Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 137: You Are Clearly Not Tier 1

The golden light show finally started to dial down.

The radiant energy retreated from the cot, shrinking right back into the smoldering incense sticks still gripped in the priestess’s hands.

The massive martial meathead no longer twitched. His chest rose and fell in a slow, peaceful rhythm.

[Guess my biological cocktail had completely knocked his ass out... That came out wrong...]

The priestess lowered her hands and planted the smoldering incense sticks into a small stand beside the bed. Then, she slowly turned around, and her warm brown eyes locked onto my face, rapidly narrowing into a glare sharp enough to shave with.

"You are clearly not a Tier 1..." she stated, completely dropping her previous bedside manner. "I am Priestess Mizuki, Vice-Leader of Iron Vanguard. And we explicitly requested an F-Rank Tier 1 for this specific security detail."

I immediately took a step backward, throwing both of my hands up in a classic, non-threatening surrender gesture.

"Like I said..." I offered her my most polite, innocent smile. "I’m the F-Rank replacement. Name’s Nico. Tier 1. My ID and the Acceptance Letter are currently stuffed in his back pocket."

Mizuki’s glare didn’t budge an inch, but she gracefully turned to the cot before reaching into the unconscious Garek’s trousers and pulling out the crumpled parchment along with my Adventurer’s Card.

She stared down at it, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows slowly climbed up her forehead in genuine surprise.

"Six circuits," Mizuki read aloud, her strict tone giving way to pure bewilderment. "And three affinities. Ice, Nature, and Metal. You have the absolute maximum number of affinities a soul can hold."

"Guilty as charged," I grinned, casually leaning my shoulder against the wooden wall.

"But that doesn’t explain this..." she argued, gesturing at the sleeping boulder taking up her medical bed. "Potential means nothing without raw output. Absolutely no Tier 1 mage, regardless of their circuit count or elemental affinities, can take out a Tier 4 like Garek."

"That’s because I can recover my mana faster than I can spend it," I replied smoothly, crossing my arms over my chest. "Don’t you find it strange that a six-circuit hottie like me is still stuck at Tier 1? I spent my entire life up till now focusing exclusively on my recovery rate."

The gears in Mizuki’s head practically froze. Even the card actually slipped through her fingers, clattering loudly against the floorboards as her eyes went wide.

She obviously knew exactly what I said entailed.

"How are you still alive?" she breathed, looking at me like I was a walking ghost. "Artificially pushing your core’s recovery rate requires draining your capacity to near absolute zero... And reaching absolute zero is a guaranteed death sentence."

"Through sheer grit and a whole lot of spite," I replied, flawlessly slipping right back into a modified version of the backstory I had successfully sold to the guards at the Southern Border.

I let out a ’tired’ sigh, staring down at the floorboards to really sell the trauma.

"I hate feeling powerless..." I explained, letting my voice drop to a whisper. "And I wanted to be the ultimate weapon against the Night of the Red Moon. An infinite warrior. Someone who would never run out of mana and could keep casting as long as he needed to."

Though Mizuki didn’t say a single word, her strict, authoritative expression rapidly melted.

"So I focused entirely on the most dangerous cultivation method..." I continued softly. "I drank potions that aggressively sapped all my mana away, forcing my core to the absolute brink of death every single day. Point is, I wanted my core to adapt to the constant drain and eventually match the drain rate."

"I survived fifteen years of that torture," I concluded, looking back up to meet her sympathetic eyes. "And now, I am at a point where I truly recover my mana faster than I could spend it."

[I am getting way too good at this...] I mentally patted myself on the back, watching the holy woman look at me like I was a battered rescue puppy.

-Ding!

{And that worries me greatly.}

[I know... I even promised... but...] I argued internally, breaking eye contact with Mizuki for a fraction of a second to stare at the blank wooden wall.

-Ding!

{Just be sure it does not become your second nature. The line between you and Arlen Hale is exceptionally thin.}

[I know,] I shot back, mentally shelving the guilt trip as I turned my attention back to the priestess.

Mizuki let out a deep, exhausted sigh as she closed her eyes, bringing two fingers up to tightly pinch the bridge of her nose as the stark, tactical reality of the situation seemed to finally catch up with her.

"Nico, I admire your resolve. I truly do," she said, opening her eyes to level a completely deadpan, serious stare right at my face. "... But your presence here does more harm than good."

"Huh?" I blinked.

She crossed her arms over her traditional red and white garbs, gesturing subtly toward her sleeping leader behind her.

"The Accursed we face during the full moon are called Outsiders," Mizuki explained, her voice dropping into a clinical, no-nonsense lecture. "They are Tier 3 entities, and they cannot physically breach the living quarters without an invitation. They need someone to open the doors for them."

"I know," I nodded, keeping my posture relaxed as I recited the details. "They project hyper-realistic hallucinations into the minds of the people inside, trying to trick them into unlocking the gates... And from what I understand, that’s why you have Garek. He is a Tier 4, making him immune to the illusions. If whatever you conjure up to protect our minds fails somehow, and we get compromised and try to open the door, Garek is there to physically... handle us."

Mizuki stared at me in silence for a long second.

"Yes..." she finally agreed, her brown eyes narrowing slightly. "Garek is our absolute failsafe. He is the physical wall keeping compromised individuals away from the gates."

She slowly extended a finger, pointing directly at the unconscious Garek, who was currently drooling on her pristine medical cot.

"But you just proved that Garek cannot stop you..." she stated bluntly. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

My breath instantly hitched in my throat as the logic hit my brain like a speeding truck.

"If my prayer falters, and an Outsider manages to slip a hallucination into your mind..." Mizuki continued, her tone turning ice-cold as she laid out the absolute worst-case scenario. "... Garek will not be able to physically stop you from opening the door. You will put him in the dirt, unlock the gates, and every single person inside will die."