179: Reach for the Stars, Part Five

Reach for the Stars, Part Five

Ultimately, after considering what the best course of action would be here, Neve arrived at two options. 

The first was to use {Reconstruction} more before heading out. As Tamira had said, the Forces That Be would give Neve 2 weeks before they would personally push her out of this place. Neve felt it would be best to take advantage of that time before proceeding. 

Of course, the actual process of {Reconstruction} only took a few seconds, so that left her with a question. What would she do while she waited? 

And, Neve's answer to that was to train more. 

"Are you certain this will work the way you think it will?" Erin asked, concerned. 

"No," Neve replied, "but, we should try it anyway." 

"... Fine," Erin conceded. "But, for how long?" 

"An hour. That should be enough time to tell if this works. If it does, we'll keep going." Neve raised a brow. "By the way, given how much you like fighting, I thought you'd be excited to do this. What changed?" 

"Well, we're not really fighting, are we? You're just letting me hit you."

"I am going to be swinging at you too, though." 

"And you think you'll hit me?" 

"Maybe." 

Erin shook her head. 

"Alright. I'll get started then," Erin said before she dashed forward. 

Neve's idea was to combine a few different things into one prolonged sparring session. 

Erin would use her claws on Neve, to level up her Unarmed, which was currently at 70, Neve would use her activated sword to try leveling up her Blade, which was at 43, and every now and then she'd take a hit from Erin on purpose, which she'd heal away to increase her Healing Magic, sitting at 65. 

Naturally, because this wasn't focused training, it would likely take longer to bring each individual stat up. But, Neve still felt this would be a little more efficient...

... And less mind-numbing than just trading slashes all day, or cutting herself and healing over and over again. 

Neve's eyes widened as Erin appeared before her. Seeing her from this perspective, as an opponent, was pretty scary. 

She leaned away, as Erin had instructed her to earlier, and dodged away from her claw swipes instead of doing something like trying to block them. Erin was, of course, moving slower than she normally would. With Neve's Speed being 40 and Erin's being 65, if the lamia was actually trying her hardest, Neve's head would likely be rolling on the floor right now. 

[Hm... Honestly,] she thought as she looked at the crimson-haired, tan-skinned warrior trying to tag her, [dying to her wouldn't be a bad way to go.] 

Eventually, though, as Erin went for Neve's abdomen, the healer steeled her nerves and allowed her to connect. 

Blood decorated Erin's claws as Neve took her staff and quickly healed herself, before running back in to keep the fight going. 

Erin dodged away from a few wild swings from Neve. 

"I've told you before that your attacks need to have a plan behind them, you know. Why-" 

Erin was cut off when, suddenly, Neve tried to tackle her. 

Surprised, Erin outright let it happen, falling to the ground. Neve mounted her and raised her sword up, looking down at her summon as she took slow breaths. 

"... I didn't think this would actually-" 

Neve was cut off, then, as Erin wrapped her tail around Neve's body. 

She threw her off, slamming Neve into the ground, before taking up the same position Neve had just a moment ago. Neve couldn't move. 

Erin grinned down at her. 

"That was quite amusing but, personally, I prefer to be on top~" 

Cackling lowly, Erin slipped off her and helped the healer get back up to her feet. Neve dusted herself off as Erin took up a fighting position again. 

"Ready?" 

"... Yeah."

And so, the practice continued. 

An hour later, Neve's Blade skill went up by 1, bringing it to 44. She wasn't about to assume that one hour of training meant she'd gain 1 point, but this did confirm that this method of training was working. At least, for that skill. 

More time passed. A few hours later, Neve's Healing Magic went up by 1, bringing it to 66 and leveling Erin up with it. 

That was the real confirmation they needed. 

[Okay, this method works,] Neve thought. [This is what we'll be doing, then.] 

---

{One Day Later} 

The hour was 5:00 p.m. 

Neve was currently out of her Angel Set and instead wearing only an oversized white shirt and the most comfortable cotton underwear she could find in the World Shop. At this moment, Neve was browsing that shop's counterpart though, sitting at her desk while Erin read some books Neve bought for her. 

