Reed sat with his back to a tree as he listened to Avalyn as she recounted her tragic death.
"Then it threw a boulder at me!" She exclaimed, moving her arms in a throwing motion. "It just ripped it out of the ground and threw it at me! That broke my leg! Then it jumped ON me!!!"
She shuddered.
"Thankfully it landed on my head, if it hadn't killed me with that attack..." She shuddered again. "I don't even want to know how much painful that would have been."
According to her, she had been killed by a giant brown-haired gorilla on the fourth day.
"What did you get?"
She brightened up at that question.
"Watch this!"
She started to float above the ground.
"Ho?" Reed let out a questioning sound as he activated his Celestial vision.
He saw that there was something that was tightly wrapped around her body.
"What do you think it is?"
"Flight?"
"Correct!"
Reed mused about its usefulness.
'Not bad at all.'
"That's pretty good."
There was a small smile as he spoke.
Lyn looked at the smile and frowned.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Why do you smile like that?"
Hearing this, Reed's smile grew.
"Like what?" He asked in a cheerful tone.
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?"
"Yes, you do."
"Indeed I do, but you know the reason as well don't you?"
Lyn fell silent at that.
She knew what it meant, she wasn't stupid.
But it was still irked her.
"You don't need to do that."
"I don't, but this makes it easier."
"How so?"
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Yes."
Reed's smile disappeared from his face.
"Tell me," His voice was much more serious now. "What does a smile show?"
Lyn was slightly taken aback by that rapid change.
"Joy? Happiness?" She tentatively spoke.
"Correct, but it also shows satisfaction. Me showing a smile at times tells you how I feel about your progress, which makes you happier as well, boosting your morale."
"At the same time, it masks my thoughts as well, and by running thoughts about your lacking qualities and how detrimental you could be, keeps me at a distance from you, keeping my emotions towards you in check. Killing two birds with one stone."
"Most people wouldn't pick up on it, but you have demonstrated qualities much better than an average person, so I relaxed my disguise a little bit around you, leading you to pick up on my true feelings."
Reed paused and looked at Lyn, who had a frustrated look on her face.
"I'm sure you understand why I did so, yes?"
She huffed and nodded.
"You just spoke it out, keeps you from forming an emotional connection while making sure I need you more than you need me."
"Very good."
Reed had a smirk on his face as he said this, which angered her further.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, could you stop that from now on?"
Reed responded with a quick nod.
"I have no problem with that, you are learning quite well."
Lyn scratched her head.
"Right, what do we do now?"
"Whatever you want, for now, I'm going back to the city, I have a few things I need to do, meet me tomorrow for breakfast at Plim's."
After that order, Reed got up and walked away, leaving Lyn alone in their training ground.
***
Reed sat on a restaurant table with a book in front of him, waiting for his meal to be served.
He wrote something as he muttered.
"Flight... good for movement or range, need to know how stable she can be in mid-air, and how fast and far she can go..."
He tapped his pen against the book as he ran his mind through possible situations and strategies.
"How effective would she be as a bomber?"
He looked at the list of abilities that Lyn had and imagined her, armored and dropping bombs on a horde from above, out of range of any magic and/or arrows.
"Not a bad idea..."
He noted that down as well when his meal arrived.
"Thank you." He thanked the waiter and put the book and pen away as two trays were placed in front of him, one with curry, a dish of meat, and vegetable stew, the other with bread, and a plate filled with fruit.
After his meal he visited a few stores, buying a few things and selling a lot of mana cores when he visited the adventurer's guild branch in this city, which drew a few eyes.
He didn't need to do this, but he needed to show any people who grew curious where his money came from, while also indirectly showing his power to deter any would-be thieves.
The people in this world weren't as stupid as they were shown in books and shows, which did make some sense.
After all, they had to deal with cunning creatures quite commonly, being stupid was not something an adventurer could afford.
Even if they were, they would quickly get some smarts after they got outwitted by some enemies.
This taught them that they couldn't underestimate those who looked weak, but even if they knew this, there would always be those who wanted to take chances.
Reed sighed, he was sitting in his room, with his eyes glowing blue, tracking a person who was moving away from him.
He left the hotel and followed them from a distance using his radar.
He walked as he reached a place that was noticeably much worse in terms of living conditions, with multiple homeless people about.
Reed stepped into an empty alley and brought out the same small things that he had attached to his armor.
He put them on and disappeared from human eyes.
Unseen to the people below, he jumped from roof to roof, with no sounds emanating from him.
He traversed the roof until he reached his destination, which was a small field surrounded by houses next to the city wall.
His target walked into the biggest house, and after a moment Reed followed.
A few minutes later, Reed emerged, and after a look around, his made his way back to his room.
He had a smile on his face, but unlike before, this one was sinister and somewhat maniacal.
Reed let out a deep snicker, then pulled out a book and started writing on it.