Change: New World

Proposal

I let the question hang in the air while I peered at the girls with droopy, impassive eyes.

I expected some sort of reaction, a response. A mostly negative feedback was what I expected, but to my surprise, they readily agreed with more determination than I could possibly imagine.

Cielle furiously nodded her head, making her long black hair sway in frantic movement. Hina on the other hand, pumped up her fist in a rather unlady like manner while yelling, “Oooh! I’m ready!”

I was taken aback by their enthusiasm, and couldn’t help but ask a question.

“W-why are you two so excited? I was pretty sure you’d have refused or at least resisted…”

The two sisters, in response to my question, turned towards each other. They stared at each other, before, as if in sync, they both nodded and turned back to me.

“I want to get stronger, obviously. I don’t want to die after all.” Hina stated bluntly.

Her reason was sound and logical, the same type I applied to myself.

“......”

Cielle on the other hand, mumbled something I couldn’t quite comprehend. Hina, seeing this, tried goading her sister into taking louder, but in the end, it only made Cielle’s mumbling even less pronounced.

Well, I accepted both their reasons nonetheless.

Hina’s was for survival, and Cielle… for something else, but no matter. I should see this as a lucky break. If they were a bit determined, then it would make leveling them up easier, but first, I should warn them.

Like the terms and agreements section in a new purchase, I poured down the bad news for these girls, although, judging from their prior experience, I already assumed they knew full well what they were getting into.

But I at least wanted them to not believe in a fantasy where everything was safe and easy.

“You know, you’re going to end up fighting monsters?”

Hearing this, Hina didn’t show a face of surprise. Rather, her expression got grim, as she clenched her fists and I could hear the grinding of molars.

“I-I know… but I still want to get stronger.” She looked like she literally forced those words out of her mouth while her eyes were squinted in determination.

Cielle, seeing this display, said nothing but merely grasped Hina’s clenched hand with her own.

Hina turned towards Cielle, and in a choked up voice, she uttered, “S-sis….”

I imagined Cielle was smiling back through her veil of hair.

Well, back to me. From an outsider’s perspective, this was a very mushy scene of familial love, and while it brought forth bitter feelings of my own family, and whether they were still alive, I said nothing and simply let them have their moment.

While this scene was good and all, if she really wanted strength, then….

“Hina.” I called out, interrupting their little family love.

“W-what?” She asked, startled by my sudden outburst.

“You want to get stronger, right?”

“Yes!” She responded immediately.

Hearing this, I nodded and sighed, while I fished around my pants pocket for a few items.

In a little while, I pulled out two vials. One was red, the other was blue. Obviously, the two vials were respectively a health potion and a mana potion.

I silently passed the two objects along to Hina, who received them with a tilt of her head and a confused expression. Sitting next to her, Cielle widened her eyes from behind her hair and nodded in understanding.

[Well.... it’s already been a whole day since everything started, I wonder whether she’ll still get a reward…]

Although I was the one who came up with this, I still had my doubts about its success.

By my conclusion, I guessed that certain achievements were met by being the first or one of the first to do a specific task. This same logic applied to how Hina and I aquired our Unique healing skills.

What I was concerned about was whether Hina can will still be able to get an achievement. After all, almost a whole day had passed, and a lot can happen that I’m not aware of.

“What’re these?” She asked while scrutinizingly examining the red and blue vials.

“They're potions. The red one is health, the blue one is mana.”

“Mana?” She asked, as if the concept was somewhat familiar yet vaguely foreign.

“Ah, that’s right, I haven’t told you about it yet have I?”

“?”

With that, I began a separate explanation about the various intricacies of stats.

I had Hina bring up her own status window, which warranted a gasp of surprise. After that, I began explaining each stat with what little information I had gathered and or concluded.

“Okay, I understand now, but why are you giving me this?” She asked after my explanation.

“Eh… it’ll take too long to properly explain… let’s just say, I’m going to give you power.”

“????” This riddling remark only left more questions in Hina’s mind.

“Ah, whatever, for now, just go with it! Cielle, use [Gemini Blue]!”

I ordered the quiet girl, who readily responded with a firm bob of her head.

Instead of going into that pose of hers from last time, she merely sat motionless. At first I frowned and wondered why wasn’t she doing anything, but my doubts were refuted shortly after.

As if seeping out of her pores, the light blue sparkling blob bubble leaked out from Cielle’s skin. In little time, a blob of blue was floating in the center of the triangle that currently made up Hina, Cielle, and I.

Hina, who saw all this for the first time, looked on in awe. It was as if her eyes were sparkling at the new wonder before her.

“S-s-sis… H-how did you…?” Her words trailed off as the luminescent blue took hold of her attention.

Seeing her sister’s positive reaction, Cielle smiled (or at least I imagined she smiled) from behind her veil of hair.

“It’s magic…”

Cielle spoke as she mentally controlled the ball to move and contort which every which way she willed it to.

I raised my eyebrows at this. Cielle’s control was… amazing to say the least. Was she practicing while I was sleeping?

Eventually, after amazing her sister with such finesse magic control, she smiled ruefully while saying, “... It’s cool, ne?”

Hina could only nod absentmindedly, while her eyes remained fixated on the blob.

After a while, Hina spoke with an uncharacteristically timid voice, “I… I can do that too, right?”

It was at this point that I interjected.

“Well, not exactly the same as your sister’s but something similar.... probably.”

“Then, I-I want to learn.” Hina replied whimsically.

I nodded. I understood her enthusiasm. If it wasn’t for this troublesome skill of mine, even I’d…

“Okay then. Cielle, put away [Gemini Blue] before you expend any more of your mana.”

I guessed that it required both a fixed amount of mp for Cielle to move and create [Gemini Blue].

Upon my prompting, Cielle let out a soft, “Ah--” sound and shook her head.

Although she hadn’t said anything, I kind of understood what she meant just through her body language.

In short, it seems like she can’t will [Gemini Blue] to go away.

I frowned. Why could she not do it? Was the light blue, the thing I’ve mentally started labeling, “Light Gemini” the same as Dark Gemini in that it wouldn’t properly disappear if it remained unused?

After coming to this conclusion, numerous theories and ideas filled my head.

What would happen if I mixed Gemini Light with Gemini Dark? Would they cancel each other out? And what would happen if someone fully healed were to have Gemini Light used on them? What would happen if Gemini Dark were to be used on something completely dead?

… Really, I was reminded once more of exactly how interesting this Unique Magic skill was.

I sighed out. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have much time for that right now though.

I stood up and went out to the back of the room. The girls’ eyes followed me but otherwise stayed seated. After a while, I pulled out a clear plastic water bottle which had been once filled with, well, water.

Luckily, something of this size was enough since the bubble blob Cielle produced was relatively small.

I moved over close to the blob, as it drifted over to my direction, indicating that Cielle was putting in her own assistance.

“Stop-- I want to test something.” I interfered, while prompting Cielle to stop manipulating the blob.

I walked over, and tentatively ran my hand through the bubble. Surprisingly, my hand touched firmly onto the blob. A smooth and nice sensation overflowed within the area where skin touched blue. This feeling was completely opposite of Gemin Dark’s affect.

Oh, while I’m at it, I used identify on the “Gemini Light”.

Like with Gemini Dark, a window panel floated into existence.