"Master Il Ji! Would you like me to take you to your sister?"
"You read my mind, Barry."
The man smiled and, with a slight bow, proffered his hand towards the right of the hall. "This way, sir."
The man had been standing to attention outside his door. As he walked down the hall, Il Ji noticed a stiff change in the man's behavior. 'He seems more… devoted?'
They seemed to follow several shortcuts built throughout the mansion. One went behind a cabinet, another through a false fridge.
After a few minutes, they had made a sharp turn into a new wing.
"She's in the room behind this door, sir."
"Thank you, Barry."
He knocked thrice on the door before slightly opening it. "Girls? I've come to check on Laila."
"NO BOYS ALLOWED!"
"YEAH, NO BOYS ALLOWED!!"
"..." Il Ji was silent for a second, then smiled. "Alright, alright, I'll go. But if you need anything, just ask anyone to find me."
He shut the door again. By her tone of voice, she seemed to be very happy here.
While Il Ji had always thought of himself as a decent judge of character, and he had felt no variance of lies in Sebastian's speech patterns- it was confirmed by his gain of [Perfect Recall].
Sebastian, at least, was trustworthy enough to rely on.
"Barry."
"Yes, Master Il Ji?"
"This is Jackpot." The chest came floating our of his soul space. "I need you to take him to a virtual training room. Once he's done, bring him to Alfredo for further cultivation."
"Yes, sir."
Il Ji nodded fo him before leaving on the exact route Barry had shown him prior.
Once he arrived back at the training room, he clapped his hands together. Out of the original 157 skills, he still needed 116 skills from the ants and an additional 19 skills from the beasts Sebastian had provided.
He immediately got to work. While the stamina-type healer beasts wouldn't negate his need for sleep, they would mitigate it. By his calculations, as long as the beasts took rotating breaks, he shouldn't need to go to sleep until 2:00 A.M.
He looked at the ant he had used just recently and began to copy the ant's only skill that he didn't possess: [Iron Body].
An hour and a half later, he felt the warmth.
Then, Il Ji moved the ant back over with the rest, picked up the next ant container and set it aside. He immediately fell to the floor, curiosity bubbling. 'Now that I have all three [Rank Bodies], how long will it take?'
As short time later, Il Ji felt the warmth again. Checking his holo, he noted the time difference. Using his vast memory, he began cross referencing the times needed for mimicking various skills until he reached his inevitable conclusion.
[Copper Body] removed 15 minutes from the original time needed.
[Iron Body] removed 30 minutes.
[Bronze Body] removed 45 minutes.
Due to the stamina upgrades, it had only taken him thirty minutes for a single [Copper] rank skill.
Excited, he began the process anew. It was only 11:15. With the time he had left, he could learn five more skills.
Setting himself to it, he began aiming for the traits he needed. Luckily, by the end of the night he had obtained four out of five.
With a start he stirred himself, shot the healer beasts, and went to the door. Barry was waiting for him. "Master Il Ji."
"Barry. It is time for me to prepare for sleep. Can you to take me to my accommodations?"
"This way, Master."
Barry took him around a nearby corner. "This is the room that Sebastian has left for you."
The vibrant room was made primarily of various shapes and shades of wood. Up above, ivy wrapped around metal bars and curved around the lights clinging to them.
He noticed some fireflies nested up above as well. Fortunately, he could immediately tell that they were benign- they would not irritate him throughout the night, and left the room with just enough light to see the floor.
He found his suitcase next to the bed. Grabbing his toothbrush and pajamas, he made his way to the bathroom.
Once he completed his preparations, he set his alarm, shot the healer beasts out of the [MK-9], and began to sleep. The healer beasts provided him with just enough stamina that it caused him to immediately crash.
As he slept, the mushroom growing on the nightstand let out several spores…