When the sun finally rose the following day, Cynrik opened his eyes due to multiple alarm clocks going off from different points in the Condo.
Since he had only finished setting up the metal sheets, which he had by this point named, Reflector Plates, two hours prior, he and Selene had fallen asleep together in one of the oversized reclining chairs.
A faint smile crept unto his lips when Cynrik glanced down, and he reached up to caress the young woman sound asleep, using him as a pillow before reaching over and gently scratching Vii and Sie behind their crest feathers. Selene was curled up in a ball on his lap, one raven on each armrest and a weighted blanket covering them all.
Unlike the rest of the group, who had yet to ditch the habit of sleeping around six hours a night, Cynrik had long since grown accustomed to sleeping a maximum of two hours. Partnering that with his innate hypersensitivity to sound when asleep, it was no wonder he was awoken by the chirping sounds coming from each of the members of MyrkLys' Watcets.
Then, like a ninja, he untangled himself from Selene, moved off the chair, and placed her back down without startling or waking his girlfriend up.
However, the movement was enough for Sie to open her eyes and look up at him, so he placed a finger against his lips and motioned for her to go back to sleep.
Being the obedient child she was, Sie nodded in understanding before laying her head back down for a few more minutes of napping.
Seeing this, Cynrik shook his head and forced down a soft chuckle as he observed his previous night's work. Every square inch of the Condo, except the carpet, was now covered in a dark shade of blackish-grey metal. It had taken him several hours to complete, but he had finished the fortification process much sooner than he had initially anticipated.
Making his way toward the kitchen, Cynrik pulled out the jumbo-sized coffee pot he had brought from home, set it up, and began brewing. As he did so, his eyes narrowed at the soft *Thruuum* sound, which could be heard ominously around every minute.
The sound had been occurring since the moment he began placing the Reflector panels in place. Throughout the night, he realized that the sound's loudness indicated the severity of the particle collision.
To put it in perspective, it was no louder than the sound of bare feet walking on tile, compared to last night before the adults left, where it was no different from someone knocking loudly on a door.
Presently, the thrumming was no different than the hum of a desktop computer; thus, it didn't bother anyone as they slept; however, for Cynrik, who understood the meaning behind the sound, it was troublesome.
Someone had been attempting to spy on them since they had stepped foot in the Condo, and the relentless attacks were becoming annoying to no end. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do as he had no clue who was doing the spying or their strength. Even using [Mana Sight], he could not locate the attack's source.
Sure, in theory, he could follow the trail of Mana particles back to their source. But due to the inherent limitations of his eyesight, at a point, the distance became too great for him to get a lock on where they were coming from. So after getting annoyed at his inability, Cynrik eventually gave up and allowed the person to do as they pleased.
Heaving a sigh and walking to the kitchen table, he decided to use his time wisely and began withdrawing every piece of combat equipment he would use today on the large oak table before setting about cleaning them one by one.
Sometime later, like a groundhog checking if winter was coming, the first head popped out of its bedroom door with wide eyes filled with wonder as the new hire of MyrkLys took in the unique sight of metal plating as far as the eye could see.
Drawn out of his room by the smell of fresh coffee, Kurza was the first to make an appearance, and he gasped loudly at how different the Condo looked when compared to before he went to sleep.
"Holy shit, Iv…Cynrik, you did all of this in one night?" He asked while making his way to the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup, and finding his team leader sitting at the table with a thick cloth and some cleaning oil in hand as he scrubbed each of his individual hidden blades.
"Un, it had to be done; since we are fighting, you should prepare your gear. It is a team rule that everyone maintains their combat gear to its optimal state. If you require repairs go to Selene for anything tailoring-related and Benny for metalwork." Cynrik stated without batting an eyelash.
"I should be good; I cleaned everything before bed and ensured nothing was broken or missing from my loadouts. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, but when and how the hell did you get your hands on all this metal? I asked Benny if it was unusual for you to go out of your way to fortify a whole house. Still, he only shook his head and patted my shoulder before saying, 'When it comes to Big Bro, we just let him do as he pleases.'" wearing a facial expression matching what he had seen Benny use last night, Kurza explained, drawing a chuckle from down the hallway.
"I also said that Big Bro has a habit of doing strange and unusual things that will help us in the future due to his high level of foresight." Walking out of his room wearing loose-fitting red and blue workout clothes, Benny added, making Kurza look away in embarrassment.
"Benny isn't wrong; if there is one thing to take away, it's that I always have a plan, they may not be the most optimal or best given the situation, but there is always one. As for your answer, I intended to set up reinforced metal plating on the inside of our Dorm long ago, so I had been stocking up on the sheets."
"However, upon learning about the intricacies of my Umbra Affinity after Evolving to Tier-3, I toyed around with the idea of modifying the plates using conduction, so realistically the idea is still in its infancy. It just happened to work out, so technically, it was a decision made on the fly."
"I had the resources on hand, and it only took me a few minutes to charge the sheets with Umbra Mana; it's a bit patchy, and I had to make adjustments as I went, but It worked out pretty well." Cynrik finished cleaning his blades and slotted them back into their resting places in one of the two Assassins tools before moving on to unsheathing and cleaning his two Kodachi.
"My brother isn't telling you how many failed products he ended up with in the process of perfecting his method." This time it was Brance who spoke up, earning himself a loud snort from Cynrik.
"Oh, look who finally decided to grace us, lowly mortals, with his presence. Lord Brancetholomew the Fourth, First of his name, Keeper of the White Flame, Also known as the Glorified Holy Pigeon man." Cynrik teased as Brance raised his middle finger in response and thanked Benny for the received cup of coffee.
"The girls will take a while to wake up as usual, so make sure that Kurza is up to speed on our morning routine. I need to finish cleaning my gear, and I will join you shortly." Wearing a smirk, Cynrik went back to working silently while the Condo slowly woke up, today was the day, and MyrkLys wanted to put on a hell of a show.
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