We teleported back to Central Baekhaven, where several takeaway spots usually stayed open all night.
After activating our concealment artifacts, we selected a random fusion place and went in.
The guy inside looked up from his phone, unsurprised to see customers at five in the morning. We placed our order, then moved to the side to wait.
I slumped against one of the high tables, the adrenaline finally wearing off.
"What do you think it was?"
Llewellyn shook his head. "No idea. Best try and ask the System later."
Penguin was still in my pocket, curled protectively around the shard.
The guy returned with our order—several containers of noodles, dumplings and more.
We teleported back to Llewellyn's penthouse, landing in the living room. It felt oddly grounding after everything—the view of Baekhaven right before dawn spreading out below.
Then I saw Lumos pop into existence as if out of nowhere and start running toward us, tail wagging.
What!!!
"Core Partition," Llewellyn said with an amused smile, scratching behind Lumos's ears. "I leave him there when I'm out. The partition feeds him, plays with him and makes sure he's cared for."
I stared. "You can do that?"
"One of the perks of extended access. He seems to enjoy it. No, I can't give you these," he told Lumos. "They're full of salt and garlic. I'll give you something you can eat later."
Lumos let out a whine.
Penguin poked his head out of my pocket, chittering happily at the sight of Lumos, and handed me the shard back.
"I'll put it in my inventory, okay?" I asked.
Penguin chirped. Then he jumped out and went to join Lumos. The dog's tail wagged harder and they started running around.
We took our coats off and left them to it. I set the food on the kitchen table while Llewellyn grabbed plates and cutlery.
As I unpacked the containers, Llewellyn lingered close, his eyes clearly straying toward my throat. And— Well. I can't say mine didn't go to his.
"So, my prize," Llewellyn said, when we finally sat down.
"Alright. How do we do this? System, can you share our Attributes, Abilities, and Skills with each other?"
[System Notification: Mutual Disclosure enabled. Both users have consented to exchange full Attributes, Abilities and Skills data. A synchronized interface will display each user's information to the other. Proceed?]
We both confirmed.
A window listing Llewellyn's Attributes, Abilities, and Skills opened in front of me.
…Damn.
-
ATTRIBUTES
Elemental Foresight (Transcendent): Predicts Elemental shifts and disturbances, granting the ability to anticipate how each Element will act and what overall result it will create.
Node Mastery (Legendary): Grants the ability to identify Elemental nodes within a Knot site, attacking Elemental Magic at focal points for maximum advantage.
Battle Instinct (Legendary): An innate ability to act at optimal timing without conscious calculation. Grants adaptive awareness in combat and Knot scenarios, allowing decisive responses before threats fully manifest.
Refined Form (Legendary): Perfect body control. Heightened awareness of each muscle's motion, resulting in fluidity and strength in every action. Allows channeling power with grace and precision.
ABILITIES
Elemental Mastery (Transcendent) [User-Specific]: Grants Transcendent-level control over Elemental forces, allowing unparalleled power and accuracy.
Innate Flow Martial Art (Legendary) [Exclusive]: A martial art born from innate abilities, developed through internal discipline and personal mastery. The techniques flow seamlessly from within, drawing on core strength and self-awareness.
Elemental Convergence (Legendary) [System-Granted]: Channels Elemental Magic into a singular force, amplifying its destructive potential or neutralizing it completely.
Knot Severance (Legendary) [System-Enhanced]: Cuts off the core of a Knot, neutralizing its chaotic influence.
Command Line (Myth) [Exclusive]: A limited ability to interact with the System's interface. Allows access to hidden System features, unlisted items in the shop, and more. Cannot affect Knots or combat.
SKILLS
Sword Fighting (Legendary): Mastery in swordsmanship, allowing precise and adaptive combat in any scenario with unmatched skill and speed.
Elemental Attuning (Legendary): A meditative practice that aligns the body with Elemental forces, enhancing the connection to the Elements and improving control over their effects.
Algorithm Debugging (Myth): Ability to view and inspect System algorithms.
-
I scrolled through the full interface, gawking. It wasn't just Elemental Mastery that was Transcendent level, Elemental Foresight and Innate Flow Martial Art were too—and, on their own, they would have been insane even at their lowest level. As if that wasn't enough, with two exceptions (that were still Myth-level), everything else was Legendary level.
No wonder the System worshipped him. This was insane.
I was honestly regretting showing him mine.
And these were only the System-related powers! I'd already seen him use Geometric Casting. Who knew what else he could do?
"Where are these algorithm-related ones coming from?" I asked.
Llewellyn, who seemed to be reading through mine with great interest (though hell knows why, they weren't even a sixteenth as interesting as these), looked up.
"I spent my early twenties working as a Freelance Algorithm Expert," he said simply, as if that wasn't some kind of bombshell. "I stopped after signing with the System."
I was speechless. I don't think I'd ever guessed that, though now that he said it, it didn't feel that weird.
"Tell me about yours," Llewellyn said, staring at his window. "Intuitive Drift. How does that work for you?"
I hesitated. "It's… hard to explain. Like I just know which way to move or what I should do at any particular moment. But it's more of a pull than a certainty."
Llewellyn seemed to mull this over. "What about Elemental Insight?"
"Not as exciting as your Elemental Foresight," I said. "Paired with Knot Listening, it allows me to sense and understand the Elemental composition of a Knot. But it also has—" Ah, this was difficult to explain. "There's almost an emotional component to it. I tend to feel it as an itch in my chest. I can't exactly tell you if the itch is related to Elemental Insight exclusively, if it's coming from one of the Attributes or from something else entirely, but it's almost always present when Elemental Insight is active."