The lamia had said she wanted to "learn more about Neve's world" so, Neve bought a book for her and the two of them found out that the same translation system that allowed Erin to speak English could also translate letters into her language, which meant she could sit back and have fun doing that. 

Neve herself was looking for two things in the Hidden Shop. 

1. Anything that would boost the rate at which she gained EXP. 

2. Something to spend her 100k tokens on, now that she had the Angel Set and had internet service. 

There was one particular item that caught her attention. 

[Hm... I think I have enough food for a while. Don't have much else I would like to buy either. Lots of donations and gifts are still coming through... Yeah, I think this is worth it. Just in case.] 

So, she bought two items. 

Elixir of Consciousness Expansion

{Consumable}

{Legendary} 

{Increase Skill EXP gain by 5% for 24 hours} 

{Val: 10000 WST}

And, she bought one other item. One she'd had an eye on for a while, bringing her total WST all the way down to just 1800. 

[Always feels bad to see the wallet take a hit like that, but whatever.] 

At that moment, she received a notification from her PC.

[Hm?] 

She was receiving a video call.  0

[Oh, right. I forgot.] 

As she accepted it, she found Charlotte looking back at her. 

"Good..." 

The rose-haired woman's eyes lowered. Her lips remained parted, as though she'd momentarily forgotten to close her mouth. Neve looked down at herself to check what exactly had the woman so stunned. 

[Ah, yeah. This isn't exactly a high-effort outfit for me but whatever.] 

Regaining her composure, the journalist cleared her throat. 

"Good evening, Neve. How are you?" 

"Uh, good... Good..." Neve replied. "So... Uhm..." 

There was one question that immediately came to her mind, but Neve wasn't sure how to ask it. 

Thankfully, Charlotte guessed what was on her mind. 

"If you're worried about whether I told anyone about what you told me last we spoke, no. I did not. And, I do not plan on it." 

Neve caught herself breathing a sigh of relief. 

[Eh, even if she had, why should I care? It doesn't matter.] 

Her heart pounding against her chest at the thought of that information getting out said to her that it didn't agree with her mind, though. 

"Anyway, any progress with the 9th Floor?" Charlotte asked. 

"Uhm, no," Neve shook her head. "I'm going to have to practice a little before I keep going." 

"Oh? And what does this practice entail?" 

"Sparring, mostly. With my friend. The, uhm, snake lady you saw a while back." 

"Yes, this snake lady," Erin suddenly whispered into Neve's ears. 

The healer's eyes bulged out of their sockets as Erin wrapped her arms around Neve from behind. She was genuinely caught off-guard. She hadn't even seen the lamia get up. 

"E-Erin!" 

"Hm? Is anything wrong?" Erin asked, her lips so close to Neve's right ear they nearly touched it. 

On the screen, Charlotte was showing an odd smirk. 

"I'm going to go stretch my tail a little. Move around the camp. Later," Erin said, before removing herself from Neve and leaving the tent. 

[Geez...] 

Turning her attention back to the journalist, Neve found her holding back laughter. 

"Sorry about that," Neve said. 

"What is there to be sorry for?" Charlotte asked. "It seems the Final Challenge gave you a very close... friend?" 

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Neve nodded. 

"Anyway, I think this is kind of an opportunity," Charlotte stated. 

"What do you mean?" 

"This practice session," she said. "How about you stream it?" 

Neve's brows shot up. 

"What?" 

"Does that idea not appeal to you?" Charlotte asked. "I think it might be worth it. Give the world a glimpse of the skillset that the girl who is fighting so hard for them has. Show them a little bit of what you can do. You might instill some confidence in your doubters. Raise morale up a little." 

Neve considered it.

[Sounds kind of annoying, but...] 

She looked at her screen. Charlotte was looking at her with hope clear to see in her eyes. 

[... I guess I kind of owe her for spreading the word about me and my situation. Without all the donations I got, I would have never been able to kill Thomas.] 

Neve shrugged. 

[Fine. If she wants this, then whatever.] 

"Uh... Sure," she finally said. "I guess I could do that." 

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