"Yo, hope I didn't miss anything?" Cain greeted Jacob and Jared who were just laying out the map to the forest on the table. "Nope, you're on time. We're just setting up right now, the girls are grabbing a few quests to choose from." Jacob replied, placing the utensils needed for any explanations around the table.

"Sweet." Cain took a seat near the door, his back against the wall. "Oh, Cain. You know Diana has been looking for you right?" Jared sat across from Cain and started up a conversation while Jacob finished up.

"Actually? I thought she would be, but I haven't seen her so I figured she'd just drop it." Cain expressed, putting his chin on his folded hands. "Yeah, she approached us on our way here, apparently she couldn't see you during dinner or something." Jared explained, leaning back in his chair and waving his hands as he spoke.

She's probably just too shy or it was too crowded… Cain concluded while pondering over the matter, speaking up when something came to mind. "She didn't cause you guys too much trouble though, did she?" "Nope, Veronica seemed a bit annoyed, but other than that there weren't any issues." Jacob answered while sitting at the head of the table.

Veronica and Victoria came into the room after a few minutes of comfortable silence passed among the boys. Victoria walked over to Jared's right near the empty seat, laying out a few commissions she got from Madison; Veronica sat on Cain's left.

"So we've got a few B-rank quests and an A-rank. I managed to convince Madison to promote my adventurer rank to C-rank to match my circles after we complete one B-rank or A-rank quest instead of the usual few C-ranks." Victoria explained while the party shuffled around the commissions she brought with her.

Each party member picked up whatever commission was closer to them, read it, then passed it to their right. Cain and Veronica’s hands reached for the same commission, she froze, her heart overpowering the others’ reactions to the quest. Seconds turned into hours as the world stood still, each thump brought forth another tinge of red to Veronica’s face.

Cain sneaked a glance at Veronica and recognized her dazed state. He tapped her finger twice as he took the commission. The sudden stimulation caused her to quickly retract her outstretched hand. Victoria watched the duo with a slight look of envy, occasionally glancing at the oblivious Jared.

There was a quest to subjugate the undead, with bonus rewards for finding the cause to their sudden increase in numbers, a quest to steal some monster cubs or eggs, and a request from a village to fortify their defenses against the surrounding monsters. The quest to subjugate the undead was an A-rank quest with the bonus option included, otherwise it was marked as a B-rank quest like the others.

"Hmm… I don't think we have the skills to help with the village unless Cain gets involved." Jacob commented after setting that quest back into the center of the table for those who have not looked at it to do so. "Yep, I could solve it easily but that would defeat the purpose of you guys taking the quest." Cain confirmed Jacobs assumption, bringing about various nods.

"I don't like this monster cubs and eggs one… it feels as if some noble requested it or the likes." Veronica commented then handed the slip to Victoria who reached out her hand for it; she did her best to focus her thoughts on the meeting, yet her cheeks still reflected a soft red. "Yep, it lacks the seal of the Taming Branch. It would most likely be used for entertainment or a hobby." Victoria inspected the quest slip then placed it back into the center of the table.

"How do you know it's not a noble looking for one to train independently?" Cain asked, intrigued by the mention of a Taming Branch. "Even then, they would need the approval of the Taming Branch or would have to register it with them later. It'd be cheaper to just hire the Branch to put in a request for the cub and have them inspect it before delivery." Victoria explained part of the intricacies of the Taming Branch's operations; information Cain assumed to be delivered by Natasha in some way.

"I see… I guess that leaves the undead quest then?" Cain asked while flicking the quest slip across the table, like one would a playing card. It flew in a curved arc, landing gently with a spin before Jacob. "Yep, it appears to be quite a journey though, about a two week round trip. We'd probably need three to five days to finish the quest too." Jacob marked the location of the quest within the forest on the map.

“Dang… I guess you won’t teleport us directly there?” Jared directed his question towards Cain, who just shook his head lightly. “Nope, only if it’s an emergency. Otherwise you guys are on your own. Since it’s a long trip, I’ll help with repairs on your gear though. I need to get some practice in anyways.”

Cain offered the last bit to show that he wouldn’t leave the party completely out to dry. His last statement reminded them that they were still able to ask him for advice and such, Cain just wouldn’t get involved with their questing unless needed.

“Sweet, we should be able to save a few days that’d usually be spent on looking for a blacksmith and getting repairs done.” Jacob performed some calculations, unrolling a ball of string and wrapping it around pins placed on the map. “Our route will look something like this then. The previous route was to scout for any nearby blacksmiths by asking the villages on our way to the quest.

“It’s become a habit to do this once we heard about a party having to forfeit a quest since they couldn’t find a blacksmith to repair their gear.” Jacob explained his reasoning to Cain who nodded to show he listened. “Our trip should be about 12 days now, the time to complete the quest not included.” Jacob redid his estimations after the route was fully mapped.

Victoria double checked his rough calculations then shuffled the quest papers together. “We should spend the rest of today packing and preparing for the trip. It’ll be a long one so don’t forget your daily essentials as well.” She ordered the party then turned to Cain while Jacob rolled up the map.

“We’ll probably leave early in the morning tomorrow like usual, so um… just prepare what you need to, I guess.” Victoria kept casting glances at Veronica, trying to get her to ask Cain about his plans. All of her signals fell on deaf eyes, the events of earlier still prominent in Veronica’s mind; distracting her from the present.

“Sounds good. Contact me if you guys need anything, I’ll just be lazing around and such.” Cain glanced at Veronica once more before leaving through a portal SRI created. Victoria had to shake Veronica’s shoulder for her to snap out of her dazed thoughts, her cheeks got even redder when she realized what had just occurred.

