cerim
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Chapter 658 - Fragile
🕑 Added 2025-07-08 08:42:47 +0000 UTCThe time finally comes. I leave the primordial knights without any goodbyes, just a promise to return in a few days and make my way back to the 9th floor.
The humidity of the 9th floor immediately hits me, and the near-claustrophobic, all-surrounding jungle wraps around me.
Min-Jae sits nearby with interesting items around him. A few shelves filled with books and mana stones, some desks that seem like they belong to a library, and some more furniture. The most eye-catching is the huge, closet-sized clock whose arms reach the set time and then the clock rings.
As the ringing spreads through the jungle, Min-Jae looks at me and smiles proudly. That sound is somewhat soft while still being clearly noticeable.
After it rings for the last time, Min-Jae waves his hand, and the tree above the clock and the furniture around creaks, cracks, and then entirely falls down, squashing it beneath a trunk as thick as a bus.
Still, with a smile, he explains, "I could just use the countdown timer to estimate when you'd return, but it was fun to set the clock to countdown, and I did it to the second. I didn't even open the watch, just used my senses and [Telekinesis]."
"I appreciate such frivolous use of your powers, but isn't it a waste to destroy the furniture?"
"It's fine. We already moved all the useful stuff and sorted it out. There's just too much. Clothes, some mattresses, beds, pillows, blankets, books, furniture, food, their drachen, items, and all that stuff. We could probably equip a smaller mansion with it all."
"Then it is fine," I say, and ask directly, "How is it?"
For a moment, he looks awkward but then shrugs with a weak smile. He doesn't mention what happened before, and neither do I.
"It was rough for a few days, but Izzy and the twins worked hard and found a way to “fix it”. So it went from Sophie being dead to… well, just you guys….”
“Getting our asses kicked.”
He shrugs awkwardly, “Something like that. Everyone more or less went on a training spree. We moved pretty far away, so I came to wait for you and bring you there. Some demon tribes are highly perceptive, but we avoid them thanks to Izzy and Tess. We know their territory well, so I can lead you to our base without running into them."
He gestures, and I follow behind him. Then he doesn't fly but moves in a way that feels like there are threads tied to him and he keeps pulling on them. It's just that weird-ass way he moves when he uses [Telekinesis] and primordial gravitational energy to move.
"We shouldn't stay for too long. A few hours ago, one of the stronger monsters passed by here. Likely over level 400, big scary thing," he explains.
"Seems like you guys learned a bit more about this place."
Min-Jae jumps on the branch of a tree and then moves to another with a nod. "Not the most important stuff, but it could be said we're slowly learning more. We could likely learn more, but the situation..."
"I see."
"Yes. And you, how did it go? Did you kill them?"
"I met her. She's alive for now, but next time, she won't be."
"That's good."
"I guess. Can you also sense that huge presence to our left?" I ask.
"Yup," Min-Jae says. "Even from this distance, I can see its Gravitational Wavelength. It has to be that big ass lizard. It moves slowly, but it weighs a lot and it's likely very durable. We've avoided it so far. If you cause too much commotion, like explosions, fire, or flying around, more of strong monsters like that lizard start appearing in the area."
"Likely a floor setting."
"Seems like it," he stops, and I stop by his side.
I notice he's looking to the left, where that lizard should be, and his yellow left eye shines just a little bit. "I think I can kill it without much commotion, but I want to plan a bit longer," he says.
I understand right away. "It's all yours."
"Thanks," there's a slight smile on his face, and we start moving again. "So, for demons, there are multiple tribes, and each far away from the others. All look more or less the same. White hair, horns, red eyes, but some tribes seem to have more of a certain primordial energy, while others orient around a different one. So it could likely be genetic, at least partially? Whatever decides what demon heart they get."
"Did you talk with any of them?"
"Not so far. We’re considering a few tribes, and Tess plans for she and I to probably go ahead because of our primordial energies. I think, at worst, our group can deal with a smaller tribe somewhat easily, and we will likely try before Tess and Lily head to Beyond again."
All of it is nicely planned out and carries Tess’s clear signature, so I keep asking more, and Min-Jae keeps answering. Once in a while, I watch him kill a group of monsters that get in our way.
Most of the time, he just increases gravity under them until they fall and press against the dirt as if something is holding them down from above until they die. It is surprisingly mana-efficient when it comes to dealing with monsters with weaker physical stats.
For the stronger ones, he moves some of his projectiles out of the bag on his back, where he has hundreds stored. Some are needle-like, others orbs, and some as long as poles. All neatly organized to take up the least space possible, and all likely weighing multiple times more than Min-Jae himself.
A few hours later, we climb to the top of one of the highest trees, and there we set up to wait a few hours. The sun is setting, and both dawn and sunset are the times when the most annoying and powerful monsters appear.
