CHAPTER 95 — WE'LL NAME IT LATER

Night had already fallen when they returned to camp.

No one had any energy left to talk.

Arthur sat straight down on the ground.

William set his bag against the wall.

Marcus checked the surroundings one last time.

Clara kept the light small.

Percy took out the spatial ring.

Sent the monster parts inside.

The mission progress updated.

[GREEN-EYED WOLF: 8/35]

[NEVR: 1/12]

Arthur looked at the text.

Then at William.

William didn't open his mouth.

Arthur nodded.

“Well done.”

William raised an eyebrow.

“I didn't say anything.”

“Progress.”

Charlotte smiled.

Then walked toward Percy.

Percy raised his head when he saw her.

“What is it?”

Charlotte was quiet for a few seconds.

Then spoke very calmly.

“Thank you.”

Percy raised an eyebrow.

“For what?”

Charlotte looked at him.

Percy understood.

Absolute Cancel.

He was quiet for a second.

Charlotte continued.

“But you won't be able to use it for a month.”

Percy suddenly laughed.

Charlotte looked surprised.

Arthur turned his head.

Clara looked at Percy too.

Percy raised his voice a little.

Enough for everyone to hear.

“You're starting to forget camp.”

William adjusted his glasses.

Percy looked at Charlotte.

“I'd have used it for any of you.”

He paused.

“I would.”

Then looked at his friends.

“And I will.”

Charlotte didn't answer.

Percy continued.

“You're my team.”

Arthur's expression shifted slightly.

Marcus turned to Percy.

William didn't take out his pen.

Clara just watched.

Percy thought for a moment.

Then smiled.

“Actually...”

“You're more than that.”

Charlotte's eyes softened.

Arthur looked down.

Percy shrugged.

“But we'll name it later.”

Clara's mouth curved.

“You're running away.”

Percy looked at her.

“From what?”

“The sentence.”

Percy thought.

“A little.”

Arthur laughed.

Even Marcus smiled faintly.

Charlotte nodded.

“Okay.”

Percy looked at her.

“Okay?”

“For now.”

Percy raised an eyebrow.

“My line.”

Clara answered immediately.

“Everyone's now.”

Percy grimaced.

William finally took out his notebook.

“That last attack earlier.”

Percy looked at him.

“What about it?”

“Was it a new ability?”

Arthur listened too.

Clara came closer.

Marcus sat down.

Charlotte joined them too.

Percy shook his head.

“No.”

William's pen stopped.

“It wasn't?”

“Wasn't.”

Percy laid Blaze across his knees.

“I used pure Orin.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“You made a tornado.”

The author's official page has the published chapter and supports its creator; this version was copied without permission.

“Out of pure Orin.”

William narrowed his eyes.

“Shaping?”

Percy nodded.

“Pressure.”

“Direction.”

“Rotation.”

“Then flow.”

William immediately started writing.

Percy continued.

“All of you can do it.”

Arthur looked at him.

“Me too?”

“Yes.”

Charlotte:

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Marcus:

“Me too.”

Percy looked at him.

“Especially you.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“You need pure Orin more.”

William cut in.

“Does it scale with level?”

Percy shook his head.

“Not directly.”

William stopped his pen.

Percy kept explaining.

“How much Orin you hold matters.”

“So does how much you've absorbed from crystals.”

William:

“So being Advanced isn't enough on its own.”

“No.”

Percy put a hand to his chest.

“What matters is the actual Orin your Core holds.”

“And how much you can release without straining it.”

Arthur thought.

“So I'm stronger—”

Percy cut in immediately.

“No.”

Arthur went quiet.

Clara giggled.

Percy continued.

“You shout more.”

Arthur:

“Bastard.”

Charlotte laughed.

William wrote a few more lines.

Then raised his head.

“I have a question.”

Percy looked at him.

“Ask.”

William said it directly.

“Why did you activate Master of Probability today?”

A small smile appeared on Percy's face.

William continued.

“You didn't use it in the earlier fights.”

Percy watched him for a few seconds.

Then tilted his head slightly.

“I'd be disappointed if you didn't understand, William.”

William frowned.

Percy continued.

“Why do you think?”

William didn't answer.

He looked at his notebook.

Then at Percy.

Thought for a while.

A long while.

Arthur lost patience.

“Just say it.”

William raised his hand.

“Shut up.”

Arthur shut his mouth.

William thought again.

Percy waited.

Marcus looked at Percy.

Clara wore a small smile.

Finally, William exhaled.

“Couldn't figure it out.”

Percy's expression genuinely changed.

William looked at him.

“Tell me.”

