《Cross Dressing In A Fantasy World Full Of Magic》


 Chapter ?1 I Might Get Disowned?

    "AHHHHHH!" My head was hurting, and I was rolling in my bed from the constant pain assaulting me.

    Floods of information were gathering in my head. Fuck! Isn''t there any way to make this pain go away?

    Momentster, the memories of the body that I had taken over appeared, and the pain eventually faded away. I opened my eyes and looked around. I could see a familiar yet unfamiliar room. The room that I upied was a room that seemed to be like a female child''s room. It was the room where I lived.

    The door opened with me inspecting the room as I contemted, "Young Miss." A maid politely said. "Matriarch Selene has ordered you to go to the main room." The maid bowed and left the room.

    Organizing as much information as possible, it seemed like I was the only child and the heir of the Sris household. And today was the day that I would have a sibling.

    The family that I was born into is the Sris family. The Sris family could create a miniature sun. Only the females of the Sris family would be able to take over the family due to their ability to use magic. In this world, magic is a rarity that only females can use.

    Females in this world are considered the superior gender. With magic, they could protect the world from any attacks from monsters or other attackers.

    Coincidentally, the body I was upying, "Charlie," was born with the ability to use magic. Not only that, the body has five times the magic capacity of an average female of the Sris family.

    With the birth of "Charlie," the matriarch or my mother was conflicted, unsure what to do. They had to decide whether to keep me or abandon me. The vote mostly leaned on keeping me because of my high magic capacity.

    My mother, Selene, had to restrict the freedom of poor Charlie. He got forced to act like a female and dress as a female. I wouldn''t be surprised if mana itself made me look like a female.

    If I had my body from my previous life and saw this body, I would''ve been instantly charmed. I had bright long blond hair that reached to my to the upper part of my legs, coupled with pretty blue eyes that were as colorful as a sapphire. My lips would make anyone want to touch them, my nose was perfectly shaped, with my delicate body would make anyone want to protect me. I was at the height of 5''8. In short, I looked like a princess.

    Heading out of my room, I went towards the main room of my family''s house. With me in the main room, there was my "mother" and many of the elders surrounding her, which made it look intimidating.

    "Mother, is there anything you need from me?" I said in fear, trying to mask it. Charlie himself deeply feared my mother, unable to shake it away. I nervously asked what she wanted from me.

    "Charlie, my child. Today your sister was born. Your title as an heir is revoked, and your sister will inherit your title. Not only is your sister a female, but her talent has surpassed yours." I was surprised to hear that I knew something terrible would happen. I couldn''t even do anything about it.

    "Your sister Abigail will inherit the family, but you will be left with two choices. The first choice is that we disown you, stripping you out of your magic and never setting foot into the Sris family." That wasn''t something that I wanted to hear.

    "The second choice is to attend Saint Maria Magic Academy, dressing as a girl and building a better reputation for the Sris family." My head started to hurt when I heard my mother''s words.<sub> </sub>

    If I didn''t ept her request, I would lose my magic, which is more important than my life. The second choice is to go to a girl''s school, acting as a female, but if I were to be found out, my life would be over.

    Without much choice to begin with, "I will attend Saint Maria Magic Academy." Losing my magic would be too much of a blow if I could not protect myself.

    "The choice has been made. In two days, you will be attending the academy." Saying those words, I bowed and returned to my room.

    My body was on the bed in my room with my face slumped into my pillow. Is this how Charlie felt when he knew he would be easily reced? Being tossed away like you were nothing? Man, this feels like shit. It still stung even if I wasn''t that close to my family.

    Should I run away? Could I sneak out of the house without anybody noticing? No, I don''t have the guts to do that. I wouldn''t be surprised if I got killed or crippled if I did that. No one is on my side in this family. I sighed, hoping something good would happen if I were to go to the academy.

    With the window open in my room, I went towards it.

    As a person from the Sris family, the sun was like a family to us. It boosted my magic during the day. Because of this, the Sris family is considered one of the top families in this country.

    Like the Sris family, there is the Lunaris, which could control the moon''s power, and the Celeste family, which controls the power of a Celestial. With these three families to defend Star State Country, people from the outside wouldn''t attack aimlessly.

    In this world, there are nine levels of magic. The introductory levels of magic are from the first to the third level. They are experts in their magic from fourth to sixth, and they''re masters of their craft from seventh to ninth.

    The matriarchs of each family head are at the eighth level of magic. Their magic alone could destroy a city of Star State, and no one but one person has broken to the ninth level of magic. It was estimated that they could destroy a country without any effort.

    At the age of eighteen, one would start their magic training. If one were to start training too early, it could cause harm to one''s body.

    Being born into the Sris family has its advantage. We can absorb magic faster during the day, giving us a boost in growth speed.

    As someone born with five times the magic capacity, I would have five times someone''s magic at the same stage.

    With this vital information in my head, I nodded off. I would have to travel to Saint Maria Magic Academy in two days.

 Chapter 2 The Girl On The Road

    Two days have passed since the order from my mother. Today''s the day that I start my travels to the academy. I hope nothing wrong will happen during this trip.

    Waiting outside, my coach had arrived. "Young Miss, I hope the carriage is to your liking." John, my coach for this trip, bowed and started going to the horse, getting ready for this trip.

    Holding my package, I put it on the carriage with my package, and the carriage began to move. It was sad that no one was going to watch me leave. I guess I wasn''t that important to the family, other than I had enough talent in magic. I wasn''t close to anyone. Maybe that is why no one sent me off.

    During these two days, I gathered some information about the school I would attend. Saint Maria Magic Academy, the academy itself, will have four years of studying, meaning I would have to act as a female for four years. Surprisingly the academy''s founder was made by Saint Maria herself and was the only ninth-level magician recorded on this continent.

    Sitting on the carriage made my bottom feel ufortable. The seat was hard, and there wasn''t anything I could do to cushion it. This body had never traveled, making this ride a living hell. I wish there were cars in this era.

    The trip would take three days to arrive at the academy with my carriage. It was slow and tedious. All I could see were roads and trees. During meal time, the food I ate was nd. tbread and dried meat didn''t taste all that greatpared to my past meals.

    I realized that being trapped in the Sris household was a million times better. If I got kicked out of the house, I would die from feeling homesick.

    What sucked, even more was the coach giving me a perverted stare. I have nothing against gays, but if you''re an older man in their forties looking at me like that, which was double my age, stop it.

    Man, in the novel I read, the transmigrator had much more manageable. Where is my cheat? How did I even transmigrate? I can''t remember anything about my past self besides my information. Overthinking about this isn''t going to help. I will have to pass by somehow.

    A day passed during my trip, and a girl was walking tiredly. She seemed like she was lost. It was sad seeing her walk around aimlessly. "John stopped the carriage for a while!" I shouted so he could hear. Listening, he stopped the carriage.

    Seeing the carriage stop, the girl who was tired approached us. "Can you please tell me where Saint Maria''s Magic Academy is?" Feeling lost, she was desperate to find her destination.

    With this trip boring, should I ask her to join me? I could use this chance to establish a rtionship with a possible ssmate. I could also learn what kind of topics girls talk about.

    I was concluding on my own. "Why don''t we go together, like you? I''m also going to attend the same academy." I looked at John. His expression changed, looking into the girl''s chest. I sighed, guessing he wouldn''t mind if the girl went with us.

    "Do you really not mind?" The tired girl asked in a hopeful manner. She was d that I invited her to my ride.

    It''s not like I pity her, but talking to her would help me understand more about the world. "I don''t mind, it''s boring having no one to talk to for hours, so I can use apany," I said in my sweetest voice possible.<sub> </sub>

    Seeing that I had agreed to her request, she gave me a hug. Her ample chest rubbing against me made it hard not to get flustered. On the other hand, John looked at us with a perverted smile. Man, John must really be down bad. I bet the family did this on purpose just to piss me off.

    Calming myself down, the girl let go of me. "Sorry! I got a little excited." She gave me a very bright smile as she giggled, making me think she was as innocent as a child.

    "Why don''t we introduce ourselves?" It would be weird to keep calling her "girl" if she were traveling with me.

    "I''m Charlie Sris. Nice to meet you," I said as gracefully as I could. Seeing her reaction made me

    think something was wrong. She was shocked, unable to say anything.

    "SORRY! FOR SPEAKING RUDELY TO YOU!" She loudly said and was genuinely scared. Has she had a bad experience with nobles? Or was she too scared of talking to one?

    "I don''t mind. I don''t like it when people talk to me formally. So you can talk to me normally," I said calmly, grabbing her hand.

    Seeing that I grabbed her hand, I wasn''t going to bite. Trying to calm herself down, she introduced herself. "I''m Olivia. Nice to meet you too!" She said nervously. Without any surname, one would be considered amoner. For someone to attain a surname is for one to be born with one or to achieve the fifth rank. Once you achieve the fifth rank, the queen herself will give you a noble title and a surname.

    Olivia herself was someone who looked like an astounding beauty but was a klutz. While she looked like a mature beauty, with her long ck hair, and brown eyes that dazzled as she looked at the scenery, she was the same height as me, but her body was kind of erotic. Her ample chest is about the size of D to E with her nicely shaped bottom and smooth legs. Her body is sinful. If my identity was exposed, maybe I could use her and marry her and live a happy life.

    Maybe I was being too optimistic. If I want that as my backup n, I would need to improve our rtionship a lot.

    As I talked to her, she was stuttering as she spoke. Apparently, she took off two weeks ago to go to the academy, but she got lost in the middle of it. It made me wonder what would happen if I didn''t show up.

    The more I talked to her, her nervousness lessened, she was extremely clumsy, and I felt terrible if I had to leave her alone.

    I don''t remember being this kind of person. Was it part of Charlie that made me want to help her? I wouldn''t know until I learned much more about myself. I began to look out the window and think about our journey.

 Chapter 3 Saint Marias Magic Academy

    Two days have passed since Olivia went into the carriage with me. We talked a lot of things about ourselves. Olivia could create food that boosted one''s strength, speed, or magic. I was d I kept her around.

    With the ideas I gave her, she could replicate any foods I told her. My backup n is beginning to look brighter.

    Apparently, Olivia was an orphan because she had beneficial magic in her field. She was rmended to go to the academy and learn more to produce better results.

    Did you also know that Olivia is a hugger? When both of us are asleep, she hugs the nearest thing around her and squeezes me at night. It''s pretty hard to fall asleep, but it had a nice feeling. I don''t want anything to happen when she is awake.

    Good thing I will never see John again after today. The disgusting old man was staring at us, even Olivia was scared of him, but she kept it quiet. No wonder why people like him are so looked down upon.

    Venting my anger in my head, I stared at Olivia, who was hugging me like an octopus. Not only her arms but her legs were locking on to me. Olivia, who was waking up, opened her eyes, and I greeted her, "Good morning Olivia."

    I gave her a smirk attempting to tease her. "Do you like hugging me that much? If you do, why don''t we marry!" I made a joke, making her face turn crimson red from embarrassment.

    "I wouldn''t mind." She mumbled as quietly as she could, but I was being hugged by her, so I could hear her say it.

    Wait, for what? I said it as a joke. Is Olivia into girls? Or did I somehow charm Olivia? I don''t remember doing something that made Olivia into me. I don''t think she was joking when she said that. She was blushing too much for that to be a joke.

    Thinking anymore would hurt my head, Olivia, who hugged me, got up and released me. Wanting to make this less awkward, I shifted the topic to "Olivia, do you mind making pizza today!" Confused by the term, she asked what pizza was.

    Looking at her face, she didn''t know what pizza was. I overestimated this world. The food here sucks. The only good food they have are meat dishes that barely qualify in my old world.

    Exining pizza itself was hard. The ingredients themselves were different. Asking Olivia to put mozzare cheese was exhausting, so I settled on regr cheese.

    During these two days, I had a lot to think about. I surprisingly did well despite not having a phone or aputer. I guess having friends to talk to would lessen one''s boredom. I''m surprisingly doing well in conversations. Was it because I never cared much about making connections or because of Charlie''s memories?

    I guess it doesn''t matter now. Eating breakfast with Olivia, I could see her enjoying her breakfast. She was smiling from the feeling of tasting great food. While pizza isn''t something you should eat for breakfast, I missed the feeling of eating one.

    After finishing our breakfast, we continued to talk. Sometimes Olivia would blush when looking at me. Do I have the ability to charm girls with my look? I shook my head since I couldn''t make anyparison right now.

    A random question came to me "Olivia, what''s your opinion of Saint Maria''s Magic Academy?" I wanted to hear her thoughts about it.<sub> </sub>

    "Hmm." Olivia, who was thinking hard, came to an answer.

    "Saint Maria''s Magic Academy is a ce for me to make myself a better chef! Once I have the power to make the best food, I will be able to live a happy life!" An adorable answer from Olivia. Hearing Olivia''s dream made me a little jealous. I hope my life will be as peaceful as I need it to be.

    I gave Olivia a pat on the head. Olivia, taken surprised by my head pat, looked embarrassed. Since she didn''t want to distract herself, she asked me the same question. "What do I think about it? For me, it''s a ce for me to grow stronger. Since I''m from the Sris family, I have my duties I must do for my family." I said seriously, frowning unintentionally at what I came up with.

    Giving my answer, Olivia hugged me and patted my back. Why did she hug me? Did I do something that made her want to hug me? Ugh, I don''t understand her sometimes.

    "If you have anything you want to talk about, I don''t mind listening." She gave me a reliable smile, unbefitting her usual nature.

    I see even a klutz like Olivia could read me. I guess being alone in this world sucks. Shaking away these thoughts, "Thanks forforting me." I mumbled quietly, embarrassed to say that to her.

    She smiled at me, giggling. She probably heard that, so I looked away, embarrassed.

    And with that, our carriage stopped, and we arrived at the city''s front gate. Starbound city is the capital of Star State.

    The Celeste family is the strongest of the three families. They''re also the one that owns the capital. If the Celeste family is the strongest, Lunaris and Sris are after them.

    ? The Lunaris and Sris are considered rivals. While both families are rivals, they don''t interact much with each other. The Sris primarily operates during the day, and the Lunaris operates at night.

    Despite the academy being in the capital, the academy is isted in the corner of the city. Going through the city, we arrived at the academy. Guards were standing there protecting the entrance.

    Showing our invitation letter, the guards told us to enter the building in front to receive our identity for the school. We went through the gate. It wouldn''t be funny if Olivia lost her pass while traveling for two days. Good thing there wasn''t any kind of cliche along the way.

    Entering the building, we went to the receptionist and showed our invitation letter to the receptionist.

    "Olivia, right?" The receptionist called out her name to confirm her identity. Olivia, who heard her name, nodded her head. "Use your ability to confirm your identity." Summoning a fruit, the receptionist gave her an identity card and multiple school uniforms. "You would be in dorm four, room five. If you want to change your room or dorm with someone,e here with them, and our staff will make the arrangement."

 Chapter 4 Stop The Migraine

    Olivia, who got her stuff, stood out of the way and waited for me. I gave the staff my rmendation letter.

    "Charlie Sris?" A surprise showed on the receptionist''s face. My status as a Sris surprised her. She was unprepared for my arrival. Not like it matters.

    "Please confirm it by using your magic." She said with a bow showing her respect.

    Not wanting to waste more time, I summoned a small sun on my palm, feeling the heat. The receptionist confirmed my identity.

    Fun fact the Sris family magic firepower is absolute. Any attacks from the same rank of heat-based magic would render useless against a Sris member. Getting my school uniform made me less excited. Wearing a skirt as a male felt embarrassing.

    "You will live in the house two blocks away, on the third house on the left." She gave me the key, it looks like the Sris household hasn''tpletely abandoned me, or my identity alone gave me a house. If I were to live in a dorm, it would probably ruin the reputation of the Sris family.

    Leaving the area, I spoke to Olivia. "I''m sure you want to go to your dorm first. Why don''t we go to our ce and meet up at ater time?"

    "I know this is rude to ask, but could I stay with you?" She looked at me with a cute expression. Hearing her wanting to stay with me made me freeze. I know Olivia is a good person, but I couldn''t let her find out my identity as a male. We''ve only known each other for two days, and while I may miss her cooking, I can''t let myself be exposed.

    "Sorry." That was the only word I could mutter. If it was anybody else, I would have rejected them without remorse. This may be sad, but Olivia is the closest person to the current me, even if I have known her for only two days, but because of that, I need to focus on myself.

    "Why? Is it because you''re a boy?" Huh??? How did she know? When did she know? How do I get her not to talk? Should I pretend to not know what she means? Thinking about this, my head started to hurt in a split second.

    "What do you mean?" I said with the first thought that I had in my head. I acted confused ying the dummy card.

    "Charlie, I know that you''re a boy." She said, sounding confident as she walked up towards me.

    "If you let me stay with you, I won''t tell." Did Olivia just ckmail me? Where did the sweet and innocent Olivia go? Why does she want to stay with me despite only knowing me for two days?

    "If you knew I was a boy, why do you want to stay with me? How can you trust me that much? We only met for two days." I frowned, asking her what she wanted from me.

    Olivia, who heard my question, stood there and took a few seconds to think. "I know this may sound weird, but in the orphanage where I stayed, the atmosphere wasn''t so good, and because of that, no one there really enjoyed it much. Our ride in the carriage was the most enjoyable experience I had had in a long while. If I didn''t force this situation, our rtionship wouldn''t improve in the future."<sub> </sub>

    "So, please let me stay with you. I don''t want to feel lonely again." Hearing her say that was pretty sad. It also made me feel bad because that was the most fun I had ever had.

    Rejecting her here would do no wonder for the both of us. Curious, I asked, "How did you know I was a boy?" Was it my personality that made me feel like a boy? Or was it something else?

    Olivia, who heard my question, blushed. Did something happen for her to find out my identity?

    "When we slept the first night, I identally woke up and touched your p-pp-penis." She stuttered, trying to say the word penis.

    So it wasn''t entirely my fault that I got out. Sighing, I asked Olivia, "Can I trust you to keep it a secret?" I looked at her thoughtfully, wondering if I could trust her.

    She smiled and nodded her head vigorously. "I won''t betray your trust!" Seeing her enthusiastic about it.

    "Let''s go!" Leading the way, we could see some girls talking to each other. "Did you hear that this year we''ll have all three families in the same year? I''ve heard of the Celeste and Lunaris before, but this is the first time I''ve heard about the Sris having someone our age. Isn''t it exciting!"

    With the girls talking, overhearing them talk, I just realized something, the Celeste heir is the same age as me. Fuck! How could I forget thest time Charlie had seen her was five years ago? I don''t want another headache. I will leave the future to me to handle her. All I want to do is take a bath after all this.

    Olivia, who heard this chuckled, looked at me, and we walked away. After ten minutes of walking, we arrived at our home. Olivia, who was walking beside me, hummed happily. I think this will be the first time she will live in a house.

    Going into the foyer, we inspect the room. The first floor has a kitchen, living room, and bathroom. On the second floor, we have four rooms and two bathrooms, with the master room having a bathroom. The basement has a living room and two rooms, and a bathroom. With four bathrooms, all of them except the first floor have a bathtub in it.

    Sorry Olivia, but I''m taking the master room. I can''t handle sharing a bathroom with anyone else. I''m not a clean freak or anything, but I don''t feelfortable if someone uses the same bathroom as me.

    Unpacking my luggage, I check on Olivia on how she is doing. Olivia, who had a room next to me, was rubbing her face in the bed. Not wanting to disturb her, I went to my room.

    My room was a 14mx16m room. The bed in the room was big enough for four people to sleep in. It looked much better than my previous room, the floor was made of wood, and the walls were white. At most, I had the bare basic of what a room should have.

    Tired from today''s event, I went to the bathroom connected to my room.

 Chapter 5 Olivia???

    Stripping my clothes, I went to the bathroom. With the water running and filling up the tub, I lean on it, finding itfortable to be in. This world was culturally underdeveloped, but I''m d someone created a bathtub and a toilet. If I had to do it on a bucket, I might as well kill myself.

    Dipping myself in water, I stared at the wall. Today was a stressful day. First, Olivia found out that I''m a boy. All I can hope is she keeps it to herself. Now, what should I do about the Celeste heir? Should I avoid her? No, she would definitely find me even if I kept hiding. Should I just meet her right away?

    Sshing the water around me, I heard the door open. I saw Olivia, who had a towel wrapped around her. "Olivia, what are you doing here!" Shocked that she entered unannounced, my eyes widen seeing here toward me.

    ? Olivia stood there staring at my body in full glory. With nothing covering me, she stood there looking at me without doing anything. Dazed, in her own thoughts, I stared back without saying anything.

    Minutes passed, and Olivia finally snapped back to reality, blushing from the sight as she walked towards me and sat beside me. It was a good thing that the tub was big.

    "So, why did youe in?" What gave her the thought ofing into the bathroom when I was taking a bath?

    "I wanted to chat with you. I didn''t expect it to be so embarrassing, ehehehe~." She gave a wry chuckle. Is she that much of an airhead?

    With our shoulders touching, her smooth skin glossed over my body. If I had no self-control, I would''ve popped something about now.

    Now that I think about it, why does Olivia like to have skin contact with me?

    "Olivia, why do you like to touch me?" Asking that question, Olivia blushed wildly. Oops, I shouldn''t have been too direct with my words. She was sensitive towards stuff like that.

    "It''s embarrassing to say. When I touch you, it makes me feel warm." Olivia spoke, but the more she spoke the quieter she got.

    Was she starved from the affection she didn''t receive in her life? She was an orphan. Humoring her, I pulled her head towards me and gave her a pat.

    Olivia, who had her head dragged, epted my pat on the head quickly. Giggity from my pat, she looked like a cat meowing from excitement.

    After a while, her serious expression appeared. "I hope you don''t mind me asking, but why are you dressing as a female? While it''s almost impossible for a male to have magic, Saint Maria''s Magic Academy allows males." Stating her thoughts, I gave her an answer.

    "My mother, the matriarch of our family, has a hatred of males because of an incident. When I was born, my mother always wanted a daughter. With my birth, I was supposed to be abandoned, but I had the power to use magic. The elders of my family saw that I had more talent than all the Sris family, so they decided to keep me. Unable to get rid of me, my mother forced me to act as a female." Hearing that Olivia had tearsing out of her, she is a sucker for tear-jerking stories.

    "Other reasons are that many female noble families have a gender superiorityplex. If my presence were to be known, I would be assassinated." Olivia, understanding of my situation, nodded her head.<sub> </sub>

    "A few days ago, my sister was born. She has a lot more talent than me, and because I wasn''t needed anymore, I was given an option to leave the house and lose my magic or toe here and act as a girl." After finishing my exnation, I didn''t talk anymore. Instead, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath saying a mouth fold.

    "I know this is rude, but I''m d you''re here! Because of that, we are friends!" Then, going back to her usual happy-going mood, she shouted.

    I didn''t mind when she said that, surprisingly. "It''s fine. I don''t mind it as much anymore."

    "Since you asked me a question, can you answer mine?" She nodded, giving me a chance to ask.

    "How do you think I should act in school? Should I be a snobby richdy? Or someone really arrogant?" Olivia, a girl, should give me valuable input on how to act.

    She shook her head. "You don''t need to act. Just stay as yourself. No one will notice that you''re a boy just because of how you talk." I sighed in relief, knowing that acting as someone would be too tiring.

    Having an idea, she spoke. "Let me wash you!" She grabbed the soap and washed my back without letting me say anything.

    The pleasant feeling of her hands rubbing my back helped me rx. Then, having to finish washing my back, she washed my hair with her delicate fingers. After finishing, it was my turn. "Olivia! Want me to scrub your back~'''' Olivia, surprised by my tone, tried to shake her head.

    Without letting her, I touched her back, tickling her. Rubbing her body, her legs shooked, unable to hold her moan. Embrassessed, her face became beet red.

    "Close your eyes. I finished washing your back." Done with her back, I started to wash her hair. Her hair wasn''t in any harmful condition for someone born an orphan. Her hair was silky and easy to clean despite it being long.

    Having to finish washing her, it was time to exit the bathroom. As we were about to leave, Olivia tripped. Having to fall, she pushed me down with her. Olivia, who fell,nded on me. Our lips were nted on each other, her ample chest was leaning on me, my manhood raised, unable to handle the situation. Olivia got up and ran, too embarrassed to take the stimtion she felt.

    Olivia, who ran, left me on the ground. Laying there, I tried to process what had happened in those few seconds. Then, cooling down, I left the bathroom, and using my magic, I dried my hair. Tired, I went to bed and plumed my face onto the bed, drifting to sleep.

    Waking up, and someone was holding me down. Olivia, who was on me, was holding me. Unable to move, I shouted at her. "Olivia, wake up! ss is about to start!" Shaking her, she woke up crying in surprise.

    "Sorry, but you were on me, and I couldn''t move!" I said while apologizing.

    Still trying to sleep, Olivia hugged me and rubbed her face against mine. While it wasforting, I couldn''t afford to bete.

 Chapter 6 Opening Ceremony

    To think that I, Charlie Sris, have done the impossible! I managed to wake up Olivia before beingte to ss. She was a tough nut to crack when trying to wake her up.

    With her magic, she made us something to eat. It was nice to eat what we wanted without manually doing it.

    p Doing somest-minute touches of fixing myself in the mirror, finishing, I left my room. Olivia, who was standing outside the door waiting for me.</anda>

    It was sad that we were not in the same ss. There were ten sses in each grade with fifty students in one ss, S ss being the top and I ss being the worst. There are five hundred students in each grade and two thousand in the whole school. The only way to advance in sses is to beat someone in their score during each month''s exam.

    I was in ss S, and Olivia was in ss A due to a rmendation she received from the school. So, Olivia, my only friend, I wish you the best of luck.

    Arriving at the school building, we walked to our ss. With our sses being side to side, we could quickly meet up after sses are over.

    "If you ever need anything,e talk to me." Although Olivia was nervous like me, needing to meet new people for the first time as an introvert was nerve-racking.

    Splitting with her, I entered my ss. I took the window seat in the middle row, hoping that the sun would shine on me. Since I transmigrated into this body, being in the sun has been the best feeling ever. I felt my energy level being raised just being graced by its presence. Is this what cats felt like when theyy on the ground while bathing in the sun?

    Observing the ssroom, many students wereing into the room. Different kinds of girls were entering, from humans to elves to fairies. Some of them talked as if they were friends beforeing here.

    While observing everybody, a familiar yet unfamiliar person arrived. A girl with blonde hair just like me, yellow eyes that could encapste the sight of many people, with her heels. She was about the same height as me, and her chest size was as big as Olivia''s. Serena Celeste, the heir to the Celeste family, it''s been five years since she and Charlie had met.

    If Charlie''s memories from five years ago were exactly as he remembered, then Serena had a great attachment toward him, but that was five years ago, and times changed. Maybe her feelings for Charlie had dwindled.

    Their family separated them because Serena had feelings for Charlie, as both of them were the heirs of their family. As a result, they weren''t allowed to have a child together. If one was born between them, it would make the situation tooplicated for both families.

    Serena, who saw me, smiled, I don''t know why but the smile was pretty unsettling, and I wished she would stop.

    "Charlie, it''s been a while! Why don''t we catch up?" Serena, who was overly enthusiastic and happy, asked me to talk to her after ss.

    Not wanting to ruin her mood, I epted it. Then, just as she was about to talk, the teacher came in, walking to her desk.

    Standing in front of her desk, the teacher used mana and pressured everyone to attract everyone''s attention.

    "Good morning, everyone. I''m Mary Celeste, ss S-1 homeroom teacher. You may call me Ms. Celeste or Miss Mary or a teacher, whatever fits your taste. Some of you may not be in my ss next month, but it''s nice to have you." She said in a monotone voice, sounding like she had read a script for today''s introduction.<sub> </sub>

    Hearing her name, I was surprised. I didn''t think the Celeste family would have a teacher. However, the fact that she is the teacher of S-1 means that she is a capable teacher. Or her connections came into y.

    "Since I introduced myself, the headmaster herself would give an opening speech for today''s ceremony. We are to head to the gym immediately." Saying those words, she left.

    Everyone here left one by one with their friends. Serena, who sat beside me, walked with me to the gym. Walking together, Serena suddenly held my hand. I guess she still had feelings toward Charlie. But I wasn''t the Charlie that Serena knew back then. Letting go of our hand, she frowned in displeasure.

    Not wanting to cause anymotion, "It''s embarrassing to do that in public." I said, trying to dispel her displeasure. Finding my reason to be reasonable, she nodded, not putting too much thought into it.

    While we were walking, this awkward silence made my stomach hurt. I wished this wouldn''t continue any longer. When we finally arrived at the gym, more and more people came in as time passed. Serena was still beside me, staring at me, making me ufortable.

    Not knowing how to handle someone like her, I stood there awkwardly.

    When everyone in the school arrived, the ce was filled and packed. There were too many people, and it was crowded. Serena used this chance to hold onto my arms. Unable to do anything, I just stood there. What am I supposed to do in this situation? I cried to myself in my head.

    Contemting to myself, the headmaster showed up. The principal was a woman that looked like she was in her thirties. Standing on the podium, she looked at me and smiled.

    Does she know that I was a boy? It would be troubling if she didn''t know and found outter. As long as she doesn''t bother me too much, then it''s okay.

    "Everyone! May I have your attention!" The headmaster shouted. She had used mana to intimidate everyone here. Everyone was silenced and looked at the headmaster.

    "Goodmorning, thank you all for attending today''s opening ceremony!" The headmaster spoke with vigor.

    "As the headmaster of Saint Maria''s Magic Academy, I''m excited to see how all you students will grow!" As she kept bbering about the things in school, I started to tune her out.

    Remembering the opening ceremony in my previous life, I should have known this would be a long, dull speech.

    Thirty minutes of talking and the principal stopped. "I thank you all for listening today! Since today''s opening ceremony ss won''t start until tomorrow, I bid you all a good day!" Finishing her long speech, she left the podium.

    With the headmaster leaving, everyone around started to disperse. Stilltching my arms, Serena said, "Do you mind if I go to your room so we can talk alone?" Getting this over with, I agreed, and we started to head there.

 Chapter 7 Emotionally Unstable

    On our way to my house, walking with her was awkward. We started to talk about trivial stuff. The more we talked, the less awkward it was for us. Many people could be seen on our way back. We entered the house, went to my room, and sat on the bed.

    "So, how have you been during these five years we haven''t seen each other?" Wondering how she felt, I asked her that.

    ? "Boring, It was lonely when no one could interact with me on a normal base" I could feel the sadness overwhelming her when she said that.

    "Do you remember when we were younger, we would always do things together, practically inseparable? Do you remember the promise that we would always be together?" I remembered, but no, Charlie made those promises. I didn''t. epting her here wouldn''t feel right. Taking her here would destroy us in the future.

    "Charlie, I heard that a new heir was born from your family." Her saying those words, I knew where this was going.

    "Since you aren''t the heir anymore, wh-" Just as she was about to finish her sentence, Olivia, who had juste back, entered my room. "Am I interrupting anything?" Interrupting, Serena and I both looked at Olivia.

    Olivia, who felt Serena''s re, introduced herself. "Ummm, I''m... Olivia, Charlie''s... room mat-'''' Olivia, intimidated by Serena''s re, spoke slower and quieter. Finally, Olivia, who was going to say thest part stopped. Serena, hearing that was livid.

    "Did I do something wrong?" Olivia asked, unsure why the girl she had just met red at her.

    "You were interrupting our reunion." She coldly said, making Olivia apologetic about interrupting our meeting.

    "Sorry, I wille back at ater time." Olivia hurriedly said, scared of facing the girl''s wraith.

    "Charlie, who is she?" She looked at me with a worried expression that could pierce through the old Charlie''s heart.

    "That girl who just left is Olivia, a roommate of mine, someone who knows my secret." Without hiding anything, I told her what she wanted.

    "Is she threatening you? I can get rid of her if you want." Dangerous, I thought to myself.

    "She is not threatening me. In fact, we get along." Serena, hearing that, frowned in jealousy hearing that.

    Changing the subject, Serena said, "Getting back to the topic before the interruption, since you''re not the heir anymore, why don''t you be mine." She looked at me, confident that I would ept her condition.

    There were many advantages. If I became hers, I would probably keep my magic. The Sris would do nothing about it since they don''t want to fight Celeste''s heir. I would also get a good living conditions, and she is beautiful.

    But there were also many disadvantages. epting Serena wouldn''t feel right to me, and it could affect our rtionship if I were hers. She is also not right in the head, making it hard for me to ept her.<sub> </sub>

    Coming to a conclusion, I answered her. "Serena, the time has changed us. Even if I were to ept you, we might not even bepatible." Telling her my thoughts, she answered back.

    "You don''t need to worry about that. Don''t you think this is fate? We were separated for five years without contact, and we couldn''t be together under any circumstance. Still, suddenly someone more talented than you was born, kicking you out of your position. Do you think this is a coincidence that we''re here alone, without anyone stopping us?" The more she talked, the more ufortable I felt, ufortable hearing her so passionately about this.

    "That''s why no matter what, I will do anything for us so we can be together forever." Although I could feel the intensity of her emotion, it was ufortable hearing that from someone you barely knew.

    "Serena, please stop. I know you miss me a lot, but it''s making you think unclearly." The current her wasn''t thinking much when she said that. I didn''t want her to regret her decisionter in the future. So I had to think of a way to calm her down.

    "Charlie.." She said slowly. "Don''t you miss the times we had together when we were little? Since we separated, my life has been a living hell." She looked angry, thinking about her experience. I didn''t want to say anything that would make her burst.

    I wish I knew what to do to help her. I wasn''t the Charlie that yed with her when she was little. If only there were a way for me to help.

    "Serena, I have no idea what you''ve been through, but please think calmly. We may be great friends during childhood, but we should try to get along first." I told her what I thought was the first thought that I had in my mind.

    She looked at me silently, thinking about what I had said. Although I had convinced her, I needed more convincing arguments to help her be at ease.

    "Why don''t we be friends first?" I put my hand towards her, hoping for a handshake. Looking at my actions, she was confused why I gave her my hand.

    Do people in this world not use handshakes? I thought to myself. It wasn''t veryfortable putting my hand out and not receiving one. I pulled back my arms, wanting to forget about this.

    "Aren''t we already friends?" She was a bit displeased by my answer. I sighed to myself.

    "Then why don''t we make a new start?" I gave her my brightest smile hoping that this would work.

    "Why do something so pointless when you already be mine?" Is she still in that thought process? If that is how it is, me talking anymore would be pointless.

    It was slow but unexpected. Serena moved her mouth towards mine, kissing me. Sticking her tongue out, she gave me a sloppy french kiss.

    There wasn''t much experience in it, with her only moving randomly. I pushed her off of me, stopping her from kissing me.

 Chapter 8 Painful Experience

    Serena, who had just kissed me earlier, was breathing lustfully. Her eyes were focused on me, full of lust. I couldn''t let this happen to me right now.

    I felt something when she forcefully kissed me. Something inside me was hurting, like something inside me was being squeezed. I couldn''t make out what it was, unable to break free. I wished this feeling would go away.

    "Charlie, I''m so sorry," Serena said, realizing what she had done and apologizing. Tears started to fall from her eyes, realizing the mistakes she had been causing for the past few minutes. She then put her hand on my body, checking the condition of my body.

    "That''s strange. Why can''t I detect any issue with your body?" Serena frowned with tears on her face at her inability to find the source of my illness.

    "You''re starting to turn pale. Let me try to heal you." Then, using her magic, she started to use mana to heal me. I felt better when she did that, but the feeling I still have hasn''t faded away. What on earth could''ve happened to me? I needed to find a way to fix it fast.

    Just as Olivia was outside wondering what was taking so long, she knocked on the door. "Charlie, do you want to go out and look around with your friend?!"

    Opening the room, Olivia came in. "Charlie, did something happen? You don''t look so well." Worried about me, she ran over to me" I shook my head, telling her that I was okay.

