THE SSS-RANKED TAMING VILLAIN SKILL-Chapter 36: The things I can’t let go (1)

The training room was bathed in a heavy and uncertain silence. The targets present in the room each bore different impact marks. Some showed signs of clean perforation and mini-explosion impacts.

The ammunition test had gone rather well overall; however, real human subjects were needed to truly prove the effectiveness of these ammunitions.

A total of four bullets, each with its own properties:

The solragonis bullet, coming from the alloy of solar iron + dragonis alloy, caused a sort of heavy-strike energy shot that released a brief wave of heat upon impact.

The clear-obscure bullet comes from the Obscure Mythril × Moonsilver alloy. Its only property was silence when used. It produced no mechanical sound. A bit like the silent device used by Glocks to go unnoticed. Perfect for assassination.

The drascure bullet, on the other hand, combined the brutal impact of dragonis and the discretion of Obscure Mythril.

The perfect bullet was, as its name indicates, the ultimate classic bullet. It didn’t have incredible effects, just consistent performance. However, thanks to pure Mythril, it could be reinforced with magic.

To differentiate them, it was quite simple, as the color shades were different: solragonis had a shiny golden-red color, the clear-obscure a shade of dark silver, the drascure a glowing black-red, and the perfect one a pure gray metal.

"Hmmm, cylinder check, overheating check, cooling check, mechanism noise, check," said Aelion, satisfied.

UGAEL nodded after his verifications, curiously observing once again her master’s use of the weapon. Aelion didn’t know it, but she was collecting data intended for personal use and to improve her understanding.

Not only on practical work, but also on behaviors and the ways Aelion and Seraphina acted, as well as their interactions. She did it only to understand and react in order to better serve and be optimal.

This was one of the reasons she sometimes lacked delicacy. In theory, she understood what would happen, but in practice, she didn’t know how to react and misinterpreted things — like when she saw Seraphina’s killings toward her master as a game or a sign of affection.

"Master, I think you should go rest."

"Huh? Why that?" asked the man, shocked.

Since her activation, UGAEL had always been cold and logical without emotion. She asked what to do and received orders, but today, she seemed concerned about him in some way.

"By looking at you, your posture, your eyes, and your way of walking, in addition to the rhythm of your breathing, I can conclude that you are tired. A few hours won’t be enough to make up for weeks of overload," added UGAEL with her strident voice tinged with mechanical tone.

"Fair enough, but usually you never really had to make that observation before, what caused this sudden change?" questioned Aelion, curious.

Logically speaking, she was right; however, she had never cared even when he suffered Seraphina’s killings, even though he had affirmed he would ask for her help if needed.

"My operating system adapts and calibrates itself over time to suit my master and meet your needs according to your behavior. I also have to ensure your well-being. But if this has offended you in any way, I apologize."

Aelion’s interest in UGAEL was becoming increasingly strong. It made him wonder what kind of person she had served to develop such behavior?

"Not really. I’m rather delighted. So how many masters have you had until now?"

"Delighted? I see. I have no idea. At each awakening, my system is reset in order to learn to adapt." she replied dryly.

What?

"What do you mean reset? It’s completely pointless to do that..."

The problem with this was that building a personality depended on the different encounters one made and the memories accumulated. Resetting her amounted to destroying her memories to return her to zero. He couldn’t help but see this act as nothing but cruel.

But for her, it was just a formality. It made one wonder if she even felt pain. However, Aelion refrained from going down that path. He had decided to follow her advice and go rest. Staying in the manor had made him lose track of time, relying only on his internal clock.

"I think next time we should create a clock... like that, I’ll know how to situate myself."

"As you wish. It is already two o’clock in the morning." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

His eyes widened abruptly. He should have suspected it, already feeling a bit sleepy. Moreover, Seraphina was no longer wandering around the manor, surely because she had already gone to bed.

His stomach growled in response to his intense previous reflections. Too immersed, he had forgotten to eat, and the vampiress who had naturally imposed herself as the cook had not called him either. With the event that had happened earlier, it was for the best.

"Are you hungry? I am, a lot. You coming?" he said, playing with the weapon in his hand.

UGAEL politely refused and withdrew to continue other tasks she had been assigned. Aelion didn’t hold it against her either; she had always been a bit detached.