What kind of life did Veronica have for her to be like this only around romantic relationships? Cain pondered as he stepped onto the stone surface of the campsite. “Probably one focused on training and education. But you already knew that, so why ask it?” Dresil responded as she unmerged from Cain’s clothes and set up her anime binging station.

Cain sighed as he plopped down onto the mat she prepared for him. “It should’ve been a habit thanks to vocalizing everything for Rex… Guess I’ll have to reprogram it later when the boi actually gets some brain cells.” He did some routine checks on the CPU simulation circles along with some minor improvements as he spoke.

“So in a decade?” Dresil snide comments beckons a smirk and a stuttered laugh from Cain; Rex’s protests in the group chat are ignored by the two. ‘I think Athena said she should be ready to socket a gem now.’ Cain pondered while peeking through the Mana Model Storage dimension. ...still not enough models to show significant change yet. He closed the dimension and contacted Athena as he evaluated the status of the models.

—Dms: Cain and Athena— (432ms)

Cain: You ready to socket a gem?

Athena: Just about.

Cain: Alright, I’ll get Rex to prepare one for you.

Cain: How long until it’s ready to be tested?

Athena: I don’t know, it’s the first time I’m seeing a spirit gem, let alone one from a Spirit King.

Cain: Alright, take your time though. I would rather you do it right then rush it and get hurt.

Athena: kk

--------------------------

Hm? Did Athena access other memories besides the designs and such? Meh, Bob probably gave her access to help learn the dm lingo in her spare time. Cain surmised while pulling up Rex’s dm.

—Dms: Cain and Rex— (4ms)

Cain: How long will it take you to create a spirit gem?

Rex: A day? Maybe two.

Rex: Idk bc I’ve never made one before. I’d have to get Bob’s help.

Cain: Ok.

--------------------------

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (28ms)

Cain: I’ll need you to help Rex create a spirit gem when you get the chance.

Bob: Understood.

Cain: Will the creation of one bring about any noticeable changes that’ll alert beings of its creation?

Bob: Only among perceptive higher gods and the other Spirit Kings.

Bob: It’s within our rights as Spirit Kings to create gems, so they won’t investigate or interfere unless a lot of them are gathered in one spot.

Bob: Otherwise, the other Spirit Kings may be interested as to how and why Rex created a gem after just being born, so they may reach out.

Cain: Noted. If any of them do, help me to make it happen away from the party so they don’t get dragged into it.

Bob: Understood.

--------------------------

A small misty cloud entered the space before Cain, his chest relaxing after the exhale. There’s not much to do today… I guess I’ll just pass the time by simulating battles between high ranking mages. Cain lowered his head down onto the mat, a freshly created pillow interrupted its journey.

He closed his eyes and imagined various scenarios of advantageous and disadvantageous fights between two mages, two fighters, a mage and a fighter, and various other combinations. The only thing each simulation had in common were that they all stemmed from his knowledge gained from reading and each person had at least 100 million mana at their disposal.

He quickly tossed that knowledge away since he found it nonsensical. Why would a mage who had access to millions of mana rely on spells and incantations when they can directly interfere with the logic of the world?

Likewise, the novels he read never took into account the sonic booms created by fighters. Every ripple of their flesh, every strand of hair waving around, and any body part affected by their subsequent booms.

Cain concluded that the fighters would be limited to fight at speeds just below the speed of sound or somehow be able to protect their body from the constant shocks of breaking the sound barrier with every minute movement. He also concluded the mages would need to greatly increase their reaction time.

In order to sufficiently react to their opponents movements, which are assumably just below the speed of sound at sea level, their visual reaction speed would have to be anywhere from roughly 120 milliseconds to 3 milliseconds; depending on the distance between the two. This is in great contrast to the average 200 to 250 milliseconds, and these calculations did not include the time needed for their reaction to be performed and for it to take effect.

These rough calculations brought forth another prominent problem to Cain’s mind. Would a mage’s body be able to withstand the burden of reacting that fast? Would a fighter’s cognitive ability be able to comprehend and analyze their opponents minute reactions and actions without relying on instinct?

Thus Cain tossed out the idea of someone at that caliber still being split into classes and assumed their base to be all rounded with some specialized characteristics. He restarted his simulations between the different combinations of opponents. The beings specialized in manipulating mana to create external effects in their surroundings were defined as mages. Beings who did the same but to create internal effects were dubbed as fighters.

The mages bent the laws of the world to their will, conjuring lightning without a medium, burning fire without fuel, forcing the ground beneath them to shift without affecting their surroundings, while the fighters used their bodies as shields and weapons, their mana enforced limbs tearing apart the physical phenomena and occasionally cutting space.

In each confrontation between the enhanced and the conjurer, a battle of mana ensued. Whoever’s soul was stronger had the upper hand, yet there were cases when a being with a weaker soul won by using efficient techniques. Despite the varying flashy scenarios and encounters, it remained prevalent that it all came down to a battle of the soul and the will.

Cain sighed once more as he opened his eyes, the setting sun casted shadows across the view before him. Dang, time flew by pretty fast. ...I don’t even know if these simulations were accurate, but it seems reasonable. Meh, guess I’ll bug Bob later. I need to get some early sleep so I don’t miss the meetup tomorrow morning.

Cain signaled Dresil to start packing up. A few minutes later they performed their usual circling dance routine around the campsite then entered the inn.

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (4ms)

Dresil: Are you not joining them for dinner?

Cain: Nah, let them know I went to sleep early so I can wake up on time.

Dresil: Ok.

--------------------------

Cain performed his usual nightly routine, with the addition of a quick meal just before entering his bed.