Chapter 90: Her Own Little Space

The next morning, Ethan left for Nora after they had their breakfast.

Lila didn’t follow. She wanted to train herself. The tournament was a day closer so she couldn’t afford to be caught lacking.

He searched the library, the classes, the gym, even the east grounds... but he found no sign of her.

This led him to wonder... where would Nora go whenever she wasn’t having class, training or doing research? It’s not like she had a lot of people she usually talked with— restricted classes didn’t offer that privilege. You either find someone who didn’t mind your presence, or be stupid enough to attract that kind of attention to yourself...

He walked for a few more moments before cutting at the Southern side of the campus. He turned and reached a secluded spot on the other side, and went over.

There she was...

Nora was already there, by herself under the heat of the afternoon sun. She sat on a low wall with her back rested on the higher wall behind her. She wore a white shirt with a black crop top underneath, legs swinging on the other side, and eyes staring into space without really focusing on anything.

She sat there in silence, not moving, not turning until the sound of Ethan’s legs registered.

She wasn’t startled. She only turned her head, and when she saw it was him, her eyes widened with mild surprise.

"Ethan?"

"Nora." He stopped at a few steps in front of her as she spoke again.

"How did you find me?"

"Been looking all over for you actually. Didn’t think I’d run into you here." His eyes moved over her once. "You busy?"

"If I were busy I wouldn’t be here." A pause. "I come here when i need space. when I need to just... relax without having to think of much."

He nodded and moved to lean on the wall next to her "Mind if I ask about Brimstone? Any updates?"

Something flickered across her face before she nodded. "There is actually. Was planning on coming to see you anyway."

He shifted close. Not close enough for their bodies to touch. But close enough that he could catch that metallic scent of blood that radiated off of her.

"I’ve been through what I can access and what I was told before I came to the academy," she said. "My brother, used to tell me a lot of things about the MCA, you see. Compared notes to things he used to tell me. Turns out, restricted class hunters are closer to the MCA than you think..."

Ethan nodded once, listening.

"As you already know, Brimstone isn’t Aetherite." She spoke in a calm tone. "Where Aetherite stores dungeon energy in a form that can be extracted and measured, Brimstone does the complete opposite: It releases. Concentrated, it shoots out energy violently. Rare enough that we first-years only ever see it in textbooks and diagrams."

She paused for a moment, letting Ethan digest everything she said so far before continuing. "It’s also confirmed that Brimstone presence is directly tied to monster agitation, giving rise to berserk patterns. The Alpha we fought its proof of that."

Ethan’s jaw clenched ever so slightly. The word alpha had reminded him that he had one in his shadow but the system wouldn’t let him use it.

He pushed the thought aside for now and asked. "How about its effect on humans? Any updates based on that?"

She shook her head "Still nothing. Some research does show that it affects humans, others however, don’t. I think it will be safe to say that effects vary from person to person"

Ethan nodded slowly. "Understandable... some people react while others don’t. Just like allergies I guess."

"Researchers argue though," she continued. "Some claim it has no effect, others say it does with prolonged exposure. The MCA treats it with caution either way because there’s never really a sure way to tell yet."

Ethan filed it in a corner of his mind and asked her another question. "I have another thing to ask though...."

"What is it?"

"I heard certain people risk being labeled as rouge as long as they can clear the dungeon. Why is that?"

Nora glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I have an answer to that?"

"Because you said you’d have information about the MCA remember? If you don’t have an answer, it’s fine. If you don’t want to answer, that’s also fine."

She looked away before answering. "As far as I know, the MCA does not only harvest resources for ’mankind’," she said. "Official dungeon recovery provides research, equipment, infrastructure, and budgets that keep response teams paid. Unofficial recovery feeds black markets, private workshops, illegal stockpiles, and anyone who wants a power spike without having to go through a process. This effectively limits the number of resources and makes maintenance difficult. That’s what they want you to think anyway..."

Ethan hummed. "So it’s safe for me to assume that this is an MCA vs Rogue kind of situation."

She nodded. "The MCA is always on the hunt for rogues. The lucky ones escape and become strong enough to challenge them, the unlucky ones are executed..."

The space in the corner they stayed was thrown into silence for a while. In front of them, two students turned to the corner on the right. He could faintly hear them talking about the tournament.

Nora watched his side profile a bit longer that she should have, unknowingly cataloguing the way his eyes moved from one side of the building to the other.

She watched for a few moments, caught herself staring and looked away before he caught on.

"You look more tensed up than usual," she said, looking away from him. "Tournament?"

"Among other things." He stood up, preparing to leave as he turned to her. "Was able to learn some pretty useful things today though. Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me? It was part of the agreement wasn’t it? You have questions, I have answers. In exchange I get to use you as a living reference point."

Ethan deadpanned. "I’m trying to be grateful here sheesh..I don’t want it to be like I’m treating you as just an informant."

She scoffed. "Whatever you say..."

He turned to the opposite side and waved. Nora watched him go and stared at the empty corner for a moment. Over a the past few days, she noticed that he had changed.

It wasn’t the kind that let you go: ’oh, he looks different.’ it was the type that made him harder to ignore.