Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

*Crunch* *Munch*

“Can’t you have some class?” Luik complained as I ate the chips, maybe shaking the bag a little bit too loudly.

“What? Do you expect these crunchy things to not be loud?” I replied before I resumed eating. “Besides, we’re in a rowdy lobby anyway, they won’t be bothered.”

“I’m still not fond of your messy eating habit being out in the open.” She said while sounding slightly frustrated. She has always taken herself quite seriously. I’m not sure if I should point out that it makes her not quite as approachable as she should be. Also, the droopy bunny ears don’t help, those big ears are quite cute.

“Whatever. So what are you doing here? I personally was just taking a stroll and making a quick stop here for the air conditioning.” It makes me sound like a cheapskate, but it’s a public area with tables and chairs. I came here often anyway, so nothing out of the ordinary there.

“I’m here to see what is happening around here. It had been a while since I actually analyzed the current state of the guild. Sometimes I feel like there could be a fallout with how rowdy some of the members can be.” She answered. Quite paranoid, not that I can blame her.

“Ain’t that relatable. Not that anything has happened so far, I think things will be fine even if it feels like some people here are teetering on the line. I think there are enough deterrents as is.” There’s a reason there’s way less physical violence going around, and these guys no doubt are going to be apprehended quickly since they’re actually capable of causing serious property damage.

“Hmm… I suppose that’s not wrong, but I at least want to make sure it didn’t happen in the first place, or at least witness the current state of the community to put my mind at ease.” Luik replied. “Besides that, I’m here to contemplate on how deep I should go into the dungeon today.”

“Huh. I see. That’s not really on my schedule today.” I don’t really have a plan outside of relaxing. I want more time to cool down since yesterday’s absolutely maniacal event. Regardless of how ‘inconsequential’ the result supposedly is with so little time wasted and no one in any real danger, it was still multiple days. I can’t just not internalize it as multiple days even if leaving the virtual realm caused me to disassociate a bit. The whole battle royale felt fleeting like it didn’t quite happen because of that. A lot of key points are still vivid, though trying to replay the whole thing in full causes a bit of a headache. “I know yesterday we weren’t exactly in distress or strain our bodies, but I can’t say I feel like not enough happened, you get me?”

“I suppose that is fair. Even if there isn’t any lasting damage due to the strain we put on ourselves inside that realm, the feeling of it sort of lingers on and discourages more action in the feeling that it could strain you even more, even if it’s all just delusion.” Does she need to worded it like that? It’s called mental exhaustion or something like that, right?

“I’m not really the biggest battle maniac out there. I consider myself a bit more conservative on that front.” I don’t want to strain myself more than I need to. As it is I don’t even have much in terms of healing items to make sure constant battles don’t cause issues down the line.

“...In relation to whom?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You know who I’m talking about, the Jester and the Enigma, the Crow and the Mouse. Different reasons for fighting, but still keeps trying to stir up trouble either way.” They are two big troublemakers that would cause a lot of bad rep to this place if their stories fully broke out. I don’t really know if the others outside of school also realized that, or maybe they just couldn’t be bothered to point them out.

“…Those two are way too outside the norm to really be counted.” She argued. I guess I could see the logic in that, maybe we should exclude the Perfect Class entirely from the discussion. “I think the fact that you’ve trained and maintained your position as the strongest person in our class is proof that you’re certainly not slacking.”

“Resting is also important for growth, so I don’t know about that…” Eat well and sleep well is important to training, something that maybe isn’t talked about often but something we just sorta are aware of. Sure with magic involved you could stretch out the harsh training part, but I don’t think it would remove resting period entirely. I’m pretty sure that’s also why there isn’t a P.E. Class every day, ignoring how draconian that would sound and fuel the allegations of making tyke bombs, it would burn people out and strain them too much which would be bad for growth.

“A healthy balance isn’t considered slacking in my mind.” She clarified. “It’s not as if that weapon did the heavy lifting for you, you were already stronger than me before you acquired it.”

“You keep track of that?” I didn’t expect her to remember something specific like that. “I honestly thought all of you guys would’ve surpassed me by now, honestly. I never consider myself the top dog.”

“You simply put in more effort, or perhaps have a more efficient workout routine.” Luik speculated. “Or perhaps because you have always trained yourself even before the Eclipse. That does give you a head-start.”

“Is it really that simple though?” I don’t want to say she’s slacking, since as shown in the battle despite technically being behind she can still contribute on the level of the heavy hitters. “...By the way, how often does your sword get broken? Or chu… coko or whatever it’s called.”