    Even though my body felt fine, something inside me felt tense, I can''t exin it, but I felt something inside me was trapped, unable to escape. I hope this feeling will go away as soon as it can.

    "Heehehe~" Hearing my words, Olivia gave me a stupidly sweet giggle. Serena, who saw us talk, felt jealous seeing their interaction.

    "Why don''t we go around as we promised?" I didn''t know my problem, but I didn''t want Olivia to be worried. Wishing to distract myself, hoping this ufortable feeling would go away.

    ? Serena, who saw that we were about to go out, tried to stop me. While I was in pain, suddenly, the feeling had lessened when Olivia came in, I still felt it, but that wasn''t something that would hinder me in any way.

    See what we were going to do? Olivia grabbed my hand and dragged us out of the house. She was nice to have around.

    "Sorry, but I have something that I want to do," Serena said, leaving us without having another word. What''s with her? I thought to myself.

    Seeing that she had left, I asked Olivia a question. "Did you meet anyone during ss?" I asked Olivia. I didn''t want her to be alone when I was not there for her.

    Smiling at my question. "I made a friend. She is so adorable! Even though she is so small, she acts like a toughie!" Trying to exin how her friend was, I smiled and nodded, d that she had made a friend. I didn''t know what would happen if Olivia was alone with others. She could be bullied because of her personality. I hope that won''t happen.

    Walking around, I realized this world sucked. There wasn''t much entertainment in this world. I forgot this world was simr to the medieval period. People in this world only cared about working to earn a living and to have a simple life.<sub> </sub>

    Having to stop at a theater, the show wasn''t specialpared to my old world; this one sucked a lot. This is not to be rude, but these actor''s doing a y sucked horribly. They used magic as special effects that would hinder their acting.

    The story was to cliche, the phrases they used were too cringey, and their decoration looked low budget and could be destroyed like a twig. Having to finish the y, the people here didn''t have a positive reaction to seeing them perform. Some of them threw tomatoes at them just for the fun of it.

    I left with Olivia, hoping that something like that would never appear.

    "To think that the first theater I saw was that bad," Olivia said, downcasted by their performance. I tried to cheer her up along the way.

    Next, we went to the clothing stores. They sold low-quality fabric, which wasn''t suitable to wear. While their designs were excellent, it was ufortable to wear them.

    Leaving, we went to the dessert store. The deserts here were mediocre at best. I definitely wouldn''te here anytime soon.

    The only thing that might be interesting was the battle arena. A mage who awakens their ability is allowed to fight there to hone their strength and improve their magic. However, I didn''t want to ruin my experience because of everything that had happened today.

    I wanted to cry. The only thing I could do was try to make friends that could increase the possibility of exposing myself. Or training somewhere emotionlessly, ving my time away.

    I then looked at Olivia with a depressed look wanting to be pampered. Can I survive in this world? The pain that I felt earlier was a bit stronger. I groaned to myself, having to think about it.

    Olivia worried when she looked at me. "Is there something wrong?" I didn''t want to upset her, so I denied it.

    "What do people here do for entertainment?" I asked Olivia to change the topic. I also wanted to know what kind of fun things people do here. I hope you won''t disappoint me, Olivia.

    "Hmmm!" Thinking aloud, "People here read, shop, talk to friends and watch people fight?" Hoping Olivia would say something that would interest me other than watching people fight struck me hard.

    I find shopping to be a pain in the ass. The books in the world are too simr, making it hard to differentiate which one was which. And making friends isn''t something I could do right now without having the chance to expose myself.

    "Olivia, I hope you can entertain me forever." Hearing that, Olivia stared at me, not knowing what to say.

 Chapter 9 Monsterous Talent

    Shopping with Olivia wasn''t as bad as it turned out to be. Of course, things could be better to do out there, but I didn''t mind spending it with Olivia.

    Coming back from shopping, I still felt like shit. I thought my body would stop hurting, but it was still the same. So while it was bearable, it still made me feel like shit.

    I went to the bath, trying to rx my mind. Taking it, I felt my body loosening up. Getting out of the tub, I went to bed. Wanting to turn off my brain, I drifted to sleep, waiting for the next day.

    Waking up, I saw Olivia on top of me. She was hugging me tightly. However, I still felt restricted from yesterday''s event. Did Serena identally curse me or something? Or was it a problem on my side?

    Today is the most important day in school. Today''s the day we unseal our magic absorption. When females are given birth, their ability to absorb the magic around them is sealed. However, due to studies, people whose magic hasn''t been sealed during the day of their birth are more likely to lose control of their magic. They would explode from magic overload.

    Waking Olivia was more challenging in my current condition, so I dressed, went to the living room, and sat down listlessly.

    Olivia, who had finished dressing, sat beside me. "Charlie, are you feeling unwell?" I nodded, staying still, not wasting any energy. "I will make something light to eat" Hearing her concern, I felt a little better.

    "Thanks," I said, using as little energy as possible. I appreciated Olivia''s kind gesture.

    Knowing that today was an important day, she couldn''t ask me to stay. Olivia conjured a yogurt with fruit toppings, and we started to head to school to eat it. Entering the ssroom, I sat down. Serena, who was already at her seat, smiled at me.

    Wondering if her magic is doing this to me. "Serena, did you cast your magic on me during our kiss? I said tiredly with my head plopped on my desk.

    "No." She gave me a reply denying such actions. I could tell she was proud, so the chances of her lies were low.

    Serena, who was talking to me with me having to listen, the teacher arrived. Ms. Celeste walked in and weed the ss. "ss today is the day where we let you absorb mana." Then, without any wasted time, she brought out the topic.

    "As I call your name one by one,e and grab an unsealing pill." Names were being called, and seeing my ssmates awaken their ability to absorb mana wasn''t unique.

    "Charlie Sris!" Ms. Celeste called me out, and hearing my name, all of the students looked at me.

    With my family''s influence, curiosity filled everyone. Although being looked at by everyone was nerve-racking, I was the type of person who liked to stay hidden. Yes, I''m that guy who enjoys being the quiet guy and is proud of it.

    Picking up the drug on the teacher''s desk, I swallowed it. Then, trying to sense the mana around my surroundings, I began to feel the sensation of mana being absorbed by me. Feeling the mana absorbed, I tried to absorb as much mana as possible.<sub> </sub>

    Ms. Celeste was feeling this and looked at me. For the first time, her expression changed, and her eyes widened even though her face was still expressionless.

    "Oh? A special constitution? It allows you to absorb mana five times more than an average person." So I had five times the mana capacity and five times the absorption rate of an average person.

    "Ms. Sris, I suggest you cleanse the mana you absorb." I nodded, hearing her.

    Another reason why mana absorption is sealed at a young age. Mana itself isn''t one hundred percentpatible with any being. When one doesn''t cleanse the mana that isn''tpatible with you, your ability to absorb mana decreases over time. And not only that, your control over your power will be weaker.

    Sitting on my seat, the sun shone on me. "???" Without doing anything, the mana around me is being absorbed. How? Not only that, but the mana being absorbed is also being cleansed. The unbearable feeling in my body also stopped. With the sun, my speed increased to ten times the rate.

    Thinking about it, a realization came to me. I see. I finally realized what was happening. Everything makes so much sense now. The pain that I felt was gone.

    Realizing everything, I closed my eyes, trying to absorb mana around me, doubling my absorption rate to twenty times. Stopping my absorption became ten times the speed.

    Opening my eyes, everyone was looking at me. Fuck, I messed up. I became so absorbed in my thoughts that everyone could see what I was doing.

    "What a monster." The teacher said quietly; there were three types of people looking at me around me. The first type of people was scared of my talent; some were jealous of my abilities, and a minority admired me. Then we got Serena looking at me with her licking her lips seductively.

    "Students that don''t know how to absorb and cleanse their mana will stay in ss. The rest of you may go!" With ss over, I left the school.

    Saint Maria''s Magic Academy is an academy with many advantages, but it is also a cutthroat academy. Coming to this school, people would use this opportunity to improve,peting with your pupil using your chance to gain items that are hard to get.

    Only the best of the best would thrive in this school. Of course, students can skip ss, but if you do poorly on your monthly exams, that is your fault.

    Leaving the ss, Serena and another person followed behind. I had recognized that girl. She was quickly identified due to her unique features. Among the group of people in the ss that was looking at me, she was one of the few looking at me positively.

    "Charlie! Do you mind if we have a talk?" A ssmate of mine asked politely.

 Chapter 10 Ditched

    "Charlie! Do you mind if we have a talk?" A girl that looked like a fairy said. The fairy race is said to be easily recognizable. Due to their colorful hair with, their pretty wings, and pure personality, people usually get along with them.

    She had her long pink hair in a pigtail style with ribbons tied to each side. Since she was a fairy, they''re rtively shorter than an average person with a height of 4''6, green eyes that resembled an emerald, with her chest size as t as mine. Her wings, shaped like the letter B, were transparent with a shade of pink.

    With all the female acquaintances I have met, the females in this world look much better here. They''re more colorful with vibrant colors, and their skins are so transparent, with nothing causing them to be damaged. Most of the people I met could easily be a 10/10. The worst I saw is at the lowest, 8/10. Maybe it''s magic that improves everyone''s look.

    It''s a shame I couldn''t be in a rtionship with my current status, or I would be at risk of causing problems for the person I was with and me.

    "I don''t mind," I replied to her. I had nothing else to do. Olivia was probably in her ss and didn''t seem like the person to leave ss.

    "I''m Tess Styrmir, a fellow ssmate of yours." A smile radiated from her as she introduced herself.

    "Styrmir, do you need anything from me?" Unsure of her motive, I asked right away.

    She pouted for some reason, "Call me Tess, everyone who knows me calls me Tess, and I called you out because I want to be your friend." Did she just ask me to be her friend? Is she asking me because of my household or talent?

    Tess, who saw my expression, panicked, while Serena, who still hadn''t spoken, smiled, amused by our expression. "I approached you because I thought you needed a friend. But, seeing today''s event, making a friend would seem like it would be harder." That stung. Someone pitted me because I didn''t have many friends.

    "If you don''t want to be friends, I can leave you alone." She looked down, saddened, thinking that I would reject her.

    Seeing that she didn''t have any impure motive, I epted her friend''s invitation. "I don''t mind being friends with you." I epted her; besides, I could use another person to talk to if Olivia wasn''t with me.

    Looking at Serena, an idea popped into my head. "Tess, do you have any ns for the day?" Serena heard that frown, and Tess, who was thinking, shook her head, telling me that she didn''t have anything nned for today.

    "Since we''re new friends, why don''t we do some bonding!" Tess, who heard my words, became excited.

    "Sorry, Serena, but I want to hang out with Tess for the day." Serena looked livid when I said that. So that''s what you get for kissing me without my permission. You gotta learn from your previous mistakes.

    Tess, who was still excited, didn''t overthink. I dragged her away from Serena and left the school building, and we both took a stroll around the area. The sun, which shined brightly, increased my absorption rate, leaving me far ahead of anyone who would gather mana.<sub> </sub>

    "Where do you want to go?" I asked, unsure where to take her as I hadn''t given much time to think of a ce to go.

    "There''s a dessert store I wanted to try out but never got the chance. Could we please go!" While the sweets I tried in this world are mediocre at best, it wasn''t wrong to try others.

    "Lead the way." So agreeing to her choice, we head there. On our way, I saw a magic store. I would like to visit itter if I have nothing else to do.

    Arrived at "Cafe Dulisseur," an average-sized cafe but nicely decorated with a good atmosphere making itfortable to rx with a friend. I could see seniors of our school chatting with each other while they snacked on their desserts and drank their beverages.

    Taking the window seat, Tess and I looked at the menu. There were a variety of sweets and drinks we could order. So many choices could be made, from cakes to cookies and tea to fruit beverages.

    Having my choice made, I looked at Tess. Unfortunately, she seems to be unable to pick her choices.

    "Have you decided what you''re going to get?" She shook her head. "There are too many options, and I can''t decide." At this rate, it would take her forever to pick something.

    "Just pick something that tickles your fancy. If the dessert here is good, we could alwayse back." Saying this, I helped her narrow the choices she wanted to pick on something she wanted.

    Having to decide what she wanted, she called out to the waitress. "Hello, what would you like to order?" The waitress said, smiling.

    "Could I get a slice of a strawberry shortcake, a slice of chocte mousse, and a white tea?" After hearing her order, I ordered mine. "I want a slice of mango mousse and lemon tea with honey. I would also like to make it hot." Listening to our orders, the waitress left to get our ordered menu.

    "I know this is rude to ask, but since we''re ssmates, what magic do you have?" I knew nothing of Tess. We''re ssmates. I would know her magic sooner orter, but there is no harm in learning it now.

    "Oh, I don''t mind. I can use my magic to create wind." Ah, the ssic elemental magic. Wind magic is handy. It could do a lot of things. The user could make it defensive, attacks that could shred people to pieces and increase one''s movement and flight ability. While elemental magic may look in, the wind is just one of those that are handy.

    "That is a nice ability, useful if you know how to use it." Then, talking to Tess, the waitress brought us our desserts.

 Chapter 11 Nostalgic Taste

    Having to order our desserts, the waitress brought us our desserts. Having the mango mousse on my table, I prepared to taste it. My expectations weren''t that great. One thing I learned in my previous life was to always keep my expectations low. If you make them too high, you will also be disappointed by the results.

    Mango mousse is my favorite. It brought me so many happy memories just by having them, I didn''t have the memories, but I could feel it. Using my spoon, I took a medium-size chunk of it.

    I took a bite out of the mango mousse, and my eyes widened. I didn''t expect it to taste like this. I wasparable to the one at home. I felt drops of liquid on my face, I tried wiping them off, but I didn''t know where they came from. Did ite from my eyes? Why was I crying? Was I really that homesick?

    Wiping off my tears, Tess looked at me, surprised. It was embarrassing to say anything in this situation.

    "Is it really that good for you to cry?" Despite being all friendly, she could be insensitive at times like these.

    "No, eating this made me remember an important past." She dismissed the topic because I didn''t want to get into it.

    She took a bite of her strawberry cake. "Mhm! Delicious! This is the best cake I ever had!" Watching her expressive face had its perks. It was entertaining in its own right. Tess then took a piece of her chocte mousse. She shook her head, moving side to side, with her left and right palms on her cheeks, savoring the taste and putting it in her memory.

    Seeing her reactions, I also wanted to try it. "Hey Tess, do you mind if I took a bite of your chocte mousse? I will trade a bite of my mango mousse for it."

    Tess, who listened, agreed to my proposal, cutting a piece of her chocte mousse with a spoon. Did she put her spoon out trying to feed me? Seeing someone trying to feed me when we met today was weird. Is thismon for girls, or is it just her who does this? It probably would''ve been a date if I wasn''t dressed as a girl.

    I didn''t want to make this awkward, so I moved my head and took a bite. It was great. The temperature of the mousse was fantastic, not too cold and not too warm, with the right amount of sweetest melting into my mouth. Thesting chocte creamy effect in my mouth was significant.

    After finishing, it was my turn to feed her. Feeding it to her, she glomped on it. She was delighted by the freshness of it, sweet and savory, an excellentbination.

    "Have you checked out the battle arena?" I asked. I haven''t been there yet.

    "I went there with some of our ssmates yesterday. We saw our seniors there fighting. At first, I thought it would be scary, but before you could enter there, they''ll give you a protection badge to ensure you won''t be too badly injured." Tess told me about her experience with the arena.

    "I heard that we might be tested on how well we could battle, so I need to prepare as much as possible. It was a great time spent with you. I hope we can do this again." Having to listen to Tess talk, my heart went warm. It was a nice feeling when someone enjoyed their time with you.

    "You can ask anytime when I''m not busy. I don''t mind spending time with you." Tess was someone who could be a close friend to me. I also liked spending my time with her.

    After finishing our desserts and drinks, we left the cafe. It was an enjoyable experience. I should bring Olivia here and have her steal all the recipes.<sub> </sub>

    "Sorry, I gotta go practice. See you next time." She said. She then walked away and waved me goodbye.

    "Later." Saying our farewells, I went back home.

    ???

    That bitch! I was supposed to spend my time with Charlie and make love with him. Instead, seeing him leave with his arms grabbing her infuriated me.

    With them leaving, I was following them to a distance where they wouldn''t be able to sense me or see me.

    Seeing them walk together, talking to each other for the first time happily, made me jealous. But, when I spoke to Charlie, he didn''t even feel happy to see me. Why? Why? Why?

    Taking a deep breath, I continued to follow them. Both Charlie and Tess had entered Cafe Dulisseur. Taking a corner seat, I took a seat where they couldn''t see me. Using my magic, I monitored them, and with them ordering, I decided to get something myself. As I ordered a red velvet cake, I continued to observe them.

    Charlie, my beloved, ordered a mango mousse, and that thieving bitch ordered a chocte mousse and a strawberry shortcake.

    My beloved ate his food and started to tear up. Due to nostalgia? I don''t remember him liking mango.

    Was this an earlier memory of his? Or a memory after we separated. It still pisses me off how I''m view lowered than a stupid dessert. Why didn''t he cry for me instead? I grumbled to myself.

    Getting my cake, I started eating it, not bragging or anything. Still, as the heir of the Celeste family, I had chiefs or passieurs all over the world doing their best to entertain me. I do not expect much from this cake, but I hope it will reach my standards.

    Taking a bite of it, it was better than I expected. The richness of both chocte, vani, and cream cheese was well made. I might have toe here more often, seeing how good they were made.

    Continuing to spectate him, I saw Charlie feeding that little bitch. I was fuming when that happened. My spoon was bent from my anger. I was deep breathing trying to calm myself.

    Hearing them talk about the battle arena, I had an idea. I would make an example of that bitch for touching my property. So, leaving them alone, I went back to train.

 Chapter 12 Bet!

    A few hours have passed since I met with Tess. Sitting on the window seat in the living room, I heard someone opening the door and walking in. It was Olivia.

    "Hey Olivia, did you learn how to gather mana and fully integrate it?" Of course, since our ss had learned how to gather mana, then her ss should have also learned it.

    "Yes, I learned it. My homeroom teacher said that I was pretty quick on picking it up." Oh? That''s good. If that is the case, then there is a chance she could move to my ss, but that is probably unlikely.

    "Then are you going to practice more?" She nodded to my question and went to her room.

    "If you''re going to practice, how about we practice together?" I wanted to test something. If it worked, then Olivia could be stronger quicker.

    "Ok! let''s practice together." She smiled warmly, having to spend time with me, deciding what we wanted to do. So I went to her room.

    "Hey, Olivia. Would you mind if I tested something on you?" I asked. I needed her permission if she would allow me to do an experiment on her.

    Seeing that she didn''t refuse me. I told her toy on the bed. Laying on the bed, I proceed to hug her. She let out a yelp due to my surprise.

    Her face was beet red. She was nervous about what I would do, and we began staring at each other without having us do anything. Then, not wanting to waste any more time, I began to absorb mana for a few seconds.

    "Can you feel your absorption speed faster when I try to absorb them?" Wanting to confirm it, I asked. But, for some reason, her face blushed even more when I talked.

    She nodded her head. "I can feel it increase a little. I didn''t expect that your speed would be this much." When she talked, I could feel her breath. We were a few inches away from kissing each other.

    Repositioning myself, I hugged her dragging her body on top of mine. Our legs were entangled, Both of our bodies were glued together, Olivia''s chest was on top of mine, and our faces brushed against each other. Increasing our mana capacity, we spent all our time doing it till the next day.

    Waking up, I could feel how much mana I had absorbed. If I did this for another week, I would be a second-level mage. Olivia, holding me tightly, would take at least a month for her to rank up.

    Since I woke up, I had to decide whether to attend today''s ss. Even if I didn''t participate in today''s lesson, I don''t think the teacher would me me. Actually, I think she would be mad if I were to go to ss. The rate I absorbed mana was that great.

    But since I could gain mana without doing anything, I didn''t feel like sitting down for multiple hours a day. So I should go to today''s ss. Maybe I will learn something useful.

    Olivia, who was still sleeping, was muttering in her sleep. "Charlie, give me more, hehehe~" She mumbled in her sleep. What was Olivia dreaming of? It looked like she was having the time of her life. Although I didn''t want to ruin her sweet dream, I had to. It was time for her to wake up.

    Shaking her, she woke up. She was looking at me with her eyes half closed. "Charlie..? Good Morning." she nuzzled my cheeks with hers hugging me.

    Refreshed from her intimacy, we both got up, preparing to head to ss. After finishing, we went to ss.<sub> </sub>

    Splitting up with Olivia, I went to my ss, sitting in my seat. Serena, who was already here, was staring at me. While she was looking at me yesterday, today''s stare was different. I didn''t know how to describe it, but it was more intense this time.

    It was time for ss, and Ms. Celeste had arrived. "Morning, everyone. Yesterday you unlocked your ability to absorb mana around you. Now it''s time to test your ability out now that you have grown a little." So today''s lesson was a practical one, good thing I didn''t skip today''s ss.

    Leaving the ssroom, Serena walked with me. I don''t know what she is up to, but I can feel she was up to doing something.

    "Charlie, why don''t we have a bet!" A bet, she says? Should I ignore it? I didn''t know what kind of bet she wanted to make.

    Humoring her, I asked her what bet. "What kind of bet?"

    "We''ll bepeting on how strong our magic is!" There''s no way she would think I would ept this kind of bet, right? I knew she was a second-level magician, so what in the right mind would she think I would ept that oue?

    "Why would I ept that bet?" Of course, if I was an idiot that thought the world centered around me, I would''ve epted it.

    "You''ve been awfully close to this girl named Olivia. It would be a shame if something bad happened to her." Did this bitch just threaten me? Did yesterday''s stunt that I pulled make her that mad? I clenched my hand in anger. I had tolerated her long enough. When I get strong enough, I will mess with this bitch!

    "Look, I understand you''re angry, but that homewrecker needs to back off. You''re mine!" As she continued to talk, I kept ring at her.

    "How about this? I won''t do anything to your friend if you ept this bet. I also wouldn''t use anyone to harm her either. How about it?" Should I ept this bet? I like Olivia as a friend, but how much do I like her? Fuck!

    "What does the winner get from this bet?" I asked to confirm whether it was worth it.

    "The winner of this bet would be able tomand the loser for a week; however, the winner shouldn''t go overboard with theirmand."

    "May I add a rule?" I needed to change the rule so it wouldn''t harm my standing in my family.

    "Go ahead." She said, not caring, thinking that she had already won.

    "We could onlymand each other when no one is around." I wouldn''t want rumors that the Celeste heir had a Sris member in the palms of their hands.

    "Fine, you may." She agreed to my terms. With that, we head to the training room.

 Chapter 13 Magic Test (Part I)

    Arriving at the training area, we could use different facilities from ces where we could test the power of our magic, control, and aim.

    It''s too bad that this ce was in a building. If it was outside, my chances of winning would be higher. After this, I would vent my stress on Olivia, hoping she would help me relieve my stress.

    "Since you came up with the bet, I should be allowed to choose the challenges." If I couldn''t do that, my chances of winning were close to zero.

    "Hmph! But you need to choose at least five events and win three of them." She was reluctant to let me choose the events, but she knows that her level as a magician is higher than mine, so the chances of her winning are higher the more events there are.

    "Deal." I looked around, checking for the test that gave me the highest chance of winning.

    Finding one, I saw an event that I knew I could win. Mana capacity test may be boring, but it''s a test that I will win.

    "Our first challenge is to test which of us has the higher mana capacity." Dering our first test, Serena didn''t look worried. She was expecting me to pick an event like this. She probably thought that it was the only challenge I would win even if I got a win.

    Serena and I then began to go to the test venue. There was an orb that showed the numerical value of one''s mana. So when someone touches the ball, it would show how much mana a person has.

    "Do you wanna go first or me?" But, of course, knowing the oue of thepetition, it really didn''t matter who went.

    "I''ll go." She touched the mana calctor, and the value showed as 510. For one to be a second-rank mage, one''s magic capacity must be 500. You must have your mana filled up your entire body to reach this point.

    At the second rank, to be a third rank, you have to fill your vital parts with mana reaching 1500. But there are exceptions to this rule, and I''m one of them. For me, when I fill my body with mana, my value would be 2500.

    Since Serena went, it was my turn. Touching the orb, it was calcting my mana capacity. I won this match with the results, and my capacity reached 750. At this rate, I would need nine more days to get the second rank.

    With the result shown, it was one to zero. Looking at Serena, she didn''t look worried about the oue. She expected to lose this match since the next few rounds would be easier for her.

    Thinking of the next match, I decided to go with target practice. To me, this match is one of those ones that I have a chance at. However, I will instantly lose if I choose a match that requires control over one mana.<sub> </sub>

    "Let''s go to the target practice training area." Serena, who heard that smirked. Was she good at this? Did I pick the wrong one? Or was she just simply too arrogant? No, overthinking this would distract me.

    "Why don''t we go at the same time?" Well, it really wouldn''t matter what way we do it. If I were to lose in a match like this, I would probably also fail if we did it one at a time.

    Seeing her suggestion, I agreed. There wasn''t any point in wasting any more time. Standing at the shooting range, we stood a meter from each other. The time set was a minute to hit as many targets as possible.

    When the first target popped up, the match had started. I shot a hot beam at it using this chance, scoring a point. After hitting the target, the second target showed up. Serena saw how I hit it, shooting a lightning beam that was quicker than my beam.

    Fuck her bullshit magic. She had the advantage in a situation like this. When the third target came out, I immediately shot a tiny bullet, scoring the point. The score was two to one, but there were still about fifty-five seconds left.

    She sent a wind bullet copying my style when the fourth one came up. She was mocking me. Trying to hit the fifth target, she hit it before I could. She was now in the lead with fifty seconds left.

    We were hitting our targets every two seconds. Ten more seconds had passed, and the score was six to four in Serena''s favor. Needing to ovee this, I prepared my magic in advance, skipping the step of summoning my magic. Inded the following four targets with a score of ten to six.

    Since half a second had passed, two targets showed up simultaneously. Seeing that Serena was going to prepare her magic in advance, I needed to step it up. Summoning more sunny magic bullets, I shot them rapidly, without minding my uracy.

    There were twenty seconds left, and the score was twelve to ten. Our scores were getting near, and the gaps between us were closing. Suddenly Serena used different magic to hit both of the targets.

    Now that''s cheating, using space magic to instantly hit the target. With the scores twelve to twelve, the score was tied. Seeing her use space magic, I knew my chances of winning were zero. Unfortunately, there wasn''t any other way for me to catch up. Using space magic again, she gained another two points.

    The two targets reappeared, but my bullet couldn''t reach them before her space magic. The score was sixteen to twelve, and I had no way to catch up.

    With the remaining time left, she continued to hit them. With no time left, the results were out. It was my loss by arge margin. I had lost by twenty points. It was a good thing I had chosen this event earlier. I had seen some of her capabilities of what she could do, and I could use this for my next event.

 Chapter 14 Magic Test (Part II)

    Leaving the target practice, I could see Serena gloating at her victory. It pissed me off very much. I need to calm down. Getting any angrier than this could be detrimental to my mental state.

    For the third test, my chances of winning were near a hundred percent if I gave it my all.

    Serena and I then walked to the magic damage test. There was a dummy there. When you hit the dummy, a damage value will show you how strong your attack would be.

    As a member of the Sris family, our magic has the highest damage value when using our magic in the Star State country.

    Serene, who always had a smile, started to frown. She thought that I would win at most one match now that it''sing to the wire with me in the lead. She had to take it much more seriously.

    "Why don''t you go first, since you won thest match." I needed her to go first so she wouldn''t be able to get any references when it came for her to go.

    "As the heir of the Celeste family, I don''t think it matters who went first, right?" Provoking her, the chances of her going first would increase. Serena''s pride wouldn''t allow me to look down on her.

    "Hmph! Don''t say that would make your chances of winning any higher." With that, she went towards the dummy.

    Standing a few meters away from her target, she used her magic. "Ray Of Destruction!" Using her magic, a ray of purple darkness appeared. She used destruction magic, a magic branch that isn''t from this country.

    Destruction magices from the country of Eth, the Eth was a neighboring country with the habitants of demons. It wasn''t surprising if she used that magic. If Star State had the Sris, then the Eth had the Orpheus. As the heir, it wouldn''t be surprising if she met with the Orpheus family.

    Serena then began hitting the dummy with her ray attack. There weren''t any effects when shooting it. The dummies were made from extreme magic resistance material that could easily block a fifth-rank magician. The numbers were shown. Her magic had a value of 850, much higher than her capacity due to the nature of destruction.

    Looking at her, she was satisfied with her results. Hitting a value that was much higher than your mana value was impressive.

    Finally, it was my turn. Standing where Serena had stood before, I had thought of a move I had seen in a show. I then charged my mana in a single spot, and a scorching heat came from my palm. With my hands up in the air, mana was gathering.

    Overloading my charged beam, I aimed it at. "Overload Sr Beam!" Using all the mana, I gathered in a short period. I shot my beam towards the dummy, and the blinding orange light beam hit the dummy doing a damage value of 970. It was my win, but I had overused my magic. If I had used my magic in the sun, it could have easily multiplied the damage by 1.5x.<sub> </sub>

    The score was now two to one, I needed one more win to settle this game, but I had overused my mana. I needed an event to stall for time.

    "Are you tired already? Why don''t you give up now, so we can get this over with." The proud and arrogant Serena was excited when seeing my condition, knowing that her worries were for naught. I shook my head hearing that. What a great "lover," I thought to myself.

    If I had to choose a challenge that could stall for time, it would be defense training. The defense training was a test that allowed you to see how well you could defend yourself.

    "Our next challenge is the defense training." Choosing this challenge would allow me to regain most of my mana. If Serena was careless enough to waste enough mana on this event, my chances would increase. On the other hand, if she manages to do worse trying to conserve her mana, I could use this opportunity to win.

    Serena, who already thought that she had won, went up first. The defense training was a piece of machinery with mini magic cannons around the walls. For the testing to be stopped, one would''ve to give up voluntarily or take a blow that would do enough damage so that the protective badge would be disabled.

    Like the battle arena, we had a protective badge so we wouldn''t be badly injured during a match. With the defense training starting, a magic bullet shot out. Since it was the first shot, it was weak, and Serena built a magical barrier around her. The shell made an impact on the barrier, and itpletely dissipated.

    At the ten-second mark, the power of the bullets doubled, but it still didn''t do anything to the barrier. Thirty seconds had passed, and the bullet''s speed and strength had increased. Finally, Serena''s barrier began to shake. My ran hit the forty-second mark, and the barrier began to crack.

    Knowing that her barrier wouldn''t be able to hold it any longer. She broke the barrier surrounding her and created an enhanced barrier focusing on the spots the cannon would shoot.

    A minute had passed, and she started using magic to counter the blow. A few secondster, a st was going tond. But using her space magic, she redirects the shot, making it miss. Then, finally, when a blownded at the one minute and thirty-second mark. With that blow, a second hit her; distressed by the second hit, the third hit finished her.

    Her time was one minute and thirty-five seconds. Leaving the area, it was my turn. I knew that my chances of winning were low.

    Starting, all I could do was physically dodge them. For the first twenty seconds, I could avoid them without using magic. Then, in the next ten seconds, I was hit. Without using anything to help me block, I couldn''t do anything to stop them.

    Losing the match was two to two with one more round to decide it all.

 Chapter 15 Magic Test (Part III Final)

    With our score two to two, the match wasing to an end. One more win for any of us would decide it all.

    "Charlie, I would like to make a proposal. Why not make ourst match a battle? It would be pointless if we didn''t fight each other after getting this far." She said, smirking, entertained by her idea.

    Listening to her proposal, I wanted to agree to it. But, on the other hand, it would be a nice change when I st my magic into her stupidly smug face.

    "Since we''re going to fight, we should fight in the battle arena. However, fighting here would limit my ability." Although I couldn''t fully use my abilities without the sun, I also wanted to test my abilities to the fullest of my capability.

    Serena, who listened to me, agreed to my arrangement. Even if she won, she wouldn''t feel proud of beating me when I couldn''t use all my strength.

    We left the practice area, and people who saw this were curious. But, of course, the teacher didn''t stop us since we didn''t have to attend any sses. All they cared about were the results we produced each month.

    Walking with Serena side by side, we were silent. Both of us were nning our fights out. But, before the match started, we wouldn''t let each other distract one another.

    Serena and I then made our way to the arena. There were multiple people spectating others fighting. There were a lot of spaces in this ce. The battle arena was a giant coliseum with many arenas we could choose from.

    This ce could fit almost a thousand challengers selecting a space to choose. Finally, we picked a square ring about 75 feet long and 75 feet wide, a perfect ce for us to battle without any interference.

    Standing on the tform, we were waiting for the signal to start. Both of us were staring at each other. This was the second time I saw Serena looking at me this desperately. Thest time she looked at me like this was something that I didn''t expect to happen.

    I know that the old Charlie and she were close friends. Even so, what made her obsessed with him? Did something happen during the five-year time frame? Making it hard for her to forget about him.

    There is no point worrying about it now. With the match starting, Serena, who made the first move, "Wind Cutter!" sent a fast wind attack towards me. The speed of it was too fast for me to physically react. Using the sun, I made a sma shield to cover my front, making the attack ineffective.

    Retaliating, I made multiple "sma Beam!" shoots toward her. With my attack heading towards her, she used a water barrier to defend my attack. Unfortunately, the wall broke instantly shattered when making contact with my beams.<sub> </sub>

    If I can overwhelm her with enough "sma Beam!" my chances of winning would significantly improve. I continued to spam more, hoping for a hit tond. Serena used "Space Absorption '''' topletely absorb magic, making them disappear, using this move to drain a lot of her mana.

    "Is that all you can do!" Trying to taunt me, I shot at her again,nding a hit. Serena, who felt it grunted in pain. Touching it must have hurt, considering how hot it was.

    The longer we fought Serena, who knew that blocking wouldn''t be an option anymore. She couldn''t waste any more mana just to defend my attack. So, going on the attack, she shot a "Lightning Bolt." Shooting me with her lightning bolt, I had to use ten percent of my mana and make armor made of sma, blocking most of the damage, but I still felt it. It hurt like hell, making me feel clunky from her attack.

    Her attacks weren''t working as she hoped. So instead of using attacks that would physically harm me, she tried a different approach. "Sound st" Using another type of magic, she wanted to hurt me internally. Serena, who made the sound, made my ears start to ring. Unfortunately, I couldn''t block the move since it was too fast. I know she could use any magic she wishes, but I didn''t think she would use sound magic here.

    Running towards her, I used my magic to create a blinding light shing on her "Sr re!" Unexpecting me to use an attack that would blind her. "Uwahhh!" She screamed as her eyes were blinded. She rubbed her hand into her eyes, trying to clear her vision.

    With her trying to gain her vision, I wanted to finish this fight. So charging for my final blow with thisst attack, I would win this fight.

    Serena, still blinded, felt me gathering mana and tried to stop me. But, unfortunately, she used sound magic, making high-pitched noises that were painful to the ears, making the mana I gathered disperse.

    With her vision back, her eyes were red, and a teardrop fell from my sh attack. She red at me for this attack.

    "I will have my way with you after this is over!" She screamed from the top of her lungs, angered by my attack. Without saying anything, Iunched another "sma Beam." Landing another blow, both of us were tired. We used a lot of mana during this fight. We could feel that the match was going to end soon.

    Being the ass as I''m, Iunched another "Sr re," attacking quickly, which blinded her again. Without any hesitation, I will finish her with this attack. Using most of my mana, Iunched the sun with the size of a ser ball. If this attacknds, then it would be my victory.

    Serena, who felt my magic frowned. "Sorry! but I need this win!" Saying these ominousst words, I felt something had happened to me.

