Chương 75: Luna, The Spoiler Machine

"That was your fault!" Luna complained, lightly hitting my shoulder.

"Yes, yes, it's all my fault." I accepted the complaints with a smile, "I'm so very sorry for causing you to shout in public."

"You!" She glared at me, continuing to punch my arm, "You're being sarcastic!"

"Me? Never!" I said, looking wronged.

"Why didn't you stop me!" Luna said with furrowed brows, "Now, everyones going to look at me weirdly!"

"Hm…No way, all you did was clutch my clothes while begging on your knees for food. Why would anyone look differently at you for that?"

"Ah!!!! Stop!!" Luna shouted.

"Hehe." I giggled, faithfully fulfilling my duty to capture today's memories in photos.

"No photos!" Luna tried to snatch my phone only to swipe air.

"Hehe, nope~""Ugh! Fine!" Luna pouted, crossing her arms and looking away with a 'Hmph!' Oh! This is a SR version of Luna! Pouting Luna! Hehe, nice! I should print these out later.

"Let's go home, how about it?" I asked.

"Tsk, fine." Luna sighed and started the car. … The next few days passed by pretty smoothly. We'd go to the AT room every morning and then come home to relax. As much as I wanted to stay there even after eating lunch, I couldn't do that to Luna. Forcing others to match my tempo isn't my style. Also, I finally decided to get all my strawberries to the same grade. This was a necessary distraction since Luna kept snacking on them throughout the day. The production wasn't matching the consumption rate!

So, I bit the bullet and took a few days of forcing all my mana to be used on my [Plant Growth] skill. Though, I did smartly avoid reaching mana exhaustion. Now, I had 5 C+ grade strawberry bushes. Will the output surpass Luna's consumption? Honestly, I have no idea. I can only hope it does, otherwise, I'll have to plant a few more strawberry bushes. … Closing my eyes, I focused on my mana. It looked way better than when I first started.

If before it was a beggar on the streets, now, it had groomed itself and taken care to look proper—Like it was going to a job interview. I couldn't be more satisfied. … It kind of feels like watching your child grow up? Is that a weird analogy? Hm… Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the movie on screen. Luna and I were watching a new superhero movie that just came out. Since it wasn't available for streaming, we had to visit the local theater in person.

I didn't particularly care about watching it, but, seeing Luna so excited to watch it left me with no choice but to accompany her. The other seats were quite packed as well. Children, adults, elders, this movie seemed to attract all ages. Well, I guess that's just the sign of a good movie. Glancing over, I saw Luna leaning forward in the seat. She had all her attention on the big screen. So much so that she didn't notice that instead of gripping the armrest, she was holding my hand.

So far, I've counted at least seven similar incidents in the past hour. First, she accidentally drank from my cup instead of hers, not even noticing even now; Next, she grabbed my hand instead of the popcorn and tried to bring it to her mouth. The list goes on and on. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Really, she's just so drawn into the movie. Not that I mind though.

Smiling, I returned my attention back to the big screen and calmly continue to watch the movie. …

"Wow! That movie was so good!" Luna excitedly chattered as we exited the movie theater.

"Yeah," I nodded, "It was enjoyable." I said with a smile.

"I can't believe that fight scene. It was so cool! Did you see when…" She was like a machine-gun, rapid-firing spoilers out loud. The other movie-goers weren't much better. Around us, the crowd was loudly discussing the movie.

"Mhm." I nodded, feeling slightly bad for the people just entering the theater and being forced to listen to these spoilers.

"And then! When he…" Oh? Is that a little kid wearing merchandise for the movie we just watched? Looks like he's going in to watch it…Ah, from that frown on his face, looks like he's heard spoilers. Unfortunate.

"So, when they finally met again…" Looking at the blissfully unaware girl next to me who just kept chattering spoilers like it was her job, I could only smile and nod along. Whatever makes her happy. … Back at home, Luna was still raving about the movie. If I wasn't strong enough, my ears would've fallen off by now.

"It's just so amazing, especially the ending! When…" Luna excitedly spoke.

"Mhm," I nodded, "It was a really cool sequence. There were no unexpected plot twists, which is what made it even better." I said, finally adding my own opinion.

"Right!? The fact that they didn't add any plot twists is what makes it special! Other movies nowadays would've ruined the ending by adding some deus machina or trying to make it more complex than it should be!"

"Mm." I nodded, looking through the photos I took today.

"I hate how movies just backtrack and ruin their own plot-Oh! Send me that one!" Luna suddenly shouted and pointed at my phone. It was a photo of us standing in front of a cardboard stand of the movie's superhero.

"Got it." I nodded, promptly sending her that photo and a few others. Is she done?

"So! As I was saying, I hate how movies…" Ah… Maybe I shouldn't have added my own opinion… … Finally, after what felt like hours, Luna decided that she had enough talking to me about the movie. Though, I'm 100% certain that if I were to mention it again, she'd fire right back up like a chainsaw and be able to talk for another 6 hours. Since it wasn't time for bed yet, Luna decided to torture—I mean, discuss with Rumi about the movie. When I saw Luna ask if Rumi was available for a discord call, I felt awful!