“It’s called a chokuto. I wouldn’t blame you for not remembering the name, most people just call any form of Japanese swords katana anyway.” She corrected the name. “As for the question itself, not as much as you thought, I would’ve imagined. The ability to turn my weapon into a deadly slicing tool that can punch way above its power ranking is only really used against way stronger targets. Against weaker opponents I can go for a regular amp instead. With how rare this type of sword is I couldn’t really afford to play risky all the time.”

…That still doesn’t give me a rough estimate. Maybe even she doesn’t really know.

“...How did you even get an uncommon sword like that in the first place?” Last I checked, the school doesn’t provide anything like that. I’m pretty sure even if they want to they probably don’t want to do it with how scandalous it can be. For all the crazy things it had done there probably is a line somewhere, otherwise I would imagine we’d be thrown to the wolves every other day.

“An underground merchant.” …Wait what?

“Please don’t say that out loud…” I think most people in this lobby know they existed for a while now. I still don’t know how they manage to keep operating their business here with how tight the security is. They operate during the time where they are most alerted, so it’s baffling that they’re still around conducting business. It’s almost like… “I haven’t gone to them in a while, when was the last time you saw them?”

“Yesterday.” She bluntly answered. So they’re still prowling around… I wonder…

“Those guys are quite mysterious, still no idea how they can be so bold roaming around here.” I’m not gonna try to apprehend them though. They give me what I want, and I leave them be, it’s that simple. If the law enforcements can’t do anything then that’s whatever.

“I’d imagine they’re a part of secret societies that already knew magic existed. Otherwise they wouldn’t be so confident in their tone and why they have so many items in stock. Most likely their organization or affiliates can easily procure these items.” Luik gave me her speculation. That’s a pretty simple theory all things considered.

“If that’s the case… Eh. I don’t think we should make too many assumptions. I think it’s fair to say that those two are at least neutral about them waltzing around in their territory. I would’ve thought they’d be way less lenient on those who are veterans of the scene, one could say. I think I have heard somewhere that they don’t particularly like Mage Remnants, or at least find them quite an annoying nuisance.” I don’t really know the full story behind that, but it’s the vibe I’m getting.

“At least it’s good that they are still around. This town doesn’t exactly have a blacksmith.” Luik remarked. “It’s one of the many benefits people in this town have compared to other places.”

“So many that the entire town looks extremely privileged.” At least it doesn’t look like most of the world sees our town that way yet. Not like this is the only place with many things going for it thanks to certain people’s influence. There are more Ahdeids out there controlling certain areas in the world.

“Certainly hard to complain about our current status. I would say being able to walk around freely during the day without paranoia is already better than most places.” Luik commented. Unless your area has someone with great power providing protection, going outside poses some risk. While obviously even in a world without magic certain areas are still prone to crime, the existence of magic and people abusing it cause the severity to increase even after the first few weeks died down.

“...Speaking of which, when was the last time something big happened? Not counting whatever that was in Russia.” I haven’t been keeping up with any of that since I was busy with something else.

“Nothing that I noticed. It should be noted that unless it’s something truly massive and very apparent the media isn’t covering it, scared of possible hoaxes and the general unbelievability of it all.” She pointed out. “...I think all we can really talk about is something that happened in the town, which aside from stuff we personally experienced there isn’t anything to go off on either.”

“Nothing but our own personal lives…” I muttered while taking a glance at other people in the lobby, some arguing, some just chilling. “It really is boring during the down time, not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that it kinda feels like our chatting has become stale as of late.”

“Mundane talk doesn’t quite hit the same with mystical elements to talk about.” Luik said. “...But perhaps we should remind ourselves about the little things in life. Like, say, what did you do after yesterday’s event?”

“I stayed at the venue for a long while after all of you guys left. Then Glery left after that and I talked with some people that were still there during the night.” Not much actually happened in the two meetings. I guess Emmie did give me her insight on the Ahdeids, but that doesn’t feel like something I should casually mention.

“I see.” She replied. “After the party I went to the dungeon and went deep, about seventy floors before giving up.”

“Huh? Okay, that seems a bit excessive after what we went through, and now you’re going in again?” I thought today was when she returned to dungeon diving. I guess she’s the one who is working herself pretty darn hard. “Sixty is kinda casual for those folks, but for you that is pushing yourself really darn hard. Are you even in perfect condition right now?”

“That’s why I was considering how deep into the dungeon I should go. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come here to ponder.” She argued.

“I guess that’s fair…” Not that I think going in for two days in a row is the best of ideas, and least not with you going deep last time and exhausting yourself. “...You know what, let me join you. I really don’t want anything bad to happen, and I’m already here anyway.”

“Quite a nice gesture from you.” Luik remarked.

Not like I have anything to do today anyway, this place isn’t known for weekly disasters waiting to happen unlike most places…