    What had she done to me? My body was wobbling, unable to support myself. Finally, I fell to the ground, unable to stand up. This is so unfair, I thought. I was so close to winning that with no time left, I cked out.

 Chapter 16 Her Thoughts

    I won; this was the most brutal battle against my peers and a battle I couldn''t afford to lose. But, on the other hand, losing here meant my chances of getting closer to Charlie were lowered.

    Charlie fainted from my hypnosis magic, using that with an illusion making my movement undetectable. It would be almost impossible for him to notice it.

    Carrying him on my back, I left the arena and headed toward his house. Arriving at the front of his house, I opened the door with my magic taking him to his room.

    Leaving him on his bed, I stared at him. He has changed a lotpared to the times I met him all those years ago.

    Five years ago, he couldn''t do anything without me. We were stuck together like glue. When I first met him, I didn''t like him. He was weak, quiet, and always scared, totally unsociable.

    How could an heir with a personality like that be considered equal to me? But as we spent more time together, I quickly grew attached to him. Even if he was like that, he was the only person I could be without having to mind others having motives for getting close to me.

    The more we yed together, the more I wanted to be with him. He was gentle, pleasant, and even caring towards me, not because of my status, but because we were friends.

    It was until then that I made a mistake. I told my mother, the current head of the Celeste family, my feelings towards him. Both of us will be the head of our family, so it was impossible for our rtionship to start in the first ce.

    Since my mother separated us, we weren''t even allowed to contact each other for five years.

    These five years were lonely. All I could do was study, meet other nobles that had motives for wanting to get close to me, and practice how well I could use my magic. It was boring. I didn''t have anyone I could talk to at most. I could have tried to be friends with the Lunaris'' future heir, but they''re only awake during the night, so our schedule doesn''t match.

    My five years of loneliness were hell. Beforeing to this school, I didn''t have many expectations. As the heir of the best family, I started to look down on everyone. I didn''t have anypetition. Everyone would wag their tail around me, hoping I would notice them.

    I looked at Charlie, who was still sleeping from our match. He looks so peaceful in his sleep. His light skin, blond hair, and body could attract anyone who was to see it.

    I need him. He''s the only one here that would cure my loneliness. I continue to caress his hair as I continue to think about him. I heard people get closer if they sleep together. So I undress him and go to his bed.

    Regaining my consciousness, I opened my eyes, remembering what had happened during my battle. So I lost, huh? But, of course, I didn''t expect her to hit me with an invisible attack.

    Thinking about my loss, I could feel someone hugging me. Was it Olivia? Did I sleep for that long for her to hug me?

    Looking over to my side, it was Serena. She was in her birthday suit,tching me with her arms.<sub> </sub>

    Serena, who was awake, spoke. "How are you feeling?" She said, making sure that there wasn''t anything wrong with me.

    "I''m fine except for the losing part." I looked at the ceiling, saddened by my loss.

    "You shouldn''t be too worried about it. I''m not cruel to make you do something you dislike." She said, trying to dispel my thoughts.

    Looking at her figure, it was beautiful. I would be lying if I wasn''t memorized by it. But, while it was my second time seeing her naked, I wasn''t in the right mind the first time I saw it.

    "Charlie, I''m sorry for using your friend as a threat like that. But if I didn''t, I wouldn''t be able to talk to you like this." Listening to her rambling, I could see that she meant it. But it was still wrong to use Olivia as a threat.

    "You may be mad about it, but I just wanted your attention. Charlie, how have you been during those five years?" Reading Charlie''s old memories, I saw loneliness seething in him. He had no one to talk to except his servants and the matriarch. Just like me, I was also suffering from the same problem.

    "It was lonesome." I wasn''t the Charlie she wanted to talk to, so I answered as vaguely as possible.

    "It was the same as me." She smiled wryly, saying that. "For me, it was hell." She crawled on top of me saying that.

    "I hate that feeling of loneliness, Charlie. I know what I did to you when we first reunited was bad, but I couldn''t help it." We were looking at each other''s eyes as she spoke.

    "Charlie, you''re the only person I could talk to without a problem. Please let me stay with you. Don''t leave me alone again." The more she talked, something inside of me felt like being squeezed. That feeling I had yesterday was back.

    I knew I had to ept her, or something wrong would happen. Charlie would''ve broken. With a weak will, he couldn''t handle any too intense problems.

    I held Serena''s head,forting her. Serena, who felt this, noticed that I epted her. Instead, unable to hold back her tears, she cried from relief. She was scared that I would leave her. If I did, something horrible would''ve happened.

    Finishing her cries, she still had her head down, unable to look at me, embarrassed by the emotional outburst she had.

    About ten minutes had passed since her outburst, and we enjoyed our silence while embracing each other. It was pleasant and rxing.

 Chapter 17 I Got To Excited And Didnt Check The Time (R-18)

    "Hey, Serena, I know this iste to ask, but why are we naked?" I was naked with her, and I didn''t know why.

    "That''s because I took them off." She snuggled onto me when she said that to me.

    "I know you took them off, but why?" Unless she wanted to do it with me, I didn''t know why she did it.

    "I heard somewhere that people who sleep together without anything would be close." She rubbed her chest against mine, saying that.

    Was that really true? I guess we did get closer. Iughed and found this situation ridiculous. Looking at her, she was different from the times I saw her,pared to before. She looked at peace, different from her desperation.

    It was refreshing to say. So why is Serena blushing now? "Charlie.. if you really want to do it... I don''t mind~" Serena was sliding her crotch against mine. When was my little brother this hard? I didn''t even do anything for it to happen.

    With my rod being yed, I started to let out deep breaths. Unable to hold back anymore, I took her lips. Having both of our tongues intertwined, we began to move. Not used to this sensation, both of our tongues'' movements were sloppy at first, but as we continued, our movement became smoother.

    As we continued ying with each other, her face flushed. Then, taking a breather, we stopped kissing. As our tongues separated, the saliva mixed between us started to create a line between us.

    I never sucked on someone''s chest before. Then, out of curiosity, I sucked on Serena''s breast. Sucking on it, it had a nice feeling to it, highly addicting. It was soft andfortable to y with. Caressing it with my tongue, I yed with it continuously.

    <o>,m Serena moaned in pleasure, seeing that she could not resist the delight rushing into her. I yed with her other breast with my finger flicking her nipple back and forth.</o>

    "Mhmm! Mmmh! Hmmm!" Trying to avoid moaning, I used my remaining free hand to touch her sweet spot. It was wet. Her body fluids were leaking, and with her vagina wet enough, I used my fingers to enter it.

    Still trying to hold her moans, she bit my neck, licking it, continuing what we did to her. Her body shook rapidly cumming from my touches. Her fluids which were released, made my mana grow. Did having sex allow us to absorb each other''s mana?

    "Charlie~ It''s my first time! Make me yours~" Hearing her got me more excited. Serena was on top of me, inserted her vagina into my penis, and blood came out with my dick pierced through her hole. We haven''t moved since I didn''t want her to have a painful experience.

    With minutes passing by, she started to move gently. I could see that she was groaning from the pain that she felt. She looked at me, saying that she could continue. With her hips moving, the pain started to fade, turning into pleasure.

    "Ahhh! Awahh! Hah!" I then continued to move up and down, and her moans became more unrestrained. Both of our flesh were smacking each other, it felt good when she did that, but it wasn''t enough. I wanted to do something while she was doing all the work.

    Unable to take it anymore, I pushed her down, going on top of her. Then, pulling her towards me, I pushed my cock inside her. Letting out her loudest moan, I continued to thrust my rod in and out. Serena, being attacked rapidly, looked at me with lust, her face disarrayed from my constant knocking.<sub> </sub>

    With the atmosphere filled with lust, all we could hear were the panting noise from me knocking at her walls every second.

    Serena''s moans from me plowing her and the bed creaking with every thrust made by us.

    "Awwah! Ahhh! Haawh!" Serena, delighted from my thrusting, gave me a kiss, and her inner walls began to tighten significantly, trying to milk me.

    Complying with her body''s wishes, I released my seeds inside her. Feeling the seeds filling her, she also let her fluids out. Feeling the mana being absorbed, I became more excited.

    Cumming, Serena gasped, breathing roughly, tired from our exchange. I wasn''t satisfied with all my stress over the past week.

    I then turned Serena''s body over, showing her adorable ass. It was nice, round, and massive. Then, lifting her up, I pierced her pussy again.

    "Wait!" Tired from what we did earlier, she wanted to take a breather. Not listening, I had my way with her and plowed her roughly.

    "Awhhh! Awwah! Aaaah!" Unable to take a break, her tongue was sticking out, and her eyes became unfocused, only feeling the pleasure of being yed with. Her breasts were shaking, moving up and down as I moved my hips. With such a sight, I moved faster.

    Grabbing her hands, I used them as handles moving her body along with mine. With both of us moving, perverted noises were being made, and our flesh that was constantly knocked together kept on making the same noise.

    "Wahhh! Awhhh!" As I continued to dominate her, she came again. Seeing that I could absorb the mana she let out, I didn''t stop releasing the inner beast inside me.

    Who knows how many hours had passed by as I enjoyed her body. Serena was lying there on the bed. Her body was constantly twitching from the sex that we had. She was half awake and half unconscious, barely working, exhausted from our session. Her eyes were dimmed without any light, whispering iprehensible words.

    The bed was a mess. It was filled with both of our scents. It would take a while for the smell to go away. Looking around, I could see the door open. Olivia, who was outside masturbating. Looking at each other, we were both embarrassed.

    Olivia was crying as she masturbated, embarrassed; she ran away to her room, locking the door. I wanted to talk to her, but if I were her in her situation. I want to be alone for a while, taking Serena to the bath. So I bathed her and myself.

    How should I face Olivia? After finishing the bath, I didn''t know where to put Serena. The bed was too smelly and messy for her to be there. I hope she wakes up fast so she can use her magic to clean up quickly.

    I think I would gain two days'' worth of mana just by doing it with her. So maybe I should do it more with her.

 Chapter 18 Level Diff

    After waiting a few hours, I focused on cleansing the mana I had absorbed. Finally, Serena woke up but was tired from our activity.

    "Serena, I know this is rude to ask when you''re tired but could you fix the room up?" I didn''t want to tire her more, but the room was in a bad state, and I couldn''t do much to fix it.

    Serena, who heard me, nodded tiredly and fixed it instantly. I took her to the bed, kissed her on the lips, and let her rest some more. Then, hugging her andforting her, she dozed off again.

    What should I do about Olivia? Should I give her a day and talk to her tomorrow? I sighed as I thought about how I should tackle the situation. I guess I should order takeout for Serena and me.

    Leaving the house, I walked around the street. It was peaceful. I never walked out alone before unless I went home alone. Students talked to their friends and salespeople, coaxing people to buy their stuff.

    Money wasn''t an issue for me. While I may get disowned, the Sris family was stinking rich. As the family that does the most destruction, our family gets hired to destroy things for a lot of money. Our abilities are one of the most destructive things in the world. The only reason why we''re losing to the Celeste family is that we don''t get much diversity in our abilities.

    "Charlie!" Someone called out to me when I was walking. Looking towards the voice, I could see Tess running towards me.

    "Is there anything you need from me?" She may have just wanted to hang out with me, but I needed to make sure what she wanted.

    "Nope! I just wanted to talk to you!" She smiled brightly like an innocent child.

    "Then do you want to go to the cafe with me? I wanted to rx with a dessert." Thinking about Olivia''s problem gave me a headache. I didn''t know what to do with her. I needed some sweets to wind down my head.

    "Really? Let''s go!" Tess held my hand tightly, dragging me to the cafe to have an excellent time. She was energetic and had a lovely expression. It was a nice change from my usual routine.

    Tess, happily humming with me, had arrived at the cafe. Taking a seat, I wanted something refreshing, sweet, and cold. Picking my choice, I decided to go with a vani ice cream, in and simple, something easy to rx with. So I ordered my ice cream, and Tess asked for various cream puffs.

    "I heard you got into a fight with the Celeste heir. It was said to be a close fight. I didn''t hear the details, but how was the fight?" She looked at me excitedly, wanting the details of my fight.

    "How did you know? You didn''t attend today''s ss?" Did someone tell her? Or was it widely known for everyone to see?<sub> </sub>

    "Ehehe~ I was absorbing mana and forgot to check the time, so I missed ss during the day. However, some of our ssmates saw the match, and I just heard about it." As she was talking, our order came.

    Taking a bite of my vani ice cream had a cold and soothing texture, was deliciously in and straightforward, and was easy to take. The creampuff that Tess had ordered was nicely shaped. They were perfectly puffy with many kinds of vors added to them.

    Enjoying our treats, I began to talk about our battle. "When we battled, at first, I had the advantage. The attacks she dealt had minimal damage against me." Then, I started to exin how our match went.

    Interrupting my story, "If she couldn''t hurt you, how did you lose?" But unfortunately, Tess wasn''t much of a patient person and tried to rush my story.

    "I will get there!" Clearing my throat. "My attacks had hurt her. While her attacks were ineffective, I had more mana capacity, so all I had to do was use more mana than her." Trying to say what I said before the interruption.

    "I lost because I wasn''t a second-level magician. She had used an illusion masking her intentions of using sleep magic on me. If I was a second-level magician, I could have defended against that attack because I could have used that mana to block all those attacks."

    When you reach the second level as a magician, your body will be surrounded by magic. Since I''m still a first-level magician, my mana is primarily located in the stomach at my core. So spreading my mana would take too much time for mepared to a second level who could instantly block attacks that could affect other parts of my body.

    While I have more mana capacity because the mana I have is purer than all. I say that I have five times more mana than an average person because of the quality that my body produces and not the quantity of the amount that I have in my body.

    As someone found the S ss, I don''t think I need to exin why I lost to Tess. She would understand how I lost.

    After finishing our desserts, I ordered a slice of cake for both Olivia and Serena. I still needed to buy lunch. Tess, who was with me, had to split up because she had to do other things.

    Walking around, I found a stand selling meat skewers, not just meat but monster meat. Monster meat from monster varieties from farm animals is much tastier than its counterpart and healthier, making our bodies stronger.

    They may be expensive for ordinary people, but I could easily afford them. For example, ordering six skewers from two cockatrice meat skewers, two raging cow beef, and two muscle pig pork. Putting them in a stic wrapper cost about fifty times the price of normal animals.

    Tasting the cockatrice meat, it was tastier than a chicken. Enjoying a bite of my cockatrice, I walked back home with the food I had in my hands.

 Chapter 19 Emotions Are Too Hard.

    Serena, who was still asleep on my bed, was lying on my bed peacefully. It pains me to do this, but I had to wake her up because she shouldn''t miss a meal.

    "Serena!" I shook her, trying to wake her up. Finally, after a few more shaking, she woke up. While she wasn''t as tired as before, she was still tired.

    "Charlie..?" She said tiredly, rubbing her eyes. She gave me a hug trying to go back to sleep on me. She did look cute trying to do that, but I couldn''t let her sleep.

    "Serena, it''s dinner time. I can''t have you wake up at night and eat at that time." Shaking her off me, I unwrapped the meat skewers. Eating them, Serena could smell the food I was eating. Then, awakened by the smell, I gave her a piece of pork from my stick.

    "How was it?" I wonder how it tasted for someone who ate a lot of high-quality stuff. On the other hand, maybe she was just hungry and gobbling it. I ate as I continued to feed her.

    "It''s a nice change of pace." She was rxed when eating. The current her was docile. Now that I think about it, she looks simr to Olivia. If someone had told me that Olivia and Serena were twins, I would''ve believed it if I didn''t know them. They may look simr, but their magic is so different.

    "Serena, was it possible that you had a twin?" It was possible. If a child didn''t have any powers in their household, they might be abandoned.

    Weirded out by my question. "No." She said, unsure why I asked. Maybe I was overthinking it, I thought to myself.

    "Did something happen earlier? I heard something, but I was too tired to listen." She looked at me worryingly. If Serena had acted like this every time, this troublesome situation wouldn''t have happened.

    "You know my roommate... Olivia?" She nodded angrily. "Yeah... she saw us making love and locked herself in the room." Serena blushed heavily, hearing that someone listened to us having sex.

    "I know we still have the bet going on, but do you mind if I try to spend it with Olivia tomorrow? I will try my best to make it up to you." I looked at her with my puppy eyes, trying to convince her.

    I know it''s terrible to talk about other girls to a girl that likes you, but it was an emergency. Her priority was higher than Serena''s at the current state.

    Serena, who was budging, needed to be convinced a little more. "Olivia was my first friending here. She was also the person that knew that I was a boy, helping me to keep a secret. Once you get to know her, I bet you will be good friends." Hoping that Serena would let me talk to Olivia, I hugged her tightly, looking at her eyes.<sub> </sub>

    Unable to take the pressure of making me sad. "You may see that girl tomorrow, but you''re still mine." Then, angry at her decision, she looked away in frustration.

    "Why don''t we absorb mana after finishing our dinner?" I said, trying to cheer her up. After finishing our meal, I hugged her andy on the bed. With mana gathering at me quickly, Serena, who was with me, eyes widened. She didn''t think she could absorb some of the mana I gathered.

    "I know this iste to ask but did your mana grow when we had sex?" It was true that I could absorb mana from her, but I didn''t know if there was any reaction from me taking it.

    Remembering that she had gained mana. She licked her lips from excitement. "I indeed did." She happily said that she could grow stronger just from spending time with me, and with that, we spent the whole night gaining mana.

    Waking up, I could feel I was forty percent within my rank. I would be a second-rank magician in a few days.

    I then checked the time. There was an hour before ss started. Serena, who was still with me, was gathering mana. I didn''t want to wake her up if she was concentrating that much. Next, I should get us breakfast. It was a good thing I had bread in case of an emergency. I don''t know if Olivia is still sleeping. I will go to her room in a bit.

    I ate my breakfast silently, toasting my bread and putting chocte onto it. I didn''t know what to say to Olivia. Something like this had never happened to me. I stared at the ceiling, sighing to myself.

    Staring into the nothingness, Serena tapped on my shoulder. While it seems like she woke up a while ago, she used her magic to fix her appearance.

    "Nervous?" She chuckled at me. I nodded, unsure what to do. "Remember when you were always nervous because you were indecisive? I guess that part of you still remains." She grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite out of it.

    "I''m sure you''ll figure a way to itter!" She gave me a kiss and left, going to school. It looks like Olivia didn''t go to ss today. Should I go to her room now? Or is she still asleep? She is always sleeping in when she is with me. I guess I will wait a while for her to wake up.

    Leaving the house, I went out to take a walk. Should I buy a gift for Olivia? Now that I think about it, what does she like? Even if we are close, we have only known each other for a week.

    This thing was not for me. Complicated emotions are such a hassle. Walking around, surprisingly, there was a gift store. A ce where I could find a gift for Olivia. Going to the store, I will find a gift that suits Olivia''s taste. I hope something that Ie across will be something that will catch Olivia''s fancy.

 Chapter 20 Olivia

    Having to move, I found myself in a gift shop. Many things could be found, from random sentimental to items that could be collected. Walking in, I looked around. There were many things that I could buy. But, it was hard to choose which one I would like to give to Olivia.

    Should I buy two just in case Serena gets jealous? As I continued to think, I saw two notable items I could give Olivia. I could buy a teddy bear for Olivia or a wearable gift. It was hard to pick which one would suit her more.

    After more thinking, I decided to go with a bracelet. A teddy bear was excellent, but Olivia sleeps with me and wouldn''t be able to use it often if that happened.

    She took the bracelet to the cashier, ady who probably had grandchildren at her age. "Are you giving it to a friend?" She tried to make small talk with me.

    "I made a friend of mine sad. I wanted to give her something to make it up to her." I said my feelings honestly. I didn''t know why I did.

    The grannyughed at my response. "Dear, you don''t need to buy a gift for a friend in a fight with you. All you need to do is make it up to her." She gave me her advice.

    "Won''t that go against your business if you keep doing that?" As a salesperson, I find that unproductive if you convince someone from your shop that you don''t need to buy anything from the store.

    "You look like you were trouble when choosing a gift, and I thought I would help." The granny smiled at the response she gave me.

    Thanking her for her advice, I bought the bracelet. "If we meet again, tell me about your friend." She said. I nodded in response.

    With the gift wrapped, I went back home. While it was still early, I didn''t want to waste any more time. So, I tried to make up with Olivia. I hope our rtionship will be the same or better after talking to her.

    Going to her room, I knocked on the door. "Olivia, are you there?" There no was no response when I asked if anyone was there.

    I tried to force open the door, but it was locked. I guess it wasn''t surprising that it was closed. "Olivia! Can we talk?" I loudly said, trying to see if we could talk it out.

    There was still no response. At this rate, nothing would progress. Finally, I got the master key from my room. Opening, I could see Olivia there weeping. Seeing me, she hid under her nket, unable to look me in the eyes.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia..." I was pained by her reaction. It kind of hurt when she did that. Sitting beside her, who was still hiding. I grabbed her nket and threw it away. I know this was forceful, but if she couldn''t face me, it would be harder to help her.

    "Olivia..." She was still crying, too embarrassed to look at me. I held her gently, patting her back, trying to calm her down.

    "Are you still too embarrassed from yesterday''s event?" She nodded, not wanting to speak about what she did. I would be too embarrassed to look at anyone if I were her. However, she did get turned on watching me do it with Serena.

    "I''m not mad about what happened yesterday," I said, trying to calm her down. She took a peek into my eyes and darted her eyes, determining whether what I said if it was true.

    After a while of silence, Olivia spoke to me for the first time. "It hurts..." She said, quietly tearing up more. "It hurts.. when I saw you sleeping with her." Pained from yesterday night, she stopped talking again.

    "But suddenly something happened when you guys were doing it... I had an urge to y with myself. I didn''t know what was going on with me. Do I have a problem? I enjoyed it when I saw you both making love. Is there something wrong with me???" So she has a cuckquean problem. It was unexpected, but it''s not the worst thing. I had seen a lot worse. I hated those days. I wanted to bleach my eyes seeing them.

    "Olivia, while that may be unusual, I don''t think of you less. It''s not the worst thing in the world. Besides, you''re someone I trust dearly. My trust in you wouldn''t dwindle just because of that kink." What I said was true. I kind of found that hot. I wouldn''t expect her to have this fetish with her personality.

    I knew I was supposed tofort her, but I found this situation intriguing. I know I''m a lousy friend, but I couldn''t help.

    Snapping out of that thought, I tried to help her. "Even if something is wrong with you, I will always be with you." I know I was selfish and all, but being with Olivia for a week was something thatforted me. I couldn''t have her leave me. I probably would''ve had difficulty coping with my situation if I didn''t know Olivia.

    I had never fallen in love with anyone in my life. I hoped I could use this situation to bind her to me and expect that I would fall in love with Olivia or Serena soon.

    As I continued to talk to Olivia, her worries began to lessen. "Olivia, as long as you be yourself, I will always be you." Then, getting my gift out, I gave Olivia the gift. "You can open it now if you want," I said to her, it was rude to open a gift in front of someone, but I didn''t mind her looking at it now.

    Opening it, it was a silver bracelet that I had bought earlier. Wearing it, it looked great on her. She was crying on the spot, touched by my gift. We both hugged each other for a few minutes. Olivia, who had many tearsing out of her today, was tired, even if it was still early in the day. Taking a nap, Olivia fell asleep on top of me.

 Chapter 21 Olivia (Part II R-18)

    Olivia was sleeping with her, still hugging me, and was now at peace. The problem has been dealt with, and I don''t think that anything wrong will happen for now. I guess I should use this opportunity to gather more mana.

    After hours of gathering mana, I felt something wet on my lips. Opening my eyes, I saw Olivia giving me a kiss. It wasn''t something that I thought would happen right away. Olivia was blushing when she saw me looking at her.

    It was a wee surprise. I smiled, looking at Olivia. "Do you want to do it?" I whispered into her ear, then glomped into it, only for her to shake from the sudden surprise I had given her. Then, hearing my question, she nodded furiously.

    Getting the okay! I pulled her up from the bed to strip her. Then, with nothing left, I pushed her down on the bed. Olivia, who had no experience, was looking at me to lead her. She didn''t know what she could do to help.

    Looking at her was like looking at Serena. They were shockingly simr. Olivia was just a little smaller than Serena because of the impression they gave. You wouldn''t connect them together unless you look at them closely.

    Lowering my head, I gave Olivia a french kiss. It was her first time doing this, so her movements with her tongue were clumsy, and she was just moving her tongue randomly. While we were kissing, I groped her breast. It was the same size and feeling as Serena, so it felt oddly familiar to touch.

    I could see her expression. She was in absolute bliss. She couldn''t take her eyes off me; lust was filled within her, and she couldn''t help but feel more.

    Stopping our kiss, she replied. "More!" She said, breathing loudly from the kiss earlier. Agreeing to her request, I put my hand on and rubbed the outeryer of her pussy. Only her breath could be heard when I touched her. She pleaded for more, and the more I felt.

    Having Olivia be excited, my fingers began to enter her. "Mmhm!" She moaned using this chance I entered her. Then, unable to contain her feelings, she began to kiss me again, wanting to feel more love.

    The more love we made with each other, the closer Olivia felt ready for us to consummate. "Haaah!" She moaned from her organism. With that, her body was ready, and her mind was nervous. It was her first time, and she didn''t want to disappoint me.

    Making up her mind instantly, she said, "I''m ready!" Complying with her request, I entered her slowly, not wanting to rush the process. Entering her, I felt something stopping me. It was her hymen. Pushing through it, I tore it open. Olivia cried in pain, hearing that I stopped moving.

    "You okay?" I asked her, and seeing her hurt made me want to help her. But, unlike Serena, who felt nothing from losing her virginity, Olivia felt it a lot more. Tears came from her eyes. Trying to help her ease the pain, I kissed her, stopping my movement.

    With us just kissing for a minute, we stopped. "You can move." She said, looking at me, not wanting to stop just because it hurt. Saying that, I moved my hips. There was some pained movement from her eyes, but it wasn''t causing her too much harm.<sub> </sub>

    p The more I thrust my hips, the pain Olivia felt was slowly reced by pleasure. "Faster!" She screamed. Putting in more effort, I moved faster. Olivia''s hands held onto me tightly, not wanting to let go. With her legs spread open, she put them around me, making it easier to fuck her.</anda>

    Unlike doing it with Serena, The big difference was the change expressions that Olivia made were highly erotic. Compared to the usual her, it had a different touch to it. She was usually sweet and someone who you could quickly get along with. But, seeing the faces she made right now gave me a desire to dominate her.

    "Ahhhh!" She came from the pleasure she felt from the constant poking that I gave to her. Her inner wall was trying to squeeze everyst drop from me, unable to hold onto it anymore. So I poured everything I could inside her.

    "Charlie! Give it to me more!" Even after doing it once, she was ready to back up as if nothing had happened. I guess she had more sex drive than Serena. Changing our position, I bent her over and took her from behind.

    "Pah! Pah! Pah!" pping noise could be heard from our bodies colliding, and our bed shook violently as we had sex.

    "Charlie! I love you!" She said as we indulged ourselves with each other''s bodies. I was happy when I heard those words. I may be selfish that I couldn''t return her love, but I still wanted her around me.

    The constant pping noise and the moans she made echoed through the room. Without anything holding back for the both of us, we had sex for hours. Unfortunately, Olivia''s body gave out at the seven-hour mark of our session.

    The mana I absorbed from it made me thirty percent away from the second rank. I could feel that I would rank up in two to three days.

    On the bed, unconscious, Olivia was filled with my body fluids around her. Serena would be back in an hour or so. Olivia couldn''t be as dirty as she slept, so I cleaned her up and took her to the bathroom.

    Dragging her to my room because of the mess we made in her room, I had to clean her room. But, having to make up with her, I hadn''t many problems. I hope this peace willst for a long while.

    Taking the sheets from her bed, I drowned them with water and put some baking soda to remove the stench. Then, drying the bed sheet, I returned to my room and hugged Olivia for the time being.

 Chapter 22 Ranking Up And Duel

    It has been two days since the first time I slept with Olivia. These two days were hectic, but in the end, it worked out somehow. Serena and Olivia were different. At first, Serena was picking a fight with Olivia. It was a good thing Olivia wasn''t the type of person to be provoked easily.

    With the days we spent together, their rtionship improved drastically. They became friends with me, trying to smooth out their rtionship and Olivia''s easygoing attitude. They''re basically best friends now.

    Our rtionship worked because I would fuck with one of them each during the day, and we would all sleep together during the night. It was rxing. The stress that piled within during the week was gone. I felt like a new man thriving from the sess that I currently had.

    Today was when I reached the second rank of a magician. My mana capacity was 2,500, five times more than a second-level magician. So I went to the practice center to test my abilities.

    There were many changes that I didn''t think would happen. The color of the sun that I used turned into an orange-reddish color, making it hotter. It was much easier to make a sma cloak, protecting me from any attack.

    Compared to the first time I hit the dummy, my attack was about four times what it did. Thest time I did the dummy was at the value of 970. My attack quickly did 4000 without overcharging any type of magic I used. If I had the sun outside, I probably would have done 6000 damage making me insanely strong for someone my age.

    I wouldn''t be surprised if I could defeat a third-rank magician. However, some types of magic would be troublesome for me to defend, such as sound magic that could hurt my vitals.

    Using sma to protect me in the defense training, I could hold it for three minutes without being hurt. Almost doubling the results of Serena when she first did her test.

    With my mana, it was harder to control every use of it. I was overflowing with mana, making it harder to handle. I need to find a way to control it more, making it essible.

    With nothing left to do in the practice room, I left. "Charlie Sris!" Leaving the ce, I heard someone calling out to me. It was an unfamiliar voice, so it wasn''t someone I knew.

    Seeing the person that called me out was a girl with long red hair tied to a ponytail. She had bright red eyes that had a unique charm to them. With a height of 5''6 and a chest size of C, it wasn''t too big or too small, perfectly average.

    "Do you need something from me?" I questioned her, wondering what she wanted, I didn''t know her, but I doubted her intentions were good.

    "I challenge you to a duel!" A duel, you say? I don''t think I did anything wrong to upset her. I didn''t even know who she was, so why did someone want to challenge me? Does she hate the Sris family or something?<sub> </sub>

    "May I know who you are? I don''t think we have a grudge or anything?" Saying that anger red from her. Did I say anything wrong? What is wrong with these people? I sighed.

    "I''m Audrey ze, a second-year student! A senior! The second daughter of the ze family! I will show you that the ze family is no less than the Sris family!" She loudly said. The ze family is one of the families that work under us, and to think I would be challenged by one of them.

    Why is she so damn loud? Should I ept her challenge? I gain nothing from winning, and I lose a lot from losing. What a pain in the ass. I should try to reject her.

    "I don''t think there is a need for a duel Miss ze. You won''t prove anything from beating me, who just awakened the ability to absorb mana." So I said as I was trying to get out of this annoying situation.

    "Are you afraid that you would shame your family?" She said with a grin, trying to provoke me. I mean, yes, but I don''t get anything from beating her, and I don''t think I need anything from her.

    "There is no merit for me to participate in this match." I annoyingly said to her face. Just because I had nothing better to do, doesn''t mean I want to spend my time fighting someone from a branch family just because they think they''re better for no apparent reason.

    And besides, where did she get that much confidence from? A second-year student should be at the peak of the second rank, and the top of their grade should be the third. Unlike the second level, which would take a month, the third level needed at least a year toplete.

    The difference between the second and third is that the second rankpletes the outer part of your body. In contrast, the third levelpletes your inner part, which is moreplex. So, first, you need to fill your kidney, then your liver, and after your liver is your lungs, with the final two, the hardest being the heart and the brain.

    The third level is the most critical process for a magician. One significant error in this process could destroy your career as a magician or end your life if you''re not careful. It also may be the biggest obstacle for me.

    If I absorb too much mana for my inner parts to handle, my organs will explode. Of course, it doesn''t help that I absorb at a quick rate. I hope that it wouldn''t hinder me.

    As I was doing my exnation, someone interrupted me. "How about a bet? The loser would have to admit that the winner is superior!" I looked at her like she was an idiot. I have no care for that.

 Chapter 23 Annoyingly Challenged

    I looked at her as if she was an idiot. I don''t care if she admits I''m better than her when I win. I don''t care for her approval. It''s not like her approval matters to me. This just seems like a troublesome situation to deal with.

    I sighed, thinking how annoying this could get. "Sorry, but I''m not interested in that. I got friends that I need to go meet. I don''t want to bete." I made an excuse and decided to not get involved with her.

    As I began to walk away, she ran in front of me, blocking me. What did I do in my life to deserve this? "Can you move out of the way? I have some important business that I have to attend to." Making another excuse, I went past her, hoping she would give up.

    With me trying to leave, she blocked me again. Is she going to follow me until I ept her duel? "Can''t you see that I have better things to do?" My eyes twitch from the annoyance that I''m facing.

    "I won''t stop following until you face me!" ??? My head boomed. What''s her problem? Beating me won''t prove anything. I may be part of the Sris family, but I''m someone who unsealed my absorption a week ago. She had much to lose if she lost; besides, her attack most likely won''t be effective against mine.

    Maybe I should just ept it, so I won''t have to deal with her anymore. "I will fight you tomorrow after ss ends if you don''t bother me again."

    "I ept!" Agreeing to my condition, I left without having the redhead follow me. "Am I a ma  for trouble?" I grumbled to myself, with no one listening to me.

    Arriving at my house, I went to my room. If I didn''t rank up, I would''ve meditated to absorb mana. But, unlike before, I couldn''t mindlessly gain mana. Instead, I had to properly absorb mana at a pace my kidney could handle.

    Unlike the outer part of the body, the inner part of one''s organ changes over time when you absorb mana. Therefore, if one fills their organs with mana at a rate that is too fast for the organs to change, it would affect them significantly.

    It''s like over-exercising, it''s good to exercise, but if you exercise too much, it will hurt your body more than improve it.

    Clearing my mind, I slowly gathered the mana around me. I began to absorb them slowly to check if there was any difort. Then, with nothing wrong happening, I started to increase the pace. Finally, going over the limit of what my kidney could handle, I fell down and screamed from the pain I had received.

    It felt like my kidney was about to burst. It was the worst physical pain I have ever experienced. What''s worse, I couldn''t do anything about it.

    It was a good thing I found my limit. I could absorb about half of the amount that I usually absorb. Knowing how much mana I could absorb, my body began absorbing at half the pace I usually did.

    They were about to finish the ss. Using this chance, I bathed, knowing I wouldn''t do anything. I wasn''t in the mood to do any sexual activities with those girls.

    Getting out of the bath, I saw Olivia and Serena in my room. Both of them probably went here together after their ss finished.

    ""Charlie!"" Olivia and Serena said. Happily, they walked toward me and gave me a hug. I was still naked, so I had to find something to wear. Going to my closet, I took some clothes and wore them.<sub> </sub>

    "How was ss today?" I asked both of them, wondering if there was anything important that I had missed.

    "My teacher was teaching us the history of magic," Olivia chirped, excited to learn something new.

    "It was the same for me." It was a good thing I didn''t attend today''s ss. I wasn''t the history type of guy back in my old world, and I definitely wouldn''t be in this world, either.

    "How was your day?" Olivia asked, wondering if anything interesting happened, and it did, which I hated.

    "I got challenged to a duel." I regretfully said. "WHAT???" Serena yelled loudly, concerned about what happened. It was nice for her to be protective of me.

    "Which bitch challenged you?" She said, wanting to know who challenged me.

    I looked at her and sighed. "Audrey ze, a family that is under us." Is she that dissatisfied that her family works for us? If so, why not just break it off?

    "That overconfident lowlife?" I looked at her and thought of the first time I met her. But, then, it seemed like she knew her. Olivia, who heard her, took offense to that. "Don''t worry, you''re an exception." Olivia, who heard that shrugged it off.

