Lynn stared at her teammates waiting for them to try to say anything else. Anything at all to justify their decision to grab food despite her complaints. When none was forthcoming Lynn seemed to shrink into herself.
"Fine… I guess I'll keep going" said Lynn as she turned back to face the table gloomily.
*Why are you so distraught anyway? Didn't they say they had some food for her as well? What's the point getting so upset over it.*
"Don't worry I understand your pain Lynn. At least your teammates ordered some food for you anyway" said Dusk
"I don't wanna hear that from the guy who froze his own face so he didn't have to smell this delicious food" said Lynn
"Why must you be like this, smile more perhaps you'd look nicer" said Dusk
"Says the one wearing a mask" Lynn shouted back
"I have no desire to engage you in a shouting match to see who can yell the loudest. I simply was trying to ease your burden by understanding the pain you are going through. To think that my kind gesture was so thoroughly rebuffed brings me nothing but dissatisfaction" said Dusk
Lynn groaned and rested her head on her orb. "Hey Lynn, don't worry I bet Thyme's fancy magic plate will keep the food warm for you, so it'll be perfectly fresh when the contest is over. How else could he have kept all this food warm? What do you think he has a hoard of pixie chefs in a pocket dimension he gains access to that are cooking the meals on demand or something?" said Kat
"Wait how did you find out about that" said Thyme in shock.
The contestants all turned their heads towards Thyme. "What? Pocket dimensions set up for the sole purpose of cooking are a wonderfully innovative idea" said Thyme.
"But that's impossible" said Nixilei "Keeping living things inside of a spatial enhanced region should be impossible, or at the very least so mana intensive that the expenditure alone would bankrupt multiple kingdoms it simply can't be done"
Kat just laughed. Trying to stifle her giggles she nearly dropped the orb but her reflexes were more than good enough to compensate. "See, Kat get's it. Can none of you understand a good joke?"
Nixilei felt her eye twitching again but ignored it as she continued "Be that as it may, multiple things you have shown us so far border on the impossible or at last improbable such as the maze, that bizarre room in the maze, and the stone wood. Nonetheless you have managed it anyway. That, and please consider your status somewhat Thyme, if you were to say the sky is green we are half obligated to believe you"
"You mean to tell me it is some other colour? What like red? Or heaven forbid blue? Why I must have been lied to all my life" said Thyme who had changed to a sky blue instead of it's usual green tinted wooden surface.
Just as Thyme returned to the its original colour scheme the table vanished. The contestants had been rather distracted up till this point and so most were ill prepared for when their orbs suddenly turned into a puddle of water.
Kat let her flame surge into her hands freezing the water in an instant. Now, it was less that Kat was holding the orb and more that the orb was frozen around her hands… and on fire. *Um… can you go out please? Pretty sure I stopped feeding you energy…*
And yet the flames continued to burn. As for the others, Jack summoned a mug underneath his hands and let the water fall into it. A small bit looked like it was going to splash over the side but he quickly responded by raising the edges another few centimetres and so was fine.
Dusk had… summoned more water? In front of him was an orb of water, though it was larger than the initial one and wobbled strangely in the air. To sigils were lit up on either side as Dusk continually supplied them with mana.
And Lynn… poor Lynn. Lynn was just staring at a puddle of water at her feet. Their was a sigil next to her hands but whatever it might have been trying to do clearly it had failed in one form or another.
Lynn collapsed to her hands and knees and just knelt in that position for a while. "Um Lynn, are you alright" asked Kat
"No"
"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Kat
"No"
*Well… that accomplished a whole lot of nothing.* Kat looked towards Lynn's teammates. Most seemed occupied with the food they had acquired, but Estelle looked down at Lynn with a strange expression on her face.
There was a smile, but her eyes were filled with sadness, though Kat wasn't exactly sure who that emotion was directed at. Estelle also didn't seem to be eating, and in fact had no food near where she stood, with no empty plates on the provided table.
*Well then… ignoring that for now. System why is my orb still on fire?*
User Kat pushed sufficient energy into the object to keep it alight for some time. Without further directive the energy is simply holding position on the orb for the time being.
*Wait but it's fire isn't it? Shouldn't it burn out or something.*
User Kat, your Demonic Flame may be referred to as a flame, but it most assuredly is not natural fire. It is a form of higher energy, and like all others it has unique properties.
*Can you tell me what some of those are?*
User Kat requires a higher rank for that information.
*Can I just get a list of things that I can't know? Or better yet a list of things I can?*
User Kat requires a higher rank for that information
*Can I get a super generalised version of what you can and can't tell me?*
Considering query
Examining circumstances
Identifying optimal solutions…
Discarding optimal solutions…
Loading sub-optimal solutions…
Discarding sub-optimal solutions…
Considering comedic solutions…
Discarding comedic solutions
Loading Ideal solution…
Failed to find Ideal solution…
Settling for a compromise…
Upon examining User Kat's circumstances a vague list will be compiled. However it is determined User Kat cannot receive this list during a summoning.
*Right of course… Can you at least tell me how to unfreeze my hands?*
No.
*Well at least you're consistent.*
"So…" said Thyme "Hate to break you out of the whole, the world is over and I can never recover shtick but I'd like to politely ask if you could exit the stage"
"Cake" said Lynn
"Pardon?" said Thyme
"Can I have some cake now that I'm out" said Lynn
Thyme turned into a small version of Lynn "Can I have some cake now that I'm out…?" said the Lynn Thyme she stretched out the words
"May I please have some cake Lynn" said Lynn looking up slightly at her lookalike.
"See, I can be a polite host and teach life lessons who woulda thought" said Thyme as she handed Lynn a cupcake.
The real Lynn opened her mouth to argue but Thyme got in first and said "Now now, you can't honestly think I'd let you just eat a whole cake do you? This is enough for now, and if you want more you can come back"
Lynn took a second look at the cupcake in her hands. It was delicately made with little chocolate drawings over the white icing that coated the top. They depicted Lynn and her companions, in various poses. Or perhaps it was just Lynn, awfully hard to tell with those guys.
"Thanks Thyme, or Lynn, or whatever I'm supposed to call you when you look like me" said Lynn.
"Just Thyme, anytime. I might like to play up these caricatures, but I do like my name. It's been with me for many centuries and I won't be discarding it quite so easily" said Thyme as they morphed back to their taller shape, though keeping the elvish ears this time.
Thyme snapped its fingers and sent Lynn hovering up to go join her teammates. Kat noticed that a smile had already found its way onto her face. *I guess she recovered. I wonder if it was the food or the artwork that did it*
"Now Jack, I'm torn as to what I should do with you…" said Thyme
"What do ya mean" asked Jack
"Well, first of all, good job altering that spell so fast to increase the size of the cup, masterful work done there and I congratulate you on your effort" said Thyme
"I'm sensing a but" said Jack
"Well of course… see, as expertly done as it was, you did miss some of the water… but it's such a tiny amount that I'm not sure if I should count it or not…" said Thyme examining a dry patch right next to Jack's right foot.