coincidence, or if there was seriously something going on.
He went to Michea-
His thoughts were interrupted by Lena as she continued her explanation. "Yeah! It’s like, I was just thinking, right? I was just rambling. I like to ramble. You know that. I like that. So the word metaphor starts with an m. For some reason, I was going to say ’The M stands for Micheal!’"
She stared into Lumi’s face, unsure why he seemed so shocked. "What? What happened? Did I say something wrong?"
"No..." Lumi said slowly, to reassure her.
He was just unsure. But even if there was really something going on regarding this Micheal character, it really had nothing to do with lena.
She just happened to say that name, right?
Seeing Lumi move past the moment, Lena continued. "Okay, but you know the demons? What are we talking about chat? I mean, there’s demons, right? But we can also use demons as a term of societal... uh, something. Like, you scare them with the demons! You know? So, demons can be both a metaphor and the actual plague."
"What?"
Lena turned her head. She considered explaining herself further, then decided that it wouldn’t be worth it. She entirely changed the topic. "What about bread?"
"What about bread?"
"I don’t know. Something something white bread, something something multigrain."
"...?" Lumi couldn’t help but blink. "You can’t just say something something."
Lena sighed dramatically and looked out the side of the airship. "Wooooow, something something, housewife." She blinked then turned to Lumi and kissed him. "You’re gonna get one."
"Oh?" Lumi paused. He wasn’t one to endlessly hesitate though, even if it felt off, so he leaned back into her and kissed her on the lips.
Mwah~
The two shared a moment.
After separating, Lumi’s thoughts returned to what Lena said. "Repeat that."
"Hm?" Lena blinked. "Oh, I said being a housewife."
"...You’ll do that?"
It was very unexpected to him. Lena? Being a housewife? The same Lena who was currently covered in burns and pulled off bomb teleportation strategies?
That Lena?
She tilted her head. "I don’t know. It just seems nice."
"Nice?"
"Yeah. Peaceful. Calm. No fighting. Just... living." She shrugged. "Cooking, cleaning, taking care of stuff. Sounds kinda lovely."
Lumi didn’t respond immediately. Lena was chaotic, violent, easily distracted, impulsive, and so many more amazing things that he adored about her.
"I see," he replied, a small smile on his face. He pulled her back in to a tight hug, leaning forward and whispering in her ear. "You’ll be the best housewifey for me."
She nuzzled into him. "I’ll start a few fires~"
"Looking forward to it."
Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t linger, because they reached their destination. Or rather, a destination.
They had been ascending the entire time, higher and higher until the forest was far below them, the air thinned, and they saw it.
A cloud, but not a normal one. These were a special variant, a thundercloud of magical power.
It wasn’t particularly large or visually impressive at first glance, but there was a subtle, constant flicker within it. There was energy, contained and unstable.
These clouds were rare, but not impossibly so. They formed more or less at random, though it was more common under specific magical weather conditions. High altitude, high mana density, and electrical convergence. The exact mechanics weren’t fully understood, but the result was.
They stored magical energy, and more importantly, they could transfer it.
However, they couldn’t just transfer it into anything. It had to be an object, either made of wood, or of metal. A wand was perfect for this.
The process was simple in theory. You placed the object inside the cloud, it absorbed the energy, and it became stronger-infused.
But there was a catch. Whoever intended to use the weapon had to undergo the same process. A baptism of electricity and magic at the same exact time.
If you didn’t, the wand would become difficult to use. It would be unstable and unresponsive. The only one capable of using the weapon properly was anyone who went through the baptism process together with the weapon. In effect, the baptism bound the weapon to the wielder.
However, this process could also kill you, very, very easily.
The problem was that you couldn’t measure the cloud precisely. Some were mild and manageable by even weak level tens. Others were lethal to even those at the peak of second rank, yet for the most part, there was no reliable way to tell which was which.
It was about at second rank that the chances of living would be about half, give or take depending on your specific strength.
It was a gamble that no sane person would ever take. By the time one was strong enough to guarantee survival, there was literally no point in attempting to undergo this process. It was minimal gains, and for what?
Not that they could even try, given that the clouds were extremely high up, and most people couldn’t fly!
But they had an advantage that made this extremely niche upgrade actually viable. Respawning. Even if they died, the upgrade would persist. The only cost was time, which is why they didn’t do it before. But right now, they had time to spare.
After reaching the cloud, Lumi parked the airship midair, having it hover next to the cloud. Lena perked up. "Ooh!" She stared into the cloud, watching the way it flashed with azure energies. "What’s with this?!" She looked at Lumi, then at the cloud, then back at Lumi.
"I’ll explain."
He began explaining the situation to her. As she listened, her expression gradually shifted from curiosity to excitement to a large grin.
"So if I’m getting this all right, and I better be because you explained it," She began speaking quickly and excited. "What you are saying is that we jump in, maybe die, and get stronger? It’s THAT simple? I don’t even have to do anything? I just... gamble? Except I always win!"
Lumi nodded. "That’s correct."
Lena began shaking with excitement. "That’s amazing. I love gambling! But only correct gambling! You know what they say, the house always wins! And I am the house!"
Lumi gave her a thumbs up, following her personality. "That’s right! You are the house! Now you’ll be able to scam EVERYONE. So, be a scammer!"
He gestured toward the cloud. "You go first."
"Okay!" She climbed onto the front of the airship, nearly tipping it forward. Before she jumped in, she looked back to clarify. "Wait, you do want me to jump, right? How about you?"
"I’m piloting," Lumi said. "If we both die, we lose the ship. I’m waiting to see if you live or die so I know if I can go in or not."
"Oh."
That made sense.
"Okay!"
And with that, she proceeded to then jump straight into the cloud without a single second of doubt.