Right after Ames, Aesop, and Ringo left, Austin turned his gaze to a corner of the room, curious.
Others might not have noticed, but he did.
So, before Austin's eyes, the figure of Ringo that had just left reappeared, it was a clone of Ringo. He waited until his main body left before revealing himself, all for the purpose of speaking alone with Austin.
Although the clones were connected to Ringo, they were connected to his primary consciousness, the secondary consciousness, that is, the parasite, could not go so far as to influence the clones. That is why Ringo left that conversation to a clone.
Ringo knew that his Hidden Nightmare couldn't hide from anyone in that room, except himself if the original diverted its consciousness, from the beginning, Ringo had downplayed his prediction to the point where the parasite wouldn't notice anything.
Aesop could see it due to his heightened predictive abilities, Ames could sense that something was there, Austin sensed it even more strongly, though he couldn't truly see it like Aesop, but in the end, all three pretended to ignore it.
It seemed unlikely that Ames, as his direct superior, wouldn't be offended by him clearly wanting to speak privately with Austin, but Ames wasn't a normal woman, she trusted Ringo, and if he had something to talk to Austin about, it must be important.
For a moment, neither of them spoke, until Austin spoke first. -Come on, follow me.
Ringo nodded, calmly following behind Austin, Austin floating and Ringo walking, following closely behind him.
Austin led him to his throne, where he had seen that he had had the conversation with Ringo that would greatly change his future, although he still didn't know what it was about, so his curiosity was extremely high.
Austin sat looking at Ringo, waiting for him to speak.
-I need help.- Ringo said bluntly.
-What do you need?- Austin still had that playful air about him, but inside he was very serious.
-There's a parasite in my mind...- Ringo explained, then he began to talk about the nuances of the matter, how he had lost his memory and how the remnants of his memories had become an obsession in his mind.
Austin was very curious about this and found it incredibly interesting that, for a Super, climbing the Grades requires much more than just physical and energetic training, it also requires mental strength. For Ringo to have grown so far with a parasite in his mind, and still have a high probability of reaching Grade S even without his help to deal with the parasite... Austin was very excited for a moment.
His mind was already racing with possibilities, his childlike curiosity growing as for a moment he almost launched into a speech about how there was no way to help Ringo, but he swallowed it back, he already knew the outcome of rejection.
Sighing inwardly and suppressing his true nature, he asked again. -What do you need me to do?
Ringo stopped, stunned. He had been expecting many answers, in fact, he thought Austin was very likely to reject him, so why had he agreed so readily this time?
However, while his doubts remained, his enthusiasm grew rapidly.
-I need you to make me sleep!- He was blunt, leaving Austin confused for a moment, but Ringo didn't stop talking. -You need to make the parasite in my soul sleep, but if that's not possible, you can do the same with my main consciousness.
Austin's eyes lit up, he understood. -You already have the solution.
-Yes, I can solve it, but the problem is that precisely because I can solve it, the parasite can also prevent me from solving it.- Ringo sighed.
-I understand, I didn't focus on the mental magic, but that's simple to do, I can even just focus on the parasite.- Austin promised.
This left Ringo stunned again. Austin hadn't asked for anything the first time he helped him open the Mutation Source, nor had he asked for anything this time, but he seemed ready to help him. This didn't match at all what Ringo expected from Austin.
Ringo couldn't help frowning, confused, he asked. - Why? Are you going to help me for free?
Austin blinked, for a moment he forgot that Ringo wasn't a Grade S yet... then he made it clear right away. - I saw your future, in the future I'll need your help, so let's just say that this time you'll owe me a favor, how does that sound?
Ringo paused thoughtfully, and then agreed. He felt that Austin probably saw that he was after the Evolution Cube. In the original novel, Austin asked Han Xiao to use it in exchange for a favor, which caused Austin to get into a fight against several Grade S fighters because of Han Xiao, making him deeply regret promising to help him.
Ringo thought Austin had predicted that Ringo would get the Evolution Cube, which is why he agreed to help him so easily, being able to use the cube with ease because of this favor.
Even so, Ringo wasn't disappointed at all, the Evolution Cube is a "renewable material", letting Austin use it wouldn't cost anything and was totally worth it to get rid of that nuisance once and for all.
Thus, the agreement was reached quickly, each party thinking about different things, but in the end, both were satisfied.
-Do you need me to do this now?- Austin asked.
-No, let my original body talk to Bradd first, you can do that when he get back.- The clone shook its head.
-Okay then... so, is this a magic clone?- Austin asked curiously, looking Ringo up and down, but except for the energy difference, he didn't notice any difference. This surprised him greatly, after all, he had several cloning spells, but none so perfect.
He had spells for deeper inspection, but Ringo is a guest, he wouldn't be so intrusive.
Ringo wasn't bothered much by Austin's question and began to speak. - Racial talent.
-Fascinating, may I ask what race it belongs to?- Austin continued, hoping to discover the race so he could capture some, analyze their abilities, and create a spell based on them, a clone like this seemed too useful to be left aside.
The pair soon began chatting in friendly spirits, while on the planet below, Ringo had found Bradd.