I once visited a friend of mine who likes to collect a lot of things. She has this collection of dolls which we’re obviously untouched. Everything was cool. But I accidentally broke one. I had to repair it instead of replacing it since that doll was a rare one. She almost killed me at that time too.

***

Today’s a very unusual day. It is because, Petal, that always looks so composed and elegant, is now looking very tired to the point that she might suddenly drop.

Of course, I helped her. I tried carrying her like a princess. However, she was too heavy, so I casted > on her to make me carry her easier.

“I deeply apologize for making young master carry me.”

“It’s not a problem. You can just bring me to the room where the Core is located by pointing.”

While being apologetic, Petal still talked without any emotion on her face aside from looking very tired.

After making reaching a certain door inside the mansion, Petal let me put her down. Gently, of course…

“This is the first time I’ve seen this door. Was this here before?”

I’ve been walking inside the mansion a lot and memorized almost every nook and cranny of it. And like I said, this door was never here before.

“The previous master designed me to be the only key to this door. So if you ever want to come here, you’ll need my presence in order for the door to appear. As said in the inputted information inside me, no one is allowed to enter except the master with the [Key Bracer].”

Oh, Grandpa’s security system is not that complicated. I better modify it later so that Mom can use this place even if I’m not around when she arrives. But how do I do that?

“Well anyways, let’s go inside and help you.”

After saying that, Petal put both of her hands on the door. Though I call it a ‘door’, there’s no knob but two holes instead. It has the right size as Petal’s hands to fit perfectly. And with a Clank sound, the door opened.

The other side of the door is dark, but I can slightly see stairs going down. Since Petal entered without minding the darkness, I followed her inside. The moment I went past the doors, the doors slowly closes and the light slowly disappears. I can hear Petal’s footsteps from the darkness going forward. So even without the light, I can still follow her by sound.

I’m slightly scared. Not because of the darkness, but the things I might step on because of the darkness. Who knows? I might step on a dead body without noticing.

“Uhm… Petal, can we turn on the lights here?”

“Apologies, young master, but there is no torch or candle that can be used here.”

--I thought so.

I pushed out my hand from my robe and then used my [Rune Grabber].

[Element Row: Fire, Effect: None, Mana Output: 1%]

And then, a small ball of fire appeared on my finger as my source of light. I got slightly surprised to see Petal inside the darkness after that.

*Skip the walking part*

There weren’t much noteworthy things that happened on the stairs except of the door to the treasury. However, it took us almost 4 minutes to reach the last part of the stairs in which made my knees hurt like hell. I’m slightly worried in going up now.

We reached another door again. This door is a metal door and has > and > magic patterns on it. And again, there’s a hole instead of a knob.

“Master, this door requires the bracer as the Key.”

--I thought so. Simple but cool.

I pushed my hand with the bracer inside the hole. To my surprise, the hole has patterns inside which the bracer perfectly slipped into. Also, there’s actually a doorknob at the end of the hole. When I tried to twist it, the hold suddenly tightened and the bracer was held in place. The door made a heavy unlocking sound then it pulled back a little.

“So this was the real use of the Bracer.”

I let go of the doorknob and pulled my hand out leaving the bracer inside the hole. Then I push the metal door. Since it was lighter than I expected, it slammed on the side. Thankfully it didn’t make any unnecessary noise.

Petal and I then entered the room together.

The door closed, and the bracer suddenly appeared hanging—wait. It’s a different one.

“Please we-wear this young master.”

Even with her weakened state, Petal still tried her best to perform her duty. She took the bracer that was hanging on the door and gave it to me. Like its natural, she slipped it into my left hand with shaking hands.

“Are you alright, Petal?”

“Yes, I’m still alright young master.”

--I can tell that you’re lying you know.

After that, we proceeded together.

Seconds later, an illumination from the end of the hall could be seen. I can’t smell any smoke or anything burnable in here so it’s probably magic.

When we reached the room, there are vines made of earth is hanging from the ceiling and a pool of clear and obviously clean water in the floor. I can see some crystal-like things reflecting light. And in the center of the room, there is a glowing basketball sized crystal orb is held by the roots from the ceiling while barely touching the water puddle on the floor.

“Is that the [Core]?”

“Yes.”

We walked together towards the core. But when we reached the pool of water, Petal suddenly stopped walking.

“What’s the matter?”

“I cannot step unto the water. If I did, the [Mana Crystals] in the water might override me.”

So the crystal-like things in the water is called [Mana Crystals] huh. I should have known.

“Then what can I do from here?”

While I ask Petal for instructions, I look down the pool.

There’s actually stairs made out of earth going down, and judging by the pool’s water level, it’s probably just between my leg and hip.

