Chapter 67: Stagnant Points and Sylphy's Deadly Question

The snow in Buena Village was very thick.

Four figures—two large and two small—were faintly visible amidst the wind and snow. The crunching sound of footsteps treading on the snow was mingled with Rudy’s inquiry.

"Uncle Rolz, what kind of monsters are the main culprits in this riot? So I can prepare targeted magic attacks."

Rolz led the way at the front, with Rudy following slightly behind him by half a pace, while Allen and Sylphie walked side by side behind the two.

Rolz glanced back at the pair in the rear and replied, "Mostly Grade D monsters with high reproduction rates: vine snakes, giant gnawing rats, saw-spiked rabbits, frost tide frogs, wolverines, red-eyed demonic monkeys, frost weasels..."

As Rolz rattled off the list as if reciting items from a menu, Rudy’s face grew increasingly pale.

"So many?"

"There are this many every year, but there are exceptionally many this season... We should have cleared them out properly last year... We did send requests for aid to other villages, but the message we got back was that they were also experiencing a monster tide..."

Rolz’s words carried a tone of vexation, shattered into pieces by the howling wind and snow in the air.

Unlike the chatty conversation between the two in front, Allen and Sylphie appeared somewhat overly silent.

Allen’s attention was clearly not on their conversation. Casually clearing away the snow surrounding Sylphie, he turned his head half-heartedly toward the falling snow in the air, lost in his own thoughts.

Sylphie walked by his side, still retaining her petite stature, her height reaching only to Allen's chest. She had indeed grown quite a bit taller over the past year, but Allen had grown even faster, creating a contrast where she actually felt slightly "shorter" compared to him than she had last year.

Yet time had undoubtedly left its "traces" upon her.

Much of her toddler-like physique had faded. Although her clothes still hung loosely, the lines of her waist and legs already possessed the posture of a young maiden. At this moment, with her hands behind her back, she took massive steps, steadily treading on the flat ground that Allen had cleared for her...

Her green hair danced in the wind and snow. Through the gaps, reddish-brown pupils glanced sideways at Allen, who was mechanically sweeping the snow ahead as he walked.

Crunch, crunch.

"Would fire-type magic be relatively..."

The conversation between Rolz and Rudy mixed with the sound of crunching snow. Sylphie withdrew her gaze from Allen’s profile, suddenly taking a massive stride forward to arrive just ahead and to the side of Allen, turning her head to look straight into his eyes.

"Allen, do you have something bothering you lately?"

Allen was slightly startled, looking into Sylphie’s cold-reddened face.

"Huh? No, I don't? Why do you ask?"

The next instant, Sylphie hopped slightly. Amidst her flying hair, she reached out a finger and gently poked him between the eyebrows.

With the soft thud of a footstep landing, amidst Allen’s stunned gaze, she continued walking backward with her hands behind her back, gazing directly into Allen’s face.

Her uniquely soft, unhurried, and deliberate voice drifted into Allen's ears.

"If nothing is bothering you, why have your brows been tightly furrowed for the past half year? And you've become a lot quieter, too..."

"...Is that so?"

Sylphie tilted her head, gazing quietly at Allen’s brows, which he was deliberately trying to smooth out.

"Not only have you become much quieter, even your gaze has gotten a bit strange, as if... there is something very distant right in front of you that you always want to grasp, but can never quite reach..."

Through the snowflakes sweeping across the wind, Allen met Sylphie’s gaze.

Within their line of sight, snow and mist intertwined.

[Current Stage: Early Childhood, Cumulative Participation Score: 90 points.]

[It seems only a step away from a full score, but often that most crucial step is an insurmountable chasm.]

Allen looked at the system panel that had materialized. Even though Sylphie’s face was on the other side of that panel, he truly couldn't manage to squeeze out a smile.

A full year.

Ninety points remained ninety points.

Zero progress.

Throughout this year, he had continuously used his usual methods to farm favorability with Paul's family, yet there had been not a single prompt indicating a score increase.

He had even gone to Mrs. Somar to farm it.

Uh... well, let's not go into details about how he got scared away because the lady was a bit too enthusiastic.

And now, there were only six months left before the early childhood stage ended.

He felt somewhat anxious.

Whether the positioning system was awesome or not was secondary; this feeling of being just a hair's breadth away yet never quite being able to reach the goal left him immensely depressed.

'Listen here, System, every time you just repeat that it's an insurmountable chasm, and whenever I ask for details you immediately run away. Can't you give me some practical hints?'

The panel remained stagnant for a long time before finally reorganizing the text.

[To be honest, if you allow yourself to fall into trouble, you might actually gain something instead. But if I tell you specifically what to do, you might never be able to obtain these ten points.]

‘Are you speaking in riddles? Talk properly.’

[...Allen, you are too rational, too obsessed with pragmatic results, fond of logic, and adept at summarizing patterns. You want to figure everything out crystal clear, and then make subconscious choices that seek benefits and avoid harm.]

[I understand this is related to the social environment before your transmigration, and your experience of relying on relief funds to get through the orphanage and into university also added fuel to this mindset. This mindset has indeed endowed you with certain "abilities," and it is precisely because of these "abilities" that you acquired the healing magic runes; you responded swiftly during the infidelity incident, came up with solutions, won the favor of Lilia and Zenith, and harvested a massive amount of points.]

[However, this does not mean you are walking on the right path.]

[Can you understand what I mean when I put it this way?]

The densely packed "future visions" on the "memo" page in his bedroom flashed across Allen's mind. Speechless with astonishment, he wanted to retort to the system, but the words stuck in his throat for a long time, unable to come out.

Rationalizing every choice, picking the "optimal" solution for the current situation, and playing the role of an emotionally stable "adult."

Isn't that what corporate slaves... all do?

Seeking gain and avoiding harm... is there something wrong with that?

Amidst Allen's silent, murmured thoughts, the panel seemed no longer willing to converse with him much. A gust of wind blew by, and it dissipated into the wind and snow.

Sylphie, who had been walking backward to better observe Allen's expression, seeing that Allen remained unresponsive to her words for a long time, now shifted her gaze away from his face. Looking at the newly fallen snow on the top of her feet, she spoke slowly.

"Allen... could it be..."

The soft, sweet voice "awakened" Allen from his stupefaction. He blinked, his expression somewhat dazed.

‘...I was too busy arguing with the system and forgot I was still talking to Sylphie... Did she actually notice something was wrong with me... "Something distant right in front of you that you can't reach," that's a very accurate description...’

‘Eh? Wait, could it be that the early childhood form of the future gentle and understanding White Mama can offer some constructive advice?’

Thinking of this, Allen broke free from his bewildered and astonished state, lowered his head to look at Sylphie, and waited for her unfinished words.

Sylphie’s eyelashes drooped as she looked at the snow by her feet.

"Could it be..."

Allen nodded, repeating in his heart, 'Could it be...?'

"Are you missing Teacher Roxy?"

‘I am missing Ro—’

‘Huh?’

Allen, who had silently muttered the first few words, froze.

The wind and snow still raged around him.

Yet he actually felt that the surrounding environment was a bit too quiet at this moment.

Then, he dazedly reacted to what on earth Sylphie was saying.

‘Ah??? No, what do you mean the reason I have something I want to grab but can't reach is because I miss Roxy? Is this logic even remotely reasonable, dammit?!’

He opened his mouth to argue with Sylphie, but as he raised his eyes, he paused.

He saw that Rolz and Rudy had stopped walking at some unknown point, and both of them had turned their heads simultaneously to look at Allen.

The two of them, one large and one small, standing in completely different positions, wore expressions of astonishing consistency.

Extremely solemn, indeed.