The view slightly opens from up here between the more sparse branches, and I can see the never ending jungle with the last rays of the sun covering it in a beautiful golden color. The activity all around rises up and we hear trees cracking and falling, smaller explosions, and monster screeching.
I hear a familiar sound that doesn’t belong here at all and look to my right.
Min-Jae is holding a smartphone and taking a photo. Another shutter sound follows.
Noticing me looking at him, he smiles. "Izzy isn’t in the mood for taking photos lately, so I take some for her. She’ll like them later when she sees them. Maybe."
"She’ll like them," I say with certainty.
I know that even if Min-Jae only took photos of half of his thumb from awkwardly holding the phone and the other half was smudged from his finger oils, Izzy would like them. Because of the gesture itself.
For a moment, I close my eyes and appear in my mind space. In that small room with older furniture, a crib in the middle, and a window open to the cold weather, snow falling outside.
Sophie has been listening and watching through my eyes since we entered the floor, as I allowed her. Looking at her small figure now, she seems even more down, the closer we are getting to returning her to her body. And with it, the memory she wanted to throw away.
"Want to tell me?" I ask simply.
From down there, she looks up at me. Once again I realize how much her younger version looks like Izzy. Not enough to mistake them for twins, but very close.
A self-deprecating grin appears on her face and she starts talking, "I was an only child, and my parents gave me everything. Some people could say I was spoiled, and maybe I really was, but I loved them, and they loved me. It felt perfect, and I thought that was just how things would always be.”
She still keeps that grin, but it starts to fade, and her voice drops.
“Then Izzy was born. She was weak, got sick often, and almost died more than once. My mom quit her job just to watch over her, and my dad started working from home so he could help too."
As she talks, I sit down opposite her, the crib to my left, and look at those big green eyes.
And she continues, "It went on like that for months, and I slowly went from being the favorite child to the one in the background. My parents stopped loving me, and instead, there was little Isabella. She stole them from me. That always ill little thing. That's what I thought. How stupid, right?"
"Kids are stupid."
"And not just stupid." She stops resting against the wall and moves closer to me. It becomes colder in the room out of nowhere, and the snowflakes start falling around us. "So, Nat. What would you say if that jealous little girl waited until her parents were asleep, then went into her sick sister’s room, opened the window while it was freezing outside, and nudged the blanket off her just a little?"
For a moment, I just stare at her. The grin fades from her face, and her eyes start to well up, but she doesn’t cry. She just wipes them away.
"Izzy survived by a miracle. Dad woke up at night and for some reason decided to check on her. The next day, my mom kept crying, thinking she was tired and forgot to close it. Not even for a second did they think it was the little monster that they kept under the same roof."
Sophie wipes her eyes again, more aggressively. "A few days later, both of them died in a car accident." She doesn’t stop and keeps using her sleeves. "And then it was just me and Izzy, moving to my uncle’s. Nat, there is a reason I’m here, and I believe my parents dying was a punishment for what I did. And I believe I’m now being punished further, dragging Izzy into the tutorial and to all this with me."
She keeps wiping at her eyes like she’s trying to erase the whole thing. The air in the room stays cold. Not from the window. Not from the snow.
I let the silence hang. It deserves to. Then I speak, quietly.
"I don’t think there’s anything I can say to that."
She doesn’t react. Just sits there, breathing unevenly, her face half-lit by the faint light from outside. The crib creaks slightly as if reminding us both what’s in the middle of the room.
"But I’m still here, and I can listen," I say.
Her fingers tighten slightly around the sleeve of her shirt. That’s it.
"And so is Izzy," I add and lean forward. "If you want me to hate you, I won’t."
She doesn’t answer right away. Just lowers her head again, like even that is too much to hold. "I wouldn’t blame you if you did if everyone did," she finally says, voice barely audible.
"I know," I reply.
Sophie pulls her knees up closer, rests her forehead on them. Then she speaks again, and this time her voice is steadier.
"I kept telling myself I was a child. That I didn’t understand. But I did. I knew exactly what I was doing. And that’s what makes it worse."
I don’t interrupt her.
She lifts her head slowly. Her eyes meet mine. “Sometimes I wonder... does she know? What if she does, and just doesn’t say anything? Every time I think about it, I’m too scared to ask.”
Both of us stay quiet, and I stay with Sophie for a bit longer. Not because I have anything left to say, but because leaving would feel like abandoning something fragile.
The cold isn’t going away, but it stops feeling sharp.
"You should go." She says after a while.
I explore her expression for a moment, and only then do I nod, and leave without any further words.