"An itch in your chest? What do you mean by that?"
Right. How was I even going to explain it?
I touched the point in my sternum where I normally felt it.
"Imagine someone scraping this point from the inside with a spoon, like… the lid of a yoghurt or something. But there's almost… yearning in it. And it's not my own. Or—" I scratched my head, frustrated. "It feels like it's trying to go somewhere or pull my gaze somewhere. That's the best I can do with words. Do you remember how that wave of fear in the forest didn't really feel like our own fear but its own thing? It's something like that."
Llewellyn looked definitely intrigued.
"Thread Perception," he read on. "This is unique to you. How does it work?"
"Usually Elemental Insight is active when this comes up. Imagine a Knot site. Now imagine something similar to a VR environment with VR beams superimposed onto it, each of a different color, depending on the Element, and all converging into the Knot. Once I can see them, I can use my other Abilities and Skills to reach out with my mind, flag them, mute them, open them up so we can fight monsters instead of the raw Elements. The more Threads we get rid of, the more the Knot untangles, until it's very thin and easier to sever."
"Mmh," Llewellyn said, scrolling down, his expression looking more and more lit up.
"Most of my Abilities are Knot or Thread related," I explained. "My Skills are the exception. Crisis Management comes up in difficult situations—for example, I can only use Water and we're fighting against a Water monster, so that wouldn't work. Then I can use Crisis Management to figure out how to survive in this particular scenario or at least see if I have any other options. Exploratory Analysis is often paired with that, though it can be used on its own. For example, it can analyze the Elemental composition of a Knot or monster quite precisely. I could also use it when we fought the keyring."
"And you passed the Core Partition scan, which tells me your overall Magic score must have been over 90%."
Right, there was that too. Was 90% the minimum score to get in, then?
I navigated to the right window.
I read aloud, "User's Magic: 92.3% (Strong Potential due to Instinctive Permeability)". Whatever that meant.
Llewellyn reached for another dumpling and nodded, thoughtful. "Let's share these as well?"
…Damn it. I wanted to keep mine secret, but I wanted to see his. I weighed the pros and cons for a moment.
"Go on," I said. "Though I warn you, I don't think I agree much with mine. System, can you share those too?"
[System Notification: Affirmative. Mutual Stat Disclosure of Core Partition access scan results enabled.]
A new window popped up and I could see Llewellyn's results.
-
[System Notification: Results breakdown.
User's Integrity: 99.8% (Unprecedented)
User's Magic: 99.6% (Transcendent Capacity; Elemental attunement beyond measurable range)
User's Heart: 98.8% Heart Capacity (Remarkably Vast)
User's Resistance to Corruption: 97.2% (Exceptional)]
-
Well, damn. Not that I needed to see his stats to know, but.
Llewellyn was going through mine. His gaze darted to me.
"This explains a lot," he said.
"Don't read too much into it," I said. "I'm still not sure I couldn't be bribed with… uh, those dumplings. Can you pass the crispy seaweed?"
Llewellyn looked amused, but did.
"Good to know," he said. "I'll keep it in mind if I need to bribe you."
"Ahah," I said.
While Lumos nosed around the table, Penguin climbed up to steal some seaweed from me. However, after trying it, he clearly didn't look convinced.
"You don't like it?" I asked. I supposed it might be an acquired taste.
Penguin chirped dejectedly and jumped off the table again.
For some reason that reminded me of something else.
"System," I asked after a moment. "What can you tell us about that wave of fear thing in the forest earlier? It didn't seem anything normal."
The System chimed.
[System Notification: Large scale fear-type phenomenon observed. No reference framework found.]
Huh?
"So you don't know?" Llewellyn asked.
[System Notification: The event falls outside current classification.]
I frowned.
"What about the shard I got? You mentioned it's a rare emergence of pure Magic taking form or… something. What does that even mean? Isn't everything Magic? That's what you said before."
[Clarification: All is Magic.]
"Then?"
[Clarification: The shard does not differ in substance or nature. However, it is not considered a creation with its own temperament, slant or intent, but rather a rare crystallization of Magic as-it-is.]
"But—" Something was gnawing at me. "It was afraid."
[System Notification: When sleeping Magic crystallizes, the resulting shards are exposed, vulnerable to harm, misuse, and distortion, and seek protection. User Ryo's Heart Capacity is exceptionally high—likely why he was chosen. However, the shards are still not creation but crystallization of Magic as-it-is.]
Llewellyn and I made eye contact, but he didn't look like he had any insights on this either.
I scratched my head.
"What's the point of it, then? It flew toward me— Why? What should I do with it?"
[Clarification: A Shard of Sleeping Magic has no "point". User Ryo is not required to do anything with it.]
Well.
Honestly, my head was spinning at this point. The more questions the System answered, the more questions I had. I'd really had too much for one day.
Besides, my gaze had remained on Llewellyn and now… um… wandered down again. I looked away. This was clearly not the time for that.
Still. I couldn't really help where my mind went, especially with my mark so visible on his throat.
We finished eating, still mulling it over, and tidied up.
It was so late the sun had almost entirely risen now.
"I'm… uh… going home," I said when the hovering started to cross lines and I became convinced that I was going to push him against that counter he liked so much. "Get some rest."
Llewellyn nodded. "You too."
I put on my coat and picked up Penguin, patting Lumos' head.
Then I teleported home before I could do something stupid like kiss him properly.