This is the final part to chapter 7. Hope you enjoy reading.
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"These spells are kind of broken. Think they'll be powerful in a fight?"
"Yes, but they are limited to your own strength. You have an immense amount of mana and potential, but even that is not enough to reach the extent of their power. You cannot overcome greater odds without relying on the sword, and that will remain true until you can wield the Balance Breaker."
"Or pull another super cool power," Issei laughed pompously.
"You certainly could with your reload trick. For optimum results, you should reload every time you get a Random Token and only keep your highest results."
"...No."
"What do you mean no?"
"Dude, that took like a week! It might have been longer, I'm not even joking!" That's what it felt like, at any rate. He didn't think he could sit through all that for hundreds of hours straight for something he might not even want or care to use. If not for his unbending conviction to save Asia, Issei wouldn't have come up with such a ridiculous plan in the first place. He was a naturally impatient boy, so of course he would refuse.
Ddraig refused to hear any complaint. The beast released a powerful sigh. "It is not only dragons, but those of every race which are power-hungry. Others would jump at such an easy way to acquire it, and yet you stand there and whine?"
"But like... it's haaaaaard..."
"Not harder than training for a century just to get stomped on by me. You'll pull for power whether you like it or not."
"You sound like my freakin' dad! You're really gonna bust my chops like that?"
"You're busting mine by not abusing your power to the upmost limit. You have the power, so abuse it!" Raising his voice, Ddraig made his thoughts clear.
Shrinking away from the demanding voice on his hand, Issei eventually caved. He knew Ddraig wasn't wrong - the whole point of training out here was to obtain more power. He shouldn't reject the opportunity to acquire more when it came, he was just being picky.
Being in a black void by yourself isn't fun, yo!
"School is letting out soon. Should I go back home and wait for Asia and Koneko to come?" Issei asked as he recalled Baby Dragon back into its contract.
"The devil girl can sense you through the contract linking you. You can even summon her here if you wish." Doing that would also mean Koneko would have to accept his summoning.
"I don't want Asia to be left alone, and I'm pretty sure Koneko would pick her up before leaving school. They'll probably wind up coming here if I don't go back. I'll just shoot her a text message so she knows what's up." He quickly took out his phone to send her one. Since Koneko was in the first year, she might've not been aware he had left Asia alone until school let out. The commotion he caused might not have reached her.
He wondered what gift he could get Asia as an apology. There was still some Common Tokens he'd stacked up over the week...
Ddraig watched as Issei dove into his Token Wallet. "Now would be a good idea to turn on your privacy settings. You don't need anyone but me directly seeing your ability."
"Oh right, I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me," Issei awkwardly laughed, knowing he would've screwed that up. He'd be on the end of a reload screen and restarting his entire day if not for that.
Maybe that would be for the best, considering the whole Sona fiasco... or maybe be could experience it again?!
"No, Issei! Bad!" He criticized himself, withdrawing one of the white tokens after hitting the privacy setting.
"..." Ddraig chose not to comment. He knew it would've been about something stupid.
Using up all of his remaining tokens and getting some acceptable pulls, Issei's phone dinged back. He read over the message, then reread it as is lips twitched down.
"What's wrong?" Ddraig asked. "Pussycat doesn't want to come out to play?"
"Actually, yeah..." Issei replied. He told her he was training inside the forest now that it was safe and thought she would come join him. He thought she would just take Asia along with her. It didn't sound like a big deal she declined, but the way she worded it was strange.
From Koneko: Taking Asia home. Don't wait up. You don't need me anymore.
He didn't like the way she worded that. What did she mean by not needed anymore?
Quest Alert!
Quest: Kitty Crisis
Get Koneko Toujou out of her depression.
Rewards:
20,000 Experience Points
250,000 Yen
1x Epic Gacha Token
"A new quest... for Koneko?" Issei read over the brief description. It wasn't complicated, but it had both baffled and left him disquieted.
She was depressed? How? Why? When was this?
"A quest?" Ddraig perked up at the muttered word. "Show me."
Disabling privacy for a moment - safe now that the others weren't coming - Ddraig also read over the contents.
"A rather easy task, in comparison to your previous one. It is not timed and there are better rewards as well. Perhaps this is a sign of them increasing gradually with each quest you complete?"
"I don't care about that. Why is Koneko depressed?" That was way more important than some stupid loot.
"I'm sure you'll find out after you cheer her up. You're getting rewarded for being her knight in shining armor. A pervert like you couldn't ask for a better quest."
Issei didn't respond. Maybe there was some truth to Ddraig's words, but it still got on his nerves. This was Koneko they were talking about. He didn't want her to be sad for any reason, and benefitting off her sadness just felt wrong.
But he couldn't leave her depressed. If she really was like that, he had to pull her out of it. As her friend and contractor, that was his responsibility.
"I thought it was Asia who I'd have to be worried about. I was wrong..." Unlike Asia, Koneko just didn't seem like the kind of girl who would get sad very often. If she did, she would probably puff out her chest and be able to take it easily. This definitely altered the perception of the stone-cold image he'd had of her.
"She appears tough, but she isn't. I thought her level made that obvious." Personality aside, the white-haired loli wasn't strong by any metric. It was Issei's bias that held her so highly.
"Whatever reason she has, it won't be reason for long because Superman is here! I'm gonna put a big smile on that mean ol' face and make sure it sticks!" With new life surging inside his worn muscles, Issei began to sprint out of the forest clearing.
'Just wait, Koneko! I'm coming!'