Chapter 28: Didn’t You Ask Me to Pay You Back?
"What’s this?" Sophie blinked slowly, looking at the box on the table.
"Crystal Stones." Sophie’s fingers froze as she opened the box. She turned her head and stared at him in disbelief.
"Crystal Stones?!"
Sophie never would have imagined that what Cillian had so casually placed on the table would be Crystal Stones—and not just one, but a whole box!
"You... Where did these come from?" ’Weren’t the resources on this planet supposed to be scarce, and Crystal Stones rare?’
"Just because some things aren’t on the market doesn’t mean the military doesn’t have them," Cillian said flatly.
This planet was indeed resource-poor, but for something like Crystal Stones—an essential energy source for military starships and mechs—it was impossible for the military not to have any. It was just a matter of their Level.
Sophie stared at him blankly. "Then the value of these... isn’t it...?"
’The A-level Crystal Stone the original owner sold was worth a fortune.’
Hearing this, Cillian’s expression faltered for a moment. He rubbed his fingertips together at his side, then said in a level voice, "These are the fixed allotment of Crystal Stones the military issues for each person’s ship and mech every month."
"I don’t need them for the time being, so I brought them back."
Sophie stared at him for a long time. Just as Cillian thought she wouldn’t believe him, Sophie simply said, "Oh."
Then she closed the box and pushed it back toward Cillian. "I can’t take your Crystal Stones."
Cillian hadn’t expected her to refuse and was a little surprised. "Hm?"
"I don’t know how the military allocates Crystal Stones, but these are too valuable. I can’t accept them," Sophie said, shaking her head.
Cillian stared into her eyes. After a long moment, he saw they were filled with earnestness, with no sign that she was lying.
’She was a completely different person from the one he remembered from his period of amnesia.’
"You don’t want them?" Cillian chuckled softly, then lowered his gaze to Sophie’s. Their eyes met, and his stare seemed to pierce right through her. "Why?"
"Weren’t you the one who said saving me cost a lot of money, and that I had to pay you back?" Cillian retorted coolly.
Sophie’s breath caught in her throat.
’Cillian’s attitude toward her had been so placid these past few days that she’d almost forgotten the original owner and him never had a relationship where they could coexist so harmoniously.’
"I..." Sophie met Cillian’s deep, dark eyes. She opened her mouth, but for a moment, she was speechless.
"Actually, it wasn’t that much money. There’s no need to be in such a hurry to pay it back," Sophie said with an awkward laugh.
Seeing her look both guilty and a little scared, Cillian found it amusing.
’The Sophie in his memory, after learning he had amnesia and was worthless, had been utterly vile. She treated him with malice, and every word she spoke was barbed.’
’She constantly brought up how many Star Coins she had spent to save a "waste of space" like him. To make matters worse, to prevent him from running out on his debt, she had put a neck ring on him.’
’The person in his memories was clearly like that, so why was she different now?’
’Besides, she had definitely been an F-level Healer-class before. He remembered the first time she tried to soothe him, she couldn’t withstand the upheaval of his spiritual power at all; she couldn’t even manage the most marginal soothing.’
’But now, things were clearly different.’
’When did all this start to change?’
’The events from his period of amnesia slowly flashed through his mind. It started from the time she was drugged.’
’Because of the neck ring, if her spiritual power were to vanish, he would also be severely wounded. If she died, he wouldn’t survive either.’
’That day, for an instant, he had felt the violent turbulence in his own Spiritual Sea. Yet, just as it was about to collapse, it had miraculously calmed down again.’
’And then, she woke up.’
’And changed.’
’So, he was very curious about what exactly had happened during all that.’
"Sophie Wexler," Cillian began.
Sophie answered almost reflexively, "Huh?"
Seeing how nervous she was, Cillian chuckled softly. In an instant, the unnerving aura that had surrounded him vanished completely.
The tense atmosphere suddenly eased.
"I’m just paying you back. What are you so nervous about?"
Only then did Sophie realize her heart had been lodged in her throat.
Looking at the faint smile in Cillian’s eyes, she screamed internally, ’Don’t you know what I’m nervous about?!’
’The way Cillian was acting just now, she almost thought he’d remembered something and was about to settle old scores with her.’
But no matter how much she ranted internally, on the surface, she still tried her best to appear calm and composed.
"Nervous? Was I nervous? No. Why would I be nervous?" Sophie said all in one breath, without even a pause.
"I don’t have any money right now, only these Crystal Stones. So I’ll use them to start paying you back."
"Unless you think that won’t work."
"Fine, fine, fine," Sophie said quickly. "Why wouldn’t it be? It’s perfectly fine!"
With that, she immediately took the box, pulled out a single Crystal Stone, and said, "There, this one is enough."
’This one can be used to pay back the Wexlers. I’ll forget about the rest.’
After taking it, Sophie immediately rose from her seat, preparing to slip back to her room.
But she was pulled back from behind. Sophie turned to look at Cillian, her expression one of utter confusion.
Sophie: "???"
’What now?’
"What’s the rush?" Cillian held her back with one hand while scooping the rest of the Crystal Stones out of the box with his other and placing them in her hands.
"Try to see if you can absorb the Crystal Stones’ energy."
Sophie: "?? ’What does he mean?’"
The main reason he had brought the Crystal Stones back wasn’t to repay her. Before returning, he hadn’t even known she was worrying about the issue of Crystal Stones.
Although Sophie didn’t understand what he meant, she subconsciously mobilized her spiritual power after hearing his words.
The next second, her Spiritual Sea seemed to sense something and began to frantically absorb the energy. The moment she realized what was happening, she quickly severed the connection.
Sophie’s eyes slowly widened. "This is...?"
The instant she severed the connection with her spiritual power, she could feel her Spiritual Sea become incredibly active, rapidly absorbing the Crystal Stones’ energy—so greedily that it resisted being cut off.
Cillian looked at the two Crystal Stones in her hand. Their luster had dimmed considerably from the absorbed energy. "So it works."
"What works?"
"Do you remember the Star Insect Star Core you absorbed last time?"
"Yes, I remember," Sophie nodded.
’The last time she helped Cillian stop his spiritual power disruption, it had completely drained her. He’d told her she only recovered because she absorbed a Starbug’s Beast Core.’
"Last time, you absorbed the power of a Beast Core, so I suspected you might be able to absorb the power of Crystal Stones as well."
’After all, both are forms of energy. And just as he’d suspected...’
Sophie looked at the Crystal Stones in her hands and slowly blinked twice.
"So, you’re saying I can absorb not only Beast Cores, but also the energy from Crystal Stones?"