Terrible! Poor Rumi is about to have her ears bleed! … Ah. No… I'm not smiling at all. Hehe. Tip-toeing to the bedroom door, I shamelessly eavesdropped.

"So! When they start fighting, at first you think it's going to be a clean honorable match but!" Luna excitedly spoke. Hehe! Yes! This is what I live for! Suddenly, Luna stopped talking,"Ah, okay, talk to you another time. Bye." Luna promptly said before the call disconnected. …What? Why'd the call end so soon?

"Oh, Bin?" Luna noticed me and called out.

"Hi." I said, revealing myself, "That was a fast call."

"Ah, yeah." Luna said, "Rumi's a bit busy, she's apparently preparing for a stream."

"Ah, that's disappointing." I said.

"Mhm." Luna nodded, "It's fine though, I don't want to disrupt her livelyhood." Though on the outside she was all smiles, I could tell she was a little disappointed. It seemed like she still wanted to talk about the movie. Well… Whatever. I guess I can skimp on studying today. Taking a seat on the bed, I spoke,"I still can't believe that villain appeared. The one from that other series." Luna flinched, her eyes widening a bit before she broke into a bright expression,"Right!? He really came out of nowhere!

I didn't expect it at all but seeing him return was just perfect!" … The next day I was back to studying. My morning mana strengthening has passed by smoothly, and I even refined my control with scarfs until my mana was nearly exhausted. Ding! Hm? I stopped writing and glanced at my phone. It seems like someone sent me a message. And it wasn't to the Little Bomber, but rather, BinLover. [ALGCommunications: Hello! Ms. BinLover, I am Ryuna from ALG's support and communications department. I am contacting you today in concern of the recent trend in ALG Royale. As you've may have already heard, your strategy—known as the 'Little Bomber' strategy—has recently become meta and is used by countless players. Alongside this, there has been a trend in cursing out the creator of the strategy—you—as a joke. However, even if it is a joke to most. There are always people who take things too far. So, I am contacting you to see if you have suffered any unfair harassment or threats from anywhere. If so, please let me know and the harassers will be promptly dealt with. Also, if you're uncomfortable with this current trend of 'Cursing out the creator' please let me know and a statement will be issued immediately. On a personal note, thank you for enjoying the game and bringing a new wave of life into the matches. -Ryuna] Oh? After reading through the message, I nodded thoughtfully. I can't believe a game company is actually taking the initiative to see if people have gone too far. My heart has warmed.

Fortunately though, I hadn't had any harassment for this. Though, I am a little curious just what kind of threats would be sent to me. I hope they'd be interesting. Shaking my head with a chuckle, I replied to the message. [BinLover: Hi! Fortunately the community seems to be very kind-hearted!:) No inappropriate messages or threats have currently been sent to me even as a joke. As for the 'Damn you, Bin!' trend? I absolutely love it, so, there's no worries on that front.

Anyways, please innovate the alchemy mechanic. It's too easy!!!] Hehe, surely they'll listen to my suggestion. Closing the message, another notification sounded. This time, it was sent to 'Raccoon'. [ALGCommunications: Hello! Ms. Raccoon, I am Ryuna from ALG's support and communications department. Recently, there's been a trending strategy in our game 'ALG Royale' that uses your name. If you're unfamiliar with ALG Royale, it is a popular battle royale game officially endorsed by the Awakener's League. It is based off of the actual league and hundreds of thousands of people play it daily. The strategy, known as the 'Little Bomber Strategy' involves an alchemist class to create bombs (potions that explode) and set them up as traps around the map. We believe that this fits your character perfectly and wish to collaborate with you...] The message went on longer, talking about what the collaboration would entail and how it'd be good for my popularity and beneficial for both of us. It was definitely interesting.

Such a popular game wanted to collaborate with me. I'm not a ranker, or even known as the most skilled alchemist; I'm someone who hasn't even cleared the fifth floor. Yet, just because of my alias, they're interested in collaboration? How curious. They didn't promise making me a skin or anything, but, I would get an exclusive in-game title just for making a few comments on Tawer. Heh. I chuckled, simply closing the message without replying.

Though I am interested in a title, I'm even more interested in getting a skin. I really want to see Luna's reaction to that. Unfortunately, I'm not worth enough for them to make me one just yet though. However… That might not be the case for much longer. I looked at a photo I took earlier this morning. It was the last game I had played on the mana strengthening machine.

'Score - 298''Current Rating - Really? You came this far just to fail at the end? How expected. What would really shock me is if you can go higher than this; I just don't see that happening.' I smiled. I was on the cusp of reaching D grade. Just a bit more training then… Completing the next step doesn't seem so far away. And after this step…Is using Free Alchemy itself. Finally, I'll be brewing potions again. I can't wait.