“When you walk down the pool young master, slowly pour your mana into the water.”

“What happens if I did?”

“The water in the pool will react and crystalizes the [Ether] around to fuel the core. That should be enough to do it.”

“Okay. Then, when do I stop?”

“It all depends on you, young master.”

-I see… It all depends on the master huh.

I slowly sink my leg into the water and tried to step on the stair. After I confirmed that it’s not slippery, I then proceeded slowly.

As I slowly go down, I realized that my observation earlier was wrong. The water is getting higher than my waist level. After the last step, it’s already on my shoulder level. I hate the feeling of my underwear getting soaked.

“If Cherry or Matt was here, they’re probably swimming by now.”

I giggled lightly while picturing Cherry and Matt’s struggle in the water. It’s actually funny.

Since I’m really curious about it, I walked towards the core. When I got close, I touched it with both of my hands.

“Petal, what else can the [Core] do aside from maintaining the barrier?”

“According to the information inputted in my memory, it maintains the temperature of air and water inside the barrier. Other than that, it informs me on the things that move inside and outside the barrier.”

So it’s like a computer. Maybe I can use it.

“Is it possible for me to see the things that are happening now?”

“Yes, however, it’ll consume the mana in the water.”

“Since I’m going to refill it anyway, I’ll use the function. How do I do it?”

“You only need to think that you’re one with the [Core], after that, I don’t know what happens.”

Even if Petal sounds like she doesn’t want me to do it, I’m still going to do it.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the core. Now, I can feel the sogginess of my underwear more. I hate this.

I inadvertently poured my mana into the [Core]. However, it looks like it was the right thing to do since it responded to me by making my head hurt a little.

The core then made a sound similar to an electric motorcycle turning on. It’s actually kind of cool.

“Now then, let’s start testing this.”

Since I can tell that my mind is one with the core, I started shifting my thoughts into the [Core]. When I did, I found it that I can see thought Petal’s point of view. Now, I can see myself holding the core. I actually look stupid while concentrating which is slightly annoying. I better fix that.

Next, I then transferred to [Free Viewing] (I call it like that), and roamed around my view like a bird in the sky, though it’s only inside the barrier. I can also see through walls actual—I have a pretty good idea what to do next.

***

After playing around with [Free Viewing] and watching the girls fighting in the bath, I then returned back to my original business. As a side note, I saw Cherry getting angry at Matt for kissing her last night. Naked if I may add.

While I was browsing in the memory, I finally found out who kept attacking the barrier.

It started five days ago. My suspicions on who were the attackers were correct, they’re all Darkus mages. Most of them used high-leveled magic, and two of them used advanced. Thankfully the barrier withstood all of that.

After I’m done investigating, I released my mind from the link with the Core.

Since I’m already in the water, I spread my arms out and concentrated on releasing my mana into the water. I forgot to mention this, but the feeling of releasing of mana is similar to the one after pissing. It feels refreshing.

Everything was going smoothly and crystals start appearing slowly one after another from the water. It’s so slow, so slow that I got impatient. So, I decided to hasten it up by pouring mana faster. But that was a big mistake.

“Oh fuck!”

Large sharp crystals grew one by one from the water. One of them almost stabbed my crotch. Luckily it only grazed my jeans. Not my underwear.

The large crystals kept appearing one after another and their getting bigger and bigger even though I stopped pouring mana. Some of them even touched the ceiling. Did I overdo it?

When I tried to go back to the stairs, the water around my foot suddenly became a crystal and stopped my movement. To my surprise, the [Mana Crystal] made my foot feel light and floated in the water. I lost my balance and I dropped into the water.

I feel like I’m drowning. The mana crystal on my foot kept getting bigger and bigger until it gained weight and pulled me down in the water.

It’s like a flash before my eyes. To my surprise, Petal jumped into the water. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her. After that, she lifted my head above the water to make me gasp for air.

“*Cough!* Petal! Get out of the water *Cough!*”

“No young master.”

Even while I was panicking, Petal calmly denied my command.

She slowly pulled me to the part where the stairs is.

While walking in the water, I can see that there are parts of her body that’s getting crystalized slowly.

When we arrived, she let me grab on the edge.

“Thank you Petal, now let’s get out of the water.”

I told her while holding on the edge. But when I looked behind my back, I did not see her. No, she fell and drowned.

No! NO! NO! NO! NO!

I immediately dived into the water to follow Petal.

Petal is lying in the pool’s floor unconscious. However, there are crystals around her body that’s starting to form.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. After that, I raised her head out of the water and put her arm around my neck.

When we got out of the water, I immediately check if she’s unconscious.