Percy couldn't speak for a few seconds.

He hadn't expected that from William.

William raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

Percy laughed.

“Nothing.”

“I'm surprised.”

William:

“I don't know everything.”

Percy:

“That's new information.”

William rolled his eyes.

Percy leaned forward a little.

“Okay.”

Then looked at all of them.

“If I...”

“Show you the right way every time...”

“What happens when I'm not there?”

No one answered immediately.

Percy looked at Marcus.

“Marcus.”

Marcus straightened.

“Remember the second wolf fight.”

Marcus nodded.

Percy continued.

“If I'd told you everything...”

“What wouldn't you have noticed?”

Marcus thought.

Then answered.

“That the team had fallen apart.”

Percy nodded.

“Right.”

He turned to Charlotte.

“You?”

Charlotte looked at him.

Percy continued.

“If I'd seen everything...”

“Would you have had to think about the team?”

Charlotte's expression changed.

She thought of Grace of Life.

Percy continued.

“You'd have waited for a wound.”

“And I'd have told you.”

“But this time, you didn't wait.”

Charlotte nodded slowly.

Percy turned to William.

“You?”

William didn't answer.

Percy continued.

“More than anyone...”

“You think about the team's survival.”

William's gaze changed.

Percy:

“What did you expect me to do?”

He pointed upward with one hand.

“Instead of starting at the foundation with you...”

“Should I have carried on from the fifth floor?”

Arthur suddenly understood.

So did Charlotte.

Marcus raised his head.

William froze for a few seconds.

Then his face...

Really did look as though a light bulb had switched on.

“You...”

Percy smiled.

William continued.

“Deliberately hung back.”

Percy nodded.

“Not behind you.”

“Beside you.”

William's expression softened.

Percy continued.

“I was scared too.”

“I made mistakes too.”

“I learned too.”

“Then...”

“I went back to leading.”

William looked at him for a few seconds.

Then laughed.

Truly laughed.

“Sometimes you know far too much.”

Percy's eyebrow rose.

William continued.

“And you talk so seriously.”

Just as Percy was about to feel proud...

William raised his hand.

“Could you go back to being an idiot, please?”

Silence.

Arthur burst out laughing.

Charlotte covered her face.

Marcus laughed.

Percy looked at William.

“You little—”

Clara stood up.

“That's my job.”

Percy turned to her.

“What?”

Clara caught his ear.

“AAAA!”

Percy bent down.

“CLARA!”

Clara pulled him.

Percy lost his balance.

Found his head in Clara's lap.

Percy froze.

Arthur laughed harder.

Clara smoothed Percy's hair.

“You haven't slept in sixty-nine hours.”

Percy blinked.

“You counted?”

“I counted.”

Percy looked at her.

“Is that an order?”

Clara frowned.

Percy closed his eyes immediately.

“Yes, ma'am.”

William laughed.

Arthur made a sound.

“Heh.”

Percy opened one eye.

Arthur was laughing.

Percy opened his mouth.

“Stone Ma—”

Charlotte looked at Arthur.

Then smiled.

“Would you say it for me?”

Arthur's laughter vanished.

“What?”

Charlotte waited.

Arthur looked at her.

Then at Percy.

Then back at Charlotte.

He sighed.

“Stone Man.”

Charlotte's face lit up.

Percy burst out laughing.

Arthur turned to him.

“HEY.”

“That's unfair.”

Charlotte smiled.

“No.”

Arthur:

“Yes.”

Charlotte:

“No.”

Arthur:

“Yes.”

Percy closed his eyes.

“You two are so loud.”

Arthur looked at him.

“Go to sleep.”

Percy:

“Yes, sir, Stone Man.”

Arthur threw a pillow.

Percy was already asleep.

The pillow landed on his face.

Clara lifted the pillow.

Percy didn't move.

Arthur looked surprised.

“He really fell asleep.”

William checked the time.

“Sixty-nine hours.”

Marcus nodded.

“Let him sleep.”

Charlotte looked at Arthur.

“You too.”

Arthur was about to object.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

Arthur went quiet.

“Okay.”

A while later...

The camp fell completely silent.

Arthur slept beside the wall.

Charlotte was very close to him.

William had left his notebook open.

Marcus lay near the entrance.

Clara's back rested against the wall.

Percy's head was still in her lap.

Clara hadn't let go of his hair.

Then...

She fell asleep too.

3:00 a.m.

Percy opened his eyes.

For a moment, he didn't know where he was.

Then he saw Clara.

He slowly lifted his head.

Clara didn't wake.

Percy stood up.

Didn't wake anyone.