***
Comments
tishane Imperial MageKiller
Damn thats 🥶 🧊
Mr.Spooks
The floor guardian is probably special with weird system created perks, the level 400 on this floor seems to be level 400 because of size and natural kaiju strength and won’t have the same durability and specialized build the floor guardian had. There was a whole thing where Nat talked about builds countering other builds.
Kirin
Thank you for the chappie!
Poutine Au Syrop d'érable
Tbh. Gravity use to fly would be the most superman esque way of flying. Since it's uniform spacetime control over everything. Also, gravity is somewhat OP because it uses fixed acceleration. Not fixed forced. But you need to do more then just increase or lower gravity. You need to set up your own field. So a train and a feather will be chucked at the same speed. (As long as they fit inside the grav field. Hence it's more efficient to chuck super dense material, because field size, field strength, field precision. ). Idk how nat flies. Is it described as possessed ghost twitches between complete stopage? Idk about telekinesis. I think it works with forces. So it makes sense if he pulls on one precise spot rather then uniformly. Does he bend at the pulled spot? Hence like if a rope as tied there and pulled there?
FarFromLogic
what a bomb to drop, it explains so much, the overprotectiveness, the lack of regard for others when it comes to protecting her sister, the self hate that kept coming up as well as the inability to stop manipulating others, what a thing to live with both the horrible act as well as the lack of redemption and loss of parents right after, its like, hey you f_cked up but also you can't ever make it right, now live with the guilt and you can't end your life because Izzy has lost her parents too so you have to take care of her, its such a cruel fate
asdsa fasfas
It took Nat a lot of black mana to kill floor guardian in beyond who was on 395~ lvl and he was barely scraching him with Lance, and now Kim says that he can kill lvl 400+ without much commotion? Did I miss some arc? Since when he became that strong exactly?
Anotherb Account
Haven’t commented in a while, still loving every chapter, just got a bit lazy and your stories never suffer for comments, but had to for this one. ….. Dammmmmmmn. Well written, good stuff
Bob
Did Sophie (in her body) lost levels because she lost part of herself?
baggytoques
Cerim I gotta say you're incredibly good at writing characters. Their emotions and motivations always feels real instead of plot-devicey like in some other stories I've read. Beautiful chapter.
Jim Johnson
Why would you correct the grammar of a character conversing?
good guy
Masterful work. This story delivers on all the number go up someone could want while simultaneously dropping these thoughtful motifs at just the right frequency.
Andrew
Thank you!
Cody
I think it just symbolizes that night Sophie left the window open in Izzy’s room, but I wouldn’t mind another primordial energy in group 4 lol
M Schweibold
Cerim, You continually insert these random, surprisingly juxtaposed and beautifully gift wrapped chapters…I really appreciate you slowly developing our emotional investment in the MC group. And here I thought this story was going to just be another litrpg, you are creating an opus magnum. 👏
Christian Standhardinger
Great story!
Mark Bullock
So little, yet so much
Semper Malus
Man i really like the progression of this story. It has a quick pace but doesn't feel rushed. I think it's just the lack of useless little details. If any, they're succinct. Love it. I look forward to more of your work.
Iron
Interesting that most hell attendees seem to have had a close experience to death, I wonder if it's a prerequisite to start in hell-mode.
Adrian Rake
Well written chapter. Good job 👍
T. G.
Tftc! Really enjoying the development of Sophie. And the development of Sophie and Nat’s relationship!
James Skinner
Tess plans for she and I -> Tess is planning for her and I
Fdrugc
Tftc
Blooper
Is all that cold a nudge towards another primordial energy in group 4???
Lonnie
Sophie needs to forgive herself. Kids are dumb.
ChildConsumer
Whoa whoa i think that there are plenty of evil people who wanted to do better and got worse, what someone thinks as getting better could be VERY different to someone else's. Personally I think a good person is someone who shows empathy, compassion and honesty (traits decided by society as belonging to a generally good person)
Baelmoul
beautiful. this chapter is a treasure. i think this gave a little flesh on Sophie.
Ken Horne
Wow, great writing. That felt real enough that my stomach hurts now
Sushitrash
Damn that’s brutal
PoeticSaint
Thank you for keeping me sane.-ish.
frankie doerr
Man why the feels on a random Tuesday morning fucken onion ninjas I swear
Blaxxun
Oh wow, what a backstory drop. People grow and learn from her past mistakes. I can't see her repeating something like that, ever, that scarred her. But now we have some background why she is so afraid of using her powers more, she has this internal conflict of feeling like a monster and liking the control her powers give. This is a really important memory.
Lizy Flore
Yeah she is a good person. A good person isn’t define by their actions or their ideals. It’s defined by the fact that they wish to do better, and are actually doing effort to reach that goal.
ChildConsumer
Thanks for the chappy!
vEnviouz
TFTC!!!
Andrey Barragan
Thanks for the chapter
