Scarlet

Amelia and I continue walking until we leave through the gate of the mansion grounds, then we continue walking a bit more after that as Amelia answers some more of my questions. Specifically the one about me reaching Class VI.

“Isaac has always been very tightlipped about where he learned to ascend without the help of the System, so I don’t know much,” Amelia says. “But I do remember hearing him mention at one point that the System only supports up to Class V.” She glances at me. “So if I had to guess, you’ll probably be expelled from the System if you reach Class VI.”

I blink at that.

“Would that mean I’d have to learn how to do all of my current skills without the skills help?” I ask, not very much liking that idea even if it does mean more power in the distant future.

Amelia purses her lips at that, but instead of her, Tar appears and answers, “Yes and no.” Both me and Amelia turn to look at him. “Passive skills aren’t just skills that activate with the System. They’re ingrained into your very DNA and cells. Meaning you can’t lose them even if you lost System support. But active skills? You might lose control over those.”

Hmm. Not as bad as I expected then, but still not something to look forward to.

“Although,” Tar adds, “if you manage to get a skill like the Demon King’s Blood Domain, which you should be able to get achievement-locked, then you can start learning how to do everything yourself long before you ever even get close to reaching Class VI.”

Oh. Right.

I kinda forgot about that.

“And then there’s that redacted rarity skill too,” Tar adds, making me nod my head in agreement.

Tar’s suspicion on that skill is that it’s an improved version of Gramps’ Blood Domain skill. Probably one that gives me absolute control over blood including the nullification of any blood in the domain, not just the blood I manifest in it.

Which would basically just make me like a goddess of blood or something.

Then again, it could turn out to be something entirely different as well.

I glance at Amelia to find her frowning slightly with a tiny hint of jealousy on her face. Something I saw when I first mentioned the redacted rarity skill to her.

She clearly wants a redacted rarity skill of her own.

“Why did he say I have potential though? How could he know that?” I ask out of curiosity, making Amelia frown again before she faces where we’re walking – a long road heading towards the end of a large street.

“That is one of the things I don’t know,” Amelia says, not happily. “All I know is that he’s never said that your uncle or I had potential. You’re the only one he’s ever recognized in that sense.”

I blink in surprise at that before facing forwards again.

“Is that so…” I mutter, only to suddenly halt when a large orb of water flies through the air before stopping above the road in front of us. And Amelia stops as well with a frown.

The orb vanishes a second later to reveal the Blue Knight of Humanity in all of his psychopathic glory as he stares at the two of us with that emotionless gaze of his.

And to my surprise, I find myself immediately asking, “Would you mind telling me who it was that ate your emotions?”

“Scarlet?!” Tar practically shouts in my head while Amelia turns a shocked gaze to me. Meanwhile the Blue Knight just regards me with his typical emotionless stare, seemingly uncaring of my words.

But, to the surprise of everyone here including myself, Blue actually answers. And his answer… is not to my liking.

“The Devourer.” He states, not moving an inch as he does so to indicate his feelings.

I stiffen up at that answer.

It was… Xyvandra? She did it to him?

That was… unexpected.

The one I needed to talk to was right under my nose the entire time.

Although this kinda takes killing her off the table. I just hope she’ll be willing to return his emotions to him.

Actually, on that note…

“Do you want your emotions back?” I ask Blue while tilting my head slightly, making Amelia stiffen up immediately. And at the same time, Blue shows the first reaction I’ve ever seen out of him in the form of a simple blink of both of his eyes at once. One of surprise.

It takes several seconds before he narrows his eyes slightly and says, “I don’t care.” Then he walks past me and Amelia without another word.

But for some reason, his words seem to shock Amelia even more as she quickly rushes up to me and grabs me by the shoulders as she practically shouts, “Are you really able to get his emotions back?!”

I open my mouth to respond, only to close it again a second later when nothing comes out due to my own surprise at her actions. Then I open it again when she lets go to answer, “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask her if she’ll return his emotions.”

Amelia opens her mouth for a second, only to close it and nod her head.

“There’s a chance she’ll say yes, and a chance she’ll say no,” I continue with a shrug. “Xyvandra seems to care about me, so she might at least consider it. Although I would have to ask Gramps if he could wake her up to see me. Or if I could just tag along during a strategy meeting where I’ll find her without having to wake her up.”

The thought of waking up the Devourer isn’t a pleasant thought. It’s why Blue had his emotions eaten in the first place after all. Because he woke her up.

Amelia blinks at me in surprise and tilts her head, “Strategy meetings?”

“Yeah,” I offhandedly mutter while still thinking about how I might bring this up to Gramps. Or rather, when I might. Since I won’t be seeing him for a while. “Gramps has had me sit in on quite a few of their war meetings. It was rather boring.”

Amelia just stares at me for some reason dumbfounded, but I ignore her as I continue to ponder over the subject of Gramps.

How should I ask… maybe I can ask to visit in a month or two?

Oh! Wait! I can ask after reaching Class V!

That should work.

I focus on Amelia again, finding her still looking dumbfounded. So I ask, “What’s wrong?”

She doesn’t answer, and for some reason Tar snorts in amusement.

Did something happen?