    "Do you know her?" If she does, she is probably a well-known person in this generation.

    "Yes, I have seen her at my family''s banquet." It is known worldwide that the Celeste held a feast every year, but due to problems of our past, I wasn''t allowed to attend.

    Seeing that Olivia and I never attended their banquet, an idea came to her. "How about you both attend it this year?" I never went to one. I was curious about what it felt like going to one.

    "Really?" Olivia''s eyes shone brightly, hearing that excitement to go. Serena, who saw that nodded her head and smiled proudly, puffing out her chest.

    "Getting back on topic, when we met at our banquet, she was unpleasant to talk to because of a mutation that she was born with. Her fire magic is said to be somewhat simr to the Sris family, and hearing her talk about it constantly is annoying."

    "I still don''t understand why she challenged me. Hot-based attacks are ineffective against me." Did her fire magic have something special that worked against me? I could only hope that it would be for tomorrow''s battle.

 Chapter 24 The Day Of The Fight

    Having to converse all night, both Olivia and Serena slept with me. Besides me were them holding my arms while sleeping. It was a sight to behold. But, of course, if any guy saw this, they would instantly be jealous, a reaction that I wouldn''t mind seeing.

    Feeling the mana I gained overnight in my kidney, I believed it was three percent finished at this rate. It would take a month for it to go to the next step.

    Snuggling both of the girls harder in my arm, Serena woke up from my actions. Olivia was a heavy sleeper, so something like this wouldn''t wake her.

    "Morning." She yawned, just waking up for the day.

    ? "Good morning," I replied back. Then, I gave Olivia a morning kiss for the day to brighten her up. She smiled happily at my actions.

    Groping Olivia''s breast, she moaned in pleasure and woke up from the joy of being touched. "Good morning Olivia." Olivia, who was awoken from my prank, blushed and pouted, embarrassed by how she woke up.

    I gave her a peck on the lips giving her a morning kiss. Then, easing her anger, I gave her a hug, with me showering her with affection. But she couldn''t stay angry with me.

    "Good morning Charlie." She answered back with a sweet smile. Seeing her smile, I smiled back.

    With the three of us awake, we fixed ourselves to prepare for the day. Olivia''s magic works like a wonder. With her magic, we ate happily. Then, going to ss, Serena went to our room, and Olivia went towards hers.

    Our teacher, Mary Celeste, was teaching us about monsters, leading to our current discussion. "After your first exam in school, dungeons and credit would be open to you in your first year."

    Dungeons are closed-off spaces that upy some parts of the world. They are generally located in caves, abandoned buildings, and ces people don''t usually go to. They''re also resources for people that own them. They drop mana cores to items depending on the monster.

    Mana cores are resources necessary for today''s society. They''re basically energy sources that power up standard devices. Although it could also be used as an energy source for yourself, it is not rmended for you to absorb them directly. Since they came from monsters, their impurities would affect your mana.

    Credits are the main currency used in this academy. The first years currently don''t have ess to them because the academy wants us to focus on improving our mana without help. They want us to improve without us worrying about needing to gain credits for the first month, is what they say.

    They could be used to buy many things rted to magic and permission to enter buildings that we couldn''t enter previously. With credit, we could buy equipment that would improve our magic capabilities. Magic resources would increase our mana pool and ess to ces that would increase our magic eleration.

    Having said that, ss ended, and groups of friends formed this week, most of them alone. We wouldn''t see some of our ssmates at the start of next month, with howpetitive people are, we needed to spend most of our time improving.<sub> </sub>

    Serena, beside me, was in her own thoughts, thinking about something. "Serena, ss is over." I nudged her, breaking her thoughts.

    Awakening from her own thinking, she looked at me. "What were you thinking?" Seeing that she was lost in her own mind, I wanted to know what she was thinking.

    "Don''t worry about it. You have a match right now, right? With how much you have improved, I doubt you would lose." She said confidently, knowing that I would win.

    It was nice seeing that she had so much confidence in me, but she must have something to deal with. "Thanks for believing in me, but do you think that Audrey has something to deal with, seeing that she challenged me?" I wanted Serena''s opinion on this matter.

    "Indeed, Audrey isn''t the smartest in the shed, but even with all that, I doubt she would be able to break your attack having to experience that myself." But, on the other hand, she looked highly sure I wouldn''t lose.

    Olivia, who was next door, waited for us. Greeting each other, we spected how the fight would be yed. Then, leaving the school building, we went towards the battle arena where I would battle.

    After arriving at the ce, I could see Audrey and some of her followers? that I hadn''t met. "So you haven''t run away yet." She said arrogantly, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

    I sighed, wanting to get this over with. "Let''s get this over with." I went towards an open space that no one was using. Like the battle with Serena, the arena was the same. We both went towards our side, waiting for the fight to start.

    The people spectating went towards the sideline, not wanting to interfere with the battle. However, there were more people than I thought. Considering how confident she is in this battle, I wouldn''t be surprised if she invited everyone here to watch the match.

    "Do you know how long I waited for this moment? The Sris family thinks that they''re so great! Today is the day where I show my superiority!" She dered confidently that she had won this battle. It was naive of her to think that, considering she didn''t seem to know much about the Sris family despite being from a branch family.

    Did someone from the Sris family do something terrible for her to act this way? Or did she just hate being below someone? Well, I guess it doesn''t matter now since we''re going to fight. Why did she have to be such a pain? I groan from the annoyance I have to deal with.

    The battle was about to start. I could hear cheering from both sides. I didn''t think, other than my friends, that someone would cheer for me. Did they hate Audrey for her annoying attitude?

    With the countdown going down, the battle had started.

 Chapter 25 Title At The End Of The Chapter.

    The battle hadmenced, and both of us had readied our attack. Without wasting any time, we bothunched an attack on each other. A hint of excitement rushed into me. Despite being troublesome, I didn''t mind it much if I could get some thrill out of it.

    With our magic shing, the one that I cast destroyed the one she shot. She was shocked that her fire was beaten by mine.

    Her fire was different from her family''s fire. I guess the mutation did something to it.

    The ze household are users of hell fire, a dark fire property that causes immense pain to everyone that touches it. There were rumors that their ancestors were part demons from how their magic works. However, the one she uses is much darker than the usual ze family.

    She then grinned confidently. "Using your strongest move so early? How pointless!" What was she talking about? I only used a casual attack to test the waters out. She retaliated back with a stronger me.

    Even though the mes she sent this time were stronger, I didn''t feel like I needed to block it. Did she really have something to defeat me? Letting the attack hit me, the fire she made was unaffected by me.

    She is talented as a third-rank magician, but that is all she was to me now. If that was all she could do, then this was disappointing for someone who talks big.

    "How did that not hurt you? I want to see you try blocking this?" The attacks she did earlier had no effect on me, which made her realize that she needed to go all out. It had shaken her. Having no choice but to use her most potent attack, she gathered as much mana as she could use to attack.

    "BLAZING HELL!" Unleashing her magic, waves of dark mes came rushing in towards me. If anyone else was facing it, they would have frozen from fear. But as someone part of the Sris family, it was ineffective.

    Seeing how her attack was useless against me, the spectators were shocked. Such a powerful attack would at least do something to me than what they thought. Didn''t they know the Sris are unaffected by heat base moves?

    This battle was disappointing. I was expecting something out of her during this fight. However, if her attack was at the stage of the fourth rank, then my body wouldn''t be able to handle the energy.

    "HOW? HOW DID MY ATTACK NO AFFECT YOU? YOU MUST HAVE CHEATED!" She screamed in shock, confused why her attack didn''t work against me.

    With that, everyone in the crowd knew the battle was over. Everyone who was watching the fight was silent. No one could cheer from the crowd. A match like this was hard to say. It was an utter defeat. Anyone seeing this would feel the humiliation from this battle.

    "TELL ME HOW!" Anger raised as she talked. She felt humiliated by this fight. Yet, to her, this oue was supposed to be her win.<sub> </sub>

    "Didn''t you know the Sris are unaffected by fire?" I thought it wasmon knowledge if you knew about the Sris family.

    "WHAT! That''s.. unfair.." She said as she was in disbelief. I was her natural predator. She couldn''t beat me unless she used a different type of magic. Having nothing else to do, I exited the arena.

    "Where are you going? The match isn''t over yet!" I left without looking back. No matter what she said, it was over. She had no natural way of beating me. Her pride was destroyed, and there wasn''t any way to restore it.

    "I will remember this!" She cried in humiliation. She felt my pity, and I exited the battle arena with herst words. Today was a match I will remember for the rest of my life. It was an utter waste of time.

    I went home after the battle was over. I didn''t want to have to deal with any more problems at the current moment. I just wanted to live in peace without having to worry much. I went to the living room and sat on the couch. Serena and Olivia, who were spectating the match, returned after me.

    "Are you feeling ok?" Olivia, who was concerned about my mood, asked. Although I was frustrated, I didn''t want to ruin the mood because of this.

    "I''m just disappointed." Iy down on the couch, feeling not motivated to do anything. Having to bear with my mood, Olivia and Serena tried tofort me. Being spooned by Serena and Olivia made me feel better.

    "Really? I thought you were gonna clown on her." Serena replied back. I looked at her funny, I may be an asshole, but I''m not that much of an asshole.

    "You would think someone with that much confidence would be someone of a challenge. While I find Audrey annoying, I was still excited to test my abilities. I couldn''t put any effort into someone who looked that pitiful." It would be bad if I was known as someone cruel. I didn''t want people to talk about me all day, spreading nasty rumors.

    "For someone who wanted to challenge Sris'' authority, she didn''t even know that heat base moves are ineffective against us." I ridicule her in my mind, shaking my head from her sheer stupidity.

    "What Audrey did was stupid. There was no excuse for her to not know that her attack would work on you since she was someone who worked for your family. But the fact that the Sris is resistant against heat-type magic is fairly unknown. No one is stupid to challenge someone from the Sris family. Much information about them is forgotten about time." Serena exined why some people were shocked by the fact that her magic didn''t work on me.

    "No one is that stupid to do an analysis on the major families. It would seem like you would be against them if you did." Thanks to Serena, my knowledge about my family increased.

    Chapter 25: Broken Pride

 Chapter 26 Blackmailed

    Another week has passed since the duel, and some things have changed. Some of my ssmates looked at me with fear. While others look at me as a form of connection. They were scared of my growth rate. They knew they wouldn''t be able to catch up to me ever in life. While the others look at me as an opportunity for them to make connections.

    There were also a lot of talks about the fight, especially talk about Audrey and many kinds of rumors about her. Most of them painted her in a bad light. Despite being one of the tops of her year, she didn''t have many friends due to her attitude toward people.

    I heard she locked herself in her room, unwilling to seek anyone who wanted to visit. It wasn''t shocking, considering anyone would be ashamed to show their face if that happened to them.

    I was about one-fourth inpleting filling my kidney with mana. I still needed about three weeks toplete it; my progress wasn''t insufficient, but it felt much slower than the second-rank progression.

    My rtionship with people hasn''t changed much. At most, it improved slightly. The week was me just hanging out with Olivia, Serena, and sometimes Tess.

    It seems peaceful, too peaceful. Will I finally have this peace, atst? I hope nothing terrible will happen. Did I just set a g for myself? Fuck!

    We went to our seats as I went to my ss with Serena. There was a note on my desk, reading it I felt nervous.

    "If you don''t want your secret as a boy to be leaked, meet me at the pond near the fountain by the forest. I will be there at midnight." That is what the note said. It had a winking face at the end of the message.

    To think someone put a note in front of my desk where anyone would be able to see it. While some of my ssmates would take it as a joke, the chance of me being found out would be higher if they did see it. I shuddered at the thought of me not going to ss today.

    Using my magic, I burned the note. I don''t feel so good. Waves of depression fell on me reading this note. Turning my head to the window, I saw my reflection. My face was paler than usual. Maybe I should just head home and wait.

    No, it would be too suspicious if I left too early. While I was in my thoughts, someone tapped my shoulder, and my body shook from the shock I had received.

    "Charlie, are you feeling well? You look paler than usual." My neighbor Serena asked me, concerned about my well-being.

    Just as I was about to say something, our teacher came in. I looked at Serena and told her I would talk to her after ss.

    Having all these thoughts on who the ckmailer could be, ss ended. I couldn''t focus on ss. Everything the teacher said went past my ears. All my mind was on who and why they sent that message to me.

    Serena, beside me, asked if I was still feeling ill. I was still nervous about the note. After all, it was scary to know nothing about the person who sent it.<sub> </sub>

    "I will talk to you about it at home." I didn''t want anyone to overhear what I said. That would be asking for trouble. She nodded, knowing that it was something sensitive.

    Just as we were about to head out, our ssmate called us out. "Miss Sris, Miss Celeste, are you both free today? We would like to invite you to go shopping with us!" She was nervous about talking to us. We''re from a higher-status family.

    It was nice that their group invited us, but it had to be today out of all the days. "Sorry, I have some ns already. However, I would like to join you if you have other ns for another day." I said as politely as I possibly could.

    They were dejected when I rejected them. Serena also declined their invitation seeing that there was something wrong. Leaving me, Serena and Olivia met up at the front gate of our school.

    Olivia, who saw me, didn''t ask me if anything was wrong. It was a good thing that I could keep a straight face when I needed to cover up that something was wrong.

    I arrived home with both of my housemates. Changing out of our uniform, Iy on my bed, taking a pillow to hug. Serena, who knew something was wrong, went and sat beside me and gave me a pillowedp. Her thighs were squishy and easy to sink into.

    Olivia, who was just there, is confused by my attitude. "Is there something wrong?" Olivia asked.

    "Someone knows about my identity and asked me to meet them at night." So I went straight towards the point and told them what had happened earlier.

    p ""What!"" They were both shocked to hear my words. I didn''t do much to reveal myself as a boy. It was understandable that they were shocked by what I said.</anda>

    "Do you need us toe with you?" Olivia was nervous when she said that.

    "We should follow him, making sure he is safe." Serena followed up on Olivia''s question. She wasn''t having it that someone threatened me.

    "I know this isn''t the best option, but I want to go alone." I know it was incredibly stupid of me to say this, but there was a chance that the person who sent this had a way to deal with Olivia and Serena if they had gone.

    "Since they sent me this message, they wouldn''t physically harm me." They could have done that when I was alone, it was stupid to send this and harm me right after sending it. They might have wanted something of me. All I needed to do was wait for the appointed time.

 Chapter 27 Blackmailed (Part II)

    As I waited, the time was near. I should be going to the location about now. I wouldn''t want to bete. It took me a while to dissuade both Olivia and Serena, but they were stubborn about my well-being. That is nice and all, but they could make the situation worse than it could be.

    Even if they did something now, I hope they wouldn''t do something that would make my identity leak. Having these thoughts, I left the house.

    Walking out at night was differentpared to the day. No one was outside, and the streets were quiet. I was also my weakest during this time of night. There was no telling on what was going on tonight.

    The closer I got to our location, the more nervous I was. I couldn''t help but wonder what kind of person the person who called me here was.

    Arriving, I could see someone sitting on the bench. Was it them that sent me that note? It had to be that person with no one else in the vicinity.

    Approaching them, it seemed to be humming while they swayed their legs back and forth. "Come and sit down." She patted her hand on the empty seat of the bench.

    "Good night, Charlie Sris, or should I call you Charlie?" It was a girl with silver hair that could attract anyone just by being there. Her golden eyes shone brightly in the night, having the height somewhere close to me as we sat shoulder to shoulder. With her perfectly sized chest and a figure that would attract any male, it wasn''t hard to differentiate her from anyone I had met.

    As I continued to analyze her, she spoke. "Are you thinking about something rude?" She told me as she was going to read my mind.

    Shaking these thoughts, I changed the question and asked her what she wanted from me. "Do you need something from me?" I said quickly, wanting to know what she wanted from me from sending the note.

    "Nope! I just wanted to have a talk~" She yful said, unconcerned about my nervousness.

    "You could''ve just asked me in person if you wanted to have a talk." I couldn''t tell what she wanted to gain from all this.

    "Knowing you, you would''ve outright rejected my invitation." She faked a sad reaction putting her hands onto her eyes, trying to cry pitifully, making it obviously fake when sheughed yfully.

    "Besides, it was fun seeing you nervous the whole night, hehehe~" Is this girl a sadist? Maybe I shouldn''t get too close to her in the future.

    "Don''t worry, it was just a harmless joke~." The girl replied as she knew what I was thinking.

    Suddenly she moved her head towards me and kissed me. Why? My eyes widened as she stuck her tongue inside my mouth. With her tongue ying around with my mouth, she seemed like she knew what she was doing, experienced in doing it.

    My heart beat quickly, unable to process what just happened. I was confused about why she did that. We hadn''t met before, so whatpelled her to do that?

    Stopping our kiss, I started to breathe in and out vigorously. I looked at her intensely, pressing her on why she did that.<sub> </sub>

    She licked her lips with a slight blush as we finished our kiss. "That went better than expected. Our affinity for each other is perfect~." She stood up and looked at the sky, waving her hands.

    "Charlie~ one day we''ll be together. Our child would be someone important in the future. It was a short meeting, but I''ve something else I need to do. Let''s meet again next week" She winked at me and walked away.

    "Wait! What is your name?" I had more questions I wanted to ask, and just as I tried to stop her, she disappeared. She still didn''t answer any of my questions. My head couldn''t wrap around what had just happened.

    I stared at the sky, unsure what to do. It was a stressful day. I didn''t want to move and sat still looking at the moon.

    I couldn''t stay here during the night, so I dejectedly walked back home without gaining anything from tonight. When I arrived at my house, both Olivia and Serena were waiting for me. It looks like they haven''t followed me.

    ""Wee back!"" They said, weing me warmly and proceeding to give me a hug.

    "Nothing bad happened, right?" Olivia was deeply concerned about my meeting and asked if something terrible had happened.

    "Did you get information about that person? Then, we could get rid of her!" Serena wanted to know the identity of the person who ckmailed me.

    "Nothing bad happened during the meeting. It wasn''t something that I expected." I answered Olivia, who asked her question first.

    "And the only thing I know about the person was her look. I doubt it would be easy to just find her based on her look. Besides, it could also be fake." I told Serena, who wanted to do something a bit extreme.

    "I''m pretty tired. I''m going to hit the bed." So I went to my bed and closed my eyes. It was a tiring night. Having no thoughts, I eventually went to sleep.

    ??? Pov

    "Ufufufu~" I chuckled at what transpired tonight. I didn''t think I would meet him this early. We couldn''t meet in almost any circumstance.

    I couldn''t believe my eyes when I first met him. It was everything I dreamed of. His looks were enchanting. I almost wouldn''t think he was a boy if I didn''t know about him, his nervousness was fun to tease when he didn''t know what to expect, and his lips were great for tasting something I would want more of.

    As I look forward to how our rtionship will proceed, I want to see everything about him. After all, he is the one that I''m destined to be with.

    I hope that our next meeting will be a memorable one. I chuckled to myself, having these thoughts.

 Chapter 28 Monthly Test (Part I)

    Two weeks have passed since the note incident that transpired. We had regr weekly meetings that would take ce at the same time. I still couldn''t grasp what she wanted from me in all these meetings. It wasn''t as unpleasant as I sought it out to be. While the person may be weird, she is not the wrong person.

    As days passed, the three of us did almost everything together. Olivia and Serena sometimes would bicker over something trivial. I wouldugh at them when it was over something so petty, and I would have to step in if they went too far.

    Overall, the days passed were enjoyable and rxing without me having to worry about anything.

    I was about seventy-five percent finished with my kidney, and it would at least take a week for me to finish. However, the monthly test was approaching, and I hoped everything would end up alright.

    Yesterday was the day when Olivia ranked up. It was a good thing because today was the monthly test day. With her being a second-level magician, she would have a higher chance of being my ssmate.

    Celebrating Olivia''s sess, we went out and bought things that Olivia wanted and ate where she wanted. It was pleasant and tiring but overall a great day.

    Today will be filled with uncertainties as the teachers of our ss haven''t told us anything about the exam.

    Having a refreshing breakfast with my roommates, we went to our ss. First, I bid Olivia farewell, hoping she would do well in her exams. Then, Serena and I went to our seats, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

    With the teacher arrived, our attention went to her. Everyone was nervous. Everyone here was someone from a prenominate family. Failing here would mean shame to their family, and it wouldn''t be funny if some of them got hurt because of that.

    "ss, as you know, today will be our monthly exam. Knowing most of you has been nice, but some of you wouldn''t be in my ss." Our teacher said, making the atmosphere in this ss gloomy. I couldn''t tell if she was told to mess with us.

    With everyonepeting with four hundred and ny-nine other students, it would bring out the best in most of us while the rest will fall due to pressure. After all, only the best of the best would make it to the top.

    "Our first exam would be the written exam, you would be given two hours toplete it, as a word of advice just write whatever you can if you don''t know the answer just do it. As soon as I hand out the papers, you may begin." She said as she handed us a paper with four pages on it.

    With the test starting, I began to look at the questions and started writing. I may not be the most intelligent person, but I wasn''t the dumbest. So it shouldn''t be too hard to use Charlie''s knowledge from when he was isted in the house and during my time learning during ss.

    Two hours had passed, and the written exam was over, I was happy with my answers, and I doubt even an idiot would fail this test. With the teacher collecting our test papers, I looked around the room to see everyone''s reactions. Most of the people here were relieved that they finished the exam quickly, while the rest were crestfallen worried that they did horrible on their test.

    "Are you confident in your answer?" I asked my neighbor who was rxed when the test was over.

    "It was pretty easy. Anyone with a brain could answer it with ease!" Saying that loudly some of our ssmates looked at her and silently cursed at her.<sub> </sub>

    I wanted tough when she said that, but that would earn me some scorn from my current ssmates, so I held it in.

    "Make way to the test field. We will begin the practical test in thirty minutes." Ms. Celeste said as she left the room.

    Leaving our ss, I saw Olivia with a ssmate of hers. I remember her mentioning that she got along with a ssmate with her. It must be her. She was a shorty just as she described her.

    Like most people, she was blond but had her hair styled pigtail, towering at the height of 4''6, having the same color eyes as me but sharper-looking eyes. She had a ck hat and was dressed in entire ck. Her rough acting attitude made it seem like she was part of a gang.

    Both Serena and I walked over and greeted them. Olivia, who was with her friend, greeted us as we walked toward them.

    "Ah! Let me introduce you guys!" It was a great move from Olivia''s side to introduce us. We didn''t know much about the other person''s name. It would have been great if she had introduced us.

    "This is my ssmate Jenny! Even if she looks rough, she is a big softy on the inside." She said with a soft smile.

    "Hey! Don''t go telling everyone I''m a softy!" She screamed at Olivia while pointing her finger at her, flustered by her introduction.

    "Hehehe~ But it''s true." She gave her a squeeze and gave a cutesy reply.

    "Hmph!" The tsundere was too embarrassed to look at us. She was an interesting character, to say at least.

    "These two are my roommates. The kind-looking person is Charlie Sris. She is someone you can talk to despite all your worries." Olivia gave me a warm and sweet hug as she introduced me. I smiled at Jenny, giving her a generous, friendly gesture. She looked at me shyly and retracted her eyes.

    "The person next to Charlie is Serena Celeste. She may be rude, arrogant, and someone who would pick a fight for petty reasons, but overall she is a good friend even if she is stuck up most of the time." I guess Olivia still held a grudge against Serena that one time.

    Serena, who heard her introduction, clenched her fist. She was angry at how Olivia gave Jenny a wrong impression of her. She red at Olivia, not saying anything.

    It was awkward for these few seconds. "Why don''t we walk together for our practice test? If we don''t go now, we might miss it." I said, making our way there.

 Chapter 29 Monthly Test (Part II)

    The four of us made our way to therge field. There were thousands of students here waiting to do their practical exams.

    With the four of us, going to the test site didn''t seem as significant as the other grade. Maybe our exams aren''t as hard as theirs. I wouldn''t know much about the different grades as I haven''t spent much time in school yet.

    Serena, still mad at Olivia''s introduction, asked her a question that made Olivia nervous. She knew where to strike Olivia when she needed to.

    "Hey, Olivia, how did the written test go for you? I saw you studied it earlier today. I hope you pass it with ease~" She replied with her unusual sarcastic tone that she does when she is not happy.

    Hearing that, Olivia shifted her eyes left and right. She wasn''t someone who really liked to read or study, so I wouldn''t be surprised if she had some trouble with the written portion of the exam.

    "Only an idiot wouldn''t be able to do the written test well. But, Olivia, you''re not an idiot, are you?" She pped her back, making a joke of this situation.

    Maybe I should stop her. I don''t want Olivia''s mood to go down if her test could be affected because of it.

    I looked at Jenny and attempted to make small talk. "Sorry about that. They fight a lot. Despite it, they are good friends, but sometimes they take it too far. I hope you don''t see Serena in a bad light because of it." I didn''t want to make her feel awkward with these acts.

    "She did say something stupid. I don''t know what she would do if left alone during ss." The more she talked about her, the more she sighed.

    "Thank you for taking great care of Olivia, she may be careless and clumsy, but I appreciate it as a good friend of hers. You look like a good person to be around for someone with a rough exterior." Iplimented her for taking care of Olivia without any difficulties, hearing that she looked flustered and unexpected from it.

    "It''s no big deal. Anyone can do that." She had to be embarrassed by my words, although she spoke cutely, despite wanting to sound harsh about it.

    Seeing that both were still bickering, I decided to stop them. It was almost time for Olivia and Serena''s test, and I couldn''t afford to have both of them distracted because of it.

    "Stop! You guys can fightter, but we have an exam to deal with first." I told them seriously. Seeing me intervene, they decided to stop knowing that I would ignore them if they didn''t.

    With both of their moods at rock bottom, tired from arguing, I gave them a warm hug. Hopefully, that would cheer them up.<sub> </sub>

    Having that done and all, Jenny, who was watching, said. "Are you their mother or something?" She really was someone who couldn''t be honest with herself.

    "Do you also want a hug? You looked like you wanted one." I replied, knowing she would refuse because she would be too embarrassed.

    "What are you talking about? I''m not so little that I need a hug from someone." She was someone fun to talk to for someone who was a tsundere. Maybe I will mess with her some more in the future.

    "Students! Your test will officially begin after our exnation! Your practical test will be divided into two parts! The first test would determine how well you''ve been fairing in the amount of mana you gathered during your stay in this school! Then, we would rank you each by the end of the exam to determine if one of you would have a higher base level!" A teacher said as she exined the rules for the first test.

    The first test was simple. It was to see how diligent we were during our free time to see if we had the will to gather mana for a long time. People who skipped ss would have the advantage of using their time to collect more than the others.

    "The second part of the exam would be tackling your specialty! As a magician, you must be an expert on one thing to prove what you''re best at. The test would be the most important as it will mostly decide your ranking!"

    Having to exin what the second exam was for me was easy. As a Sris, our family was known for destroying. Our specialty was known for eliminating anything that our sun touches. With the amount of mana I have, I wouldn''t be surprised if I took first ce in the overall ranking because of this test.

    The only person that would be able topete with me was Serena, who most likely did better than me in the written test. And she had a month advantage of absorbing mana. So all I have to do is bet on the second practice test to make it to the top.

    "Students would be called one after another to have their testing done. Please wait for your turn!" With nothing more to say, the teacher left and went to the field, so we may begin our exam.

    I may sound cocky, but I''m guaranteed to be in the top two on our year''s ranking. So I didn''t need to worry about myself.

    I just hope Olivia didn''t do so badly on her written test that she wouldn''t drop down her ranking for her ss. While the chances of us being ssmates were still possible. I had given up believing we would when she looked terribly bad when we mentioned our written exam.

    "#### #### Pleasee to the front and have your magic be tested!" I wouldn''t remember that girl''s name with the testing beginning, but I hoped for the best. Going to the front, the teacher checked the progress of the student. Having to check her progress, the teacher wrote down the information she had gotten and proceeded to do the second phase of the test.

    It looks like her specialty was attack power, just like mine. Using the dummies to test the damage value, it made a value of 650. It wasn''t bad for someone in our group, I suppose.

 Chapter 30 Monthly Test (Part III)

    The person who went was decent. However, I wouldn''t be surprised if she was going to be an A-ss student, having said that her test was finished and she left the field having someone else rece her.

    While it wasn''t efficient to do it individually, we could see who to watch out for when we scout everyone.

    Everyone would have to be called one after another, by alphabetical order. Our first names were called with students going by. It was finally my turn. "Charlie Sris, pleasee up to do your following exam!" Saying my name was a big deal, everyone who heard it listened and watched closely towards the testing spot.

    It was nerve-racking having everyone stare at you with eyes of expectation. I know my results were going to be good, but I''m someone that doesn''t like having the spotlight on me.

    I then stood in the middle of the test field. My homeroom teacher Ms. Mary was walking toward me to test my progress. When I was about to do my test, I realized that they had to scan my body to check my progress. If it was any other teacher that was going to scan my body, I''m pretty sure I would''ve been found.

    I''m sure only Ms. Mary and the principal knew I was male. Cold sweat dripped from my head. If it was another teacher, I wouldn''t know what to do. The first part of the test was about to begin. Ms. Mary grabbed my shoulder and began to pour mana onto my body. It felt weird like someone was caressing me inside.

    After finishing the first part, Ms. Mary retracted her hand. I was surprised when I saw her blush. However, I didn''t want to worsen the situation, so I stayed silent, ignoring what had just happened.

    The second part was right after the first test. "The second test has begun. What would you like to be tested on?" She asked like she didn''t know what my family specialty was.

    "I would like to be tested on my magic''s power." My time to shine was about to start, I would''ve preferred it to be seen by a few people''s eyes, but I needed results at the end of the day.

    With the dummy out on the field, I guided my mana in a single point, focusing on condensing my fiery ball of destruction. Then, using the sun to strengthen and fasten the effect of my magic, Iunched it at the dummy without any reserve.

    I then used my magic and hit the target, showing the results. Anyone who saw the damage done to the dummy had their eyes sockets dropped. The damage value of 8900 during their first month was unprecedented. It would beat the old record by a long shot, and beating such a record would be almost impossible.

    "Monster." My teacher said, depressed in a quiet murmur barely audible to my ears.

    The crowd was silent. The students couldn''t believe someone from their age group could be that strong. Some of them thought they could get first, but after seeing my results, they shattered their dreams of getting first ce.

    ? Getting back to my friends, Olivia and Serena, was happy for me. On the other hand, Jenny could not mutter a word towards me.

    "Are you scared of me? You don''t need to. I don''t bite." I pinched her cheeks, enjoying the sensation of her skin.

    "Pah! Who''s scared of you? I was just getting hyped up for my turn." Then, snapping out from her thoughts, she shook my hands off of her trying to maintain her image.<sub> </sub>

    Since I was done with my test, I only needed to wait for my results. Then, of course, I could leave right away, but it wouldn''t feel right to leave Olivia and Serena here.

    As time passed, I spectated some students that could be interesting to see. Some could pass in my eyes. Jen was called shortly after. I was interested in what magic she would show us.

    I could simply ask what her magic was from Olivia, but that wouldn''t be much of a surprise. Seeing that her teacher had finished checking her progress, it was time to see what her specialty was.

    It seemed like our specialties were simr. A dummy was made to check how strong Jenny was. She used her magic to create a magic cannon. Shooting her magic, it made a greenser beam and did a damage value of 700. She wasn''t a second-level magician, so her magic was something to look forward to.

    "Jenny magic is so cool!" Olivia said as her eyes gleamed with excitement. Her magic was shy, but it was nice to look at.

    "I could do the same." Serena looked at the results, unimpressed by them. She could do the same with her magic, I suppose.

    Jenny, who finished, walked toward us and gave us a smug smile. "How do you like my magic!" While it wasn''t as good as mine, it was still one of the best shown during this exam.

    Humoring her. "Yourser beam was impressive." Hearing my words gave her an ego boost.

    After Jenny, this whole show began to bore me. I tuned everything out and waited for Olivia''s turn. Her final part of the exam was going to be different from most. She didn''t have high firepower magic. It was unconventional magic.

    All she did was make food essible for the teacher to eat. After that, it was to test how much it would improve someone''s magic.

    "Good work!" I praised her for not folding under pressure, for someone with a timid nature. Hearing that, she nodded and gave me a smile.

    With everyone but Serena, who was in our group, done, all I needed to do was wait for her. Finally, her name was called out after ten minutes of waiting.

    For her specialty exam, the one she chose was a particr one. As Celeste, she could use magic that could be made by her thoughts. So she could use most magic she had seen while some had limitations.

    Showing off the diversity of her magic, she gained the admiration of most students, and finished, she went back to us.

 Chapter 31 Monster Colosseum (Part I)

    The exams were over; it wasn''t tough, but it was time-consuming. After the exams are finished, we will be given a three-day break. I wonder how I will spend my time with that.

    "That was quite a show, Serena. d that went well."

    "I''m so jealous of your magic." Olivia, who saw her show was impressed. Olivia''s magic is impressive. I don''t think she would need to feel that bad about it.

    "It was decent." Jenny looked away, unable to admit it.

    "I aim to impress." She puffed her chest out of pride and gave a confident smile showing that she was expecting her results were good.

    The four of us finished exams having nothing left to do. So we left, and the results weren''t going to be shown immediately. Instead, it will be shown during the end of the three-day break.

    "Why don''t the four of us do something fun!" Olivia, who was with us, had an idea. I didn''t mind it, so I agreed to it. The other two didn''t have anything else to do, so they also agreed to her choice.

    Taking a stroll, we came across a long line. I was wondering what people were lining up for. It must be worth seeing for them to stay here for a long time. Also, the building that they were waiting for was huge. Maybe we could check it for ourselves.

    "Do you know what they are lining up for?" I wondered if they knew what people were waiting for. They shook their heads left and right, without knowing what they stood for.

    Going over to the person, I asked her what she was waiting in line for. "I was wondering what this line was for. If you don''t mind me asking." I politely said to the person.

    Facing me, she spoke. "Oh, this is the line for today''s monster battle arena. Every day at noon, the owner of this establishment opens the monster battle arena and brings in monsters they captured for us to see. You could bet money to see which monster would win if you''re confident in your choice." She gave us an exnation of this ce.

    "Sorry for disturbing you." I bowed, leaving her alone. She didn''t have to exin it, but I was thankful that she did.

    Heading back to my friends. "It''s a monster battle arena where monsters are pitted against each other," I told them what the people here were waiting for.

    Different reactions wereing from them. Serena didn''t seem to have much interest in that. Olivia was curious, but it didn''t seem like her thing. But Jenny looked like she wanted to watch it. Her eyes were gleaming from anticipation.

    "Do you guys want to check it out?" I wanted to see if they didn''t mind going in and taking a look.

    "I have no particr thoughts about it," Serena said, not caring if we went or not.<sub> </sub>

    "We''ve nothing else to do, so let''s look." Olivia was right. It''s not like we have anything else to do other than walk around and chat.

    "I don''t mind having a look at it." Jenny talked, trying as hard not to sound too excited.

    "Since no one has any objection, let''s wait for it to open." The line for this ce was long, but seeing how big the building was, I wasn''t surprised if it could fit everyone here.

    We only had to stand in line for ten minutes before the gate opened. Everyone in line was walking in, in an orderly fashion. The inside of the building was far different from what I had imagined. It was a stadium that had a circr battlefield.

    The main lobby was filled with receptionists taking in every customer they could. Going to a free receptionist, and she weed us.

    "We would like four tickets to the front seat." But, Serena haughtily said that I sometimes forget that Serena is highly unfriendly to people she doesn''t know or care for. So, I smiled bitterly, hoping that won''t happen next time.

    "That would be 4 gold coins." She dismissed Serena''s attitude quickly. Being a receptionist must be tough to deal with all kinds of people. She gave Serena four tickets for the front seat.

