In her understanding, Sarkaz mercenaries and the word ideal had absolutely nothing to do with each other.
What were mercenaries, after all?
Illiterate drifters living one day at a time. Hyenas of the wasteland. People who took any filthy, exhausting job that came their way. How many of them could even be called decent? As for a word like ideal, that was even further beyond reach. Anyone who could fully grasp its meaning would already count as scholar-level among the locals.
Wis'adel herself had only come to vaguely understand it because You Yi had spent all this time stuffing her head with information.
Still, since You Yi had said so, she filed it away for later.
Over there, Oni had already gone up to meet his associates. The man he was speaking to was another Caprinae, also dressed in a scholar's robe. The moment he saw Oni alive, relief washed visibly over his face.
"Oni! You're alive! I thought you…"
"Well, I almost didn't make it back." Oni shook his head with a bitter smile, then lowered his voice and briefly recounted what had happened on the road.
The mercenary squad listened to the whole thing.
When the tale reached the part about that youngest Sarkaz girl single-handedly turning the entire situation around, Hoederer's gaze shifted toward Wis'adel.
Wis'adel felt that gaze land on her. She didn't look away. She returned it calmly.
Their eyes met.
Hoederer gave her a slight nod.
…
When it came time to settle the payment, Oni kept his word.
Five times meant five times.
But Wis'adel made a request.
"Do you have any high-purity Originium? That's what I need. The more, the better."
A flicker of surprise crossed Oni's face, but he quickly nodded. It clearly wasn't something they lacked.
"That can be arranged."
He turned and left. Not long after, he came back carrying a case.
When he opened it, six rhomboid crystals were lined up neatly inside. Every single one was clear and translucent, with faint currents of energy flowing within. They weren't as pure as the Originite Prime from before, but each of them was still rare, high-grade material.
Wis'adel picked one up, held it against the light, then stored it away in satisfaction.
"That settles it."
She turned and left without another word.
With that payment in hand, Wis'adel spent quite a while after returning to the settlement without taking many commissions.
Perhaps because she'd been provoked by recent events, she became far more serious about practicing her aim. Sometimes the rocky fields weren't enough, so she would deliberately go looking for birds and beasts to shoot at, ruining the days of quite a few unfortunate little animals.
During that time, to avoid wasting energy, You Yi developed a lower-consumption energy round that could be fired instantly and in quick succession.
In truth, it was just a weakened version of the energy beam, derived from the same principle. There was nothing particularly difficult about creating it.
Like turning a steady stream into pulsed bursts—so long as the output was controlled properly, the energy use dropped sharply and endurance improved as well.
At the same time, he was also working on an upgraded energy cannon with greater destructive force. The beam weapon had decent penetration, but in situations that required broad-area devastation, it still lacked bite.
Beyond that, he didn't forget the most important thing: improving defense.
This last battle had exposed a critical flaw. The symbiotic suit's protective capability was simply too poor. Ordinary bullets might not be enough to pierce it, but attacks enhanced with Originium Arts were much harder to withstand.
And Wis'adel's fighting style was, to put it mildly, aggressive.
Improving protection had become urgent.
As for why You Yi dared to work on multiple things at once—
It was because he'd realized that recently, the emotional energy Wis'adel provided had increased.
Though he couldn't clearly distinguish the precise nature of those complicated emotions, the only explanation he could come up with was that their compatibility had improved, their relationship had deepened, and thus the quality of the emotions she produced had risen as well.
This was something explicitly recorded in the inherited knowledge of symbiotes.
And so time passed quietly, while their days settled into a more stable rhythm.
Until one day, You Yi's excited voice suddenly rang through Wis'adel's mind.
"It's done!"
"Done? What's done? What have you even been up to lately?" There was a hint of grievance in Wis'adel's voice.
These past few days, You Yi had been constantly busy with something. Even the number of times he nagged at her had gone down. Most of the time, she had to be the one to start a conversation before he'd respond at all.
She had asked more than once, only to get vague answers about it being classified or him preparing some kind of surprise.
It had left her faintly uneasy and unsettled.
But You Yi didn't explain.
"Heh. Let me show you something good."
The moment the words fell, Wis'adel suddenly felt the symbiotic suit on her body begin to stir.
She instinctively lowered her head.
The black substance rapidly piled up and hardened along the outside of her forearm. The soft suit in that area transformed into a glossy black shell, almost like lacquered armor—beautifully curved, perfectly fitted against her arm.
Wis'adel raised her arm and examined the armored plate carefully.
"This is…"
"Didn't I see those people bullying you last time? So I figured I should add some armor. Let you take a few less hits."
You Yi proudly began introducing his newest masterpiece.
"This is the latest symbiotic battle armor I developed. I spent ages just refining the design. And it's not just for show, either. It may not look thick, but even if it takes a shell head-on, as long as it's not heavy artillery, it'll be fine. If you run into guys like the last bunch again, you could literally stand still and let them hit you for ten minutes, then casually kick them to death like a truck rolling over a speed bump."
But Wis'adel wasn't paying much attention to the technical explanation.
"You've been working on this all this time?"
She pressed her lips together, visibly moved.
You Yi, however, immediately started posturing again, flashing a dashing grin.
"If you let every random cat and dog beat you until your brains spill out, wouldn't that make me lose face too? As your personal old master, I cannot lose! I've got to buff you up hard! We're going to crush every enemy until they drop to their knees!"
Wis'adel went expressionless.
As expected. Thinking he'd suddenly become more considerate had just been an illusion.
"Hm? Not satisfied? That was just a demo. It's not limited to that one piece."
You Yi could sense her disappointment, though he still hadn't realized what the problem was.
Then the symbiotic suit across her body began to move again.
This time, black matter surged simultaneously from her shoulders, chest, abdomen, waist, and thighs. Plates of dark armor emerged one after another, spreading along the lines of her body and swiftly covering all the critical areas.
The armor didn't look bulky or clumsy.
On the contrary, it had a striking sort of elegance to it, enough to make one think that armor itself could be beautiful.
You Yi continued explaining his design.
"Normally, you just stay in the basic state. When you need it, you expand and harden it. Keeping this on all the time would waste too much energy. No point."
"How do I retract it?"
"Just control it with intent. Same as the hand cannon."
Wis'adel tried it.
The black armor began to melt away, turning back into the soft symbiotic suit that clung close to her skin.
Then she tried bringing the armor back.
The suit surged, and the black plates reappeared, rapidly spreading over her body once more. The transition was so smooth it was almost mesmerizing to watch.
She couldn't help doing it again.
And again.
She played with it so happily that she lost track of time.
At last, You Yi couldn't help complaining, "Can you have a little dignity? You're like some kid who just got a new toy."
"I am a kid," Wis'adel replied with perfect confidence.
You Yi choked on that and, for once, had absolutely nothing to say.
After a moment, Wis'adel dismissed the battle armor and returned to that simple black, skin-tight suit. Looking down at her arm, she suddenly said:
"Thanks."
You Yi froze.
"What did you just say?"
Was this really the same Wis'adel he knew—the one who always acted tough no matter what?
In truth, because the still-young Wis'adel had encountered his influence so early, her personality had already started developing down a path completely different from the one in the game.
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