Went outside.

The night was quiet.

The moon was visible between the trees.

Percy took a deep breath.

For the first time...

He felt truly rested.

He walked around the camp.

Checked the shadow markers Marcus had left.

Looked at Arthur's wall.

Passed the boundary William had marked.

Didn't go very far.

Then...

He heard a growl.

Percy stopped.

Between the trees...

Two green eyes opened.

Percy's hand went to Blaze.

A large wolf emerged.

Roughly three meters tall.

Percy's expression grew serious.

One.

The wolf looked toward the camp.

Percy stepped in front of it.

Chaos fire hadn't formed yet.

The wolf looked at Percy.

Growled.

Percy activated Master of Probability.

An attack could begin.

From the right.

From the left.

Straight ahead.

But...

Something was strange.

The wolf didn't attack.

It backed away.

Percy frowned.

The wolf turned around.

Started walking.

Percy waited a few seconds.

Then followed.

About two hundred meters farther on...

The wolf entered a small clearing.

Percy stopped behind the trees.

Then he saw them.

Seven.

Small green-eyed pups.

Some were sleeping.

Two leaned against each other.

One nestled against its mother.

Percy's hand left Blaze.

“Oh.”

The mother wolf turned to him.

Growled.

This time, the sound was different.

Not an attack.

A warning.

Percy raised his hands.

“Okay.”

“I'm not coming closer.”

The wolf kept growling.

Percy looked at his spatial ring.

Then opened it.

Took out a few pieces of meat.

He didn't throw them in front of the wolf.

He slowly set them on the ground.

Then stepped back.

The wolf looked at the meat.

At Percy.

At the pups.

She waited a while.

Then approached.

Sniffed the meat.

Picked it up in her mouth.

Carried it to the pups.

The pups stirred immediately.

Percy smiled.

“Okay.”

“We have a deal.”

The mother wolf came back.

Walked right up to Percy.

Percy didn't move.

The wolf lowered her head.

Percy's eyes widened.

“Really?”

The wolf waited.

Percy slowly reached out.

Touched her head.

Her fur was coarser than he expected.

The wolf didn't growl.

Percy scratched gently.

Her tail wagged once.

Percy froze.

“You...”

The tail wagged again.

Percy laughed.

“Okay.”

He thought for a while.

“Your name is Belar.”

The wolf raised her head.

Percy:

“Don't like it?”

The tail wagged again.

Percy grinned.

“You do.”

Belar turned to her pups.

Percy stepped back too.

“Don't come to my camp again.”

Belar stopped.

Percy continued.

“My friends will kill you.”

He thought for a moment.

“Or you'll kill them.”

“I don't want either.”

Belar looked at Percy.

Then returned to her pups.

Percy turned away too.

“See you, Belar.”

When he returned to camp...

Everyone was still asleep.

Percy entered quietly.

Arthur wasn't snoring.

That was surprising.

William had taken off his glasses.

Marcus's hand rested near his knife.

Charlotte faced the wall.

And Clara...

Lay in the same spot.

Percy approached her.

For a while, he simply looked.

Clara's eyes were closed.

Her breathing was steady.

Percy sat beside her.

Said nothing.

Then spoke very quietly.

“Clara.”

No answer came.

Percy looked at his hands.

He was quiet for a while.

Then his voice broke.

“I've missed sleeping with my arms around you so much.”

Clara didn't move.

Percy lowered his head.

A tear fell.

“So much.”

He brought a hand to his face.

Quietly wiped it away.

“That wall really was shit.”

Clara's lip trembled slightly.

Percy didn't see.

Or pretended not to.

From Clara's closed eyes...

Two small tears ran down.

Percy saw them.

But said nothing.

He only sat there a few seconds longer.

Then stood up.

Turned and started walking.

He was nearing the entrance.

Clara's voice came.

Very small.

As though sleepy.

“Even more.”

Percy stopped.

Closed his eyes.

The old camp came to mind.

The moon.

Half past three in the morning.

Clara's sleepy eyes.

The kiss he'd left on her forehead.

“I miss you even when you're beside me.”

Then that answer.

“Even more.”

A smile formed on Percy's face.

He didn't turn around.

“I think our line is back.”

Clara didn't open her eyes.

“Even more.”

Percy laughed quietly.

“Good start.”

The corner of Clara's mouth lifted.

Percy walked back to his spot.

This time...

He lay a little closer to Clara.

There was distance between them.

But no wall.

Percy closed his eyes.

So did Clara.

And for the rest of the night...

Neither asked for more.

CHAPTER 95 — WE'LL NAME IT LATER

END