(One week later)
A week slipped by in the blink of an eye, yet Leo's meditation progress remained frustratingly stagnant compared to his rapid pace ten days prior, leaving him increasingly irritated and uneasy.
Initially, Leo accepted Captain Kid's explanation that stress or overwork might be hindering his ability to meditate effectively. But after a week of thorough rest, avoiding any strenuous training or exercise, he expected a significant improvement in his meditation pace.
When no such improvement occurred, he became convinced that something deeper was at play, and that the issue wasn't merely mental fatigue.
Determined to uncover the root of the problem, Leo began testing various theories.
His first step was to change his meditation location, moving from the designated chamber to his bedroom. The results were immediately clear. Outside the specialized meditation room, his pace dropped to a mere third of his already reduced speed, underscoring the importance of a mana-rich environment for effective meditation.
"Maybe there's a fault in the equipment in my meditation room?" Leo wondered aloud. "Could it be leaking ambient mana?"
To confirm his theory, he decided to try meditating at Amanda's manor one day, and to his surprise, his meditation speed there returned to its normal, accelerated pace.
"So it's definitely an issue with my meditation room," Leo concluded, his thoughts racing.
"I'll have to report this to Captain Kid. The room is still holding mana better than its surroundings, but not well enough." Leo murmured, as he did not suspect any foul play at this stage.
In his mind he found no reason for Captain Kid or any other Arc Ship Operator to knowingly sabotage his training speed and hence he did not think that the reduced mana flow to his chamber was a deliberate conspiracy.
Instead he attributed it to simple mechanical failure and reported the incident as such.
********
(Captain Kid's POV)
As if the chaos caused by ChaosBringer refusing the Unity Government's offer wasn't trouble enough, Captain Kid now faced another dilemma.
A report landed on his desk, stating that Leo had already identified a fault in his meditation equipment and was demanding it to be fixed, as the discovery forced Kid to act swiftly.
Not wanting to risk tarnishing his image before someone as unpredictable as Leo Skyshard, Kid arranged for engineers to be sent to Leo's manor under the guise of routine maintenance.
They then "fixed" the supposed malfunction, while Kid slowly restored the parameters to his room back to normal from the shadows.
Satisfied with the resolution, Leo remained oblivious to the interference.
But for Kid, the situation was far from resolved, as with Leo's meditation room restored, the likelihood of his training pace returning to its usual speed was high—a prospect that created an entirely new set of headaches for him.
Kid had been tasked with keeping Leo's meditation progress in check, and failing to do so could have dire consequences.
Being already under scrutiny from both the Unity and Universal Governments due to his questionable handling of the ship's command, Kid couldn't afford another misstep.
Offending the powerful Mu Clan, his last remaining allies, was a risk he dared not take, as now, more than ever, he needed the Mu clan's support to ensure that the future after his retirement as a captain remained bright.
"The only way to sabotage his training speed now is to go in and steal his meditation manual under the cover of the night.
The only problem is that intruding on that mad man's property is a risk to my life.
That madman will kill me before I even have a chance to yelp, and such a risk can't be taken" Kid concluded, as the only way out of this situation for him seemed to be by stealing the manual.
However, doing so was easier said than done.
Leo Skyshard, the number one player within the game world was an equally formidable fighter outside it as well and Kid had no confidence to win against him in a one vs one fight.
Under normal circumstances, he could have easily delegated such a mission to an underling. However, under universal government laws, theft against passengers was a punishable offence and ordering a subordinate to commit a felony on his behalf also posed a significant risk.
If the underling decided to report him to the ethics committee, Captain Kid could find himself facing the martial court upon landing, and it was a consequence he could not afford to gamble with.
This only left him with the option to do it himself without anyone catching a whiff of his true intentions. However, the timing of the theft needed to be absolutely perfect.
A single misstep could see him lose it all, but it was a risk he was forced to take, for the sake of his own bright future.
"Life is hard… these last few months my trouble seems to be never ending.
I better be compensated fairly for my troubles, because if not, I'll genuinely fall into depression in the coming days".
**********
(Meanwhile Luke)
A fortnight had passed since Luke first kissed Alia, and the two finally formalized their relationship as lovers only today.
Despite being mature adults, they both behaved like scared children when they decided to reveal their relationship to Leo and Amanda, as while the duo was not afraid of Amanda's reaction, they genuinely feared what Leo would say.
"Your brother hates me… HATES, I don't think he will take the news of us dating too well—" PinkLotus said, as she and Luke moved nervously towards Leo's quarters.
"My brother does not hate you, you will be fine…. I'm more worried he will hate me after I declare I love you" Luke replied, as PinkLotus hit him hard on his shoulders.
"Your little brother adores you, you can murder Amanda and he still won't hate you, you're just being silly–" PinkLotus said, as the two tried to uplift each other before breaking the news to Leo.
Both terrified of his potential reaction.