It was just the two of us, floating on the waterfall basin and an awkward silence had fallen again.

  I’ve done a lot of information theft and read a lot of random books, but nothing that could tell me what to do in this situation. What to do now?

  Get to know each other better, and then what? Or is that all? Do Greg’s stupid romance novels have the answer? I don’t want to read those…

  Moreover, Giana is extremely distracting in her bikini. I would like to think that this was by accident but… she’s a vixen… Granted, I would probably have never noticed her if she wasn’t a vixen.

  I put my tails to work. They need to find out how [Azure Mist] works exactly. With the growth of team Hourai, come different problems. More people to protect, and I might have to make difficult decisions one day.

  The plan is complete, it just has an insane list of prerequisites. I told myself that I would get serious and that’s what I’m doing, so I’m yet again piecing some ultimate techniques together.

  My team might not like some, but as the leader I might have to be prepared to go down with the ship. As long as Giana, our healer, is safe, everything can be turned around.

  I glanced at Giana, who was floating next to me.

  She might not like this, so I will have to become a terrible Deca and keep this from her. The other preparations are to make sure it never comes that far. It’s better to prevent a situation than to attempt to solve it after shit goes down.

  I exhaled a bit too loud.

  “Something on your mind?”

  Too much but we should be able to handle it. It’s just… getting through all of it is going to suck.

  “I will make sure to keep everyone safe and healthy!” Giana started to sing. I didn’t recognize the song, but it was beautiful.

  My worries washed away as I was getting pulled into the song. If only, things would continue like this.

  My tails gleaned useful information from [Azure Mist]. It was the mechanism to set and use ‘priming skills’. A strong attack is used to ‘Prime’ [Azure Mist] and whenever someone uses magic in it that same attack gets used on the unfortunate fool who gets caught in it.

  The gears started turning. It was possible to set multiple ‘Priming Skills’ which would be able to be used without limit or mana cost depending on the surrounding magical circle.

  This could make for some extremely nasty skills, and it’s the reason why [Azure Mist] is so nasty as even gods run from it.

  But it’s time, right? Time for me to create a skill that sends gods running the moment I activate it. I should be able to do it. I could make it as simple or complex as I want but…

  I grinned as I had a better idea!

  “Deca? What is that?” Giana pointed at something flying over.

  Oh, that is a flying sandworm

  “Flying Sandworms exist?”

  Of course not! Don’t be silly! Oh, my eyes tell me that’s a scorpion… this shit again.

  “Huh? I don’t get it.” Giana swam toward me, put her hand on my head and healed me.

  Hey how rude! I’m not talking nonsense! Look!

  I removed the filters, which were responsible for creating my new skills, linked Giana to my vision and showed her.

  “Oh, how strange, wait what does this mean? It’s not from here?”

  You’re missing sooo much context but yeah. Getting you girls caught up in all the bullshit we’ve encountered might take months.

  “But you can tell me with Ourasyn or I can get it with [Empathic Bond]!” Giana pounced, but I easily evaded.

  Tss, how impatient! And leaving the other 2 out of it? Where is your sense of comradery? Or sense of teamwork?!

  “I don’t mind getting a head start!”

  Giana was extremely slow, so evading her pounces was easier than stealing a baby from thieving seagulls.

  What a greedy vixen.

  The strange creature kept flying and was heading into the jungle. It would come quite close to the jungle dragon lair if it keeps going. They will take care of it… I think.

  A teleport ping flashed and Raishin, carrying Noelle, Greg and Yvonne, arrived.

  Where is it?!

  The scorpion? It flew that way. I pointed northeast.

  Huh? No! A sandworm with 6 wings!

  It looked like a scorpion to my eyes.

  Just like that strange thing that was actually a finch?

  I nodded. Just leave it be, it’s heading for jungle dragon territory.

  A dragon roar shook the jungle and birds flew up.

  Noo! They’re stealing our kill!

  Just leave it be Raishin… you remember our last encounter with jungle dragons, right?

  Ah right, we don’t want Agnis to bash his skull on more trees.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  All eyes fell on me.

  You just had to say it…

  “Gotcha!” The conversation distracted me and Giana finally caught me. “So why did you bash your skull on trees?”

  She checked my head again. Why does everyone think I have brain damage or something similar?

  Dragons… live in their own world, I hope Io is the worst case you will ever encounter.

  “Hmm, Io was a bit special, yeah…” Noelle recalled.

  Agnis is fluent in Draconian and his actions suggested that anyone is better off not knowing Draconian.

  Oh right! Deca, do you have a skill that can make me forget Draconian?

  “I don’t possess any skill like that, sorry… and you might need Draconian one day.”