    "Would you like to make a bet for today''s winner? Today''s battle will be a rank four Deadly Molten Bear against a rank four Giant Freezing Scorpion." The receptionist told us about today''spetitor.

    "Money has no importance to us," Serena said, leaving the main hall with us having to follow her. There were food, drinks, and snack stands in the next room. We left the ce immediately, knowing that Olivia could conjure us if we wanted.

    Entering the front seat, we could see the ring was surrounded by a magic barrier to protect the spectator if there was a mishap in the battle. The magical barrier made it better here to be strong enough to protect us with how close the ring and the seats were. Otherwise, this ce would be a health hazard.

    Taking our seats, from right to left, it was Jenny, Olivia, me, and Serena who were grabbing my bum from our angle. No one would be able to see it. I looked at her weirdly. Was she feeling horny? Sorry but I wasn''t much of a more outdoor doer guy, If there was no one nearby, I might''ve, but I wasn''t.

    "We can do it after," I whispered to Serena, grabbing her arm. She blushed from my breath, hitting her ears.

    "Olivia, can you make me a salty, buttery popcorn and an orange soda." It was a good thing popcorn was a typical snack in this world; otherwise, exining it was a pain.

    Making them with magic, I grabbed them. "Olivia, where would I be without you." I put my snacks on my seat and gave her a hug and my cheeks against hers.

    "Hehehe~" She giggled from the pleasure she felt from receiving my affection.

 Chapter 32 Monster Colosseum (Part II)

    Serena, who saw us, felt jealous of our interaction. However, Jenny felt that our interaction was expected, considering our personalities, so she acted like it was nothing.

    Making food for both Serena and Jenny. Serena asked a question for us. "Which monster do you think would win?" I didn''t have an opinion on it since I didn''t know much about them.

    "I think the Giant Freezing Scorpion would win," Olivia said without overthinking.

    "I don''t care who wins. I want to see the bear and scorpion beat each other to death." Jenny said without hiding her intentions anymore.

    "I think the Deadly Molten Bear will win. How about having a bet, Olivia? The loser will have to follow the winner''s order for the whole day starting tomorrow." Serena crossed her arms and looked at Olivia, trying to intimidate her.

    Olivia was intimidated by her bet. But she knew that it was time for revenge. All the mean words thrown at her were waiting for it to be vented.

    "Fine, I ept!" She dered loudly, alerting people who were nearby.

    Seeing that Olivia epted her bet, she smiled wickedly. Was she sure that she would win? Or was she just imagining what she wanted to do to her?

    Olivia looked nervous when she saw her smile. If this was an otome, then she would definitely be the viiness. I sighed at their childish actions. I hope one of them won''t go too hard on the loser.

    "Hello everybody! I, your host Gloria! Will be your announcer for the day!" A person suddenly talked loudly and enthusiastically could be heard across the building.

    "With the audiences filled up! Today''s battle will surely be an exciting one!"

    "On the first corner, we have eight meters of the ferocious Deadly Molten Bear tower. They''re known to live nearby volcanos and are capable of burning down a forest!" The announcer gave us information about the tall fiery bear.

    "On the other corner, we have the Strong and Dangerous Giant Freezing Scorpion. Living in cold climates, they''re a well-known predator aggressive towards any other species. Their stingers could easily end the lives of many." Hearing that my heart froze. I have feared scorpions since I was little in my old world.

    The gates open as Gloria introduces the monster participating in the fight. With both monsters facing each other, they began to analyze their opponents.

    Monsters that are higher ranked are smarter than monsters with a lower ranks. So while a rank-four monster may have a child''s mind, fighting against a mindless beast was harder.

    "LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!" Gloria screamed excitedly from the fight.

    The monster that had begun to strike first was the big red bear that could easily snap all of us in half. But, spewing moltenva at the scorpion, it stepped back and dodged the attack.

    Angered, the scorpion retaliated and shot multiple icicle spears at the bear, the bear used its strong arms to block the attack, and steam came out of the bear''s arm.<sub> </sub>

    Hurt from the attack, the bear growled at the scorpion, running towards it and giving a swipe to its hard shell.

    That must have hurt, taking the full brunt force of a bear''s attack. But, with the hard shell that the scorpion has, I doubt that it did much damage to it.

    Being hit by the bear, the scorpion flinched. Taking full advantage of this, the bear gave another swiping attack hitting the head.

    Feeling the pain of that direct attack, it hisses at the bear and uses its pincer to grab it. Then, using its tail, it began to attack the bear in its body, trying to pierce it. The bear, held by the scorpion''s pincer, spat outva burning the scorpion''s shell. The scorpion used its mana to harden its shell and create ayer of ice, adding more protection.

    The match had just started, and both sides were already injured. The next few moves could decide its winner.

    "GO! BEAR, BEAT THAT UGLY CREATURE!" Serena screamed, unwilling to lose the bet she had made with Olivia.

    "You can do it, scorpion!" Olivia made a cute pose as she cheered for the scorpion

    The monsters were entangled, with their element opposing and their mana being the same. It was hard to determine which of them would win. No, the winner was already decided.

    The molten bear, unable to move due to the pincer, uses its teeth to sink into the armor that the scorpion has.

    Using its tail, the scorpion struck the bear''s abdomen, making it shriek in pain. With the tail stuck in the body, ice began to form into the bear''s body. The winner was decided. Olivia, who saw this, was happy. She had won the bet against Serena.

    It was a short battle, but it was intense. "The winner of this battle is the Giant Freezing Scorpion!" The crowd cheered at the oue.

    While the bear was intense, it couldn''t prate the scorpion''s defense, making it vulnerable when it had no moves left in store.

    With the snacks in my hand still untouched, I was too focus on the battle. It was a good thing that there were more battles. I needed to speed run my snack.

    The four of us then began to see that there were four more fights, and with that, the monster arena was closed. While most of them were short, it was still entertaining to see. Having to watch the monsters fight, fight gave me an idea of how some monsters would fight.

    p Serena, who lost her bet, went quiet for the whole event. She was bummed out to even care about the subsequent few battles.</anda>

    The four of us had to stroll around for a few more hours before we separated from Jenny and went home. It was fun today, and I made a new friend.

    Going back home, I took a shower with Olivia and Serena. I headed to sleep, hugging both of them and drifting asleep.

 Chapter 33 A Losers Punishment (R-18 Part I)

    Waking up, I could see Olivia and Serena on top of me. Since I slept early, I had woken up pretty early. There weren''t any sses today, so I just enjoyed the body heat of those two.

    Finding an opening, I slid between them without waking them up. Then, getting dressed, I went out for a morning stroll. It was always nice to have a quiet time alone when you''re always with someone.

    Walking around aimlessly for thirty minutes, I went back home. I could see both Olivia and Serena both in the living room. Serena was sulking while Olivia was humming happily.

    "Did something happen?" I wanted to know what happened.

    Serena, who would typically answer my question, was in a bad mood to answer, and Olivia was in her own world.

    Knowing I won''t be getting any answer, I sat next to Serena, trying to cheer her up. Rubbing her back, I could feel her negative attitude had lowered down.

    Olivia, who was in her own world, had woken up smiling. Making our food, we sat down together and ate. As always, the meals were enjoyable with magic added to it. It made us more energized for the start of the day.

    "I know what I want for my bet!" Olivia loudly said, just to rub it in Serena''s face.

    "Charlie, can you help me with it?" She looked full of expectations.

    "If it wasn''t something that would cause many problems, I would agree." On the other hand, I didn''t want to create any trouble for both of them.

    Olivia smiled happily at my agreement. "Let''s go to the bedroom!" Shemanded Serena, who was displeased by the situation.

    Listening to her request, we went to my room. I had no idea what she had in store, but knowing her, I don''t think Olivia would take things too far.

    "Go on the bed and strip your clothes!" ??? I was confused why she gave such an order. Serena, the loser, was forced to strip, leaving her bare naked.

    "Charlie, do you mind stripping for me?" Hearing her request, I could see where this was going. I didn''t mind it, so Iplied with her request, leaving me naked.

    "Now start copting!" The way that Olivia said it made it sound embarrassing. Serena, who listened, looked at her funny

    Without wasting any more time, Serena and I were glued to each other, and we began to kiss, setting the mood for us. Olivia, who was there, began to masturbate. Although I wasn''t as nervous as I thought I would be when I did it with Serena, there were times I saw Olivia hiding and ying with herself.

    Serena, who saw Olivia, was perplexed by such action. I distracted her by giving her a kiss. Her eyes were locked on to mine, unable to look away.<sub> </sub>

    With our lips separated, she was unable to hold it anymore. Serena pushed me down and began to suck my cock. Her ass was facing towards me, moving, making it more enticing. A wet yet warm sensation was felt when she started to shove my dick into her mouth.

    The soft feeling of her tongue began to move, making me ecstatic. Her head began to move, making it much more stimting, I didn''t want her to do everything, so I licked her back, making her stop her movement.

    A metallic taste began to spread through me as I continued to lick. Her insides were leaking, making it easier to move my tongue.

    "Slurwp! Slurwp!" The sound of her mouth flowed with the movement of her mouth. She was moving faster and stronger. I won''t be able to hold it anymore. Feeling that my dick was tense, she knew I was about to release my seeds. Like me, she was also going to climax.

    "Ahh~" Serena moaned with the both of us climaxing. Having to climax, everything I poured into her mouth was drained. She had swallowed everything, licking my cock, leaving nothing left.

    Of course, I could continue. Doing it once was unsatisfying, so I wanted to keep going. Finally, both of us were ready. Having to do forey, we started to have sex.

    "Now that it''s over, let''s begin the main course." Serena, on top, moved her body and positioned herself towards my dick with her vagina. With our bodies aligned, she slid her pussy into my cock.

    With our bodies connected, none of us moved. Deep breaths were heard as Serena stood still, as the inner part of her body began to clench my dick.

    Lust contained us as we locked our eyes on each other. Then, without stalling for any more time, we began to move.

    "Charlie, I love you!" She screamed as our bodies began to move in rhythm, having no problems with each other''s actions. The number of times we had done it had reached two digits, and we both knew what to do to please the other.

    Both of our flesh started to collide, making a pping noise. The bed creaked as Serena moved up and down. The noise echoed throughout the room. Olivia, who I had forgotten, was moaning as she watched us.

    Looking at her was a sight to behold. She was usually there looking innocent and cute. You wouldn''t expect a face like that when looking at her.

    "Please look at me~," Serena said as we pleased one another. Serena was usually arrogant and snarky. However, with us having sex, she mellowed down, only looking at me with love and lust. The changes in her attitude made it more exciting for me.

    "Ahhhh~ Awhhh~" Serena''s moan appeared when I hit her weakness. She couldn''t contain it due to the pleasure she received. I could feel it. She was about to cum. Her walls began to tighten harder, not wanting to let go.

    Just as we were about to move faster. "Stop!" Olivia said, making us stop. Of course, that was cruel, saying we were about to finish.

 Chapter 34 A Losers Punishment (R-18 Part II)

    "Stop!" Olivia said, making us stop. That was cruel, saying that we were about to finish. We were about to climax, and Olivia began to stop us. What did I do to deserve this?

    "Get off of him!" Shemanded Serena, who heard that and looked at Olivia with hatred. She was about to climax only to her hanging there, unable to release everything that had happened. That was devious, I thought to myself.

    "You stay there and watch!" Olivia gave her an order, and she sat down on a chair and looked at her grumpily.

    Olivia stood there naked, walking towards me. I was still down on my bed from my session with Serena. Taking her ce, she sat at my crotch, sliding my dick inside her. Her insides were clenching me tightly.

    I was already close to climaxing from what Serena did to me. With just a few thrusts, I came inside Olivia. Feeling my seeds inside her vagina clenched harder, trying to suck me dry.

    "This warm feeling.. inside me. I can''t get enough of it~" Olivia said, moving her hips up and down right after I came.

    Compared to what she usually looked like, she was like a subus, and her sex drive was much higher than Serena''s. Also, the tightness of her vagina was different, making it new and enjoyable.

    "Haaa~ Ahhh~ Olivia moaned as she shook her hips up and down, feeling the pleasure she emitted. I knew that she would have an orgasm, with her insides tightening as hard as she could until she stopped moving.

    Changing our position, I grabbed her by the waist, held her up, and carried her while I started moving my hips.

    "Wait~" She was still not ready for the orgasm she had early. But, her words made it more enticing for me to move quicker and harder.

    With her legs locked onto my waist, I began to kiss her greedily. Our tongues were intertwined, making our movements smooth and fluid.

    The scent she gave with the sweat she made was sexy. I then stopped my kiss. The both of us were about to cum.

    "Awhh!" She screamed, drowning in pleasure from the taste of my cock. We changed our position again and proceeded to piston my dick again.

    "Charlie~ rawish me! make me yowrs!" My sex drive hasn''t dwindled yet. I couldn''t stop yet.

    Having done all that, we continued having sex for hours. Finally, not having the energy to move, Olivia fainted from exhausting all of her power. Serena, still watching, looked at me with a feverish gaze. She hade a few times from masturbating, but it wasn''t enough for her.

    Seeing that Olivia had fainted, she walked up to me and started to stick her ass facing me. Without a reason to resist, I stuck my cock inside from behind her.

    "Pak! Pak! Pak!" mming my hard rod inside her, the sound of our body vibrating made her moan in pleasure. The lust she had carried over for hours of waiting was being vented on.<sub> </sub>

    "Charlie, make me feel more loved~" Seeing that I had no need to hold back, my waist began to move faster and harder without needing to stop. Her insides were sucking me tightly, wanting to taste my seed.

    Pouring everything inside her, we began to do more. A long session of sex had passed, and the both of us were tired. Having no more energy, we drifted to sleep.

    Waking up, I could see Olivia and Serena both asleep. I remembered that I was supposed to meet the mysterious girl at midnight. An hour left before the meeting, cleaning the smell radiating from me. I left the house and went out.

    Going to our usual meeting, I was thirty minutes earlier on time. I could see the girl sitting on the bench with her eyes closed. Should I y a prank on her? She was always someone who would hide things from me, and it would get annoying.

    What should I do? I made a nasty grin having to think of an idea. Walking towards her, I sat on the bench beside her. I moved my head closer to her ears and nibbled on her.

    "Hyiii!" She screeched, unexpecting someone to nibble on her ears. She felt the warm yet wet sensation of it, feeling embarrassed.

    Her pale face was flushed. It was enjoyable to see such reactionsing out of it. "Goodnight, having a nice rest?" I gave a smug smile as I greeted her.

    Calming herself, she looked at me like nothing had happened. Was she putting up a persona? "Goodnight, Charlie~" She replied back sweetly, seeming to have forgotten what I did before.

    "Could you tell me your name?" I had always forgotten to ask for her name. When I remembered to ask for it, she left without telling me.

    "Hmm... I could have sworn I gave you my name. You may call me Lua~" She happily gave me her name, which was easier than I thought.

    "Lua... Lua... Lua!" I repeated to myself, making it easier to say the next time I called her. Looking at her, she was blushing.

    "Charlie, could you say my name hotly?" She moved her head wildly, dreaming of me doing things for her in a scenario. I sighed at her antics, as all we did was make talk like this.

    We talked for hours, realizing that it was extremelyte. Lua, who was usually weird, looked at me seriously. "This may be thest time we meet in a while, it was fun, but I have a business to do." Hearing her say that saddened me. She was weird and all, but she was lovely to hang out with.

    "Can you give me a kiss?" She looked at me with her puppy eyes. I couldn''t reject it since I didn''t want to ruin it for her. So I kissed her on the lips as nicely as I could.

    For the first time, I saw tears flowing through her eyes. "Thank you and goodbye." Then, she left without leaving any traces of me finding her.

    ... I felt empty.

 Chapter 35 Results And Changes

    Afterward, I returned home andy on the bed with the two sleeping beauties. I couldn''t sleep since I wasn''t tired. I stared at the ceiling, thinking.

    Before I knew it, it was already morning, the sun had risen, and Serena and Olivia were beginning to be awake. I hugged them tightly before going to the school board, checking my score and roommates.

    Arriving in ten minutes, I could see students from different grades. There were four grades with different results. Checking the first grade, I scored twenty-fifth on the written test, second on the mana test, and first on the specialized test, leaving me first on the overall test.

    Serena scored second on the written test, first on the mana test, and second on the specialized test. Overall she was second in our grade. I was surprised that I beat her. I guess the school wasn''t biased. The specialized test must be an essential factor.

    Now I found Olivia''s score. I was worried about her test. I wanted her to be in our ss. Her written test was below average, ranking three hundred and twenty-five. She ranked fifth on her mana test and twenty on the specialized test. Overall she was twenty-seven in my ss. I was relieved that she did well enough to be a ssmate of mine.

    I checked my acquaintance''s score, but they weren''t looking so good. Tess had an overall ranking of seventy-five, making her an A-ss student. Jenny was ranked fifty-two, almost making it to S.

    Without anything to do, I went back. Serena and Olivia were awake when I got back. "Did anything interesting happen during your walk?" Olivia asked, wondering how my stroll went.

    "I saw the results of our exam." Looking at their reaction, I could see them perk up.

    "I have no doubt that I would pass, but I bet Olivia stayed at A rank." Even though I did it with her yesterday, she was still mad that Olivia did that to her.

    Olivia, who heard that it was downcast, wanted to be in our ss no matter what. "How did I do?" She was nervous when she said that.

    I could say she did terribly, but I would feel like shit if I said that. Being the good guy, I told the truth. "Don''t worry, you got to S ss." I gave her a hug congratting her.

    Kissing her on the cheeks, she smiled bashfully. "You did well." "Hehehe~" She chuckled while making a stupidly funny face.

    Serena, who was watching, was jealous of our interaction. But she did well enough to earn it, so she would let her have a moment this time.

    I didn''t want to leave Serena out of it, so it was her turn for a smooch. "You also did very well. I look forward to bing your ssmate again." She returned my hug and squeezed me tightly.<sub> </sub>

    After our short celebration, we ate and started to head toward ss. There weren''t many people here since the ss wasn''t ready for fifteen minutes.

    I took my usual seat with Serena. Olivia, who was new to this ss, took one to my front. "It''s a shame that Jenny was so close," Olivia said, missing her old ssmate. You can''t have them all.

    They talked about random topics for fifteen minutes, the ss was filled, about eighty percent of the students were reced with new ones, new faces appeared and some old. Our teacher Ms. Mary arrived looking like her usual self.

    "Good morning, everyone. I''m Mary Celeste, ss S-1 homeroom teacher. You may call me Ms. Celeste or Miss Mary or a teacher, whatever fits your taste. Some of you may not be in my ss next month, but it''s nice to have you." Wait, didn''t she say this justst month? Was it really a script?

    "Now that the first month has passed, the first years would be open to facilities they couldn''t ess. For example, you would be able to go to the mission board and earn credits bypleting them. In addition, you would have ess to this academy''s special dungeon that would allow you to fight monsters in there." I was getting bored of staying in my house for the whole day, now I could see what''s more in store. A bit of excitement was added to me when she said that.

    "We made an identity card for you. Pleasee and pick your card up in order." Ms. Mary called us up one by one in the seating orders from front to back.

    I then picked up my card, and my face was on it. There were rankings for multiple things and credit. I had a thousand credits on my card with an overall first ranking. There were also rankings for the arena for students who fought. Dungeon ranking for how many floors they''ve cleared.

    I was ranked a thousand and five hundred and one for both of my rankings. Is it the same for everyone or just me being first for overall ranking?

    "Starting now, the arena and dungeon ranking will be added to your monthly test. Please check them out before the end of the month so you won''t have to drop this ss." Some students were d that this system was implemented, while others looked down.

    Students like Olivia didn''t like this idea because her magic specializes in support. So she wouldn''t be able to fare well against other students.

    "Ms. Mary, what about students with no specialties with an attack? Doesn''t this discriminate against people who can''t use their magic to attack?" A student with ck hair said, questioning our teacher.

    "Sorry to disappoint you, but this school is to nurture the strong. If you want a suggestion, while supporting ss, mages can''t fare well against attacking mages. They could always develop a move that would assist them in countering them no matter how illogical it is."

    "By the way, dungeons are limited to six people. You can''t have more than six people at your party." She didn''t want someone to show up to a dungeon with more than six people.

 Chapter 36 Dungeon Diving

    Ms. Mary, who exined everything about the changes, left the room. There wasn''t much for her to say for today''s ss. So when that ss was over, the three of us left to go home.

    I was talking to Serena about the changes. Olivia was just there silent, thinking about what Ms. Mary had said.

    Arriving home, settling everything, I went to Olivia. She was there, dazed and worried about her ranking. Groping her breast, she gave me a loud moan. I surprised her with a sudden stimtion.

    "Do you want to do it right now?" Olivia, who thought that I was horny, asked.

    "No, Serena and I discussed that we want to go to the dungeon today, and you''reing with us!" I said without taking in her opinion.

    "Huh??? I don''t think you need me for it." Olivia was on the slopes when she said that.

    "Of course I need you. I ain''t leaving these bonkers." I put my hand under her breast, lifting them, attempting to lighten the mood.

    "Besides, who said that you''re useless? With you here, we can make it further." While she may not have moves that could protect herself or attack, she could make me and Serena stronger, destroying anything that woulde our way. In short, she is like a priest that gives us buffs and heals us.

    "Whether you like it or not, you''reing with us." I didn''t need to take her opinion into ount. She wouldn''te with us if I didn''t have my way with it. If all she did was worry, she wouldn''t be able to produce any results.

    Grabbing her hand, I dragged her and went to Serena''s room. "Serena, are you ready?"

    "I got everything needed for this trip." Although, as the heir to the strongest family, she had a magic pouch capable of storing everything inside without any limitation, she had everything needed for our dungeon dive.

    "Let''s go!" I said, full of enthusiasm, trying to hype them up.

    The dungeon the three of us would be entering would be the academy''s unique dungeon. Although the dungeon we would enter would be different for everyone, entering the dungeon with your sixrades. You would be teleported into the starting location in the dungeon, depending on the map you''re in.

    The dungeon is said to have a hundred floors for every different person, each having a boss on every floor.

    Near the dungeon''s entrance was a building we needed to enter. So we had to inform the receptionist that we were entering the dungeon so that if we were killed there, they would know that we had died if we didn''te out.

    Inside the building, people were waiting in line while others were talking and eating while discussing random topics. One may call this an adventure guild if it wasn''t only filled with students of our school.

    People here may turn in monster resources that they dropped for credits and socialize to form a party, amon area, before going to a dungeon.

    Waiting in line and finally talking to the receptionist. "My friends and I would like a pass to enter the dungeon," I told the receptionist what I wanted.

    "Please bring out your identity card." The receptionist said professionally, handing out my card to my roommates. She looked at it and widened her eyes. She wasn''t expecting to see people from such a prestigious family. I didn''t react much since this would happen more in the future.<sub> </sub>

    Writing down our names, she gave us a pass. On our way to the dungeon, something interesting caught my eye. There was a leaderboard of people who had made it down the dungeon.

    No. 1 Maria: Floor 95

    No. 2 Samantha Celeste: Floor 88

    No. 3 Charles Sris: Floor 88

    No. 4 Hailey Lunaris: Floor 88

    No. 5 Emily Brave: Floor 84

    Motivation shot me like a bullet, with the list going to tenth ce on the 80th floor. I wanted to be the first person to clear this dungeon. Maria, the person on top, was almost considered a god, something inside me wanted to beat that. I never was good at anything. Maybe this is my chance. Staring at it, I felt a shake in my body.

    "You have been staring at the leaderboard for a while. We should go already." Serena snapped me back to reality. Following them, we went to the entrance.

    "What kind of ce do you think we will end up in?" I didn''t know much about dungeons, but I wanted to know what we might face.

    "The chances of it being in a forest is high. Most monsters live in areas like these. If we''re unlucky, the areas we start at would be too hot or too cold." As expected of number two, someone knowledgeable was nice to be with.

    "I just hope the ce we end up in is a safe area." Olivia, who also didn''t know much, wished we didn''t end up in a horrible area.

    "Are you both ready?" I looked at both, and they nodded their heads. Without wasting any more time went in.

    The three of us marveled at the ce we teleported to. Everything around us was shiny, the cave filled with crystal and only crystals.

    "We might have hit the jackpot." I was shocked. This ce surpassed my expectations. It was the most beautiful ce that I had ever seen. Everything that we saw was crystallized. Purple, pink, and clear blue filled the entire room.

    In ces like these monsters, there would also be crystal-type monsters. The market for these things was pricey.

    "How much credit do you think we would get if we hunted everything?" Although I couldn''t say that I was a greedy person, I wanted to maximize everything we could get here.

    "We would at least get four digits worth of credit. It''s a shame that this is the first floor." Serena looked disappointed that we got here early, we may be lucky that we spawned here for the first floor, but we were also unlucky for it to be the weakest floor.

 Chapter 37 Crystal Cave Floor 1

    "Why don''t we start exploring? The lower floors usually take about thirty minutes for it to bepleted. We don''t have time to waste." So, making the call, we started exploring.

    This ce wasn''t as narrow as I thought it to be for a cave. With the cave being 30 meters wide and having a height of 5 meters, we have enough space to fight.

    The three of us then walked straight forward, and a monster appeared. There were three giant crystal golems. They had a height of two meters with a shiny red core in the middle.

    "Serena, I will take two of them while you take the other one!"

    "Got it!" Saying that, I aimed at the golem''s core and shot my sma beam at the first golem. I didn''t know how many monsters were in the cave, so the amount of mana I used on that attack wasn''t much.

    The magic attacknded and instantly destroyed it. Attacking the second one, I defeated both of them. Serena, on the other hand, had also finished her golem.

    "I heard the first floor was easy, but I didn''t think it was this easy." I honestly thought that the first floor would be harder, I didn''t do much, and I had already destroyed the golems.

    "The first floor to the tenth floor could be cleared by a first-rank magician. However, the difficulty would increase once we get to the eleventh floor."

    "Look at the shiny thing that they dropped!" Olivia screamed in excitement. People usually do like shiny objects. After all, they''re eye candies, after all.

    Olivia, who was picking them up, showed us what they were. "Three small mana cores and some crystallized stone," Serena told us what they were. It was a shame that we couldn''t take anything from the dungeon unless they were from monsters. These crystallized stones could be objects used to make armor or a weapon to conduct mana.

    "Let''s continue exploring." Finishing everything in this ce, we delved deeper into the cave. This time a different monster had appeared. Four crystal dogs were sitting on the ground, looking asleep.

    "I will deal with all of them at once," I whispered to them, not wanting to wake them up. Seeing that both Olivia and Serena agreed, I made a small sun sting them with it, exploding. I could feel the breeze of it. It was a shame that I didn''t have enough mana to create more mass for my sun. It will be destroyed when that happens or if that happens.

    With my explosion, the four crystal dog was destroyed. They didn''t even stand a chance against me. So, dropping four small mana cores and some crystal dog bone, we ventured in some more.

    "I''m getting bored of this ce. I don''t want this ce to be worse in my eyes. So let''s just beat the boss." Even if the scenery was incredible, everything else was boring. I wanted to have some excitement here.

    "It''s rare for you toin openly," Serena told me her thoughts. Olivia also widened when she heard that.

    "Can you me me? I was so excited to visit this ce; the first floor is too easy." I spoke to them about my true thoughts. Olivia gave me a nervous chuckle hearing that.

    "Serena, do you want to deal with the enemies? I doubt that the both of us would need to fight together."<sub> </sub>

    "I don''t mind testing my magic on them." She calmly said.

    We continued walking deeper into the cave. Dealing with a few more monsters like a breeze, Serena had items dropping. There wasn''t any item that looked rare from the looks of it.

    "Hey, Olivia." She was looking around, focusing on our surroundings.

    "Hmm?" Catching her attention, she looked at me cutely, unaware of what I would ask of her.

    "Can I y with your breast?" I don''t know why but squeezing them was something that would calm me down. I didn''t need to think much when ying with them.

    She was flustered listening to a random request of mine. Of course, it was unreasonable for me to say that but ying with something soft is quite entertaining.

    Olivia nodded shyly, looking away. Going behind her, I gently grabbed her, and we continued exploring. She was quietly looking down, unsure what to do. Her breathing was ragged.

    Serena, who saw what we were doing, sighed. She was already getting used to it. Serena knew nothing would change if she red at Olivia in jealousy. She had epted that they would need to share him. She also knew I favored Olivia a little more due to her adorable personality, someone easy to pick on.

    Having to fight every monster in the cave, they finally reached the end. There was a gate blocking the path. It was a steel door, unusual for a ce like this.

    "Looks like we made it to the end, Serena. Do you wanna take a break to fight it, or should I just destroy it?" I didn''t care what method we used. I wanted to see what she wanted.

    "I want to beat it," Serena said she was someone who liked to achieve something. So it wasn''t surprising for her to want to fight it.

    Olivia, using her magic, made us drinks, refreshing us. "Olivia, you really shouldn''t doubt yourself with that magic. It''s a lifesaver and good magic that would help anyone. With you, we could easily continue without taking too long to rest." I spoke the truth. Olivia was someone who couldn''t believe much about herself. I wanted to help her tackle that problem, at the very least.

    "He''s right, you might not be as good as me, but your magic is very convenient. It''s too bad my magic has some limitations preventing them from doing stuff like that." Serenaplimented her in her own way, it wasn''t great, but it was better than looking down on her entirely from the first time she met her.

    Olivia shed some tears, tears of happiness. While I oftenplimented her, Serena rarely did; it made her feel better about hearing that.

    Finishing our rest, we started pushing the steel door and went in.

 Chapter 38 Dungeon Boss And The Second Floor

    Finishing our rest, we started pushing the steel door and went in. The crystal cave was in a circr dome. There was but an arena filled with crystal. The boss was in the middle of it, staring at us without moving.

    The dome was muchrger than the path we took during our exploration. The boss itself was a giant crystal golem about three timesrger than the one we saw before. With the three of us walking closer toward it, its eyes started to glow red, looking at us as it roared, preparing for battle.

    Serena tested the waters and sent a fast lightning attack against the golem''s core. The golem, with its arm blocking the heart, stopped the attack without taking any damage. Serena''s eyes widened, seeing that a rank one monster had defended against it.

    Taking it seriously, with the core exposed in the middle, Serena quickly used gravity magic, pushing the golem. Unable to defend her magic, the golem fell to the ground, unable to get up. Then, making a needle of destruction, she pierced the golem''s core defeating the boss.

    She used more than half of her mana reserve fighting the golem. The amount of mana needed to bind the golem took a lot. Due to its heaviness, it needed more power for it to fall.

    "Haaa... Haaa..." Serena breathed heavily, tired from the amount of mana used. Nevertheless, it was an excellent way to defeat it.

    Olivia made a drink that restored a bit of mana and gave it to Serena. She recovered a bit by drinking it, and her breathing returned to normal.

    For a rank one boss, a level two magician would also have a hard time defeating it. You would need to immobilize it to hit its core without it constantly blocking one''s attack.

    With the golem gone, something came out of it. While it wasn''t rare for a boss to drop an artifact, it was still not a hundred percent drop rate. The mana core it dropped was about three times the size of a regr monster, and the crystal ore was of higher quality. It was a generous drop for a boss.

    "Serena! Olivia! The crystal golem dropped an artifact!" I shouted loudly, making sure that they heard me say it.

    Hearing that, they ran to me as quickly as possible, wanting to see what it dropped. It was a crystal ne, an essory that would easily attract anyone. Anyone would be jealous of the person that wears it.

    "Serena, you should take it. You beat it without our help." So I gave it to her. I wasn''t an essory type of guy. So it wasn''t a problem if I gave it to her.

    Taking it, she stared at it. Her eyes were dazzled by its pretty looks, with a smooth crystal chain wrapped around her and a crystal gemstone colored in light pink. She was charmed by its appearance.

    "Wow! It''s so pretty!" Olivia, who saw it, was in awe of its appearance. However, she had a tint of jealousy seeing Serena wear it. So while she was happy for her, she also wanted one.

    "We should check what your artifact does after our exploration." They were admiring the artifact for a while, I didn''t want to ruin her moment, but I didn''t want to waste time advancing.<sub> </sub>

    The boss was defeated. Upon its defeat, a gate appeared on the other end of the cave. When defeating a boss, you could save your progress by touching a floating crystal near the end of the dungeon floor. Once you feel it, you can teleport to where you left off once you clear the floor.

    I can''t have them stare at the artifact forever. Olivia and Serena could do it when we get back, attracting their attention as we go towards the gate and enter the second floor.

    The second floor was unlike the first floor. Compared to it, this ce was kind ofcking. The ce we are in is a forest. Like any forest, it was filled with trees. The leaf was green, the soil was dark brown, and the river flowed calmly without any wind passing.

    Despite the forest being the mostmon area, there wasn''t a path to know the boss''s location, so we had to wander around, hoping we would find it.

    "Serena, which path should we take?" It was better for me to hear the opinion of apetentpanion. I wasn''t someone with a good sense of direction. Olivia also wasn''t. She got lost on her way to the academy, so the best choice was to ask Serena."

    "Charlie, what about my opinion?" Olivia cutely asked, wondering why I didn''t ask her.

    "Sorry to break it to you, but you don''t have a great sense of direction. Remember when you got lost on your way to the academy? You wouldn''t have made it if you weren''t lucky to meet me." I rubbed her cheeks like a cute animal.

    Olivia, who heard my exnation, remembered that and was flustered from embarrassment. "Please forget about that." Serena, who was listening in, also chuckled.

    "Why don''t we follow the river stream? We''ll always know where we are, and the chances of us getting lost is near impossible." I nodded at her exnation. There wasn''t any w to her idea, Olivia, who heard it, also agreed.

    With none of us disagreeing with her idea, we went in a straight line following the river stream. It was calming walking in scenery like this. While it wasn''t as breathtaking as the first floor, the air here felt terrific.

    As we walked, I heard noisesing from the bushes. "Stop!" I said an attack could happen any time, and it was better to prepare for an attack rather than run and be unorganized.

    Listening to mymand, the two of them stopped and froze. Then, realizing what was happening, they looked around, sensing any monster that would attack.

    They jumped out of the bush they were hiding in and ran right at us.

 Chapter 39 Second Floor And Olivias Deadly Move

    They jumped out of the bush they were hiding in and ran right at us. Wolves about ten wolves were running towards us. Preparing my magic, making as many sma bullets, Iunched them as fast as they could go.

    I thenunched my magic, and the bullet killed four of them, leaving the rest injured. Some of them could not move due to the injuries I had dealt to their legs.

    "AWOOOO!" The wolves howled, crying about something. Serena saw this chance andunched a wave of mes finishing the rest of the wolves.

    After finishing them, more wolves appeared. Did the wolves early call for the rest of the pack? If so, we gotta kill them fast just in case there''s more of them.

    Their speed was fast. Olivia using her food made something smelly. They stopped moving due to the horrible stench Olivia caused, affecting the monster and us. Covering myself in magic, I eliminated the smelling toward me.

    The monsters that cried in pain were rolling on the ground in pain. Finishing them off with my magic, the monsters that had attacked earlier have all died. This floor was much more dangerous than the first. The numbers here were almost quadrupled, making it take a while to clear them all.

    "OLIVIA, CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS SMELL?" I screamed. The smell was so bad that I had almost hurled earlier if it wasn''t because my magic took most of the stench off.

    Serena was also angry from the unexpected surprise, making a barrier on her body, blocking her sense of smell. She was fine for the most part.

    "Got it!" The food she made disappeared, and the smell lingered, but it wasn''t as bad as before.

    "What did you make to make the food smell that bad?" I wanted to know what the smell that assaulted me was.

    "It was stinky tofu." That''s why the food smelled like moldy socks. I was lucky that my magic could shave some of the smell off. Otherwise, my nose would''ve gone wrong.

