[Assimilation...100%]

I awoke to that familiar tab appearing in my consciousness.

[You have Assimilated with some of your memories.]

Some? So do I have amnesia or something? That's strange.

[Congratulations!]

[Bond with System has reached the second stage.]

'What the heck is this bond you speak of? If anything, you calling me Host sounds like you are some sort of parasitic bug.' I immediately responded with a retort as a reflex. Maybe I just got used to talking condescendingly to the System.

[Your mental state is currently too weak to fully Assimilate with Techniques.]

[Your body is currently too weak to fully Assimilate with Techniques brought over from muscle memory.]

'I understand I am weak...' It was either indirectly retorting back or it was being serious.

'Wait a minute, that's not how muscle memory wor—' The System continued bombarding me with messages before I could finish that thought.

[Assimilation is necessary to survive.]

[Prompting forceful Assimilation...]

'Wha—' A forceful pressure suddenly weighed on my mind pushing me to the brink of numbness. It wasn't just numb, I was in a sort of daze—hallucination? I was sapped of energy. Unable to tell if I was even breathing properly or if my blood was properly circulating to my head.

'I ca...'

—Rachel's PoV—

'7... 9... 11... 13... 18... 24... 32... 40... 48... 54—54!' I slowly opened my eyes to look at the metal rod. Sure enough, it was no longer glowing and was back to room temperature.

It was a decent improvement from 57 seconds, but it wasn't enough. Now that I think about it, it was an even more amazing feat that Daniel was able to do it in a second or two. I wonder how long it'll take for me to get to that level... The speed I'm growing at... It's unacceptable; even that blonde haired witch could do it in 49 seconds. Melissa...

I secretly snuck a glance at her, who had her eyes closed; still focused on casting the Reinforcement.

'Witch.'

She was an annoying witch. But her magical prowess could not be denied... I don't like it. What gives her the audacity to t—

"Yo!" Rose made a sudden appearance out of thin air. It wasn't unlike her. She actually does this a lot. Whether it was to surprise people or out of carelessness, she always appeared at the most unexpected moments.

On her back was a lazing sloth—oh...it's Daniel.

'Did something happen? Did he get slapped again? Eh?' It was only then that I realized the peculiarity.

He was dangling from Rose's shoulder as if he were a plate of wiggling jello; completely hollowed out of any bones; weightless.

'He's not dead.' I was able to tell that much. But his figure could easily be distinguished as a corpse.

"What happened." I said in a manner which prompted a response.

"Well..." I continued looking at her as she tried to explain.

A voice similar to mine suddenly popped up in my head and said, 'Rose's pupil moved to the side, trying to avoid direct eye contact. Instead of breathing with her stomach like calm people do, she's breathing with her chest signifying anxiousness or nervousness. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her moving her legs slightly to the right, shifting the weight and pressure onto her right leg. Both legs were still on the ground, but I could tell all the pressure from standing was taken on her right foot only; as if she was trying to balance on one foot.'

'She's fidgeting.' It said.

'Rose is beating around the bush.' It continued its narration, as if trying to incite a reaction from me.

I didn't want to admit that voice was right, but I couldn't find any way to rebute it—I actually found myself agreeing with what the voice said. Was it intuition? Or did it have something to do with my future sight? I was inching closer to intuition, but I didn't know. It doesn't really matter which one it was.

'Why would she be fidgeting?' The voice questioned itself, saying, "Isn't she the master of the Wizard's Tower? Isn't she supposed to be some sort of idol in the magic community?'

'She's immature.' I couldn't refute that either. But I knew she was...

'What was she to me? Was she a role model?' I continued looking at her with some level of expectation... Almost like I was hoping for confirmation.

I don't know. To me, she was a sort of motherly figure to me despite being considered a friend... A friend. How could I have forgotten? Before Daniel, Rose was my only friend.

'I'll believe...'

I'll believe in her words.

Even if—

—Scarlet's PoV—

'Holy Sh*t!!!' I was screaming on the inside.

I had only just come back after finding Daniel unconscious with foam coming out of his mouth and...

'Why do I feel so much killing intent surrounding me?' This level of murderous intent was unfathomable. It was even hard to discern where it was coming from, but the bad intentions were clearly written for me to see. It wasn't even trying to hide itself. For the normal person who has never experienced real fighting on the front lines, they would not even know what I was talking about. This isn't just something out of an anime, it was a real skill that murderers had. Some dubbed it the death glare; the look you give someone you are disgusted with, or the suffocating grip; as if there was an imaginary hand grasping your throat, ready to suffocate you.

This abundance of evil... It was the sort that could rival the feeling of despair when you knew that thousands of assassins were after your life. The only beings I have ever encountered that could even remotely match this level of intent were the dragons—and even then, they wouldn't direct this much pure hatred unless you eradicated half of their species—not that I ever did that.

"Well..." I barely squeezed the words out of my mouth before I realized the imaginary hand wrapped around my throat disappeared.

Taking a breath of relief at the disappearance of the imminent danger, I wondered, 'Should I explain what I was actually thinking or should I say something fake to not concern Rachel and Melissa?'

The strange thing about Daniel right now, was that his body seemed to have degraded back to an Ordinary physique; he was as weak as any layman. Yet, I could sense some sort of mysterious energy growing from within him. The first thing that this reminded me of, was the way certain mythical beings evolve. The phoenix goes through a sort of evolution called Rebirth; in which it burns itself to ashes and resumes as a new infant birthed from its ashes. The baby phoenix inherited some properties of its former self which in turn, made it stronger than before. There were many other types of evolution like forming a chrysalis, but the Rebirth was the one that was most similar to the process Daniel was going through. This sort of evolution should only be limited to those mythical beings often depicted in ancient stories and legends, yet a human was undergoing a similar process before me. I don't know what to think about it...

'I need to strengthen the security around here.'