Spending the next few days trying to construct the magic circle, Shiro was a little upset to see that her mana realm still hasnât finished evolving.
Even with her large mana pool and ridiculous mana regen, it didnât seem like the mana realm was going to complete anytime soon.
Sitting on her bed, Shiro sighed out softly as it was approaching the one month deadline for the next event. If she isnât able to use her mana freely, sheâll have to fight while constantly consuming mana potions.
Though even if she had access to everything, itâll be hard since she couldnât fight for an extended period of time. During the last few days, she had done a few experiments with Nan Tian to see how long she could keep her cool during combat and her current limit is 10 minutes. Any longer than that and her reaction speed starts to decrease. Her vision would darken and fighting in that state would be suicide.
Once she got to that point, sheâll need at least 2 minutes to recover.
As for Yin, she hasnât been able to pin down the final fragment at all. Even with their information network, there was not a single sign which made finding it much harder.
"Are you alright?" Nan Tian asked as Shiro nodded her head.
"Yeah just thinking about the event. I wonder if itâll be one thatâs reliant on a single person or multiple people." Shiro replied.
"Well looking at the past events, thereâs an 80% chance for this to be one that requires the Queens forces. So itâs best to see how Shiina, Oran and Akhess are doing. Theyâve been training the mech pilots and they seemed a little sad that they donât have the mini Shiro holograms." Nan Tian chuckled as Shiro scratched her cheek.
"I canât exactly sustain the holograms with how much mana is being drained per second. Even for a few minutes of combat, Iâll need to keep drinking potions to keep myself fighting at full power." Shiro replied.
"But setting that aside, we should go visit them a little. Itâs been a while since I have last seen them after all, Iâm sure theyâre a bit worried." Shiro smiled.
Jumping off the bed, Shiro stretched lightly before checking her tablet for Shiinaâs schedule. Seeing that the three of them were in the mech bay training new recruits, she figured that it was a pretty good time to see how they were doing.
"Hmm... say, do you think we should put on a disguise so that they donât recognise us?" Shiro asked as Nan Tian raised his eyebrows before shrugging.
"Itâs up to you. If you want to put on a disguise then I donât mind putting one on as well."
"Alright. Letâs see... weâll use the disguise we put on when we visited the Navuri clan far into the uncharted lands. Though now that I think about it, Iâm curious about how theyâve managed to survive so far. Iâve looked on the map but it doesnât seem like their settlement has been discovered by the Queenâs yet." Shiro shrugged as Nan Tian activated the disguise spell and changed their appearances.
"Well we can certainly give them a visit perhaps even recruit them. But seeing as how they quite... oppressive and focus on power, I donât think theyâll hang out nicely with our citizens. If anything, itâll be akin to asking them to completely change their way of living. Itâll be difficult." Nan Tian replied as the two of them made their way towards the military base.
"Thatâs true... If I didnât put this disguise on, I think one of their âalpha malesâ would have tried to force me to join his harem." Shiro winced in disgust as she could feel goosebumps on her skin.
Rubbing her arm to get rid of the goosebumps, she shook her head.
"Regardless. If theyâre doing fine then weâll let them be. If theyâre not, weâll give them a bit of help, maybe even establish some trade. Iâm still curious about their strange sea that drains mana at a rapid pace. If we can repurpose it, we can use it as a security measure. Plus, Iâm also curious to see what kind of materials we can harvest from the island where we found the garden spirit." Shiro smiled.
"Indeed. But weâll have to be careful. We donât know if there are any powerful monsters there after the world changed." Nan Tian reminded as Shiro nodded her head.
"Speaking of powerful monsters, thereâs still this dragon living on Astral Horizons. Last time I went there I was reduced to ash in a single moment. Had I not activated my skill to revive me instantly, I would be gone." Shiro sighed, remembering the dragon that killed her in an instant.
"Do you want to try sending some scouts over when we have time?" Nan Tian asked as Shiro nodded her head.
"Sure but not in the city. Probably do it somewhere else so that the dragon canât track us. If it does appear in the city, I donât think weâll be able to stop casualties from happening even with my powers." Shiro furrowed her brows as Nan Tian nodded his head.
"Of course. Weâll see if we can make contact with the dragon. If we can get him to become our ally, he could become a great ally. Especially if itâs someone that well..."
"Killed me in one shot?" Shiro cut off as Nan Tian chuckled.
"Yeah. That."
"Iâm not offended if anything Iâm a little impressed. The fact that he just completely destroyed my defences with a quick aoe attack to deal with me was simply overwhelming. If we can get him to become our ally, it would prove to be a powerful guardian." Shiro agreed.
Talking about a few plans on their way towards the military base, Shiro made her way towards Shiina, Oran and Akhessâ location with Nan Tian next to her.
Making their way past the guards rather easily with a few âID and clearance checks, they were allowed through the base. The guards werenât exactly worried that they were fake either since hacking into the database here was quite difficult. There has been one or two attempts before but they didnât get far before the hackerâs were paralysed from the backlash and had their location broadcasted to security.
After making her way through the first few walls of security, she entered the mech bay where all of the working mechs were being stored at this time.
All of the specialised mechs were lined up by the side and it seemed as though they havenât been in a fight for a while. Seeing as though there werenât many spare parts being used in the repair, Shiina, Oran, Akhess and the other pilots limited themselves to the standard models unless it was an emergency.
"Hmm... I should make some more spare parts so they can continue to train with the specialised units. More features will unlock as they become familiar with the mech." Shiro shrugged as theyâre walking down the stairs towards the training area. Currently, all of the specialised pilots are responsible for a group of trainees each as Shiina, Oran and Akhess had the largest groups since theyâre the most experienced.
###
"Focus! If you get distracted during a fight your opponent will put an end to you swiftly. Even if you are in a mech, it cannot guarantee your safety should you be distracted." I shouted out towards the new group of recruits.
They had heart and determination to enter the army but it needed refining. If they were hasty, their will power could be broken in half with ease.
Shaking my head, I glanced up at the three specialised units that her highness had gifted us. With her recent disappearance, we havenât piloted the specialised units at all since unlike the standard units, finding replacements parts had to be done through her highness. Without her, we wouldnât be able to repair them at all.
I wanted to put them to the test again but didnât want the city to be in danger so I could only dream for now.
"Seems like these are the new recruits." A voice called out as I glanced back and saw a duo walking towards them with a small smile.
Both of them didnât stand out due to their appearance but the aura coming from the guy told me otherwise.
"Yes they are. May I know who you are since you donât seem familiar." I frowned since I wasnât sure of their identity.
"Oh just spectators. Hereâs our clearance. Weâre new to the job so weâre just looking around for a bit." The girl smiled as she showed me her badge. Seeing that her clearance was something on equal to specialised pilots, I was a little curious about her since Iâve never seen her but I guessed it was probably the council doing their thing.
"Ah thatâs fine then. Is there anything you need from us?" I asked but the girl shook her head.
"Donât mind us. Weâre just here to watch. The training seemed interesting so Iâm just going to spectate." She smiled before stepping aside and watched without saying anything.
Finding it a little strange, I decided to continue the training but kept an eye on the duo, especially the girl who watched everything with a calm smile.