    "Olivia, please warn us about it next time you do something like that." I grabbed her cheeks and pulled them angrily. She made me smell something terrible without giving me any warning. The smell was revolting. I don''t know what would happen to me if I kept smelling it.

    "I''m sowry." She tried to apologize, unable to say it correctly due to me pinching her.

    Serena, who was still covered in a barrier, didn''t want to release it. She wanted to ensure the smell was gone before she did that.

    "I just want to help!" I couldn''t stay angry at her for helping to let go. I sighed. Checking the drops of the dead wolves, I went to their bodies. Having to see about twenty mana cores and some fur skining from them, we put them up in Serena''s pouch.

    It was good that I had sensed something wrong earlier. It would''ve been bad if we were anyter in defending. Olivia could have been hurt if that had happened.

    "We should continue on forward. There could also be more of these wolves nearby if we took a rest." Standing here doing nothing could be detrimental. We needed to finish the boss as soon as possible.

    "Charlie''s right. We should continue going." Serena said that she let go of the barrier, protecting her from the bad smell from earlier.<sub> </sub>

    Hearing both of our opinions, Olivia joined in and agreed. So with no one disagreeing with the idea, we moved to the river and continued.

    Coming across, we have encountered a different kind of monster from a wolf. It was an odd-looking monster. I never thought a fish-looking monster would appear so humanoid. Is this what they call a Murloc? It was a disturbing sight, to say the very least.

    It had a yellow body mixed with orange; the eyes were unnecessarilyrge. The teeth looked kind of freaky. It had legs like a human, with three toes each making them pointy themselves, which wasn''t pleasant to see. With its gills moving creepy, it looked disgusting. Holding a trident with its arms, it ran straight towards us.

    I could also see Serena disgusted by its appearance. Olivia looked away from it, scared of its appearance. Iunched an attack using my magic to explode it, leaving with nothing left of the monster. I didn''t like looking at it, so I instantly killed it.

    "Thank God you did that; otherwise, I would''ve done it myself." Looks like Serena also wanted to finish that abomination.

    "I don''t think it was that bad." She said, trying to be nice to the Murloc.

    "You don''t need to feel bad for a monster," I told her she didn''t have to care about her opponent.

    Getting the mana core, we continue our exploration. The trip wasn''t that hardpared to the wolves that had attacked us earlier. Was that just a rare event for a second floor?

    Crossing against mammal-type monsters wasn''t that hard to defeat. Judging by these monsters, the boss was probably a mammal also.

    After twenty minutes more of walking, we found ake. On the other side of theke, the ce was blocked off. Was it the border of this dungeon?

    "I think we went in the wrong direction." Olivia was concerned that we had to walk back. Both me and Serena were annoyed by this fact.

    "How unlucky." I looked up at the sky, ming my horrible luck.

    Lamenting our luck, something in the water began to shake. Feeling the mana of the monster, I felt something was wrong.

    "It''s a secret, boss!" Serena yelled in surprise. A secret boss? I remember reading a book about a dungeon containing secret bosses'' knowledge.

    Secret bosses are much stronger than regr bosses, but the chances of finding them are challenging. Not every floor has a secret boss. When defeating a secret boss, we would be able to skip floors, and not to mention the artifacts dropped from them are valuable.

    I smirked at this find. It was almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight it. Seeing it beginning to appear, we get ready to fight.

 Chapter 40 Secret Boss Fight (Part I)

    "Olivia! Bring out the snacks!" Listening to my orders, she made a stick of crackers filled with chocte giving it to both of us. Taking a bite and snapping it in half, my magic power was boosted by ten percent. Ten percent may be low, but it wasn''t something to scuff at.

    Charging my magic as the monster began to surface out of theke, I tried to gather as much mana as possible.

    Seeing the monster appear was a monster I could expect to see in a fantasy world. Appearing tall, the height of eight meters tall with its beautiful blue scale, a serpent appeared. With its horn on the top of the serpent''s head, he sent a ray of mana at us.

    Having to deal with that attack, Iunched my sun at it, destroying the attack and going past to hit the serpent. However, the serpent saw and passed my attack, making it miss.

    "Fast!" I was shocked by its speed. Judging by the speed, hitting him would be hard.

    "Serena, try to lessen the movement of the serpent!" I yelled out and gave her amand.

    "No problem!" Serena answered confidently, thinking that she could lessen the movement of the secret boss.

    The serpent weaved in a zig-zag, making the chances of me attacking miss, moving left and right. It went to me, seeing that my magic was the most dangerous.

    I couldn''t let it get close to me. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to defend myself. Serena was using curse magic to weaken the boss. Launching multiple mini suns with a diameter of three centimeters

    The serpent couldn''t dodge all of my attacks due to Serena''s curse making it graze it. It hurt the monster, but the amount of damage I had done wasn''t enough to weaken it.

    Angered by my attack, it hissed at me, running towards me at full force. I couldn''t let this chance go in a short burst. I used a lot of mana to make a giant sun, hoping my attack wouldnd.

    Unfortunately, the serpent''s reaction speed was breakneck enough to dodge sideways. Then, seeing that I missed it, it used its full force and attacked me.

    It was getting closer, covering me in a fire. I took a blow on my body with its tails mming it onto me.

    Sending me back, Inded on a tree nearby. "Arghh!" I groaned in pain. I felt pain. Even when my fire armor blew, it still hurt like hell. It was my first time taking a hit. I wasn''t resistant to any kind of physical pain. On the bright side, the serpent felt the pain of attacking my fire armor.

    "Charlie!" Olivia shouted, worried about my condition. Olivia began feeding me with her magic, and my pain was reduced. However, the monster was attacking Serena, and it didn''t look like she would hold on for much longer.<sub> </sub>

    I had no time to waste. "Thanks, Olivia," I sputtered, returning to the battle. With the boss upied with Serena, I made a long sma rod. I sent it to the serpent, who didn''t suspect a thing was hit, piercing its scales and making a hole in the middle of its body.

    The serpent hissed in pain, feeling the pain of its body being pierced and the after-effects of the heating from it. Then, slithering around in pain, it went after me, shooting a breath of water at me.

    Countering the attack, Iunched my own beam at it. With my magic stronger, it pushed the serpent''s water breath back without resistance.

    Serena, who saw this chance, sent her own magic using the destruction magic on the serpent''s wound. With her hitnding, the boss water breathpletely stopped its attack, and my beam went in and made another piercing on the serpent.

    It was also dead. Another attack and it would be defeated. I couldn''t let the chance go and shot a sma beam finishing it.

    The serpent cried in desperation. Then, with anger, something happened. It was shedding its skin, the boss shed its skin, and the damage dealt earlier had recovered. The body grew to ten meters tall. Instead of having one horn, another one grew.

    I felt its mana. It had evolved into a more powerful beast. It was now a rank three monster, something that none of us had excepted. This fight would be the hardest one I would''ve fought.

    ? "Shit!" I cursed at it, feeling cheated that the boss grew in strength. I was in disbelief. Olivia and Serena''s faces paled. Seeing that it grew much more powerful, it was already hard enough to fight this.

    Using more mana in my attack, I sent a sma ray, attempting to hurt the serpent. Seeing the serpent dodge quickly, it ran towards me quicker than before. Fuck! I thought to myself, could we beat this thing? Or would we be killed?

    At full force, I made myself sma armor. I then attacked it with small bullets at a fast pace, my attacks were grazing it, but it wasn''t affecting its speed to me.

    Taking the full brunt of its attack, I was sent flying. The attack earlier was nothingpared to the one that I took earlier. I couldn''t move properly. The pain in my body was hurting too much. My body couldn''t stand the pain for me to stand correctly. I was breathing too heavily, gasping for air.

    Olivia ran to me as fast as possible, seeing that I was hurt. "Charlie!" She screamed with tearsing out of her.

    "I''m sorry that I couldn''t do anything." She cried, anguished from herck of ability to do anything.

    "Charlie, I''m going to use all my mana to recover you. Please win this battle!" Feeding me thest of her mana, she fainted. I had recovered from the serpent attack, and Olivia trusted me with everything. I couldn''t let that trust go to waste. I then began to go back and try to beat the boss.

 Chapter 41 Secret Boss Fight (Part II)

    Standing up, I ran back to the battlefield for the third time. I could see Serena knocked out as I came to the battle. Like me, she couldn''t do anything about it. I had to find a way for it to keep it away from her. I had to win here, or all of us would die.

    I had to think of a way to beat it. I had to think of a way to hit it. How would I hit it despite its speed? Then, thinking hard, something came to mind. I had one chance; otherwise, it would be the death of all of us.

    The serpent, who sensed my presence, slithered its way towards me, trying to finish me off. Gathering as much mana as possible using the sunlight, I shot a UV ray at it. The serpent couldn''t see it, and with the speed of my attack, it hadnded.

    "Taste cancer fucker!" I screamed at it with rage, the serpent who heard it couldn''t understand what I said, but it felt my malicious intent. Then, angered by my taunt, it ran straight to me, confident in beating me.

    I then smiled,ughing at its confidence. My attack had hit its entire body. It cried in pain. The UV attack I did was burning its eyes. While my attack wasn''t powerful, it was something that would hurt the more it came into contact. The radiation poisoning and the burning effect of my attack were deadly, something I wouldn''t suggest using on a person.

    On the monster, I didn''t feel the need to hold back on using it. However, the serpent handling the effect of my magic was hissing in massive pain.

    The cells in its body began to die, and its eyes were burnt, unable to see. The blueness of its body began to fade. Of course, my attack wouldn''t have killed it. It was more of a torture attack that caused massive pain to anyone touching it.

    That attack had used about eighty percent of my mana. The serpent who was in pain couldn''t feel anything but it. Unable to see, I used all my mana to make a sun andunched it at it.

    The sun that I created had hit it, and with it exploding on it, the serpent had died. I couldn''t move because the moves that I used were mana taxing. I was smiling despite feeling tired. Finally, I won this fight. I thought mypanions and I would die when it evolved and hit us.

    A secret boss that could evolve what a load of bullshit that was. I needed more training just in case an incident as this happened. I fell down on the floor, unable to stand. I was tired. My eyes were closing, and with them closed, everything around me closed.

    Third Person POV

    Everyone who was fighting the serpent was down. After thirty minutes, Serena, who was hurt badly, was the first to be awake. Although, unlike the other two, she still had mana to spare, she was knocked out by an attack of the serpent making her awake.

    "Is it over?" She said as she stood up. She held her head, still dizzy from the attack earlier. Looking around, she found the items dropped from the serpent. She knew that Charlie had defeated the boss somehow.

    "To think I was that pathetic during this fight." She clenched her fist in anger. As the highest nobility in the country, she couldn''t do anything to a monster of the same rank as her. She was angry at her own abilities. She felt useless in the fight; only who''s only role was there to distract time.

    "Being angry isn''t going to help." Then, realizing that being angry wasn''t going to help, she shook her negative thoughts away and checked where her friends were.<sub> </sub>

    She wondered where the other two were. Looking around, she first found Charlie near the boss drop. Checking his condition, she needed to see if he needed any medical attention.

    Seeing that he was fine and only fainted due to overuse of mana, she sighed in relief. But, finding that Charlie was okay, she had to find Olivia''s body.

    Searching around for Olivia''s body, she found her in five minutes. It was lucky that nothing had happened to her when they were all down. Checking her condition, she was in the same position as Charlie, the overuse of mana.

    Seeing that her body was fine, she carried her body next to Charlie. Serena wished that she could do anything to help them. But unfortunately, the magic that allows her to "wish" for anything has limitations.

    Unlike Olivia, her magic needed constant use for it to appear. On the other hand, Olivia just needed to create something for it to be a real object. The simrity of their magic was scary, it was simr, but the limitations were different.

    Serena, unlike Olivia, could create anything with the need for magic. Olivia could create objects that weren''t magical but didn''t need mana to maintain them.

    She looked at Olivia with curiosity. She remembered that Charlie had asked if they were rted. She could see simrities in their appearance and magic. At the same time, their personalities were different and had no rtion to that topic.

    "Maybe we are rted." She looked up, unsure of that possibility. Thinking about it, Olivia had woken up.

    "Serena?" Olivia said as she looked at her as she was the first person to see in her sight.

    Remembering what had happened, Olivia was worried. "How''s Charlie?"

    "Charlie is doing fine. He''s right beside you. He had overused his mana when he fought the serpent, he just needed to rest, and he would be fine.

    Olivia''s worries had been dispelled when Serena said that. Instead, she looked at him in admiration. He had beaten a monster that was of higher rank than them.

    "Don''t you think Charlie is amazing?" Olivia said with a bit of sadness in her words.

 Chapter 42 Secret Boss Fight Aftermath (Part I)

    Serena, who heard Olivia''s words, felt something was wrong with them. "No matter what he does, he always does something easily. Despite all his concerns, he always gets the job done." Olivia talked more in detail about what she thought.

    "Sometimes, I think I''m unworthy to stand by his side." Serena finally understood what was wrong with her speech earlier. The sess of Charlie is making Olivia doubt her own value.

    Hearing this, Serena also felt it as well after the fight with the serpent. She didn''t understand this at first. All her life, she was at the top of everything.

    Fighting with the serpent made her see her weakness. Unlike Charlie, who could grow at an incredible rate, Serena felt she was growing too slowly. The anger from her worthlessness back then was proof of that.

    "Charlie''s talent is unimaginable. We won''t be able to help him with his enemies in the future. The most we could do is support him." Olivia continued with her depravity, Serena listening to her wanting to make her shut up.

    Serena, someone who was prideful, wouldn''t want to be looked down upon. Hearing Olivia''s words hit her hard. Deep down, she knew it was true. She wished there was some way she could help.

    She sighed, in frustration, unable to find an answer to it. She couldn''t help muchpared to Olivia. That could make him stronger. Earlier in the fight, without Olivia, Charlie wouldn''t be able to fight the serpent.

    While Olivia was spouting all these depraving words, Serena knew that Olivia would always be helpful despite saying all these.

    On the other hand, Olivia thought that, unlike her, Serena could assist Charlie with any magic she coulde up with.

    With everything said and done, the both of them were silent. Both Serena and Olivia thought about what they said earlier. They could only be depressed by their own situation.

    "If that is the case, I will do my best to support Charlie!" Olivia, who was hit by her uselessness, was determined. She knew that thinking like that would only make the situation worse than it was. Only by doing what she could do at best would she be happy with it.

    Serena, unlike Olivia, couldn''t have the same conclusion as Serena. Unlike Olivia, Serena wanted more than to just be his support. She wanted to be equal to Charlie but knew she couldn''t.

    Charlie''s POV

    Waking up, I was tired, my body was weakened, and my mana was at an all-time low. What had happened for it to happen? I couldn''t remember what had happened before. No, wait, I remembered everything. Fighting the serpent had cost me all of my mana. Using everything I had, I killed it.

    While I was tired, I felt afortable feeling in my head. Seeing that Olivia was giving me a pillowedp, I stayed lying there, not wanting to move.

    Olivia looked at me and gave me a calm smile that seemed like something had been lifted from her shoulder. "Did you have a good rest?" She asked to check on the condition of my body.

    "I''m still tired from my fight against the serpent. My body still hasn''t recovered enough for me to move, and my mana is fully drained." I tiredly said as I exined to her the condition of my body.

    "Where is Serena?" I wondered where she went. I haven''t seen her yet.<sub> </sub>

    "She is doing some thinking near theke." Olivia looked in her direction, telling me where she had gone.

    Rolling my head in Olivia''sp, I could see Serena staring at theke, thinking deeply about something. She looked unsure of what to do.

    "Should we leave her like that?" I was wondering if we could help her with her issue. Olivia, hearing this, shook her head.

    "I don''t think this is something we should intervene in."

    "Do you know what Serena''s problem is?" I asked Olivia. She nodded her head but said nothing. Seeing that asking won''t work, I would ask Serenater.

    "Should we leave? With my current state, it would be dangerous if some other monster attacked us right now." I told my concerns to Olivia.

    "Then let''s leave, Serena! Charlie is awake. Let''s leave!" Olivia shouted at Serena, prompting her to leave. Serena wasn''t listening or was too out of it to hear what Olivia was saying.

    p "Did we get anything from the boss?" I would be mad if all we got was jack shit if I had to kill that stupidly fast boss.</anda>

    "We got a pair of earrings. It was the prettiest one I had ever seen." She spoke with vigor, saying it like it was the best thing she had ever seen.

    "Could you support me? I don''t think I can walk properly in my condition." I wasn''t expecting Olivia to lift me in a princess carry style. The people in this world are much stronger physically than in my old world. Lifting me wasn''t much of a problem for her.

    I wasn''t someone too prideful, so the way she carried me wasn''t much of a bother. In fact, I prefer her carrying me over walking in my situation.

    Olivia, who was carrying me, went to Serena. "Serena!" Olivia shouted next to her. Being shouted at, Serena jumped and looked at us. She looked grumpy and wasn''t too pleased by how Olivia woke her up from her thoughts. Serena then looked at me and was unable to say a thing.

    "It''s time to leave." Olivia reminded Serena that we were in a dungeon and walked to the next floor.

    With the serpent dead, a door appeared, and a save crystal appeared. With the three of us touching the save crystal, our progress had been saved.

    There were many ways to leave the dungeon, one was to buy a dungeon exit for your party, and another was to defeat the boss and use the save crystal to leave.

    Having the save crystal here, we exited the dungeon and teleported out to the dungeon exit teleporter.

 Chapter 43 Earning Credits

    With us exiting the dungeon exit teleported, Olivia carried me to the building that had dealt with the dungeon materials. Putting me on a chair inside the building, both Olivia and Serena went to the receptionist.

    "Good afternoon. How may I help you?" The new receptionist was different from the one we went to earlier. I wouldn''t be surprised if they shifted. I was close enough to hear them talk as Olivia put me in the closet seat to them.

    "We''re here to sell everything we earned from our adventure." Olivia happily said. On the other hand, Serena let Olivia do all the talking as she wasn''t in the mood to do so. Then, taking out her magic pouch, she took out everything from the first floor.

    The receptionist was surprised by the materials we got. But she was disappointed by the quality of them. "It''s a shame that your materials were from the first floor. Otherwise, the price of your material would increase substantially.

    "The mana cores of the monster and the crystal ores are worth eight hundred credits, while the floor boss crystal ore and mana cores are worth a thousand. So you would get a total of a thousand and eight hundred with them." She told us the total price of the material that we got.

    p Serena then put out more items that we got from the second floor. "All of these items you got are worth two hundred credits." Hearing that value was disappointing. However, the materials on the second floor were expected, so the prices were lower.</anda>

    Putting out what the serpent had dropped, the receptionist was shocked. She hadn''t expected a monster of this caliber from some first-year students.

    "Where did you find these materials?" The receptionist asked due to her curiosity.

    "We fought a secret boss on our second floor. At first, the serpent boss was a rank two monster, but when we cornered it, it evolved and turned into a third-rank boss. If it wasn''t for our leader over there, we would''ve died." Olivia exined it happily, praising me for my achievement. Of course, I got bashful about being praised like that.

    "I see!" The receptionist was shocked that I was able to kill it but was happy that we sold the items to them.

    "The mana core is worth one thousand credits, the serpent''s blood is worth three thousand credits, and the serpent scales are worth eight thousand credits. Adding all three is twelve thousand credits." I, Olivia, and Serena were shocked by the price that we had gotten. We were rich just by doing our first dungeon.

    Having everything sold, we earned a total of fourteen thousand credits.

    "Do you mind checking out the artifacts that we got?" Serena spoke for the first time since I was awake. I guess she was wondering what the effects of the ne she got were.

    "Please follow me." The receptionist said excitedly, seeing what artifacts we earned during our dungeon raid. Olivia, who carried me and followed them, I take it back when I said I wasn''t embarrassed. Maybe I was toofortable with Olivia and Serena that I didn''t care how I was carried. With other people, it was embarrassing to be seen like this.

    Going to the second floor of this building, we entered a door. Seeing a gadget that could scan the effects of an artifact was breathtaking. The machine was highly advanced for something like this. There wasn''t anything that could bepared to my old world.<sub> </sub>

    "Wee to the artifact room. Here we will be scanning your artifacts to scan them. Please put them in a container for it to proceed.

    Serena put her ne on the container, and the scanning process began. We could see the machine using mana to oversee everything about the ne. In ten seconds, the results were out.

    With the scanning giving us the stats of the ne, we could see what it was. The ne would increase any kind of defense-type magic by twenty percent. For Serena, such an item would increase her chances of survival.

    Seeing the results, she was satisfied with the results. With it only being a level floor boss, the effects of the item were already significant.

    "If you want, you could sell that artifact for five thousand credits." The receptionist said. Serena, who heard that, red at her. Seeing that she was red at, she stopped talking, knowing that Serena would keep it.

    Looking ufortable, she asked a different question. "Do you have any other artifacts you would like to be identified? Or that would be all?" She sounded so sure that we had another one. Maybe she could tell that the artifact we showed wasn''t the one from the secret boss.

    Serena handed her a pair of bright blue gem earrings. It was my first time seeing it. Unfortunately, when I woke up, Serena had already looted it, and with her mind going in a different direction, I couldn''t see it.

    The receptionist''s eyes gleamed when she saw it. Then, having put it on the scanner and anticipating the results, I was shocked by the results.

    Wearing one of the earrings alone gave fifty percent mana regeneration. Not long after that, it also increased mana projectile speed by twenty percent. I then began to wear both, and the effects were to be doubled. Anyone who saw them would be shocked that our first years would be able to get it.

    "You wouldn''t mind selling that to us for fifty thousand credits, would you?" The receptionist shamelessly asked.

    No one spoke when she said that. "I guess not." She sighed, knowing the chances of them selling were low.

    Having nothing to do here, we left. "Do we split our earnings equally? I don''t have a problem with that." Without Olivia healing me, I doubt I would beat the boss, and without Serena stalling for time, we would''ve all died.

    "I didn''t do much, so I will give you some of my shares." Olivia bashfully said. Serena also joined in, saying that she thought that she didn''t do enough making me get sixty percent of the earnings, while both of them got twenty. So with that, I had nine thousand and four hundred credits. She also gave us the earrings letting us do whatever we wanted with them.

    "Olivia, could you carry me home? I want to take a rest for now." Olivia was still carrying me, and we left for our house. Serena, on the other hand, had gone to do something else.

 Chapter 44 Monster King??

    Olivia, who took me back home, put me in my bed. I couldn''t put any effort into taking a bath. Olivia was also tired of today''s dungeon, having to fall into each other''s arms as we fell asleep.

    Third Person POV Headmasters Office

    "Headmaster Lorey, there was another report of an irregr monster appearing in a dungeon." A ck-haireddy who was in an officedy dress said

    "The fifth report this week?" The headmaster solemnly said, getting a beer and downing it. She then looked out the window in an office building, frowning at the current predicament.

    "What problems would we face in the future that would make you uneased?" Looking at the expression of the headmaster, she felt something wrong. Given the ck-haireddy''s trust in the headmaster, seeing her worry about a problem must mean that something wrong would''ve happened shortly.

    "This era''s Monster King." She said, cutting it to the chase.

    "Mmm-mon-nn-ssteeeer KkkkIiii-nnnggg? We already have problems with the corruption of spirits, the monster king, are you sure?" The ck-haireddy stuttered, saying that.

    "We haven''t had a monster king in a hundred years. The time for one to appear wouldn''t be too far from the future." She sighed, knowing what she said was true.

    "What do we do about this?" The ck-haireddy was scared, unable to think clearly.

    "Inform every ruler in the continent. We need to make a meeting about this." The principal left the room and started her preparations on the beast king.

    Charlie''s POV

    I had woken up from my slumber, and Olivia was already awake, absorbing mana, using her time to train. How long had I slept? I wasn''t tired anymore. I didn''t expect to heal this fast. I could still feel the pain that the serpent did to me, but it was much better than yesterday. I haven''t taken a bath since yesterday''s excursion, so I will take one now.

    I regained the mana I lost yesterday, getting the water in my tube. I sat down feeling pain when I dipped my body in the water. The bruises I had weren''t fully healed yet. However, the pain settled when I didn''t move from my spot.

    Having finished taking my bath, I left the room. Olivia hadpleted her training and was waiting for me to get out of the bathroom.

    "Goodmorning Charlie! Do you feel any difort?" Olivia asked if I was still hurt.

    "I have a few bruises from yesterday''s fight. It wouldn''t hinder me that much." I told her not to worry about it.

    "I see. Why don''t we have lunch so I could have you recover faster?" Seeing that I hadn''t eaten anything yet, I agreed.<sub> </sub>

    Having lunch, we talked about what we would do about the earrings we got from the boss.

    "Charlie, I think you should take the earrings, I won''t be able to use most of them, and I think that you using them would help us progress faster in the dungeon." She didn''t hesitate when to say that. She wouldn''t mind me having it even if she wanted to.

    I had never worn an earring before, so I had never pierced my ears. I wonder how much pain I would feel.

    "Are you sure? You seem to really like it." When she first told me about it, her eyes had shined, mentioning it.

    <o>,m "I really do, but I don''t want to waste the artifact''s effects." Although sometimes, she is selfless, I sigh, resigned that it might take too much of an effort for her to ept.</o>

    Coming up with a way to help her feel better, I thought of an idea. "I see. Why don''t we go spend our credits? Then, we can see if there was an artifact that would be a fit for you."

    Seeing that we could go shopping, we cheered up. After finishing our lunch, my body felt lighter. The bruise I had in my fight mainly had recovered; by tomorrow, I would be back in total health.

    "Olivia, do you know a ce where I could get my ears pierced? I never had my ears pierced before, so I''m pretty nervous about getting one." I told my concerns about the earrings to Olivia.

    "We can get them pierced after checking what we get in the store. You don''t need to be so worried about it. The pricey ces have people using the magic, making it feel like nothing!" She chuckled, seeing me worried about something trivial.

    The shopping district in this ce was huge. The area that we went to was thergest building in the shopping district. The Saint Maria''s Mall, how original. What makes this mall unique is that they only ept our earned credits. I wondered what service they would provide in such a ce.

    Both Olivia and I felt the anticipation of arriving inside the mall. Most of the people we saw here were seniors and workers in this mall. It wasn''t surprising, considering we barely had any credits for the first years.

    "Why don''t we have your ears pierced right away? I want to see you wear those earrings." I didn''t mind. In fact, I might as well get this over with.

    Going to a professional stylist that has experience in piercing ears. I had my ears pierced, using magic that suppressed my feelings and eased my anxiety. I wasn''t someone good with needles.

    My earlobe, pierced by the stylist, had healed my ears, so there wouldn''t be any swelling and pain afterward. Meaning I could wear my earrings immediately.

    Equipping them, I was surprised I didn''t feel much of them when wearing them. While my mana was at one hundred percent, I could feel that the speed at that I could regain them was twice as fast. It had a nice feeling to it.

    "Wow, you look so pretty!" Olivia praised me when I wore them. These earrings could add some femininity to everything we started shopping for in the academy''s biggest mall.

 Chapter 45 Artifacts Shopping

    Going inside the mall, I would say that this ce was the most exaggerated-looking ce I had ever seen. Everything here looked expensive. The floors, walls, and roofs were made of ores/crystals. With the size of the mall, I wouldn''t be surprised if the building material cost billions in terms of credit.

    Is that how the academy unts its riches? I personally think that was overkill. Olivia was speechless seeing this ce. Her mouth was wide open, unable to close. She was too afraid to step inside, intimidated by how expensive this ce was.

    "Olivia, I may agree that this ce is overkill, but we just can''t stand here all day." I held her hand while walking around the mall. Some people were looking at us, amused by our reactions. I guess some of them enjoyed looking at neersing here.

    Holding Olivia''s hand, we walked around the mall. Different kinds of services can be seen here. Although many high-quality food stores were sold here, they also had a game store that would quickly drain someone''s credit if they weren''t careful enough.

    Finding a store that had artifacts in it, we went in. The store had many different kinds of artifacts, from essories to armor to weapons. Should I get a weapon that could enchant my attack?

    "Olivia, which essories would you like to check out first?" I didn''t know what she wanted to see at first, so I asked for her thoughts on the matter.

    "Could we... check the ring section?" She shyly said.

    I smiled, amused by her request. "Sure! Let''s check them all." Going to the section where they should have the rings, we could see a decent amount of them.

    The store itself had covered the artifacts in ss panels. We could read the artifact''s effects written on the side of the panel.

    Olivia and I then checked around, having to see everything. There were only three ringspatible with Olivia. The first ring was a ring made of violet-colored metal, with a dark blue gem in the middle. The artifact gave the ability to increase the effect of any spell by ten percent. So it was a ring that could increase anything. While the increase wasn''t much, it was essible to everyone.

    The second ring was a diamond-looking ring with a purple gem on top of it. The artifact gave anyone who wore it forty percent power to increase their ability to heal. This one was much better than the first one, but this one was limited to just healing.

    And finally, the third ring was a blue ring with a sapphire-like gem. It could recover mana by fifty percent. With this, she could use her ability more.

    "Which of the three would you prefer? Their prices are lower than I thought they would be." I thought there would be something better here. We would''ve had to check a better store if we wanted one.

    "I''m not sure which to pick!" She was pretty indecisive when deciding which to choose. There were many options to choose from, but I couldn''t pressure her to pick something she didn''t want.<sub> </sub>

    "If you want, we could check other stores. There could be better pieces of artifacts in other ces." So I gave Olivia a suggestion to see if she could check the other options that she could get.

    "Let''s do that." Olivia held my hand, walking out of the store. Checking multiple stores, we found five great choices that would help Olivia.

    The first ring is called Ring Of Assistance which has a silver base and a red circle gem in the middle of it. It allowed any buff to be increased by fifty percent, significantly boosting anyone.

    The second ring we found is called Cobra''s Poisonous Ring, which could shoot poison depending on how much mana you spend using it. The look of the ring was pretty creepy. The base of the ring was green, scaly, and had a snake-looking eye on top of it. This would help her protect herself, but I doubt she would want it.

    The third ring that I found interesting was the Soft Teleportation ring. It was pretty good for people that wanted to stay safe. The ring allowed anyone to teleport three meters every thirty seconds.

    The fourth ring is called the Ring of Petrifaction. It was rocky, which looked like a pain to use. It froze anyone that looked at the user''s eyes. It was good if Olivia was stronger. Maybe I should get it since my mana capacity was higher.

    And finally, the fifth ring, Devil''s Luck. The ring was a ck ring that was solely ck. It increases a person''s luck by fifty percent, and it was illegal to use for casinos or any gambling areas.

    "Have you decided which ring you would pick?" There were two rings I knew that Olivia would choose, I didn''t mind if we got two for her, but that was her choice in the matter.

    "I would like to get this ring!" She pointed at it, and I fully supported her choice, so we purchased it. The cost of it was seven thousand. Using all her creditsbined with mine left me with five thousand and two hundred. It wasn''t that bad, honestly.

    Putting the ring on her ring finger, she smiled shyly. "Is there something wrong?" I didn''t understand why she was red, so I asked. She shook her head, saying that she was okay.

    Since we came all the way here, I might as well get something that I found helpful for me. I bought a rank two fire sword that increased my damage by ten percent. Paying five thousand, I had two hundred credits left. I lost all my credits in one session. I would''ve to spend more time in the dungeon next time.

    With all that said and done, we decided to go to a restaurant to try out new foods that she could conquer in the future.

 Chapter 46 Swords For Dummies

    A day has passed since our shopping spree. Serena, who was on her own, was still away; she hasn''te back since then. I was starting to get worried about her. Maybe I should check in on her.

    Olivia, who was still sleeping beside me, was sweetly sleeping. I didn''t want to attend today''s ss because I wanted to train with the sword. But, fighting the serpent, I found a ring weakness within me. I couldn''t fight someone who was much faster than me. That was someone on the same power scaling as me.

    As someone from a peaceful world, I didn''t need to train my reflexes for any fighting. Charlie was isted from the world, so he wasn''t trained much. It also made me realize that I couldn''t fight anyone that was going to fight me physically. When the serpent attacked me, my first thought was to defend myself from harm. If I knew how to fight with my fist or if I knew how to wield a sword, then I wouldn''t have to let myself get hit.

    I didn''t know how to use a sword. My first thought was to swing it repetitively just to get the hang of it. My coordination was terrible. My bnce was a mess when I held my sword and swung it. I could only me myself for not doing many physical activities.

    ? Swinging my sword for half an hour, I felt more in tune with it, my skills may be wrong, but it was better than before. I needed to wake Olivia up. While it may be hypocritical to skip ss, I didn''t want Olivia to fail next month''s ss because of a written test.

    Going back, Olivia was awake. She was in the bathroom, by the looks of it. I didn''t want to bother her there, so I sat down in the living room. Having to wait, Olivia came out of the bathroom.

    "Good morning Olivia." I greeted her as she sat down beside me, putting her head on my shoulder.

    "Good morning Charlie." She greeted me back. She was a bit tired of saying it.

    Olivia, who was a bit tired, made us breakfast. We began eating and started to talk about our ns for the day.

    "I''m going to skip today''s ss," I told her that I was going to skip ss for the morning.

    "May I ask why?" She wondered why I would do that, I had my own ns for the day, so I told her.

    "Remember the sword that I bought? I want to train with it." I said, holding it, the de was the color orange with a bit of red tint on it, and the hilt was a metal coated in gray. I liked the design of the sword,

    "Should I watch over you?" She said, wanting to know how I was training.

    "No, I don''t want you to miss a lesson just to watch over me." It wouldn''t be funny if she missed a ss that would cover some parts of the exam. She was sad to hear that I wouldn''t go, but she knew it was for the better.

    "I see. Good luck then!" She gave me encouragement, hoping that my training went well.<sub> </sub>

    "Why don''t we go do something together after youe back?" I felt terrible leaving her to go to school alone, so I would make time for her.

    "I''m going now!" She said as she began to leave.

    "Study hard!" Leaving, I shouted, bidding her farewell.

    With Olivia leaving, I took a few minutes off, went outside, and began to train. Should I just find someone to teach me how to use a sword?

    I should just start with the basics. If I get a better feeling with them, I will find someone to help me advance in them.

    My first practice would be to swing my sword with both hands back and forth. Then, swinging my sword back and forth a hundred times, I began to learn to thrust my sword. I did see some improvements in my swordsmanship, but I wouldn''t be able to know if I was doing them correctly.

    Should I use a dummy for my training? Cutting left, and right seemed awkward, or am I not supposed to do that? Also, I wasn''t really that knowledgeable about weapons.

    Practicing for about thirty minutes, I began to get bored. My hands were red, and I was a bit tired. Maybe I should buy a book on how to use a sword.

    Going out, I bought a book that included the basics of how to use a sword, to think I was holding my sword wrong. The first step that I needed to do was to have the sword. Since I was right-handed, I used my right hand. I grabbed the de under the guard, and with my left hand, I held it on the right on the bottom of the sword. I felt stupid holding my sword with both of my hands in the middle of the hilt.

    Swinging my sword, I felt more in control. I could change the direction of my shes just by holding them like this.

    Reading the second step of the book, it told me to hold my sword guard above my belly button, I was already doing that, so I continued reading the third step.

    The third step was teaching me how to swing the sword. I had to ce my left leg behind my right to swing my sword. With my left leg, I had to stand on the balls of my feet, keeping my bnce, and when I swung, I pushed my left leg and slid my right swing at them.

    The book had a few more tips. Without the pictures in the book, it was rtively short. I felt that if I could repetitively practice the sword on a daily basis, I would be able to improve. With that, I swung my back and forth.

 Chapter 47 Farming Ranks (Part I)

    Doing an hour of my swinging sets, I stopped. I think it was enough practice for the day. There were other things that I had to do.

    I have wanted to try out the arena battle. My ranking in the arena was one thousand and seven hundred and sixty-nine. There were already two hundred and sixty-nine people in our grade that had begun fighting for their rank.

