Chapter 159: Hangout (Part 2)

"Yes, yes, yes-...no!" Exclaimed Aria, as I narrowly beat her at a racing game."Heh, that was close, better luck next time," I grinned, before picking up a handful of chips and stuffing them into my mouth, letting out a slight hum as I crunched them between my teeth.

"I almost had that! These retro games are fun! Can I have some chips?" She responded as she held out her hand, the whites of her eyes pretty red.

"Mhm, here you go," I replied, picking up the bag and tilting it towards her hand.

<Wait, at that angle, you’ll-...>

Oh, crap...

<...-spill it>

"Oh, that’s not good," Remarked Aria, staring at the floor as I ended up pouring a bunch of the chips straight onto the floor.

"Crap, I missed your hand completely..."

"No, a few of them brushed my fingertips. Heh, brushed...fimgertips don’t have hair," She giggled, as she licked her fingertips.

<You should clean that up before ants show up>

"I don’t wanna," I groaned, as I sunk into my beanbag.

"Don’t wanna what? Who are you talking to?" Responded Aria, looking around the room.

"Oh, uh...I thought you said something."

"I did? I don’t remember...oh, yeah, I think I did. Maybe?" She frowned uncertainly.

"Yup, you totally did."

"What did I say?"

"Hm...I don’t remember."

Wait, did I just gaslight her?

"Yeah, me neither. Hey, I want some chicken...crispy, warm, juicy chicken," She gulped before wiping her sleeve across her mouth as she added with a gleam in her eyes, "Let’s order some! Oh, and something sweet too! Like those cookie fries from Dedacence! Wait! Did I say that right? Decacence. Dedadence. De...de...huh? De?"

"Decadence," I replied with a wry smile, as I patted her head.

"Hm? Hey, don’t use the hand you ate chips with, you’re gonna make my hair all greasy," She frowned, pushing my hand off before grabbing my other arm and lifting it up, placing my other hand on her head.

"Heh, sorry."

"Hold on...that’s right, chicken! And sweets from, uh...that place!"

"Yeah, sure. But we don’t need to order, I’ve got us covered," I responded with a thumbs up, before manifesting copies of a box of chicken strips from Treasury.

I opened it and set it between us, taking the lid off the container of sauce in the middle of the box.

"Woah, did you guess that I’d want chicken? Huh? No, that doesn’t make sense...you didn’t know I’d be coming here until right before," She surmised, before adding with her mouth full as she picked up took a bite of one of the strips, "Sho, how?"

"Remember my Treasury Skill?" I asked her, as she dipped the chicken strip into the sauce and took a big bite.

"Mhm, you can shtore shtuff and preserve them too, right?" She recalled, as I wiped a bit of sauce off the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah, but that’s not all," I replied, pausing to take a bite of a chicken strip, before continuing, "I can also make unlimited copies of the stuff I store and preserve. Well, there are exceptions, like I can’t make copies of the blade I got from that Greater Demon."

"Huh? You can make unlimited copies of stuff!? For real?! So, like, if you find something really tasty, you just have to buy it once and then you have an unlimited supply?" She inquired, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Woah, that’s amazing! I’m so jealous! That might be the ability I envy the most, even more than the ability to get more powerful," She replied with a grin.

"Seriously? Well, it is really useful, though I wouldn’t pick it over my ability to get stronger. I use it to make copies of my gear too. All the gear I’ve worn on raids are copies of the originals that I bought," I informed her.

"Yeah, makesh shensh...," She nodded as she picked up her third chicken strip and took a bite.

"Wow, you’re really digging in, aren’t you?" I smiled, as she stuffed her face.

"Huh? Oh, uh...shorry," She responded sheepishly, her mouth full.

"Hey, no need to apologize or hold back. Like I said, I can make unlimited copies, so eat as much as you want, I literally have an endless supply."

"Okay! Oh, that’s right! Can you tell me about your system now?" She asked me, an excited gleam in her eyes.

<Are you really going to tell her?>

Well, with how much she already knows, I see no reason not to. And at this point, she’s more than proven herself trustworthy.

<Well, if you’re sure>

Yeah, I think I am.

"I’m not quite sure where to begin...hm, to start with, it’s called the Sinner System. My abilities are split across seven Classes, though they’re nothing like Hunter Classes," I began.

"Ohh, interesting...seven Classes, are they, like, the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Mhm, that’s right, they’re called Classes of Sin. I’ve got thirteen Skills between the seven Classes, Command is my sole Pride Skill, then I’ve got Treasury and Appraisal under Greed, Devour and Drain under Gluttony, of course, then Aphrodisia and Arouse under Lust, Slumber and Lethargy under Sloth, Obliterate and Enrage under Wrath, and finally, Spite and Steal under Envy."

"Wait, what about Mana Pulse, Ravage and Void?" She inquired with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, those I developed myself. I told you the truth about how I discovered Mana Pulse, I just experimented with the flow of my Mana and stumbled upon it. I kinda stumbled onto Ravage and Void too, when I combined Devour and Drain while in the berserk Enrage state," I explained, as she nodded in fascination.

"I kinda wanna see you in that state, I’d like to see how you look when you’re all angry and stuff," She grinned in response.

"No way, I’m never getting into that state again. Even after discovering the cold fury state, Enrage is still a last resort," I stated firmly.

"Aw, that’s too bad. I get why you decided to call yourself the Sinner as your title as a Hunter now, it’s perfectly fitting. So, what else can you tell me about your system?" She asked me eagerly.

"Uh, let me think...oh, I get passive buffs from each of my Classes of Sin. Pride gives me immunity to status effects and debuffs, Greed gives me a ten percent boost to my luck, Gluttony gives me immunity to poison and toxins, Lust gives me a slight boost to my body’s natural healing, Sloth boosts my defense by ten percent, Wrath does the same with offense, and Envy gives me the ability to sense lies."

"Hold on, those Sloth and Wrath boosts are on top of the ten percent boost you get from your blade?"

"Yeah, so even though I’m more focused on Agility with my stats, those boosts make up for my lower base Strength and Vitality stats," I explained with a nod.

"Huh...so, when you told me about yours and my stats earlier, were your stats with or without those boosts?"

"Uh...without."

"...then, you’re definitely stronger than I am, aren’t you?" She surmised with a wry smile.