A Certain Eminence In Shadow

Chapter 2. A Real Prodigy

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Cid and I decided to meet up occasionally, I'd sometimes check if he was making progress with the possessed body, and he'd practice on my vector shield. Sometimes, it would even turn into a spar, but my brain which is capable of exceeding 50 Supercomputers did not know defeat, and Cid's inability to breach my defenses didn't help his case.

However, I did notice that he was making progress at frightening speed. Soon enough, he'll definitly be able to bypass my vector shield consistently, as if it wasn't even there. That's good for him and all, but I'm not really too keen on feeling pain, so I'll have to find countermeasures eventually.

Today, I came to check on the possessed like usual, and Cid was waiting for me to start experimenting with magic.

"Yo, Cid ! Sorry for keeping you waiting, I had my own business to attend to."

That wasn't a lie, by the way. I normally have a tight schedule where I practice Mob techniques, gain more knowledge, train my vector ability personally, make preparations for my future business, etc.

Adding my encounters with Cid to all of this isn't exactly easy, I could just skip some of this stuff, but I'm a little too careful. Think of it this way, one hit, ONE well-placed hit to my head, and I could lose my abilities if my brain is damaged.

... There's also the fact I really treasure my alone time.

But enough about my lack of social skills. I approached Cid and took a look at the possessed body, apparently the magic experiments were going well. He told me he was about to return the body to normal, I also helped him come up with ideas on what he could do with his magic. Although I don't know how to use magic at all, this world is full of it, so it was necessary for me to know as much as possible. In other words, when it came to theory, I was an expert in the supernatural field.

"Hey again, Volkov. Still can't get over how your name sounds Russian."
He answered.

"Tell me about it- Regardless, you should be done today, correct ?"
I asked.

Cid nodded in response.
"Yeah, it wasn't really hard anyway, it just took me a little while, but I'm pretty much done. You didn't even have to come today."

"And miss the big reveal? You still owe me money if it turns out to be a girl's body."

"Dude, are we looking at the same thing? There's no way that mass of flesh is a girl, I'm even beginning to doubt that it's human."
Cid replied in exasperation.

"No, no, trust me. It's a common trope, there's no way that piece of flesh wouldn't turn out to be something completely ridiculous. This thing doesn't even make sense in the first place, how is it still alive despite looking like... Whatever this is."

Cid shrugged.
"The wonders of magic, I suppose. Anyway, let's continue with the magic experiments."

Cid placed his hand in front of the lump of flesh and pumped magic into it like usual. However, this time, something different happened. The lump of flesh turned into an elf girl- WAIT !

"BOOYAH, I WAS RIGHT ! TAKE THAT !"

Cid crouched down in defeat and slammed his fist on the ground.
"GOD.DAMN.IT !"

The young blonde elf didn't notice our interaction, she was still stunned that she had been saved.
"But... My body was almost completely rotten... And it turned back... How?!"

Before the girl could glance at Cid, he quickly repositioned himself, as if he wasn't shouting in grief a few seconds ago. The elf turned to look at Cid and me, she continued.