    More than half of them had fought, and I didn''t want to be left behind, so I went to the battle arena. It has been almost a month since I went here. The battle I had with Serena wasn''t even close. I would''ve lost instantly if she had used her hypnosis magic at the start. However, the current me would be able to defend well against moves like that. I don''t think I could be beaten by anyone this year.

    If I fought the second year, the top three would only be a match against me. I wouldn''t have to worry about them now since I would be fighting people at my grade or the lowest of the low of the second year.

    It was great that winning in a fight against your opponent would give you credit since the school encourages us to fight among ourselves. Therefore, they have to provide us with prizes to keep us motivated.

    I was also broke from myst shopping trip. So doing this will not only raise my grades but also give me money. It was like hitting two birds with one stone.

    Leaving the training ground, I went out and began my walk to the battle arena. There weren''t many people here, it was still pretty early, and ss had started. Most people here would only be people who want to battle or test their own strength.

    Previously I would just enter the battle arena since I had an opponent that I would battle. However, now that I wanted to raise my rank, I had to make a queue waiting for someone simr to my rank.

    I still couldn''t believe that some of the technologies in this world could be so advanced that other ideas were far below average. I guess culture matters, but in our cases, we needed to be stronger, so we probably didn''t have the time to do so.

    Touching the magicputer, I queued up for my battle. Putting my identity card on the screen, I was queued up for a match. Unfortunately, no one near my rank had signed up yet, so I had to wait.

    After half an hour of sitting, there was someone that I had been matched against. I was going to battle someone at rank 1730, a student of rank E. I didn''t give much thought to the person I was going to fight. It might look arrogant to say it would be easy, but I was confident I wouldn''t lose.

    Arriving at the battle arena, I could see my opponent. Like any other student, she was wearing our school uniform. She was an average student that could be found anywhere in this school. While she was someone I could never get tired of looking at, she was looking at me. I could tell that she was nervous. She was shaking a lot when facing me.

    The battle was about tomence. With the countdown starting, both of us were ready to fight.

    "3!"<sub> </sub>

    "2!"

    "1!"

    "BEGIN!"

    The difference between fighting without ranking and fighting for a rank was different. I shouldn''t be surprised. For the students, it could determine our ranking for us.

    With the countdown finished, my opponent began to make her move. "I surrender!" The girl shouted, scared.

    "???" I was going to begin my attack, but she surrendered immediately, calling off my magic. I began to sigh. I should have expected something like this when I saw her scared. Most of the people in my year already noticed how much damage I could do. No one wants to fight a losing battle and get nothing out of it.

    Disappointed, I left the arena and went back to the queue. My rank was 1769, but now I ranked up to 1679. I couldn''t fight the same opponent twice. You would need to fight at least ten other people to fight the same person. They made it like that so people wouldn''t abuse the system.

    My first win gave me 100 credits. It wasn''t that good, but I heard it increases as I battle people in the higher ranks. So with my first battle finished, I hoped my second battle would be with someone who wasn''t spineless.

    This time it took a few minutes for me to have a person I was going to fight. Rank 1632 is a person from ss B. That was a good ss for anyone to be in. I just hoped that I would get to test my sword against her.

    Going back in, I saw mypetitor. Like thest one, it was a different girl wearing the same school uniform. Unlike the girl before, she didn''t seem nervous. In fact, she seemed a little bit arrogant. She gave a confident grin when she looked at me.

    "You''re Charlie Sris, right!??" She shouted while asking me a question. I didn''t know why she needed to when she saw my name in her match. I nodded when she asked what she wanted.

    "That''s great. When I defeat you, I will prove to the school that I deserve to be an S ss student!" I didn''t know how toment back at her when she said that. I looked at her weirdly, the battle was about to begin, and I thought about ending this as soon as possible.

    I want to see what made her so confident. Was she someone who was a delusion? Or was she someone who would give me a fight? I had to wait and see. As the battle started, I began to use my magic.

 Chapter 48 Farming Ranks (Part II)

    As the battle started, I started to shoot sma toward her. What surprised me was she dodged it. While her movements were clumsy, she got flustered, seeing that she was almost hit. So I shot another sma beam at her. Due to her being a second-rank magician, she could definitely dodge my blows.

    I could see that she wouldn''t be a challenge. So, taking out my sword, I ran towards her. The arrogant girl was flustered seeing me charge in with a sword.

    She was humiliated that I wasn''t going to take her seriously. Then, seeing that I was running towards her, she shot her magic. The magic that she used looked like some kind of variant of water magic. Her magic liquid was the color green. Was it poison or slime?

    I didn''t know what it was, but that level of magic wouldn''t affect me. I then began to make a sma armor. My armor had disintegrated its attack.

    I was close to having my sword range to reach her, but she had realized the situation. I didn''t know why she was so confident when she challenged me.

    With my sword in range, I swung my sword towards her. She did anything she could do to block my attack. She dodged the first swing because it wasn''t going to work. My sword had reached the ground making a huge banging noise. It was good that the arena we use is strong enough to contain up to rank five magicians.

    My opponent, who had dodged my attack, tried to retaliate by sending more of her liquid attack. But, of course, her attack wasn''t going to work, I didn''t have to worry about it, so I ran in, swinging my sword this time without missing.

    The sword that had hit her had taken her down. With that, it was my win. Looking at the challenger, I could see disbelief. Maybe her first duel ended with andslide. Well, I guess it didn''t matter anymore. I don''t think I will see her often.

    Having finished the battle in mere seconds, I exited the ring, leaving without saying anything to her. With my ranking increased to 1586, I gained 200 credits from beating her.

    It was nice having my rank increase, but it was also dull having to wait for me to battle with students that aren''t matched to my power or skill.

    When I queued for my third match, I was surprised that I got into a battle immediately. I was going to fight a senior this time. She was ranked 1491. I didn''t think I would fight someone far from my rank.

    The student I would face would be someone from the worst of the second year. ss I are known to be the worst of their school year. While they may not be ipetent since they were epted into this school, they weren''t talented enough to beat anyone in their year.

    Arriving at the arena, I met the second-year student I was about to face. To my surprise, she looked extraordinary. She was one of the top-looking beauties. If I do have to say, her aura was different from any other people; I didn''t know what it was.

    Looking at her again, I wanted to take back my statement. She was already shaking when she saw me. I was a bit disappointed when she looked at me like that. I thought the second year would be a bitpetent.

    I had heard that the second-year students already had survival training. You would''ve wondered what they had been doing during their one-year stay at this school.

    The senior I was going to fight had seen my disappointment from seeing her. I couldn''t make out what face she was trying to make. Well, I guess it really doesn''t matter all that much.<sub> </sub>

    As the battle started, we began to fight. We had nothing to say to each other. After this battle, the chances of us interacting were close to zero.

    Holding my sword out, I ran towards her. Unfortunately, my opponent was too scared to do anything. I think it would''ve been better for her to surrender immediately. If I was too frightened to fight a battle like this, I don''t think I would be able to live with myself.

    The fact that she wasn''t the worst in her year meant that the people below her were, in fact, as bad as her.

    shing my sword at my opponent, I had won. It wasn''t satisfying, having to win like this. My mood has been ruined just by facing her. It had left a bad taste to win like this.

    "Please drop out of the academy. Someone like you has no worth in an academy like this." Saying these words, I left.

    My rank had increased to 1501, and I wasn''t in the mood to have another fight. I gained 300 credits by beating my opponent. I guess I will just wait for Olivia and Serena to return. I hope Serena will be back to how she was.

    The person who I had just fought had approached me. I had nothing to say to her, but it looked like I wasn''t going to have any choice in whether she would talk or not. She seemed a bit different from her nervousness. I was interested in what she had to say.

    "Take back what you said." She softly said, which was different from what I was expecting.

    "Take what back?" What I said was what I thought was the truth. I wouldn''t say those words if she did something.

    "Take back what you said earlier." She said again, but this time in a harsher tone.

    "I have no reason to take back what I said, having to beat you easily without a fight."

    "I said take it back!" She snapped. I looked at her without a change of expression.

    "Prove to me that you''re worthy for me to say that." I have nothing else to say, knowing this conversation wouldn''t go anywhere.

    She clenched her fist, knowing that I wouldn''t change my mind. Although I had left to say she was interested in speaking at the very least. I initially thought she was just a disappointing person, but to have the courage to say that to me when she lost that badly was pretty entertaining.

    I wonder if what I said earlier had changed her. I was interested to see what development she would take. Would she fall? Or would she grow and improve? Only time would tell.

 Chapter 49 Failed Robbery

    Both Olivia and Serena should be out of sses about now. I wondered if Serena had worked things out for herself.

    I didn''t know what to do. I was just sitting around waiting for my roommates toe. Then, finally, I heard someone open the door, going to it I saw Olivia.

    "Wee back!" I gave Olivia a warm wee.

    Olivia smiled wholeheartedly, seeing this. It was only her that came back.

    "Did you see Serena?" I was starting to get worried about her. Did something back then really bother her that much?

    "Serena didn''te to ss today." Olivia was sad when she told me this.

    "Should we visit her? I''m worried about her."

    "I think we should. Serena''s problems seem to be affecting her more than I thought." Olivia agreed with my suggestion, agreeing that we would visit Serena. So we headed out and went to her house.

    Her house was pretty close to mine. This school provides homes for leading nobles. They were provided their own houses due to the donation that they gave to the school. Although nobles usually prefer to live in arger building, the thought of sharing a dorm with a stranger disgusted them.

    Ring the doorbell. We are waiting for someone toe and open the door. There wasn''t anyone picking up. I was wondering if Serena was inside her house.

    "I don''t think she is home." Olivia had stated the obvious. We had been waiting a minute, and no one had picked up.

    "Let''s wait for another minute or two," Olivia said nothing, but knowing her, I think she wouldn''t mind. But first, I wanted to check in on Serena. We haven''t talked for a few days.

    I may be that annoying person that keeps ringing the doorbell, but I want to be sure that we don''t miss her when shees out.

    "Let go. Serena is not home." Seeing that no one was going toe out, we left.

    "Do you want to do anything today? I promised that we would spend our day together." I didn''t want her mood to go down because I didn''t fulfill my promise. Serena isn''t here, so I couldn''t afford to make problems with Olivia.

    "I had always wanted to visit a flower shop." We didn''t have anywhere better to go. With Olivia leading the way, we eventually found a flower shop.

    I should have known. Most of the things here are magic nts. I should have seen thising. My senses of my old world are still here. Checking out the store, a worker wasing toward us.<sub> </sub>

    "Would you like a guide? If you pay for 50 silver, our shop." How does she keep a straight smile when she says that?

    I looked at Olivia, asking what she wanted. It didn''t matter to me which options she chose. Olivia, seeing my expression, nodded, suggesting that she should hire her. Paying a gold coin, I got 50 silver coins back.

    "Thank you for your patronage. I''m Milly and will be your guide." She sweetly smiled, seeing the gold coin in her hand.

    Milly, our guide for thisrge flower shop, walked into the store. Following her, the both of us went into the store. The ce was less green than I expected. I thought the ce would be all green, seeing that most nts in my world were green. Even themon nts in this world are green.

    "Surprised?" Milly smirked proudly, seeing the surprised face that Olivia and I had made.

    "The nts here are rare and could be found worldwide. Unlike normal stores, we sell nts that other ces don''t." She spoke like an actual salesperson.

    The two of us then began to walk around. There were many exciting yet dangerous nts. Unfortunately, many nts could harm anyone that was nearby. I don''t know why anyone would buy those. They seem like a hassle to take care of.

    Something happened when we were walking around. A girl was trying to rob the store. I wasughing at her when she failed the robbery.

    At first, no one knew that it was a robbery. When the thief pulled out her magic weapon that could st someone, she dropped it in front of the cashier''s desk. Falling under the cashier''s desk resulted in her running away, knowing she would get in trouble. She ran as fast as possible, seeing that her weapon was unobtainable.

    One of the workers in the store pressed a button that alerted the rm resulting in magicians that were guards in the store, resulting in her being captured. I had never seen something that stupidly funny. Even Olivia, who was someone who wouldn''tugh at people, alsoughed.

    Having all that done, Milly, our tour guide, had convinced Olivia to buy a nt. It was a nt called Purple Sweet Nectar Flower. Once consuming it when it is fully grown, it would allow anyone with magic rted to sweets to improve the effects of their ability.

    It was particr about how the flower matched Olivia''s magic. So I hope that Olivia will be able to take care of it. It was a good thing that the flower wasn''t that costly, since most people wouldn''t want it, the cost of the flower was one of the lowest around here. So paying three gold, we got the flower.

    It''s a shame that there wasn''t any flower that could help me. The flowers that improved fire magic wouldn''t help since my magic was already one of the highest tier fire magic.

    "Thank you for choosing our store. Pleasee back anytime." Milly said professionally, smiling at us as we left.

    "That was a good find. Let''se back when a new stock of flowerses in." I said to Olivia, who agreed to my words.

    "I wasn''t expecting that someone would rob the store. It was my first time seeing it, hehehe~" Olivia giggled, remembering what had happened to the robber. Weughed at the situation as we walked home together.

 Chapter 50 Survival Training Trip Announcement

    A day has passed since we went to the flower shop. I practiced swinging my sword and finished. Then, I went back and took a shower, waking up Olivia. We had breakfast together and headed to school.

    <o>,m We arrived at our ss and sitting in our seats, there were already some students in our ss. Serena wasn''t here, and I don''t think she would show up.</o>

    Talking to Olivia, our teacher Ms. Mary had shown up. "ss, I have an important announcement to make. We would have a survival training trip next week that wouldst for a week. But, unfortunately, due to some issues happening, monsters have been appearing more frequently." Ms. Mary exined the situation to us.

    "Due to this event, we would cancel this month''s exam and use the survival training trip as a recement." I heard that some of themoners were happy, and some nobles were mad about it.

    Most nobles that came to the academy were sheltered before they came to Saint Maria''s Academy. So when they heard that we would be going out to do survival training, they were groaning.

    My head also dropped hearing that, like most of the nobles here, I was someone who rarely went outside. I wasn''t confident about living out in the wilderness. As someone who had always slept in a warm bed, I don''t think I could sleep well there.

    "How are our groups decided?" A ssmate of mine asked. I also wondered how it would be decided. If I could choose, I would pick Olivia and Serena not because we''re close to each other but because their magic would help in any situation.

    "The school had already decided on how you would be paired up. You will be with three other students from different sses. By bncing the exam, most of you S ss students would be paired up with sses from a much lower one."

    Olivia was crestfallen hearing that. It was pretty nerve-racking hearing that you would be paired up with someone you didn''t know. Not only that, but they''re also from a ss that could drag you down. I just hope they pair the support ss type withpetent people.

    "I would rmend that you meet your pairs before the survival trip. It wouldn''t be a fun time meeting them on the trip, and they would suddenly fight." I just hope that I can keep it a secret from my group.

    With that all said and done, our teacher, Ms. Mary, handed us a piece of paper. The content given to us was a list of things we should have and an agreement contract.

    "The papers that I had handed are papers that will tell you the necessities needed for this trip. Unfortunately, the school would not provide anything for you. If you have any issues about the cost, I would suggest that you and your group go to a dungeon together."

    "The second sheet of the piece is a contract. I won''t lie to you. At least five people in this year would be dead." When Ms. Mary said that, I could hear some people gulp. Some people in the room were pale when they heard that. Olivia was shaken when she heard that. I hope nothing will happen to her.<sub> </sub>

    "Signing this contract would allow you to participate in this trip. If you may so happen to die, you will bepensated. We willpensate your families with money. You don''t have to sign it, but if you don''t, your grades will drop, and you wouldn''t be an S-ss student." ... I don''t know what to say to that.

    I started to pity the weak-willed students. This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Dropping out from this trip would possibly make you behind every other student from here. But, on the other hand, going on this trip would make us better for future events that would be simr.

    "On the bright side, this is also an opportunity. Monsters that had been in by you would be double the price in credits." Anyone who heard that was excited. Seeing how credits could be used in these few days, everyone almost forgot about the chances that they could die. Greed was a wonderful thing to keep people motivated.

    Ms. Mary, who had exined everything that needed to be done, resumed our ss lesson. But unfortunately, most of us weren''t listening because we were thinking about the survival trip.

    Ms. Mary, who had noticed this, sighed. She knew that we had things to think about and decided to end ss early.

    "If you want to check your grouping go to the gym. There would be a list of names grouping you in pairs." Most of the students that ran to the gym were curious about who they got in their group.

    I didn''t go yet, because I was curious about Serena''s whereabouts. So Olivia followed me as we went up to Ms. Mary.

    "Ms. Mary, do you know anything about Serena? Olivia and I are worried about her."

    "Young Miss? She has taken a week of leave of absence. You would probably see her during the survival test or after it." At least I know where she was. I wouldn''t have to worry about her for the week.

    "I see. Thank you for your time." Saying that, Olivia and I left. Students from every ss had gone to the gym. It was crowded. I held Olivia''s hand so we wouldn''t separate.

    I should''ve expected it would take a while to see our grouping. It took us thirty minutes for us to see our groups. It wasn''t just us first years that were going on this survival trip. It looked like everyone was going.

    I then checked my grouping, the best person in the group other than me was a person in ss C, followed by that the two others who were in F ss and I ss. I just hope that their personalities weren''t all that bad.

 Chapter 51 Elves

    Seeing the names of my group, I didn''t know who they were. So I had to go to their ss or wait for them to go to me. Olivia''s group had someone familiar, a friend of hers, Jenny, in ss A while the others were in sses F and G.

    "How do you feel about your group?" I didn''t have many thoughts about mine. I just hoped they were reasonable people and someone who wouldn''t hinder us just because of their bad personalities.

    "I''m relieved that Jenny is in my group, but I''m not so sure about the other two."

    "How about you?" Olivia wanted my thoughts on my own team.

    "As long as they don''t have a troublesome personality, I won''t mind if they''re not useful." Although, as l said, I didn''t mind if they were useless, I was confident I would be in the top five by myself. But, of course, if my team had support, that would be a bonus.

    Having nothing left to do in the gym, we left the gym. We went to buy survival items for the test. It was better to buy everything earlier thante. We wouldn''t want to miss some things just because they sold out.

    Olivia and I bought a tent that wasfortable for one person. I wouldn''t want someone to find I was a boy just because of that same mistake.

    I bought high-quality rations since Olivia wouldn''t be with me during our survival test. I should go to the dungeon and make enough credits for a magic space pouch.

    Buying the remaining items that could make a living in the wilderness easier, I have a week before the start of the test. This week I will be finished upgrading my kidney, making me a bit stronger.

    I would like to see what my group mates could do in this test. I may be able to do well by myself, but I want to do my best.

    With everything bought, we went home. Olivia went to look for Jenny to prepare for the survival test. But, on the other hand, I was alone, free to do whatever I wanted.

    There were a lot of things I could do. For example, I could go to the battle arena or the dungeon to get more credit. Deciding to go to the battle arena, I could see someone standing beside the door and calling out to me just as I was about to go in.

    "Are you Charlie Sris?" The student was nervous when trying to initiate a conversation with me.

    "Yes, do you need something from me?" I didn''t know what the person in front of me wanted, so I asked.

    "I''m Elly... from ss I. We''re grouped together... so I hope we get along." So she was a group member of mine? I was surprised to see that she was an elf; she had long green hair with long pointy ears. Her blue eyes were easy to look at, but she would look away from anyone due to her nervousness.<sub> </sub>

    Elves from this day and age usually have magic that stems from nature. Still, mutations could appear that would either improve their magic, or their magic could ruin their nature.

    An example would be elves that have fire magic, usually would stay as level three magicians for the rest of their lives. To reach the fourth rank, you would need to build a core. The core of a magician woulde from their origin, making it almost impossible for elves that have magic opposing their nature to be the fourth rank.

    Looking at her, she was nervous that she paused midway through her sentences, but it was better for her to be afraid of me than annoy me. She was someone from the worst ss. I wouldn''t be surprised if she had an inferiorityplex due to it.

    "Have you met the remaining members of our group?" I didn''t know who the others were, so I asked if Elly knew.

    "No, sorry. I don''t know who they''re." She apologized immediately after being asked a question that she didn''t have an answer to.

    "It''s fine." I sighed. Her eyes looked away, hearing my sigh, I wasn''t mad at her or anything, but it would be ufortable for me if she talked like this the whole time.

    "May I know why you were waiting around here?" I don''t think she would know I was going to fight someone.

    "I was going to ask if they knew who the others were in our group." She was pretty brave to do that for someone nervous talking to me. Or am I just scary? I didn''t do anything to make anyone scared of me, right?

    "Now that you found me, what will you do?" I had wanted to find them all together, making it easier for us to discuss what we would do in the survival test.

    "If possible, I would like it if we could. you know... hang out." I couldn''t tell if she was serious or not. Her nervousness made it seem too scary to "hang out" with me.

    "I was going to earn some credits to buy a magic pouch. Do you mind watching me fight? We could talkter, and you could use this chance to see how I fight." It was more efficient for us to do this, she knew how I would fight and possibly adapt to it, and I could earn credits by doing this.

    Hearing my suggestion, Elly agreed to it. Neither of us would lose anything, so having to agree to it, I went into the arena and queued for a match. I immediately found a match when I signed up for a battle. With ss finished for the day, most students who wanted to improve their rank woulde here.

    My opponent was a student from ss C that was ranked 1521. It was my first time fighting someone of a lower rank than me.

    Having arrived on the battlefield, I could see the student I was going to fight, shocked.

 Chapter 52 Unexpected Encounter

    I didn''t know why my opponent was shocked, but the battle was about to begin. She was trying to say something, but I couldn''t make out the words that she was trying to say.

    The battle had started. I just wanted credit. I ran towards her with all my speed, using my sword to sh at her.

    My opponent, who was shocked earlier, snapped out of her state. She wasn''t half bad, if I was honest. She sent ice toward me when I was going in for a hit.

    It was a shame that her magic was ice. It was a bad matchup against mine. My sun was too intense for it to be cooled off by her magic.

    Shooting some icicles at me, I used my magic to make a sma shield around me, nullifying her attacks. Then, with meing closer to her, she made an ice floor as ast resort.

    I was genuinely impressed by her powers as a ss C student. If the survival exam was toe, I wouldn''t doubt that she would rise in ss rankings.

    With the floor covered in ice, I stopped moving and used my magic to melt the ice. Doing so, I then shoot beams of sma toward her.

    Having tond a few shoots, she grimaced in pain, feeling the burn I had inflicted on her. Unfortunately, she was too distracted by the pain I had inflicted on her. Seeing that she was hurt, I used this chance to finish her off.

    Firing a sma st, she was too absorbed by the pain to notice my shoting toward her. Nevertheless, my st hit her, and I won the match.

    "Charlie Sris." The girl who just fought me looked at me bitterly as she spoke softly.

    "Did you need something from me?" I had a good fight, even though I was beating her easily. So I didn''t mind if she came up and talked to me.

    "We''re groupmates for the survival trip." She softly said. I was surprised when she said that. I was someone who couldn''t remember anyone''s names unless I was close to them.

    She had a different feeling from most people that I had seen. While she had shown a bitter face when feeling the loss of our battle, she wasn''t scared or intimidated by me. Most people who knew me would be either surprised or scared. So it was a nice change if she was a little more expressive.

    "May I know your name?" The names were posted in our group, but remembering names wasn''t my strong suit.

    "Crystal Frost, call me Crystal." Crystal said, introducing herself without having any expression on her face.

    "You know my name and all, but I prefer it if you just call me Charlie." I wasn''t fond of my family name, so I just told her to call my name.

    Since there were three of us, we could start an actual discussion as a group. Then, we could fill in the details for the remaining members of our group.

    "One of our members is currently spectating us. Since the three of us are here, we could make a n for this trip." Crystal nodded, following me as we left the arena.<sub> </sub>

    Elly, who was spectating, was walking towards us. Knowing that Crystal was someone in our group, they introduced themselves.

    "Nice to meet you, Crystal. I''m Elly from ss... I." Elly greeted her reluctantly, saying her ss.

    "Nice to meet you too." She coldly replied. She probably looked down on hearing her ss. I couldn''t say the same, as I didn''t expect much from her during this trip.

    They were silent after introducing themselves. It was awkward seeing Crystal dismiss her after they introduced them. If this was going to happen during the survival test, I wouldn''t know what to do.

    "Why don''t we go to a cafe and talk about our ns?" I didn''t want this silence to continue, so I offered a suggestion.

    They both didn''t say anything but followed. Elly was sullen from the attitude Crystal had given her, and Crystal didn''t seem like the person to talk to that much. I was also an introvert. But unfortunately, I wasn''t well equipped for this kind of situation.

    Heading towards a cafe, the three of us didn''t start a conversation; it was awkward having two people walk with you without saying anything.

    Entering, the waitress showed us to our seats for three. All I ordered was a drink, while Elly and Crystal had ordered something light to eat.

    <o>,m Seeing that none of them were going to start the conversation, I said something. "Did you guys get your survival equipment? It''s better to do it now thanter." I wanted them to be prepared just in case something went wrong.</o>

    "I haven''t gotten my camping set yet," Elly replied.

    Elly, on the other hand, shook her head.

    "Just make sure that you both buy it earlier. I wouldn''t be surprised if some of the things you want would be out of stock." I warned them so they wouldn''t give an excuse by the time we went out.

    "Elly, if you don''t mind, could you tell us about your magic?" Unlike Crystal and me, we knew nothing about her magic. However, she had seen ours; it would be good to know what it is before we start our test.

    "My magic allows me to restrict a movement of any kind." That was a helpful ability; it was a shame that she was still a rank one magician. She would only be able to slow down two monsters for a while.

    The three of us had our orders taken, with Elly telling our magic. After that, we talked briefly and talked a bit about the test. Crystal wasn''t as cold towards Elly, but she didn''t acknowledge her existence.

    We made our way out of the cafe when they finished their food. I didn''t want to stay any longer, splitting up with the two of them.

    Having nothing left to do, I went back home and chilled there for the rest of the night. I just hoped the fourth member wouldn''t be hard to deal with.

 Chapter 53 Before The Exam

    A week had passed since our meeting with Crystal and Elly. I had finally finishedpletely upgrading one of my organs. I had four more to go, but it was excellent progress.

    I met the remaining group member the day after our meeting. She gave me a headache when I first met her.

    At first, I thought our group wouldn''t have made it due to the personality of ourbined group. However, now that we had met up, the atmosphere had improved with the fourth member joining.

    I made some credit from the arena. Unfortunately, it took me five more battles to earn a magic pouch. I had ranked up to 1396, and there wasn''t any noteworthy opponent for me to fight.

    Waking up early for the survival test, Olivia, beside me, was sleeping naked. We had a lot of actionst night.

    We haven''t spent that much time with each other because Olivia needed to spend as much time as she needed with her partners. So I didn''t want her to be in danger because of a mimunication or cooperation issue.

    We wouldn''t see each other much during this test, so we spent every second of our love-making session. First, I had to wake Olivia up so she wouldn''t bete. I was eating our breakfast with Olivia, and I could see her nervousness.

    "Olivia, it''s ok to be nervous, but don''t that nervousness ovee you when you''re in danger." I was serious when I said this. I don''t know what to do if Olivia was hurt or, even worse, dead. She is the person I felt closest to.

    Olivia, who heard me, was lost in thought when I said that. I don''t know much about Olivia''s group other than Jenny, but I hope they won''t slow her down. Then, having finished our breakfast, we prepared to head out.

    I gave Olivia onest hug before we left. Olivia, who felt my feelings towards the hug, gave me a hug with an equal amount of emotional value. She was less nervous when we finished it.

    We were to head to the gym with our group members. Unfortunately, I had to split up with Olivia and meet with my members; I will miss Olivia''s food during our excursion.

    When we arrived, there were already many people, so I had to search for my members within the crowd. It took me a while to find them. However, they were already together when I saw them.

    "Good morning." I greeted them, getting their attention.

    """Good morning.""" The three of them replied, each with a different tone. Elly was still nervous when greeting me. On the other hand, Crystal was pretty chill when greeting me, and the final member of the group Trista happily greeted me.

    Trista, unlike most people I have met, was flirty towards females. She was the type of person interested in girls instead of boys. On the other hand, Trisha, who had flirted with the three of us, was quite energetic.<sub> </sub>

    Instead, she was on the boyish-looking side; she had purple hair and purple eyes. Trisha was pretty tall. She was 5''10 and was rather bold with people. Like most people here, it wasn''t hard to distinguish what she looked likepared to everyone.

    It was pretty crowded as time passed, and more and more people appeared. There were thousands of people here waiting to be transported to our test location.

    Seeing that no one else was going to arrive, I felt a presence that had danger all over her. A figure could be seen in the front of the gym. She is the headmaster of this academy. I felt the mana she had released earlierst month. The headmaster used her mana to attract everyone''s attention.

    It was a good thing that there was some kind of form of restraint that she used against us. Overwise, everyone here would''ve been crushed.

    "I have an important announcement to make. Now that all of you are here, listen well." She spoke quietly, but it was loud enough that everyone would listen.

    "Due to some problems, there has been a monster infestation in the Forest Of The Dawn." The Forest Of The Dawn? I had heard of it from Charlie''s memories. It was a forest that was said to be moderately dangerous once you reached the core of the ce. It was noted that a powerful monster that would devour anything it saw would awaken during the start of dawn.

    We should be fine if we don''t go too deep into the forest. My group members weren''t too worried about where we would go, so I hope nothing went wrong.

    "After this survival exercise, prizes would be handed out to the top ten earners each year. To win these prizes, the more credits you earn while defeating these monsters, the higher chances of you making up on top of the list."

    The headmaster exined the rules, and we began to leave the gym. Apparently, the school had a teleportation circle. Again, I heard it was extremely pricey, but luckily, it was free this time.

    It took a while for us to use the teleporter. We teleported to a town called Dawn Creed City. The ce itself wasn''t that impressive. In fact, it seems that this ce was instead in lousy shape.

    Checking the reactions of the surrounding students, they didn''t seem surprised. Was every town or city like this? If so, I wasn''t looking forward to traveling.

    Apparently, it would take at least two hours to go to the forest by walking and another two hours to return.

    People who don''t want to sleep outside in the forest would have to lose four hours'' worth of time just to get a bed in this town. It was efficient doing so.

    We were free to do what we wanted, the teacher didn''t force us to fight the monster immediately, but we would lose money if we wasted time. So I told my team that we should go to the forest immediately, and they agreed. With that, we went to the forest.

 Chapter 54 Dawn Forest Day One (Part I)

    Elly, Crystal, and Trisha had arrived in the forest. We went through what we had nned for our two hours worth of walk. The four of us hade on the outskirts of the woods.

    The forest was pretty noticeable. We could see it even when we were far away. The trees were bright purple. It was honestly pretty cool. We were surrounded by many trees that could cover half the size of a skyscraper.

    While we were walking toward the forest, I was surprised that many of the students didn''t go to the forest immediately.

    <o>,m "Do you want to mentally prepare yourself first?" I could see Elly shaking. I thought elves loved the forest. She was too nervous. It was better to wait until she rxed a little bit more. Trista, who saw this, used it as an opportunity to take advantage of her while cheering her up.</o>

    I don''t think it could get any worse than this. We had waited for ten minutes for Elly to cool down. Finally, she calmed down to the point that we were ready to enter the forest.

    "I''m good. We can start now." Elly was still scared, but at least she wasn''t freaking out.

    We would have to live in this ce for a week. I hope that she will get used to it, wandering around the forest and searching for our prey. Then, we could see our first monster. It was a rank one monster that was based on a rabbit. Unlike a regr rabbit, this one was triple the size of an adult rabbit. It had brown fur and giant ck eyes.

    The rabbit charged at us. Elly panicked and instinctually restrained the rabbit. Crystal shot some sharp-looking ice at the rabbit, instantly impaling it.

    Monsters of these ranks wouldn''t do much harm to us, storing the rabbit''s body, so we continued to explore the forest.

    As we moved, more monsters appeared further we explored. The monster at this level was pretty easy to handle. We could take multiple of them at once since we could quickly kill them in a move or two.

    Trisha, who was using her charm magic to attract and slow down the monster, like Elly, their magic allows them to restrain others. Maybe the reason why she has that personality is due to her magic. It was much more helpful to charm women with magic in this world.

    "Should we go in deeper?" The monsters here were rtively easy. I don''t think there is any harm in going deeper.

    Trisha and Crystal didn''t mind us going deeper; however, Elly was unsure about it. "If it is too hard for us to handle, we cane back here," I reassured her.

    "Elly~ sweetie, as Charlie says, if you''re scared, we coulde back." Trista joined in to convince Elly to follow us. Crystal, on the other hand, looked at Elly strangely.

    Seeing that we wanted to go up further, Elly gave in due to peer pressure. Monsters had appeared more frequently, and the headmaster wasn''t exaggerating when there was a monster infestation. There were many monsters that we found along the way.<sub> </sub>

    From animals to bug-type monsters, my group mates were starting to get tired. We''ve killed about fifteen monsters. While I wasn''t tired, my group mates were. I couldn''t let them fight in this condition.

    "Let''s find a ce to take a break." Crystal, who heard that looked like she wanted to reject, but when she saw our other members, she couldn''t say anything. It took us thirty minutes for us to leave the forest. We encountered some monsters on our way out. It was good that nothing terrible had happened.

    Elly and Trisha were both on the ground, sitting, tired from the constant use of their magic. Both of them were still ranked one magician, so it was understandable that they were exhausted. On the other hand, Trisha was pretty close to ranking up; if she focused on doing so in the next few days, she would be second.

    "Should we get ready for lunch? It should be time we eat lunch during school time." Finally, everyone was starting to get hungry. So we took out our rations and started eating.

    The high-quality rations weren''t that bad, it wasn''t great, but I wasn''tining. Crystal, like me, also bought high-quality rations, but both Trisha and Elly bought low-quality rations and did not enjoy them.

    Do I bring out monster meat and cook it for them? Of course, we would lose some credit, but I also don''t want them to fight to eat that.

    Being the "group leader" I am, I brought out a giant rabbit we killed earlier. "Let''s eat the rabbit." Rank one monster meat wouldn''t give much credit anyways.

    Elly and Trisha both looked at me like I was a saint. I could see Crystal a bit agitated when I did this, but it is not like we could do anything else about it.

    Elly and Trisha skinned the rabbit. Then, having to do so, I washed a tree branch and dried it up with my magic. Then, burning the wood we had cut, we made a campfire.

    With the rabbit finished heating up, I brought seasonings just in case things like these happened. I couldn''t let the three of us eat it, I asked Crystal, who did nothing to join in. I wanted her to be less satisfied with this choice.

    I didn''t think I had a knack for roasting. But, with some salt and pepper, the roasted rabbit that I made tasted great. It was better than my rations.

    The three of them were eating the rabbit-like there was no tomorrow. It was an enjoyable sight to be seen. We talked as we continued to eat, our rtionship was less strained, and Crystal seemed less mad about my choice.

    I was overall happy about the choices that I made. I just hope nothing goes wrong in this exam at this pace.

 Chapter 55 Dawn Forest Day One (Part II)

    Our lunch was enjoyable, and we were ready to get back into action. After eating, the four of us rested fully before returning. Trisha and Elly had gotten along very well. With me in the mix, I could casually talk to them.

    While Crystal still looked down on them, she was less cold towards them, with her joining in a little in their talks. Crystal, on the other hand, would usually talk to me. So while she may be direct, it wasn''t a big deal to me.

    We rested for thirty minutes, and it was time to go back in. So, putting out the fire, we went back in. Elly, who was usually nervous, became calm. So, we weren''t in danger when we went into the forest.

    In the forest, we became quiet, there were many monsters in this forest, and we couldn''t afford to be distracted. There weren''t as many monsters this time. Think about this I heard a sound. The four of us hearing this, my groupmate froze and began preparing for an uing attack.

