The next ten days drifted by as Claud and Lily continued to work on their mana circuits. Thanks to Claud’s lifespan, which was already insane enough in its own right, most of the lifestones went to Lily, which made her increasingly sick of the sweet taste those stones had.

As a result, Lily’s intake of lifestones had dropped somewhat, which forced Claud to adopt some…unusual measures.

“Why are there lifestones in my sandwich?” Lily asked. “It’s supposed to be peanut paste and jelly.”

“Uh…so we can do away with seasoning?” Claud replied. “Come on, say ah. It’s good for your health and lifespan. Literally.”

“But it’s not that good for my sanity,” Lily argued back. “I’m already shivering. At this rate, my tastebuds are going to die of sweetness.”

“They won’t,” Claud replied. “Come on, you can’t skip out on lifestones, okay? Just open your mouth.”

After a while, Claud decided to put a lifestone in his mouth. “Either you eat that sandwich, or I transfer you this lifestone from mouth to mouth.”

“I’m not going to touch that sandwich.”

Claud looked at Lily. “Oh, you think I’m too delicate to not carry out my threat, huh? Alright, don’t you run away now. I’m going over. No, I’m really going over. I swear. Just sit there and let me roll over to your mouth…”

“Alright, alright! I’m eating it, okay?” Lily picked up the sandwich, scrunched up her face, and shivered as the icy sweetness of a freshly cooked lifestone entered her mouth. Claud had a feeling that there were some parts of the description he’d just cooked up that were off, but he wasn’t going to think that hard.

“Good girl.” Claud rubbed Lily’s cheeks, and then swallowed the lifestone in his mouth. Shivering once, he patted her head again and said, “What’s wrong with lifestones?”

“They’re too sweet. I mean, you seem to like it, but that’s because you haven’t tried eating three hundred of them in a week. My legs are a bit wobbly from the taste alone.” Lily had a sad look on her face. “You’re lucky you can absorb them the way you do it.”

“Well, it’s Crown we’re speaking about, after all.”

“Meep?” A small box, who was busy playing around with a sphere and a star, hopped once and turned to Claud. “Meep.”

“Yeah, thanks, buddy. Don’t worry, you’re a huge help to me.” Claud smiled, before hugging Lily. “Anyway, I’m going to supervise you. You need the time, after all. And I did not rob the Moons for no reason.”

“You do know that they’re still searching for the culprit, right?” Lily replied. “They’ll slaughter us if they find out.”

“All the more reason to destroy the evidence,” Claud replied, before thinking about the small heist he’d conducted on the local garrison of Moonlit troops. It wasn’t hard — he had simply walked into their storeroom, swept up every lifestone in sight, and then walked out. For some reason, the vault’s doors were wide open, as if they wanted to tempt anyone who saw it into signing up with them. Thanks to his actions, the vault had been emptied completely, so the number of volunteers had dropped by five or six times.

“Yeah, but I’m the one doing the destroying.” Lily made a face. “I mean, I’m the one who has it hard when destroying the evidence.”

Claud patted her head. “It’s for your own good, okay? Hmm. Maybe we can do some experiments. How about making a lifestone-infused drink? I remember Schwarz experimenting with it a few years ago.”

“And how did he make that drink?”

“Some lemons, some ice cubes and water.” Claud thought for a moment. “The ice cubes were lifestones. He wanted to fill a barrel of lemonade with lifestones, which are somewhat cool to the touch.”

“Did he succeed?”

“He didn’t tell me, sadly.” Claud looked around the room. “If he comes over again, I’ll ask him.”

“The situation’s stabilised recently, so that’s quite possible…but isn’t the resulting drink sweet anyway?” Lily asked. “I also don’t want to drink that.”

“The lemonade’s supposed to counter that, but like I said, he never told me the results. Maybe he forgot, and the lemonade’s still chilling in his cellar back in Licencia or something,” Claud replied.

“Oh. Well, I mean, we could wait for a bit…”

“No can do, Lily.” Claud paused. “Well, how many years do you have right now? I mean, I could compromise slightly if need be.”