“Hey, hey, hey! Wake up!”

No matter how I shake her, she won’t wake up.

“Come on Petal! Wake up!”

I shook her again.

“Why did you jump Petal?”

“…….”

“You said it yourself that it’s dangerous for you to touch the water, why did you jump!”

“…….”

“I just made a small blunder, just one! Why did you have to die?”

“…….”

No matter how many times I shook and yelled at her, she won’t respond to me.

This is totally my fault. If I didn’t rush, this thing wouldn’t have happened.

Suddenly, I can feel something warm going down my cheeks.

Ah, I’m crying.

“That’s funny.”

It’s really funny. Here I am, blaming myself, and crying, to someone who isn’t normal. This is really funny. It’s a big joke.

After crying my eyes out, I slowly calm down by myself. I grabbed both Petal’s hands and put them on her chest.

“I…”

I want to apologize for my rashness, but the words don’t come out. It’s because that I know, a sorry doesn’t mean anything to the dead.

I wipe my wet face with my now dried hands. Just then, the ring on my right hand touched my eye and caught my attention.

“The [Rune Grabber]…”

A good idea suddenly struck my head.

“Activate >”

When I put my right hand on Petal’s hands, the ring reacted. And then, the script in her [Core] popped out and got exposed. There, a complicated lined up damaged index of her being can be read. Because of my ring’s function, the script is changing into runes. However, the script and runes are slowly disappearing because the core is broken. It seems that her core’s function is made out of scripts like my sword [Vampire’s Reach].

Here, I’ll start repairing Petal from the outside.

I removed the [Mana Crystals] carefully with > from all over her body. Since it the situation is dire, I ignored the fact that I stripped her.

After returning her clothes, I activated another function of the [Rune Grabber] >. I called it > since it reveals the runes that I learned and used so that I can reuse it.

However, there’s no rune that fits the script in the History. Even the regeneration script from [Vampire’s Reach] isn’t usable since she’s an android.

“Come on brain, think!”

I look around the index for clues.

…

…

…

Just then, another thought entered my head. I look at the [Core] of the mansion while lining up my thoughts.

“Maybe I can return it back to the original state?”

I run towards the [Core], since the water in the pool has turned into [Mana Crystal], I safely run above it. I hurry lie down my stomach and touched the [Core] with my right hand and reactivated >.

Although I expected it, it went past my expectation. The script index of the [Core] filled my field of vision. I feel like a hacker for some reason.

“Where the fuck is it?”

I kept scrolling on the script index to find the script that’s linked with Petal’s [Core]. There’s too many of it, so it’s really hard to know which one.

I kept on scrolling and reading and repeat.

I was about to lose hope. But then, I got slightly lucky. A script in a different color suddenly showed itself and outshined the others. When I read it, it’s the same one with Petal’s.

I grabbed the rune then record it into the ring.

When I got back, I overlapped it with the existing script. However, the Core is low on mana so the repair is low on probability according to the readings on the ring. But—

“This is not a problem for me.”

I put my right hand on Petal’s hands and my left hand oh her stomach. After that, I explode.

[Non-Element Row: Arcane, Effect Column: Transfer, Target: Single, Mana Output: 200%]

I transferred mana into Petal. After that, her body suddenly shook like the ones I saw in the TV when the patient had lost their pulse.

“Great!”

The Core responded and it gained mana according to the ring. After that, I overlapped the script with the new one.

After a few minutes, I’ve finished it and done repairing the core.

It turns out that the regeneration function from [Vampire’s Reach] was useful for the other parts of Petal’s body to be auto-repaired. Though, it had to be modified so that it repairs metal.

And for the last part, I’m finally going to reboot her by transferring mana to her again. This time, it’s six times the output. Also, I gave the new spell a name.

“>”

…

…

…

…

As I waited for Petal to respond, the room is in silence. It’s so quiet that I might have lost my hearing. I snapped my finger to check if I can hear anything. Luckily I still did.

Suddenly, while looking at Petal, I saw movement on her eyes.

“Petal…”

Without wasting any second, Petal suddenly sat up and looked at me. She gave me her usual reaction which is none.

“Young master, I deeply apologize for not warning you not to release you—”

Without letting her finish her words, I inadvertently hugged Petal and cried.

“I should be the one who should be apologizing! Don’t do something that could kill you, you idiot!”

“Forgive me master, I am programmed to save my creator, which is you. So it shouldn’t have been normal for me to die if I was saving you.”

Since I was crying too hard, I didn’t hear the former. But I’m really thankful that she’s alive.

“Now then, let’s go back to the top. The others must be waiting.”

-End of Chapter-