Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 121: Need To Be More Than That

The lowering sun cast a deep, golden-orange hue across the rushing river, transforming its crystal-clear, turquoise water into a sparkling canvas while massive trees towered along the steep, rocky banks.

[This is it...] I thought with a satisfied exhale before tipping my head back against the mossy trunk of a massive tree right at the bank of the river. [This is the exact, picture-perfect fantasy aesthetic I signed up for.]

Honestly, I was having the time of my life. It was the quintessential isekai cliché, and I was soaking up every single second of it.

My boots sat abandoned on the grassy bank, while the shotgun and khukri’s harness I kept strictly within arm’s reach, as I dipped my bare legs straight into the icy current. The freezing water immediately went to work, soothing the deep, burning ache settling into my calves.

Bringing a chilled can of coffee to my lips and took a long sip as the shadows around the tree line began to stretch.

This was my third mandatory rest stop of the day.

[Sixty-five mana a second for two hours straight...] I mused, feeling the cold caffeine hit my system. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

According to the System, I need to take a one-hour break after every two hours of not holding back to offset the onset of Mage’s Folly

Mandatory pit stops basically.

With a thought alone, I pulled up the Map, hovering the detailed topography right over the rushing water before tracing westward to find the orange waypoint marking the Cinder-Hollow Mine.

[I can push for one more sprint before it’s completely dark... I’d be there tomorrow afternoon.]

Tossing the can back into the inventory, I leaned my head back against the tree and closed my eyes to simply enjoy the rushing water at my feet.

And right on cue, a sharp, melodic chime violently rang directly inside my skull.

-Ding!

{Incoming Party Voice Transmission: Nom-Nom.}

Opening my eyes at the interface popping before me, a faint, amused smile couldn’t help but spread across my face.

Nom-Nom had been inside the Hollow Stone Caverns since the early morning. If she was calling me now, she had either cleared the entire dungeon or she had finally run into a problem she couldn’t just casually eat.

"Accept," I muttered.

The blue screen rippled as the telepathic connection stabilized, dulling the ambient noise of the rushing water slightly into the background of my mind.

"Hey, Nom," I called out mentally, keeping my physical face perfectly neutral in case someone walked by and saw a dude cackling to himself. "How’s it going? Did you already wipe out the local ecosystem?"

There was a brief second of static before her voice flooded into my mind, carrying a heavily exaggerated tone of innocent tragedy.

"Master..." Nom-Nom’s voice echoed, accompanied by the faint wooden creak of an overloaded cart groaning under a massive amount of weight. "I broke the sword."

I blinked, a genuine, incredulous laugh bubbling up in my chest.

"Huh..." I chuckled, "I’m honestly surprised that thing lasted this long."

[She swings that thing like a baseball bat while pumping apocalyptic amounts of dragonfire through the edge,] I thought, shaking my head. [Standard blacksmithing never stood a chance.]

"It shattered and got all melty!" she complained, "I need a new one. A strong one!"

"Alright, alright," I smiled, pulling up the Party Module. "Let’s see what kind of budget we’re working with. System, liquidate the monster drops."

-Ding!

{Processing Mass Liquidation...

Total Yield: 32,765 Credits.}

I let out a long, low whistle.

Peko’s freedom cost a staggering one million, seven hundred and twenty thousand credits. Thirty-two grand was a drop in the bucket compared to that terrifying number, but it was still a massive first step for a single day’s work.

"Okay, we’ve got some capital," I said, focusing back on the link. "What kind of weapon are you looking for?"

"A greatsword for now," she decided instantly. "I’ve been using one for two days, and I’ve really got the hang of it. It’s super fun to use! But... I kind of want to experiment with all sorts of weapons too."

"Makes sense," I nodded. "You’re still figuring out your exact fighting style. We’ll allocate thirty-two hundred credits out of today’s haul for your new primary weapon. We can stretch it to four grand if we find something perfect."

"Yay!"

"Not so fast..." I interrupted, raising a finger to the empty air. "Nom, you’re practically a local celebrity in Shinkotsu, and eyes are always on you. If you walk out of your room tomorrow carrying a brand-new greatsword out of nowhere, people will notice."

"Oh..." she murmured. "So what do I do?"

"You’re gonna go shopping the old-fashioned way," I instructed, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my bare knees. "Take the Guild payout from the physical bodies you dragged out, and hit up a local blacksmith. Buy a decent greatsword to keep on your back. It’ll serve as your cover story and act as a reliable backup."

"Double swords!"

"Exactly. You can dual-wield if you want..." I grinned. "And while you’re there at the blacksmith, use those coins to buy a few different weapon types that catch your eye. Try them out. See what feels good."

I didn’t care if she blew a small fortune in physical currency. Between her dungeon-diving and my Metal Manifestation, we could basically be printing silver and gold coins. But System credits were precious. I wasn’t wasting our ticket to Peko’s freedom on experimental weapons Nom might hate.