“I have eight hundred years of lifespan,” Lily replied. “And I’m already at 4.87.”

Claud thought about it for a moment. “Okay, fine. You work on become a penta-folder first, then. It’s not like those lifestones are going to run away anyway. They’re always on me.”

Lily looked at his hand, where a small ring glinted, and made a face. “Yeah.”

“You’re supposed to be happy, alright?” Claud tweaked her nose. “We have a walking treasury.”

“That you intend to feed me with,” Lily replied. “Anyway, how about you? How far have you gotten now?”

“After last night?” Claud asked, before checking his Status.

Name: Claud Primus

Class: Omen

Lifespan: 401 years

Active Skills: Presence Nullification (9), Flight (5), Binding Order (7), Cleanse (6), FiBoD;O??? (0), FiBoD;O??? (0)

Passive Skills: DiL???C, Mana Locus, Omen, Understanding, Master of Permanence, Artificial Life Contractor

Mana Circuit Superimposition: 6.99

Mana Control Proficiency: Master

Authority: 6

Comments: The Star has arrived. Omen, tread carefully. Let not the scalding light fall upon you, for you will fade away.

He ignored the ominous comments as usual, and then said, “401 years. Nearly 650 years just vanished like that. It’s a bit amazing how things like this can happen.”

“Just a touch away, then.” Lily bobbed her head. “Still, if you can clear the Third Tutorial…”

“Yeah, but I’m told that it’s super dangerous.” Claud looked around the room. “As usual, more time, more intel gathering, more knowledge…you know the drill.”

“It’s just a shame, I suppose.” Lily pouted. “You would be in a far better position if you were a high-ranked position. You need to be careful, got it? It’s definitely going to be dangerous.”

Claud nodded. The Trial of Aeons were closing in on them, which was why he had been very driven when it came to drawing his mana circuits. He had only left the house once ever since the Moonlit soldiers came in, and that was to secure some freebies that had been lying around in an open vault.

Of course, the soldiers were still looking for the mysterious thief, but that was none of his problem. It wasn’t his fault if they left it lying around in the open, and…

Claud rubbed his nose. He wasn’t this shameless. He had given some money to the poor people in town after doing the deed, just so he could make up for the riches they would have had if they signed up. Part of this, though, was driven by his desire to not let the poor and the desperate sign up to join the shady enterprise of war.

He let out a sigh.

“Claud? Something wrong?” Lily asked, feeling his face. “Hmm. You seem a bit feverish.”

“I’m not,” Claud replied. “I’m just thinking about the people I’d killed with that skill back then. I used it twice without thinking too hard. And now, I’m trying to prevent people from killing each other senselessly. Does that make sense?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. At best, I’m just being a hypocrite.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. You didn’t know at that time,” Lily replied. “I know. Due diligence. I know. But…there were extenuating circumstances, weren’t there? The enemy was attacking, and you didn’t think things through.”

Claud shook his head. “Let’s not talk about this, shall we? I just couldn’t help but think about it, that’s all. I’ll have a way to make up for this in the future.”

“…Yeah.” Lily squished his cheeks, and then picked up another lifestone. Bracing herself, she tossed it into her mouth, and shivered once.

“That’s your way of cheering me up?” Claud asked, before smiling faintly. “Thanks.”

“You are very welcome.” Lily braced herself once more, and then swallowed another lifestone. Claud, on a personal level, felt that if Lily was willing to cheer him up by eating more lifestones, bringing up his regret here was quite worth it.

He wouldn’t try to torture himself for that reason, though. It was a bit manipulative, so he had no desire to repeat this session either. However, feeding Lily lifestones was indeed quite therapeutic for him, especially since she had a really adorable expression whenever she took in the tiny little green rocks.

After taking in another fifty lifestones, Lily called it a day.

“I suppose that’s really fine. Well done!” Claud rubbed her head.

“It’s so sweet…ergh.” Lily made another face. “I want something savoury for dinner tonight.”

“Okay.” Claud patted her head. “Just in time, too. I managed to make some soup. The one I tasted in my Second Tutorial. Let’s give it a try!”

“Alright!”