Chapter 273: 273: An Offer Between Enemies IV

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Snake leaned forward and rested one hand against John's shoulder. The touch seemed simple, like a teacher checking whether a student was injured.

John felt a small pulse of mana enter his body.

It did not hurt.

The mana moved near his core, then stopped before reaching the void.

Snake's fingers remained there slightly longer than necessary.

John looked at him.

Snake removed his hand.

"Your mana is stable," he said. "But your core is under pressure. Do not force another advance too soon."

John accepted the explanation, but a small part of him remained uneasy.

Snake appeared caring. He gave useful warnings. He protected John from powerful people. He had never demanded anything, not the shop, or the gun designs.

Still, Snake always seemed to understand more than he should.

John stood.

"Thank you for the token."

Snake nodded.

"Use it before you become surrounded, not after."

John and Fizz left the office.

As they descended the tower, Fizz looked back twice.

John noticed.

"What?"

Fizz lowered his voice.

"The hat was looking at Nyx."

"It cannot see her."

Fizz frowned. "It was looking where she lives."

John touched the inside of his coat where the protection token rested.

"Snake said it senses strange mana."

Fizz remained unhappy.

"Book dust and secrets."

John remembered Fizz saying the same thing after Snake visited their room. He did not answer. Snake had helped them too many times for John to accuse him without proof.

They returned to the dorm before evening.

Ray was not there. He had left a note saying he would be training with other Flame students.

John locked the door and sat on the bed. Fizz floated near the window while John reached inward toward the void space.

Nyx rested on the mana platform.

She was still small enough to fit inside his palm, but her body had changed since the last time John studied her carefully. Her black shell looked harder. The faint star-like marks along her back had spread toward her legs. Her antennae had grown slightly longer, and the cold pressure around her was stronger.

John called her name through the bond.

Nyx raised her head.

She stood and walked toward the edge of the platform. This time, her movements were smoother and faster. She no longer looked like a newborn learning how to control her legs.

Fizz pressed his face close to the small void window John created.

"The vacuum bug became shinier."

Nyx turned her head toward him.

Fizz pulled back.

"I mean stronger. Very respected. No judgment needed."

John studied the energy around her.

Nyx had been absorbing the natural void inside his inner space even while sleeping. The process was slow, but it never stopped. She was not only feeding from the mana residue John gave her. She was growing from the environment itself.

The system appeared.

[SYSTEM Notification-

Void Ant Growth Progress: 18%.

Void Absorption: Stable.

Body Reinforcement: In Progress.

New ability development detected.

Ability remains incomplete.]

John focused on the final lines.

"What ability?"

The system answered.

[Insufficient progress for identification.]

Fizz floated above the window.

"When will she become large enough to carry me?"

John looked at him.

"You are still thinking about riding her?"

Fizz raised his chin.

"A great leader never gives up on transportation."

Nyx walked slowly away from the window.

Fizz's expression fell.

"She did that on purpose."

John closed the window before Fizz could begin another argument.

He remained seated after Nyx disappeared from view.

Snake's warning stayed in his mind.

Enemies working together.

Fartray and Ned were obvious possibilities, but the White family had other sons. The firstborn, Julian, had already sent Loric after John years ago. If the new gossip reached Julian, it could bring more danger.

John reached into a hidden part of his bag and removed a small old object wrapped in cloth. It was one of the few things connected to his childhood and his missing mother. He did not know whether it truly belonged to her. The midwife had only told him that it had been near him when he was born.

It was a broken silver pendant with no chain. A strange half-circle symbol had been carved into the surface.

John rubbed his thumb over it.

He had asked Edda to search for the symbol quietly, but she had not found anything yet.

Sometimes John wondered whether his mother was dead.

Other times, he wondered whether she had left him willingly.

He did not know which answer would hurt more.

Fizz floated down and sat beside him.

"You are thinking about her again."

John closed his fingers around the pendant.

"Yes."

"We will find something."

John looked at Fizz.

Fizz's voice was simple and certain.

"We found a shop. We found guns. We found a void ant inside an egg. Finding one mother cannot be harder than all that."

John almost smiled.

"You make everything sound easy."

Fizz nodded. "That is one of my powers."

John wrapped the pendant again and returned it to the bag.

Outside the academy, night settled over the capital.

Fartray sat in another private room with a map spread across the table. Three hired men stood around him while his butler explained the roads between Heart Magic Academy and Fizz Holdings.

One route passed through crowded markets.

Another stayed near guard posts.

The third moved through an old storage district where several buildings had been abandoned.

Fartray pointed to the third road.

"Here."

The butler studied it.

"It is quiet, but John may not use it."

"He will if the message tells him the main road is watched."

One hired man asked, "What message?"

Fartray looked at him.

"A message from his shop saying Gael has been injured and enemies are waiting near the front entrance."

The butler hesitated.

"We do not have Gael's seal."

"Then steal an old invoice. Copy the mark. Use the name of one of their suppliers."

Fartray placed several gold coins on the map.

"The message must reach John through someone he does not suspect."

The hired men looked at the money.

Fartray continued.

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