  I collapsed to the water’s surface.

  My life…is over…

  “So dramatic… so how long are we going to stay here lil’ bro? I quite like it here, but it’s also important to get those curses off you.”

  Eh? It’s fine, those curses won’t go anywhere, we can stay here for 2 or 3 more month…”

  A stomp interrupted me. “Giana, blast him!”

  Giana betrayed me and blasted me with charm magic.

  Whoa! They tamed Agnis!

  I am untamable!

  That earned me another blast of charm magic

  Ok I was wrong!

  I was seeing pink and Giana seemed extra alluring.

  Not sure what you were expecting.

  So, the chicks decided to stay for 3 more days before we would leave for Witchaven. And here I thought that I was the leader. This is cheating!

  Night fell on day 2. We would leave the day after. I had placed Raishin and Greg under an illusion, as I needed to have a chat with the chicks.

  So, you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here tod…

  I got interrupted by a charm blast.

  “Oops, sorry. Actually, not sorry, you won’t let me play with your tails when you go all serious mode.” Giana snuggled in my tails and I sighed.

  Right so we need to have a talk. I already told Deca…Giana, but I need you two on board with this, especially you Yvonne. Can…can you switch aura please?

  Yvonne seemed to try but with no success. I tossed her a large roll of silk originating from yarn and the switch happened.

  “Wowsie! This is so soft!”

  Noelle shook her head. “This is straight-up manipulation… what did you want to talk about?”

  It’s about Yvonne and Greg.

  Yvonne started making a ruckus and calmed down.

  So, this might earn me some [Crystal Punches] and [Rabbit Kicks] but here we go.

  I got ready for what might come. Telling Giana was easy as toxic and abnormal behavior isn’t anything special under the 9t.

  We all know that Greg’s head is as hard as a rock, so I have a suggestion. You see, years ago, a certain elven village had problems with… procreating and they asked my help. I didn’t want an elven harem so I came up with another solution. I placed them under a strong illusion and let them fornicate for 40 minutes after wiping their memories. What this does is causing those subjected to what I call the ‘Eslana Experience’ to gravitate more toward each other.

  I paused to make sure it sank in. Both of them looked quite perturbed.

  “Wait... what does this mean lil’ bro?”

  So, my plan is to drop Yvonne and Greg in the ‘Eslana Experience’ to cause Greg to gravitate toward Yvonne.

  I braced myself for an outburst, but it was quiet.

  Noelle looked at Giana and me. “And you told Giana already? What did she say?”

  “If things go on like this, I will stand behind Deca, but only if Yv is ok with this.”

  Yvonne wasn’t freaking out but seemed to be deep in thoughts.

  “Expect a 9t to come up with insane but highly effective solutions, eh?” Noelle said as she leaned back. “I’ve heard that the elves had experienced a large baby boom. You might seem like you mess around a lot, but you’re actually helping this world out. It reminds me of the state of the spirits, which we’ve discovered in that Nightmare dungeon of yours. It pissed me off!”

  Oh, we can talk about that another time, this moment is reserved for Yvonne. I don’t know how to get Greg to… not be an Oblivious Prince. If cracking his head open won’t work, that is the only other idea I can come up with.

  Nobody made a sound. The only sounds were the nocturnal jungle noises, the sound of the waterfall in the distance and the occasional patrolling jungle dragon.

  “Oh gosh, this is quite the suggestion. Sure thing, like, totally! I'm cool with that plan, but can you, like, start making it all happen when I'm, you know, ready and give the signal?”

  I looked at Giana, waiting for translation.

  “She says that she’s fine with it and will notify you when she wants you do give her the ‘Eslana Experience’.”

  Thanks, my team is such a pain in the ass…

  “So, tell us leader, how’s you and Giana doing? Made some stars fly yet?”

  “She means…”

  Yes, I know what she means… No, we didn’t yet.

  Noelle and Yvonne came closer in curiosity.

  Uhhm, I feel like this is girl talk, I will give you guys some space.

  I got locked into place with a stomp and several fox tails grabbed me.

  “Oh no mister! You won’t escape as your big sister, I need to know this!” Yvonne said as she leaned forward and wagged her finger.

  Huh when did you turn into my big sister too?! Why can’t I be a big brother for once!

  “It’s big sister or ‘Yv’! Make up your mind!”

  I looked at Giana for help, who smiled mischievously. “Well then, make your choice, Deca.”

  I’m supposed to be the leader, but I don’t feel in power at all… fine, I will call you ‘Yv’ then.

  I might not be a great leader, but it seems that I at least got a bit closer to the idols. That’s also important, right?