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Mary and Jeffery glanced down at the same time. Their root bracelets were glowing amber, and once the bracelet realized it had their attentions, they spat out orbs, one for each person. The two exchanged glances with each other, and Mary grabbed a piece of bacon, placing it into her mouth before getting a better look at the sudden surprise. “What is it?”
“You’re asking the wrong person,” Jeffery said and shook his head. He placed the orb down on the table in front of himself. “I might’ve been in the tower for a long time, but I’ve never climbed above the first floor.” He glanced at his root bracelet, and a notification appeared in his eyes. “It’s an innate ability orb, and it’s a present from Vur.”
“Oh,” Mary said and frowned. The innate ability orb was a reward for clearing the fiftieth floor’s trial. Now that Vur directly gifted her this, wasn’t that removing one opportunity for her to hang out with Tafel? The demon most likely obtained an orb as well, so even if Mary threw this one away, there’d be no reason for Tafel to clear the fiftieth floor with her. “Vur’s a jerk as usual.”
“Huh?” Jeffery asked before fixing his expression. He nodded. “Yeah, you’re absolutely right.” Why would he defend Vur’s character when Vur wasn’t around to defend him from this woman, who had happily beaten Kim Hajun to near-death several times?
Mary glared at Jeffery. “That’s my best friend’s husband you’re talking about.”
“Oh, uh, sorry,” the old man said and shifted his gaze to the side. Sometimes, it felt like he couldn’t win; maybe, that’s why he had never gone beyond the first floor.
***
Lindyss sat with her legs cross on her seat made from the bark of the tree she was residing in. In front of her, on the table, there was a hungover fairy queen, Erin. The fairy was lying on her back, covering her eyes with both her forearms, her arms raised upwards over her head. A constant groan came out of her mouth akin to a cat’s purring but less appealing.
“Hey,” Lindyss said. “How long are you going to lie there like that?”
“Shut up,” Erin said, her voice barely audible. “What kind of freak are you?” She lowered her arm and winced at the sunlight within the room before looking at Lindyss with one eye. “How are you not hungover? We drank so much. Are you actually an ocean in disguise?”
“Sounds like you’re still drunk,” the cursed elf said. “If I put you in your usual spot, will you fall off my head?”
“If I stand up, I bet it won’t be long before I fall off the world,” Erin said and covered her eyes with her arm again. “How about you leave me in a patch of sunlight and let me recover for the day?”
“Alright, if that’s what you want,” Lindyss said and sat back. “Don’t blame me if something fun happens today, and you miss out on it because you’re resting.”
“If something fun happens, don’t tell me about it,” Erin said.
“Suit yourself,” Lindyss said and stood up. Her root bracelet flashed, and she raised an eyebrow as she brought her left wrist up in front of her face.
“What’s going on?” Erin asked. “I can’t see you, but I know something’s up. My fairy senses are tingling.”
“That’s a funny name for your nosiness,” Lindyss said. Two sparkling orbs appeared in her hands, and she placed one down by Erin’s side. “Vur sent us presents.”
Erin lowered her arms and opened her eyes. She immediately made a pained sound as the sparkling object highlighted her splitting headache, and she gave the orb a kick, sending it off and over the edge of the table. The fairy queen exhaled and lay back down. “Just leave it there. I’ll look at it when I’m feeling better.”
Lindyss shrugged. “It’s an innate ability orb,” she said. “You’ll learn something if you stare into it.”
“I learned a lot already, thank you,” Erin said. “For example, phoenixes are bottomless pits.” A frown appeared on the fairy queen’s face. “What’s the deal? Why’d Malvina treat you like a phoenix? I thought you’re an elf.”
“I have the soul of a phoenix,” Lindyss said, placing her hand on her chest—not that Erin could see. “I’m missing the imprint though, so I can’t actually do phoenix things, only take inspiration from their attacks like World of Fire.”
“And you made a World of Lightning,” Erin said. After a moment, the fairy queen added, “Plagiarist.”
Lindyss snorted. “You’re calling me a plagiarist when Vur’s the one who copied your polymorph skill?”
“Just because Vur plagiarized harder than you doesn’t mean you aren’t a copycat too,” Erin said. The fairy queen exhaled, relaxing her body. “Did you use the innate ability orb? What’s your innate ability?”
Lindyss passed the sparkling orb from one hand to the other. “I didn’t use it yet.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I wanted to see if there were any negative side effects first,” Lindyss said.
“Oh,” Erin said. “That makes sense. How’re you going to do that?”
Lindyss stared at the innate ability orb that Erin had kicked off the table before smiling at the fairy queen. “You’ll see,” she said. “I’ll wait until your hangover’s gone before showing you.”
“Oh, wow, that’s awfully considerate of you,” Erin said. “Is that your hangover speaking, or is the world ending?”
“As if I’m old enough to suffer from a hangover,” Lindyss said and snorted. She shrugged. “Who knows? Since Vur and Tafel are provoking the Oebu Sin, perhaps the world really will end—at least, the tower might.”
Erin’s brow wrinkled. “If it’s going to get dangerous, it wouldn’t hurt to have extra life-saving measures,” the fairy queen said. “Pass me my innate ability orb, will you?” She sat up and lowered her arms before taking in a deep breath as Lindyss leaned over and picked the sparkling orb off the ground. The fairy queen rubbed her hands together and licked her lips. “I hope my innate ability is something awesome like infinite mana. I think that’s not too much to ask for, yeah?”
“Keep dreaming,” Lindyss said and rolled her eyes as she placed the orb down in front of the fairy queen.