---

"LIAM NO!!!" cried the vampiress, troubled and frightened.

Seraphina woke up with a start in her room. Her rapid breathing lifted her chest like a pump. Her clothes were soaked with sweat, as was her beautiful face. Her messy hair, caused by her tossing in her sleep, stuck to her face.

She took a moment, scanning the room with her eyes, before realizing it was only a dream that reminded her even more harshly of her goal. In nightwear, she hurried to put on a robe and rushed to the bathroom to refresh her face.

As soon as she finished, she headed back to her room. However, curiosity pushed her to see if Aelion had already gone to bed. Seraphina used her mana concealment skills and approached the concerned one’s room, slightly opening it discreetly.

He wasn’t there. It was empty. She thought he was probably still working in the forge when suddenly a soft smell of grilled meat tickled her nose. Although blood was more nutritious and vital for her, she could still appreciate normal food. And what caused that smell was not insignificant.

All the more since she hadn’t done anything else today, Seraphina wondered who was preparing and defiling her safe place. Automatically, her mind went to UGAEL.

Eventually, she quickly discovered it was the opposite: Aelion was the one at the stove, cooking his meat with an apron tied around his neck.

She tried to punish him for what he had done, yet it seemed that it had backfired on her. Seraphina was quite surprised, though seeing him like this was rather delightful; she was discovering another side of his personality.

"I didn’t know you knew how to cook," declared Seraphina curiously, watching him from afar.

Surprised by the calm and soft voice of his interlocutor, whom he hadn’t noticed earlier, he jumped slightly and turned to her, smiling.

"Let’s just say we never really had time to get to know each other more, since all you did was try to seduce me and kill me a few minutes later." Aelion reported, flipping the meat on its golden side.

"Th-That was part of the training!!" stuttered Seraphina, looking away.

"I believe you then... please, sit down, your company would be quite precious to me," added the young man, removing the piece of meat from the fire and placing it in a dish.

Then he took several assortments of vegetables, chopped them with a knife, and seasoned them with some spices. If he hadn’t noticed it, Seraphina certainly had. Not only had the tips of his fingers kept the same burn scars and Lichtenberg figures,

On top of that, the palms of his hands were no longer as smooth as before; they already bore the marks of the forge work he had begun.

He really works hard...

"So, cooking?"

"Oh, what do you want to know?" he expressed enthusiastically.

"It’s very rare for men to have such sharp cooking skills where I come from, you know."

"It’s quite the opposite from where I come from, I’m an only child... so I had to start taking care of myself very early since my parents weren’t always there. Plus, I lived alone at the university, so it’s an essential skill." he replied while preparing and plating the dishes his own way.

"I understand better. Now that we’re sharing confidences, I should maybe play honestly this time. So, I had a little brother and a little sister, they are no longer... University?" Seraphina retorted, curious, watching his back.

She had to cultivate this moment little by little to extract the information she wanted, even though she was being honest for once.

"I’m sorry..." he said in a gloomy tone, turning toward her, but Seraphina shook her head, telling him not to dwell on it. "University? It’s a bit like the royal academy in your world."

"How do you know there’s such a structure in Accnessea?"

Aelion was surprised by the question. He couldn’t say it was like in the popular fantasy novels from his world.

"I read a lot," affirmed the young man, shrugging.

Unfortunately, with that affirmation, Seraphina couldn’t hold back from asking the fateful question. Because things were rather strange. Aelion did not come from Accnessea, his world was clearly different, but how did he know things from her world? And also, how did he obtain the necessary information about Accnessea’s coordinates?

"Tell me, I’m quite curious, do you have a link to the gods?"

"A link? If we can compare it to a link... let’s say yes," declared Aelion nonchalantly.

However, the young man tended to forget who he lived with, comparing her instantly to a normal woman. Even though his training had put his mind through hardship, he shouldn’t have forgotten the detail Seraphina had mentioned at the very beginning. The gods had taken everything from her, and he had just declared he had a link to them.

Before the blink of an eye could even complete itself, Aelion felt himself pierced by a glowing blood blade from behind, his body paralyzed instantly, ejecting a small amount of black blood from his mouth.

"S-Seraphina?"