Mal was looking at the soldier, who had just sat down and was gazing into the Terror Core. They had eaten and slept. Everyone else was still sleeping, but the two of them were already up. In the past thirty minutes, Mal had explained everything he went through in detail to Leonard. He needed him to succeed. Two mages would be able to do so much more. He also didn't know what would happen if the fear overpowered Leonard; Leo would probably turn into a monster. That seemed reasonable, and they both understood it, so they had moved further away from the rest of the sleeping party. It was affirming to have someone experienced from the army to share and agree with what he said.
He glanced back at him and then slowly walked away.
'Seriously, what is with this girl? Why am I such a simp?' "Mal." He liked it. It was better than calling himself Maledictus or Sanguine, but he still felt as if it captured the essence.
He hadn't tried to make an incantation with the name 'Lukas', but he was sure that it wouldn't work. It just wasn't who he was anymore.
He had some time, so he dived back into his thoughts. Everyone here had been transported with some clothing and two items. He had his coat, which he loved and which functioned as a sort of armor, and his umbrella, to which he had deep personal connections and which was, for some reason, able to cut better than a sword. Leo had a knife, which was simply more durable and sharp, but he had struck gold with his pistol: it just didn't run out of ammo. That was simply overpowered as fuck. Medea, as she had shared with him... yesterday?... had a ring and a first-aid kit. She didn't know what special power the ring had, nor what the first aid did. The remaining two were more mysterious. Thadeus didn't really speak, but Mal deducted his glasses had to be special; as for the old man, it was the cane. The rest was unknown to him. But he had an idea he wanted to try.
Seeing that the young girl was now awake, he called for her.
"Medea, can I ask you for something?"
The adorable girl quickly hopped toward him and asked him what he wanted from her.
"Could you please take this umbrella and try to cut the meat on the ground?"
"With an umbrella?" Medea asked, clearly confused and trying to figure out if Mal was making fun of her inability to fight.
"Yes. See, it's actually a very sharp umbrella—or I think it is. That's what I would like to find out with your help."
Medea gave him another confused look and then clumsily picked up the umbrella. He felt a strong pulse to correct everything about what she had just done. She picked the umbrella up with two hands, which was good, but she placed them right next to each other, minimizing any sort of lever she could have had and therefore the force of the slash. She placed her right hand above her left, implying she was right-handed and would cut with her right arm as dominant, but she positioned herself with her left foot in front. And then, to top it all off, she raised the umbrella above her head as if she were announcing, "Carefully now, I am going to do an overhead slash," and committed to a beautiful 'blacksmith strike'—or that's what they used to call it in his fencing club when someone used a sword like a hammer.
The umbrella quickly contacted the meat and acted as any umbrella would. The blunt side simply bounced off without cutting anything.
"Heureka!" He couldn't help himself. It wasn't that the umbrella itself was magical. He himself had unknowingly filled the umbrella with his will immediately after he awoke here. He had been Shaping from the very beginning without knowing it. Everyone here was.
'Well great, now I will definitely be more arrogant than before—and I was arrogant before.'
When she gave him a confused look again, he simply picked up the umbrella and, with a quick cut, severed the meat without any resistance.
"I will find you some Terror Core so that you can also learn how to Shape, don't worry."
The ease with which he casually talked about killing a six-legged mutated monster wolf—which had nearly killed him just a week ago and failed to do so only because of the vile, torturous moss—scared him. But it was also reasonable, taking into account how fast he had killed the last one. He had already decided to take Leo and kill a monster of the second rank so they could ascend. That was the best plan he saw now: slowly and tediously make their way up until they had enough power to take down the Moss King. They could die at any point, but he definitely didn't want to spend his whole life here.
'Well, with Medea, maybe I could. Goddammit, focus! You met that girl yesterday!'
It was then that Leo fell to the ground. Mal was immediately with him. Leo was alive; he was just tired. He breathed heavily but otherwise didn't give any sign of being unwell.
He let him be for a while and, to lighten the mood, asked him what name was given to him. Leo looked at Mal as if he were crazy and started to blurt something out.
"Kakarluk Kamakaratal... no, Katarkulat Kataratakat... Karataka Ketekartalt..."
Mal waited until he was calm and then started to teach him how to access his Wisdom Core. After that was done, Leo finally managed to get it out.
"Kmalkur Katalkar. That's what's written in there. Hey, how do I even read that language? I have never seen it in my life."
"Yeah, it seems everyone can. I feel like it's somehow the correct language from which reality is written, but it's just a hypothesis at this point, Mr. Karkulka."