"Understood, Master!" she cheered. "I’m gonna go buy the biggest hammer they have!"

"You do that," I chuckled, resting the back of my head against the tree. "Now, I haven’t really asked over the past few days... but how are your studies with Peko coming along?"

The heavy creaking of the cart immediately paused. A very highly audible groan echoed through the telepathic link.

"Math," Nom-Nom grumbled, all her previous excitement evaporating. "Fugen’s geography... and a little bit of history."

[Math, huh...] I smiled, feeling confident in the only subject I actually recognized.

"So what exactly did she teach you in math?" I asked.

"Arithmetic..." she muttered. "Addition, subtraction... I’m really good at it, too!"

I raised an eyebrow as a degenerate urge bloomed inside.

Figuring, I’d mess with her a little, fully expecting her to proudly declare that two plus two equaled four, I challenged with a smug grin.

"Okay then, hotshot. What is 7,634 plus 9,865?"

"17,499!" she answered instantly with absolute, beaming pride. "See? I told you I’m good!"

I just stared blankly at the floating blue screen.

I had pulled those numbers so far out of my pocket that I didn’t even know if she was actually right. I was just throwing out random numbers to mess with her.

Before I could even attempt to verify the math in my head, Nom-Nom let out a sudden, excited gasp.

"Okay, my turn!" she cheered. "Master, what is 5,146 plus 8,795?!"

I instantly short-circuited.

I could practically imagine those wide, brightly expectant violet eyes that held absolute, unshakeable confidence in my intelligence.

[System!] I screamed internally. [Help me!]

Silence was all that replied to me.

[System!] I yelled in my head as a bead of actual cold sweat ran down my temple. [I can’t tell her I don’t know! Do the math!]

Still absolute silence.

I panicked hard as my mind scrambled for any kind of leverage while my pride dangled precariously over a cliff.

[System, I swear to god, I will open the Shop right now, buy the absolute cheapest, garbage-tier goblin bloodline I can find, and immediately integrate with it. And when Infinity starts leaking out... know that you could have prevented it all just by doing basic addition!]

A heavy, incredibly judgmental pause settled in the back of my mind. I could practically feel the System giving me a massive side-eye before-

-Ding!

{13,941

Please be advised that holding your Infinity hostage over elementary arithmetic is a new statistical low for you.}

"13,941," I stated smoothly out loud, not missing a single beat with absolute, unbothered confidence.

"Correct!" Nom-Nom beamed, sounding ridiculously proud.

While I spiritually wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, letting out the absolute biggest internal sigh of relief of my entire life while-

[Get out. Get out now before she hops to subtraction,] my survival instincts screamed.

"Alright, well, my break is up, and I gotta go," I said quickly, aggressively reaching for the mental disconnect button before she could ask another question. "I’ll call you back in two hours, and we’ll handle your sword. Or you can scroll through the Shop yourself and see if something catches your eye... and I’ll do the same."

"Okay! I’ll look for a shiny one! Bye, Master!"

And the moment the connection was severed, I slumped forward, burying my face in my hands.

Surviving goblin hordes and plotting doomsday cults was one thing, but getting pop-quizzed by a very confident-in-my-abilities Nom-Nom was a completely different kind of stress.

But as the initial relief faded, a cold, creeping dread slowly started to settle in the pit of my stomach.

I lowered my hands, staring blankly at the water.

[She learned that in two days...] I realized, the reality hitting me a lot harder than the actual math problem had.

Nom-Nom had started from absolute zero forty-eight hours ago. Now, she was instantly adding four-digit numbers in her head like it was nothing.

Add on the fact that she had been studying all of this in her free time between dungeon diving, all while juggling geography and history on the side.

Try as I might, I couldn’t do math like that. Give me a pen and paper, sure. But instantly crunching those numbers in my head?

[Where the hell is she going to be in two months?]

And that was just Nom-Nom. Peko was leagues smarter than the dragon, and was practically living inside the library and treating her studies like a full-time job.

I swallowed hard, suddenly unsure if I could even hold a proper conversation with the Phoenix anymore without sounding like a complete idiot.

I leaned the back of my head against the oak tree, letting out a long sigh.

I couldn’t even offer them physical protection. They were both basically demi-goddesses in their own right. Nom-Nom was a walking natural disaster with a greatsword, and Peko literally had an inheritance spanning countless spells on top of being a Phoenix and having all the classical affinities.

[It won’t be long before I become the most useless member in our little trio...] I thought, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.

Sure, I had the System. I had the Shop, the inventory, the Party Module and stuff...

But at the end of the day, those were the System’s benefits. They weren’t things I was bringing to the table by my own merit. Take away the glowing blue screens, and I was just a ticking time bomb courtesy of my Infinity.

[I need to be more than that... way more than that if I wanna walk beside them] I thought, staring down at my hands. [And read a damn book.]