Over the following five days the group goes about their activities. Adam and Elise sharpen their ping pong skills with the two of them actually become fairly obsessed with the sport. Damion has found himself becoming a fan of classical music as opposed to Joe who has more of an affinity towards rock music. Marigold has firmly decided that the first drama movie she ever watched is now her favorite movie forever. Julius was being more productive with his time, he was going around trying to gain new skills.
Julius-"There's one"
A small mouse is moving across the forest floor.
Julius-"Evolved skill: omni particle control"
Julius changed the molecules inside the mouse into limestone. However he left the internal workings of the organs and veins normal.
Voice-"You have gained the petrifaction skill"
Julius(in his head)-"I remember you had mentioned it before, what is the difference between using petrification and using my omni particle control"
Voice-"When a target is transformed into stone by petrification their soul remains trapped inside the statue. You could leave them petrified for years and then turn them back and they would be alive. When you turned those guards into iron you had to make sure all their organs were still normal like you did when you turned this mouse into stone. Because of that you couldn't leave them transformed for long periods of time unlike with petrification"
Julius(in his head)-"That's a useful trick. Now if I'm ever in a situation like I was with Lucious, I can use petrification on them"
Voice-"That's partially correct. Just like with your omni particle control and the target is a higher level then you, you won't be able to petrify them"
Julius(in his head)-"Well I'll definitely need to work on gaining more levels"
Voice-"At least you are being far more productive than your companions"
Julius(in his head)-"Hey my group really needed some down time after these last few days to get their minds off things. The rest of them don't have a voice in their heads working them through things. Although honestly you're not very good at working through things"
Voice-"What do you mean?"
Julius(in his head)-"Let's just say you would be a pretty bad therapist"
Voice-"Why would I say that?"
Julius(in his head)-"..."
Voice-"You said 'let's' which would mean I would be saying it too"
Julius(in his head)-"It's pretty obvious you're doing this on purpose, it's been exhausting"
Voice-"...You should turn the mouse back to normal before you leave"
Julius(in his head)-"You're right"
Julius-Evolved skill: omni particle control"
The mouse is returned back to its original state and runs off into the forest.
Julius(in his head)-"Well, I'm going to head back for the day. Hopefully Adam and Elise haven't damaged the wall again"
Voice-"It was a bad idea to change their ping pong balls to graphene"
Julius(in his head)-"The ping pong balls were all being destroyed before. They weren't exactly designed to be bounced around at mach speeds"
Voice-"The walls weren't designed to have graphene balls launched at them at mach speeds either"
Julius(in his head)-"Also true, I should go back and assess the damage"
Julius flies back to the house he constructed in the woods. He sees Marigold crying while watching television. A male character is on the floor dying and the female character is holding his hand while it rains around them.
Joe-"You know you can watch other movies right?"
Marigold(crying)-"But look at them, they've known each other for such a short time. (While sneezing into a tissue) Their love was so real. They deserved better, whoever wrote this movie was a monster, (sneezes into the tissue again)"
Joe(in his head)-"Why would she keep watching a movie that makes her sad? Did people really watch these kinds of movies where Julius came from?"
Julius-"You liking the movie Marigold?"
Marigold-"It's horrible! How could this happen to them?"
Julius-"Oh I'm sorry, I can show you a different movie if you want"
Marigold-"No! I love these characters so much I can't just swap to different ones!"
Julius-"Oh um ok"
Joe(in his head)-"So she hates it but she also loves it, of course"
Rapid and loud snapping sounds suddenly fill the house from upstairs.
Joe-"Can you tell them to keep it down!?"
Marigold-"I can't hear the movie!"
Julius-"I will"
Julius floats up to the second floor through a small gap in the door at the top of the stairs. The walls are covered in dents. Adam and Elise are playing ping pong while moving so fast they appear as blurs.
Adam-"Is that all you can do!? Seriously after all this time I thought you'd get better at this!"
Elise-"Need I remind you who's winning right now!? Maybe you should shut up and focus on not being a looser"
Each time they use their paddle to smack the ping pong ball it creates a small shockwave. Suddenly Elise misses the ball and it zooms past her into the wall creating another dent and getting stuck in the wall while smoking.
Adam-"And that's a point for me!"
Elise-"Whatever, you're still one point behind me"
Adam-"For this round, but I won the last round! Just a few more points and that will be two rounds in a row for me"
Elise-"Like I'd give you that chance!"
Julius-"Hey guys, can you take it a little easier?"
Adam-"Oh hey Julius. You wanna join after I win this round?"
Elise scoffs.
Julius-"You're damaging the walls"
Elise-"You can repair them though"
Adam-"Yeah, also you could just make them stronger like you did the ball"
Julius-"And like I did to your paddles, the table, and the net. Normally all the materials for ping pong aren't made out of super materials"
Adam-"Well then clearly nobody else takes this game seriously"
Julius-"Can you take it a little less seriously?"
Elise-"Can you put up a silence barrier? Also you can play if you want after I win this round"
Julius-"I don't have any arms to play with"
Adam-"You can levitates the paddle"
Julius-"...I'm just gonna put up a silence barrier. Sound skill: silencing barrier"
Julius creates a dome around the ping pong area covering the walls as well for when the ball hits them.
Julius-"Have you guys seen Damion?"
Adam-"He's upstairs"
Julius floats up to the third floor while Adam and Elise continue playing ping pong. Julius finds Damion lying on his bed with noise cancelling headphones connected to his phone via bluetooth. On the phone it is playing an album of Mozart music. Julius uses gravity magic to lightly shove Damion's arm.
Damion-"Hm? Oh hello Julius"
Damion pauses the song and takes off his headphones.
Damion-"Did they stop playing their game?"
Julius-"Adam and Elise? I'm guessing that's why you put on those headphones"
Damion-"I couldn't hear the music otherwise"
Julius-"I put a silence barrier around them. I asked them to quiet it down but they didn't oblige"
Damion-"You do a lot for people"
Julius-"I guess that what happens when you have so many magic powers (sighs)"
There is a rapid knocking on the front door of the house.
Joe-"Coming"
Joe opens up the door and there is an exhausted villager who clearly just ran there.
Joe-"Can I help you?"
Villager-"Some of, (breaths) some of the villagers finally woke up!"
End of chapter 72.