    The footsteps have be louder as they continue to move toward us. Seeing somethinge out, we readied our magic. With somethinging out, we''ve found some tired students.

    Seeing that, we stopped our magic. "Hey! Do you know where the exit is? We are lost!." One of their members said.

    "How about a trade?" Crystal, who was usually quiet, spoke up.

    "A trade?" A member of their group said, unsure of what to do.

    "Give us some of the monsters that you''ve killed." Crystal said it for a trade. If I didn''t know her, I thought she would be robbing someone.

    They were angry when they heard that, but they needed to find the exit making sure nothing wrong would happen to them. So finally, with the four of them huddling together, they came up with a decision.

    Having to begrudgingly agree with her demand, they gave us five corpses of a rank one monster for directions on how to leave the forest. Finally, they thanked us and left with me, pointing at the path out of the woods.

    Getting their corpse, we stored them in our bags. With them fighting the monsters earlier, it''s no wonder why we didn''t find any monsters.

    With the other group leaving, we finally ran into a monster. This was the first second-rank monster we encountered. I haven''t fought much since they could deal with the monster themself.

    I had a power spike when I finished upgrading one of my organs. My fire had burnt the monster. It wasn''t efficient when I killed the monsters. The material I got from them would be either damaged or burnt.

    Seeing the monster burnt to a crisp, my teammates looked disappointed by the results. Maybe I should use my sword to kill it. But, I didn''t want to lose my earnings because of my magic.<sub> </sub>

    Knowing that second-rank monsters were in the area that we were in, we decided to stay in this area. We wouldn''t want to go any further. The chances of encountering stronger monsters were higher as we went in deeper.

    Searching for more monsters to kill, we heard noises from multiple monsters. We hid behind a tree, waiting to ambush it, heading in its direction. Instead, three boars were snacking on their prey. All of them were at the first level of the second rank.

    "Elly, use your magic and restrain the boar in the middle. Crystal, when Elly restrains the boar, use your magic and deal as much damage to it. Trisha, when that happens, charms one of the boars, and I will finish it with my sword. Then, after killing them, we will gang up on the remaining one." I said it loud enough for only the four of us to hear it.

    Giving my orders Elly and Trisha both focused their magic. The unsuspecting boars squealed when it was stuck. Confused by what had happened, Crystalunched arge ice needle piercing the boar''s stomach. With how hard the skin was, it wasn''t dead but highly injured.

    Trisha, who had charmed a boar, made it stand there, doing nothing but stare at Trisha. I ran towards the charmed boar and decapitated it. The boar that was hit by Crystal''s magic was nearly dead. Crystal began to summon more ice, finishing off the almost dead boar.

    Now it was four against one. It tried to run away because it stood no chance against us. Elly had slowed it down with her magic, and Crystal had made a blunt weapon smacking it on the head. With the boar stunned, we finished it with my sword piercing its head.

    We''ve done a great job ambushing these boars. This was the one fight that would give us the most credit currently. I decided to take a ten-minute break after fighting the boars.

    "How are you feeling?" Although I had wanted to ask this earlier to the group, I wasn''t a hundred percent sure how they felt. So I just wanted to make small talk.

    Crystal was feeling good, but while she didn''t show it, I felt her mood getting lighter when we beat them, as she saw how well we did against three second-rank monsters on the first level.

    Trisha and Elly felt proud that they helped us with the killing. With everyone happy, we began to go on a hunt again.

    Being in the forests for hours, we killed about thirty monsters. Two-thirds of the monsters we killed were in the first rank, while the rest were in the second. Finally, we were starting to get tired, and I decided to go back out of the forest and set a camp.

    With the four of us making out of the forest, it was already beginning to turn dark. It was good that we went out early. Otherwise, there was a chance we might get lost. Getting out a rank one monster of a bird, we skinned it and began to eat.

    While I would like to have a second-rank monster as a meal, I didn''t want to lose more credits than I needed to. Seeing how our group had improved in terms of mentality gave me relief.

 Chapter 56 Dawn Forest Day Two (Part I)

    A day had passed, and today was the second day of the exam. I was sleeping in the tent that I had set up. I didn''t know what time it was so I had to go out and check how bright the sun was.

    It was still pretty early, the sun was rising, and everyone looked like they were still asleep. I didn''t need to wake them up yet as we needed as much energy as they could have for today''s hunt.

    Needing to do something, I began to train with my sword. Practicing with a sword at first was pretty exciting because of the new experience of having never used a sword. While it wasn''t as exciting as before, I still felt the need to practice just in case an incident might happen again.

    Having to practice for an hour, I stopped. I didn''t want to spend more energy. I had other things I needed to do. So I began preparing to make breakfast for everybody, like yesterday I had skinned a rank one monster.

    The smell of the cooked meat attracted everyone in my group. They had begun to wake up just to have breakfast.

    "Good morning, everyone!" I greeted them as they began toe out of their tent. Trisha and

    Elly came out of the same tent. I guess they were talking to each other during the night.

    "Morning!" Trisha said, happily giving me an energetic greeting.

    "Good morning!" Elly, looking tired, said, trying to muster as much energy as possible.

    "Mhm!" Crystal grunted and nodded, trying to return a greeting.

    Doing the finishing touch of our breakfast, everyone began to eat. It was peaceful when we started to eat. While having just meat may be a heavy meal for breakfast, no one here wasining.

    After finishing our meal, we sat on a carpet I had bought. Discussed what we were going

    to do today and told them my thoughts. They didn''t hesitate and agreed with my n.

    Since we didn''t have much time to train, I decided that we should absorb mana for two hours before hunting for more monsters. So when we finish our morning hunt, we will have our lunch after that.

    Then we would absorb mana for two more hours and begin to hunt until the sun sets down. After that, we are free to do what we want for the rest of the day.

    With a n like that, we would have a schedule and try to be efficient without wasting time. Seeing that the three of them began to absorb mana, I took a long walk to the forest. I haven''t had much action since our trip. I ran into the forest for thirty minutes and began to hunt for monsters.

    There was a group of five rank two monkeys in the third level. If I didn''t level the day before the exam, I would''ve felt a little threatened by these monkeys. Shooting five sma for each monster''s head, three of them had to dodge my sma while the other two had prated their brain.<sub> </sub>

    The remaining three monsters had begun to climb on trees, using any projectiles that they had to annoy me. Of course, I didn''t have the agility to dodge these projectiles. Still, I made sma armor, destroying anything that would hit me.

    I seriously hate these kinds of monsters. They would run away when I chased them and attacked me. I had to use more mana just to kill them. Then, sending a burst of mes, the monkeys running around were burnt to death. They were screeching in a high pitch that would attract the attention of anything near its radius.

    Seeing that they had died, I ran away from the ce. Unfortunately, there could be many more monsters that the monkeys would have attracted. With me escaping from the site, I sat down and took a breather.

    It had been an hour since I left the camp, and since I had aplished what I wanted, I began to head back to camp.

    Running back took me forty minutes toe back. My group members had been too absorbed in absorbing mana for them to notice that I had left. There were still twenty minutes left before we headed out again.

    Using my magic, I burnt the dust around my body. When I fought the monkeys, I had two of them in perfect condition. Without a doubt, they would sell for many credits, the other three were unsightly to see, but they were still seble.

    Crystal was the first person toe out. I was surprised. She seemed thest person to do that since she always seemed so serious.

    "How was your training?" I said, asking Crystal to see if anything went wrong.

    Crystal shook her head. Seeing that I thought that something was wrong, she denied it. "I was wondering where you went earlier."

    "I went out to hunt more monsters." I didn''t have a reason to hide it from her, so I told her what I did.

    "Don''t you also need mana to drain?" She was worried when she said that. I was slightly surprised when she said that.

    "You don''t have to worry about it, I had done it all night, and I don''t think I could get any more mana without hurting myself." But, of course, I lied, knowing that I could absorb mana automatically.

    She was doubtful when she heard that, but seeing the expression on my face, she couldn''t tell if I was telling the truth or not.

    "Why don''t you get ready and prepare? We would be hunting in ten minutes or so." Changing the topic, I told her to get ready. At this rate, our conversation would go nowhere.

    Going to both Elly and Trisha, they were still concentrating on their training. I didn''t want to interrupt them, but we had to go.

    Tapping on their shoulders lightly, they woke up. It was a good thing that I didn''t shock them. After waking up, we began our second hunt.

 Chapter 57 Dawn Forest Day Two (Part II)

    With the four of us ready, we began walking in the forest. Now that I think about how well are the others doing? Sometimes I wish I knew how the others were doing. Are we far ahead of everyone? Or are we behind them?

    "How do you think the rest of our year is doing?" Since I was curious about this, I asked for their opinions.

    "I don''t know how the others are doing, but I think we''re doing well." Elly was being modest when she said that.

    "With Charlie in our team, we definitely wouldn''t lose," Trisha said dly while hyping me up.

    Crystal didn''t give us her opinion, but I could see her thinking hard about it. We werex when we were in the forest. Fighting monsters like these made us more confident.

    I had to get her to concentrate because Crystal was still thinking about the results. "Crystal!" I shouted at her, making her wake up from her thoughts.

    Realizing she was distracted, she regained herposure and checked her surroundings.

    Monsters wereing by, and we would kill when we found one. Exploring ces that we haven''t been to, we found a monster settlement.

    There were buildings that were poorly constructed, but they were strong enough for them to stand still. So the four of us hid behind a tree and scouted the surroundings. The monsters we found were goblins, yourmon monsters in a fantasy world.

    It was a good thing that these goblins were the less lustful kind. Otherwise, they would have been ughtered in a world like this.

    Sneaking around, we found that this tribe of goblins had about forty of them. Half of them were very close to rank two, while the rest were in the second rank.

    To fight these monsters, we would have to n carefully. While I might be able to kill all of them alone, it would take a lot of energy, and my team would definitely get hurt if we just went in and charged in.

    "Let''s follow the goblins that are isted from the others." I gave my n to my group mates. When they heard my idea, they nodded and followed me as we snuck around.

    Most of the goblins were doing their own stuff. They had enough intelligence to decide their roles in theirmunity. Seeing one group of them leaving the forest, we went and followed them.

    Ten goblins were searching outside of their settlement. I think they''re going around to hunt for monsters. This group of goblins had eight ranks, one of them and two ranks of two monsters.

    The goblins had moved far enough for us tounch an attack, for the others not to hear. "Elly, Trisha, use both of your magic on the two, rank two monsters when we get the chance to strike."<sub> </sub>

    I gave them an order to use their magic once there was an opportunity to attack. As we continued to follow them, there wasn''t much of an opening when we stalked them.

    Most of them were always on the lookout for any kind of food that they could hunt. So we couldn''t get close to the goblins without alerting them.

    Following the goblins for another thirty minutes, the goblins began to start a skirmish against the opposing monster. The monster that they went against were gnomes. It was funny to see midgets fight one against another.

    <o>,m Gnomes are tiny humanoid monsters that like to wear pointy hats. With them having the affinity of earth, they''re known for being well versed in defense.</o>

    The goblins and gnomes were engaging in a battle with each other. This was the best thing that could happen to us. There were six gnomes against ten goblins.

    Using their numbers advantage, they rushed on the gnomes with two against one. Seeing that they were going to be attacked. The gnomes fought back using the stone bullets that they had made.

    With them being summoned at a close range, most of the first-rank goblins were hit by their attack, making them fall to the ground injured. The two second-rank goblins began using their well-worn weapons. They smacked their weapons against the closest gnome.

    Hit by the goblin''s weapon, two of them were sent flying, incapacitation them. After that, there were only four of them left, and with eight goblins surrounding them, they were going to have a rough time.

    I wasn''t someone who enjoyed one side beating unless they deserved it. Looking away, I waited for them to finish the gnomes. Unfortunately, they didn''t have a second rank with them. They were at a number disadvantage making it impossible for them to win.

    The goblins had beaten the gnomes, and they were killed. Only two goblins were dead, and three of them were slightly injured. We had to kill them now. With the goblins picking up the gnomes, I looked at Elly and Trisha.

    Knowing that I was looking at them, they realized what I wanted to do. So the goblins began to carry the corpse of the gnomes. I felt a little pale, knowing what they were going to do with it.

    Most of the goblins were busy carrying them back. The injured goblins are the only ones left doing nothing. Knowing that they were going to return, we began to follow. Our chances of ambushing them were now limited. We had to find an opportunity to do it before they came back.

    We needed a monster to attack them and distract them for a second or two. Then, the goblins began to leave and began to follow them.

    It would be nice if we could fight them head-on, but we couldn''t afford to be hurt; otherwise, the chances of us finishing off the whole goblin tribe were low.

    Following them back, we had twenty minutes left before they arrived back. There weren''t any monsters that we had encountered since then. So it looks like we have to do it ourselves.

 Chapter 58 Dawn Forest Day Two (Part III)

    We couldn''t dy this anymore. If we don''t attack, we might be unable to kill them. So I''m willing to wait for at least five minutes before we go on the offense.

    After five minutes, I guess we had to do it ourselves. "Trisha, Elly, we have to do it now." So I quietly told them that we had to fight.

    They nodded and began to use their magic. Elly had snared their strongest while Trisha had charmed the other rank two. The goblins had gurgled when they were attacked, and Crystal and I began to attack.

    Like our usual strategy, Crystal used a lethal attack against one of the two rank two goblins. Hitting the goblin''s head with a brutal attack, it began to wail in pain. The goblin''s head was poorly hurt that blood started to bleed at a fast rate.

    At the same time, I made a small sma condensing a lot of mana into piercing the goblin''s head. Thebination of us four had us incapacitated their two strongest members.

    The rank one goblins had no time to react. But, seeing that their leaders have been killed, they begin to panic and run in different directions.

    I couldn''t let them do that, or they would alert everyone in their tribe. So I have no choice but to kill them all expensively. Goblins weren''t that much of use anyways. All they could give me was a magic core.

    Using magic as wide as possible, I sent a wave of mes toward them. I had to minimize the damage I would do to the surroundings of the environment and my teammates.

    I had used a lot of mana to control the directions of my attack, My attacks weren''t all that strong, but it was enough to deal with them all.

    With the goblins dead, we took all of them and put them in our storage. I realized that we had used a lot of it. Both me and Crystal had them, but we had hunted a lot, and we probably would have to go back to town today.

    After this goblin raid, I think we should head back to town. Having to finish everything here, we returned to the goblin''s base. About thirty of the goblins were left, and they would soon know that something had happened to their hunting crew.

    "Do you guys want to observe them and see if we can pick some more goblins? Or should we leave early? Unfortunately, we have to return back to town. Our storage is beginning to be fully filled." I let them know about our storage situation. We wouldn''t be able to hunt anymore after this raid.

    Seeing that we could beat the base of thirty goblins, they decided to stay and go back to town after this. I didn''t care about the choices, so I let them decide.

    Having to pick what we wanted, we went and moved to the base of the goblins. It only took fifteen minutes to go.

    The goblins hadn''t noticed that their hunters were dead. To them, it would probably mean that they were still hunting and woulde backter. It would take a while for them to notice that they were noting back.<sub> </sub>

    We would have to pick them on one by one before they knew what was happening. So, we began to y the waiting game.

    After twenty minutes, we saw a goblin isted from the rest. It was going to take a shit. I didn''t want to see this, so I used a sma beam and pierced its head. It also helped that it didn''t scream when we killed it. It was a shame that it was a rank-one goblin.

    Everyone was disgusted that they had to see such actions, but we had no choice but to do it. With them dead, we have twenty-nine to go.

    I just hope that we can kill more before they find out that this goblin is dead. We returned back to their camp, waiting for more opportunities. They would soon notice that the goblin who went to do his duty was going to bete.

    It wouldn''t be surprising that more woulde and check it out. Going back to their base, we went to observe them, looking for a chance to whittle them down.

    They were beginning to suspect that something had happened to their friend, so a few of them went to see what had happened.

    With four of them heading their way, we followed them. This time it was four ranks of two monsters that were checking it out. After this, we might have to go back to fight them.

    Having to arrive at their destination, they couldn''t see the goblin that we had killed. They were confused about where their buddy was. Before they could search where the goblin was, we began our attack, Crystal and I had charged our magic, we wanted to shoot a strong attack, and when weunched our range attack, it hit all four of them.

    They screamed in pain, falling to the ground. Fortunately, their voice wasn''t heard because they were far away from their group.

    Elly snared them, but I wouldn''t know how long she could hold it in for, Since the four of them were together in a stack, we could fire our magic at them, and they would all be hit.

    The both of us began to shoot our magic at them again, with the four of them dead. Our first attack in our ambush had already harmed them significantly. So our second attack had finished them.

    Collecting their body, we were about to head back suddenly we saw a group of goblins approaching us. It looks like they found out that something was wrong. This battle was unavoidable since there were only ten of them. If we ran, they would alert everyone.

    Seeing their deadpanion, they began to growl, angered by our attack, and with that, they started their attack.

 Chapter 59 Dawn Forest Day Two (Part IV)

    Seeing that they were going to attack, Elly began to freeze up. This was the first time we had to engage with this many monsters at once, not to mention that they were all ranked two.

    Trisha tried to charm them but wasn''t able to. The emotions of the goblins were too overwhelming for her magic to work.

    "Trisha! Get Elly as far as possible!" I yelled, telling them to go away. They wouldn''t be any help if they stayed.

    Hearing me yell, Trisha began to drag Elly far away. Then, with the goblins charging us, we began to attack. One of them tried to follow them, but I shot a wall of fire blocking its sight.

    Crystal froze the floor, making the floor slippery. Only two of them fell when they ran toward us. I saw this chance and began to fire my magic on them. With me hitting them with my magic, the two of them died.

    There were eight left, and they were drawing in closer to us. I don''t think Crystal was good at fighting in close range, so I tried to think of a move to push them back.

    Using my magic capacity advantage, I sent a big sun towards them. When they saw my attack, they used their arms and tried to block my attack.

    I grabbed Crystal and ran away from my attack, this was one of the most decisive moves I had used, and the explosion would be immense.

    She was surprised when I held her, but none of them had survived with my magic exploding. A crater was in the middle, and I believe the noise would''ve alerted them.

    We would have more enemies iing, but I could handle them myself. It was true that we would lose money, but I would just all their mana core using them as our source of rank.

    "Crystal, go check in with Trisha and Elly. I could handle the rest." Telling her she hesitated, seeing that I was serious, she went to them.

    Now that I was alone, I could hear a wave of monstersing toward me. I wasn''t worried about their numbers since I could quickly destroy them.

    "HAH!!!" The goblins began their battle cry seeing their deadrades burned from the ashes of my me.

    With the charging against me, I shot many beams toward them. Their numbers started to dwindle as I kept on shooting my sma beams. I should have done this earlier. I didn''t know why I was catering to my group.

    They wouldn''t mind me doing this as long as they rank high in our group. About half of them had died as they were still charging at me. They were still falling one by one.

    There were about seven of them left in that whole crossfire. Many of their goblin friends were unrecognizable by the burnt I gave them.

    Angered, I felt they became a bit stronger, but it wouldn''t have mattered if they were stronger. I was still too strong to close the gap for my group to beat me.

    All of them were a few feets apart from me. I then began to cover myself in hot mes, and the goblins began to step back. The heat was too intense for them to handle. All they could do was re at me and retreat. They didn''t have a way for them to hurt me.<sub> </sub>

    "There isn''t any use of running. Since you came to me, you might as well stay." Sending a burning bullet to their heads, they dropped like flies. It was over a one-sided massacre. I looked at the battlefield feeling nothing.

    Picking up all the mana core, I tried to find my group. It didn''t take long for me to see them since they hadn''t run far from the battle.

    "Let''s go back. We have too many corpses in our bag." Seeing that we couldn''t gain anything here, we had no choice but to return.

    "Did you really beat them all?" Elly quietly asked me a question. Crystal and Trisha looked at me, expecting an answer.

    "Yes, I beat them. It wasn''t that hard, to be honest." I told them without expressing any feelings.

    Seeing that I wasn''t in the mood to exin anything, they kept silent as we headed back to the town.

    Two hours had passed, and we had arrived back in town. We could see many students here. Most of them were in their first or second year. The third and four were most likely in the deep zone of the forest.

    Having to return, the first thing we did was go back to our school''s examination site. With the four of us arriving, many students could be seen. We then went to a school staff that would check on our progress.

    "Hello, how may I help you?" The staff asked.

    "My group and I want to sell our earnings from the hunting monsters we hunted." Crystal and I brought out our storage bag.

    "We had hunted a bit too much. I think it''s better if we used a room with more space," I told the receptionist that it was inefficient to do our selling here.

    Seeing that we were serious, she led us to a room. Putting out all the monster corpses we had obtained, the staff began calcting how many credits we would earn.

    "Your group had earned 5625 credits." She told us as she looked at our earnings. It was a decent amount considering none of these monsters were rare.

    Having to do that, we left the room and the examination site. "Let''s find a ce to rest," I told them, that we were not going to the forest anymore.

    Finding our room, we went to check it out. I told my group that I would stay here for the rest of the night and that they could have dinner without me. Entering my room, it was a room with one bed, cozy enough for a person who wasn''t going to stay long.

    I had self-reflected on my actions for the past few months. When did I be so kind? I hadn''t noticed it initially but realized it when I helped the group. My old self was someone who preferred benefit over friendship. I sighed, thinking about it as I began to sleep.

 Chapter 60 Dawn Forest Day Three (Part I)

    I had woken up in a small bed. Looking out of the small window, I could see the sun about to rise. I then wrote a note and began to head out. It looked like another receptionist was taking over.

    Walking to the receptionist, I gave him a note. "Could you give it to my friends? I have to head out and do something. Give it to them if you see an elf and a girl with white hair." I gave her some extra cash and the keys to my room.

    Agreeing to my request, I thanked her and left the building. I had decided that I wanted to venture into the forest alone. It would be more efficient if I did that. Before I went to the woods, I searched for food.

    There weren''t many people around during this time of day. Some stalls were still closed, and some were about to open up. I didn''t have many options in deciding what to eat.

    Choosing a stand that looked the most appealing, I ordered food off the stand dealer''s choice of rmendation. He gave me a stick of bread with some jelly in it. Taking a bite out of it, I wouldn''t say it was great, but at least he didn''t make it stale. The jelly made the meal a bit less boring, though.

    After I finished my breakfast, there was nothing left for me to do in this town. With my speed going to the forest only took an hour, half of the time it took when I came with my group.

    Arriving in the outer forest, I could see some people camping outside of it. I could see that they had just woken up, I didn''t know them, so I didn''t disturb them.

    I then walked in. The forest was the same as usual, bright purple making it easy to spot other monsters. Seeing the rank one monsters, I had killed them only taking their mana core. I had noticed that their materials were low cost and it would be a waste of space taking them.

    Going deeper, I saw a group struggling against a rank two monster. It left me a bad taste if they died because I decided I didn''t want to help them. And if they could kill it, I would proceed forward.

    It had taken them a while to kill a rank two tortoise. The tortoise is very known for its defensive powers. They were tired when they finished it. It was a shame that I couldn''t help and get the loot.

    Walking further, I had finally found my first rank three monsters. It was a ck bear that had red eyes. The size of this monster was about ten times mine. Seeing that I was within its range, it growled at me.

    "HRAAAW!" It charged at me, trying to strike me down. Since it was going in a straight line, I charged my mana, condensing them and making a powerful beam.

    I don''t know why or who made the bear angry, but I was thankful. I shot the bear''s skull because my beam was strong enough. The bear howled in pain, my beam couldn''t pierce it instantly, but over time the bear''s skulls began to crack. Seeing the skull crack, I put a little bit more mana into my shoot, killing it.<sub> </sub>

    It was pretty bloody since I shot my beam and busted its brain. The body was clean, but the head, not so much. Putting the corpse in my storage box, I continue my adventure.

    While the scenery was excellent, I don''t think I could travel just to kill monsters. While there was a rush of adrenaline when I fought them, I don''t think it would be mentally good for me. There were only five more days before the exam ended, including today.

    Would I be first? Or would something unexpecting things happening for me to lose? While I began searching for more monsters, I saw something that looked interesting. I saw a giant boulder in the middle of the forest.

    The trees surrounded it, and there was nothing but a boulder in the middle of it. Does this rock contain a secret? Interested, I fired a sun towards the giant rock. Smashing it into smithereens, I found a stair leading underground.

    I didn''t know whether I should enter or not. It could be leading me somewhere dangerous, or it could be a trap.

    Being the idiot I''m, I went in curious about what I would find. The underground cave was dark. I went back out and grabbed a wooden stick. Making a torch, I head to the underground cave.

    The cave was pretty narrow. I hadn''t heard anything as I kept walking deeper into the cave. It was rather eerie walking on this narrow path. Walking for about two more minutes, I found the end of the track.

    In the end, there was a small pir holding an item. I walked closer to the thing, inspecting what the object might be.

    It was a circr orb that was purple. I didn''t know what to do. Should I leave it alone or touch it? Maybe something dangerous would happen if I felt it. Should I take the chance? I may regret it, but I was going to take it.

    With me taking it, nothing had happened. The purple orb was now in my hand, and nothing had happened. I didn''t know what it did or how to use it, but I think it would be better if I left this area.

    Going back to the forest, I looked at the purple orb. I couldn''t tell what the use of this object was. Maybe it was an artifact. I then put the ball in my storage. Looking back at the stairs, I found it pretty creepy that the stairs had disappeared.

    Maybe the orb that I found was very important. Seeing that I had no lead on it, I began to continue exploring the forest.

 Chapter 61 Dawn Forest Day Three (Part II)

    After exploring the small cave, I began walking around the forest, searching for any monsters I could kill. Most monsters here would be either second rank or third rank. Most of these monsters wouldn''t be able to harm me unless it was a unique third-rank monster.

    Looking around, it seems like I found a group of students in the upper grade. They were most likely second-year or third-year students. I doubt a first-year student woulde to an area like this.

    They weren''t fighting any monsters and looked like they were about to eat. It was awkward that their group and I nced at each other. I didn''t want to disturb them during their meal time.

    "You''re Charlie Sris, right?" One of them asked me, confirming my identity.

    "That''s right," I confirmed to them that was my name. I didn''t have a reason to lie.

    "Do you need anything?" I asked, wondering what they wanted from me.

    "We found something interesting, and we would like a proposal." One of them said, looking at me like I was a treasure.

    "Wait, are you sure that we should leak that information?" Another of their group members said, uncertain about telling me.

    "A proposal?" I mumbled to myself.

    "It''s fine. It''s not like we''repeting. We''re in a different year." The one who asked me for a deal said.

    It was interesting when she asked me that. It was definitely worth listening to, considering that a member of her group panicked when telling me.

    "Besides, can''t you tell she is stronger than us? It would be much more effective if she came along." I don''t know if she said that out loud intentionally. The three looked at each other and agreed to the n.

    "When we make this deal, could we sign a contract?" She asked, ensuring nothing would go wrong when making this request.

    "As long as it doesn''t put me in any harm." I also didn''t want to get hurt because of some trickery. Seeing that I didn''t mind, she nodded her head and smiled.

    "The four of us found a dungeon, the first floor is full of rank two monsters, and we can''t tell how long it would be for us to finish. We would split our loot 50/50, and if you''re exceptional, we don''t mind giving you the 10%." She gave me the details of the deal.

    "Make the contract first, and we will discuss the deal." She nodded, seeing that I agreed with her deal.

    I could not sign this contract and follow them, but if they lived and saw what I did, they could spread unpleasant rumors about me, and it would be a pain to deal if it spread.

    Having to finish writing a paper contract, I looked at the content of it. We would split the loot by 50/50, and if I do exceptionally well, I will get an extra 10%. Under no circumstances would we be allowed to hurt each other. Neither of our groups is allowed to hold back, just to make the others do the work.<sub> </sub>

    Having to read everything, I couldn''t find anything wrong with it. I signed the contract making it bind the five of us.

    "Do you want to join us for lunch? We''re not in a rush to go to the dungeon right away." The seeming group leader said. I had no reason to decline, so I took my rations out and ate them.

    "Why don''t we introduce ourselves? I doubt that you knew our names." I also would prefer if they did, it would make me ufortable calling them by their looks.

    "Let me go first. I''m Isabelle Goldlocke, the leader of our group." So she was noble, and by her confidence and leadership, it wasn''t surprising for her to be the leader. Like most nobles, she had noticeable blond hair. Her golden-colored eyes were her most prominent features. She seemed like a person easy to get along with.

    "My magic allows me to make gold. Nice to work with you." She told me about her magic, not hiding any information.

    "I''m Citrus. Nice to meet you." Citrus was looking at me curiously. I didn''t know what I did for her attention. She was a fairy, like Tess. I like her stature, and because of it, I think it made her easier to get along with.

    "My magic lets me observe anything, telling me information about monsters and objects." It was pretty helpful but not a powerful spell.

    "Riley, it''s nice to work with you. My magic lets me push things." Riley politely said when greeting herself to me. Her ability reminded me of a character who did that in a show I had watched.

    "Tina." She said, looking at me carefully. She was the one who tried to reject the proposal but couldn''t stop it. She was the type to be wary of anyone that she didn''t know. Personally, it was a normal reaction, so I didn''t mind.

    She didn''t tell me her magic, but I would see it in the dungeon. I started to think she disliked me for some reason. Isabelle smiled wryly, seeing her partner''s interaction. "Sorry about her. She has a bit of a trust issue. It took us a while before she wasfortable with us." Seeing that she apologized, I felt bad since she didn''t do anything wrong.

    "Don''t worry about it," I told her.

    We then talked a little about the dungeon. Apparently, it was a dungeon in an underground cave, mixed with water-type monsters and others. It was fortunate that my attack wasn''t just fire. Otherwise, I would be at a disadvantage against most of the monsters.

    After eating our lunch, we began to rest and take a few minute breaks before going out.

    "Tina, do you mind if we tell Charlie Sris your magic? It wouldn''t help if you kept it a secret. Besides, you would show your magic sooner orter."

    Tina sighed and resigned. "Go ahead." I wondered what had happened for her to act this way.

    "Tina can summon bugs." I shuddered to hear that she could summon bugs. I wasn''t good with insects. They''re unreasonable fast for a small creature. Also, they could appear out of nowhere and be extremely dirty, which can cause sickness.

    They smiled, seeing twitch from me finding out her ability. Having all that said and done, we went toward the dungeon.

 Chapter 62 Dawn Forest Day Three (Part III)

    We had finished everything and were ready to head to the dungeon. We began to move with the five of us. I followed them since I didn''t know the location.

    With the four of us in the way, a few monsters had shown along the way. They weren''t that much of a challenge since they were only on the second rank.

    Splitting the corpses. We went back on track to our destination. The five of us had run for ten minutes straight. "How long until we get there?" I asked, wanting to know the answer.

    "It won''t take too long. We''re halfway there!" She replied and went back to scouting the area as we ran.

    There wasn''t any interference running the remaining distances. We had arrived at a cave near ake. Looking at the floor, it was wet. Good thing my magic could resist the wetness of the floor. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be a fun time walking around here.

    My mana recovery was faster than my use of drying my feet, so that shouldn''t be a problem. I looked at the other four, feeling pity for them.

    "Should we take a few-minute break? We had run all the way here from where we ate." Their physically weak members were out of breath. I wouldn''t want them to underperform because of this.

    "Let''s do that." She saw her members and agreed.

    After resting for another ten minutes, we were all ready. Nothing was stopping us from entering. We were prepared and excited to go.

    The four of us then entered the cave, and the light''s around the ce started to light up. I was confused about how it happened, but we didn''t mind how it happened since it helped us.

    "About six frogs are waiting for us for an ambush," Citrus said, telling us their locations. I then began to use mana to sense what was happening with the five of us, sensing something. The five of us were prepared to attack.

    "Ribbit!" They made a noiseshing their tongues at us. Their slimy tongue wasn''t appealing to look at. Their tongues were fast, and I didn''t think I could dodge them. Using my magic, I made armor around me, melting their tongue.

    They screeched in pain, having their tongue burnt. Tina summoned her bugs and surrounded the frogs. It was pretty unsightly how the bugs killed them. It was a shame that their material was ruined.

    I thought of what would happen if she used her magic against me. Even if I knew that my magic would be able to defend against her, it still was a fight that I wouldn''t want to take.

    "Tina, if possible, could you save your magic as ast resort? We won''t be able to sell the monsters at a higher price with the way your magic kills." She grumbled at myint butplied since she wouldn''t use much mana.

    With the death of all of the frogs, we continue onwards. I could see the dissatisfied faces of their group as we continued. They were looking at their legs, feeling that water had seeped onto the shoes.

    "How far had you guys explored?"

    "We went up to the third floor. We were pretty tired when we entered the dungeon, so we couldn''t delve deeper," Isabelle exined. I nodded, and we continued to explore the cave.<sub> </sub>

    The first floor of this dungeon was pretty easy. It only took us twenty minutes to reach the end of the first floor.

    "To think the boss had been revived in a short time," Isabelle muttered as she looked at the boss.

    The boss we would be fighting is a giant leech. Why were there so many insects? The leech was wiggling left and right, standing up and making a creepy stance.

    The leech was a higher tier of a second rank. It wasn''t anything too intense. I don''t know what its ability was. The leech then sensed our blood. The leech ran to Isabelle, who was the closest to us.

    Defending its attack, Isabelle summoned a golden brick on top of the leech. Since leeches can''t see very well and their hearing is horrible. The golden bricknded on top of the leech.

    Its body was crushed. They had already learned about the weakness of the leech due to Citrus magic. I doubt I was really needed here. Did she make a contract just so I could owe her a favor?

    Not only that, the difference between their rank made it, so the leech stood no chance. Fighting someone who was of a higher rank was almost impossible. I could only beat someone in a higher rank because of my mana capacity and magic superiority.

    The gap between lower second rank mana''s was about five times lower than a lower tier third rank. I don''t think a leech would sell much since insects type items weren''t popr in the market. Putting the squished leech in our storage bag, we went to the second floor.

    Like the first floor, the second floor was still the same. The only difference was that the water level had reached on top of our shoes.

    "More poison frogs ahead," Citrus said. Man, I love Citrus more and more. Her abilities were sure convenient.

    The frogs here were a bit stronger than the ones on the first floor. They began tosh out their tongues at us.

    Riley used her magic, rendering their attack useless. She used her magic to push their tongue against us. I wondered if her magic only allowed her to push things away.

    With the frog''s attack useless, I barraged them with my beams, killing them. Passing through the second floor, we saw the second-floor boss. Unlike the first-floor boss, this one seemed more normal.

    It was a turtle about three meters wide. It looked like a turtle that we could see anywhere except its size. Initiating an attack, the turtle hid in its shell, blocking most of our attack.

    The turtle wasn''t unscathed, leaving it a bit wounded. Shooting us with arge amount of water, Isabelle used her gold to make a wall. Riley tried to push the water away but was at a standstill with it.

    With the turtle wide open, looking away from me. I began to consume a lot of mana, focusing on making a fierce sun.

    Noticing the magic, it stopped again and tried to stop me. But it was toote. Iunched it to the boss. The turtle tried to hide in its shell. My sun had exploded, killing the monster.

 Chapter 63 Dawn Forest Day Three (Part IV)

    This turtle shield should sell for a hefty amount. Putting it in our bag, we went to the third floor. Like the first two floors, the water here got higher. This time it went as high as a quarter of our legs. I wonder how much longer we would be able to go deeper into this dungeon.

    "Eels are approaching us!" Citrus shouted quickly.

    The monsters had changed slightly, unlike frogs that would attack us in range. It was an eel. It was annoying to fight them since they swam at a fast pace, rendering our attack useless.

    It was a good thing that they were electrical eels. Otherwise, things would''ve been dicey. Riley used her magic and pushed the eels up into the air. Not wasting any more time, I pierced the eels with my magic finishing them off.

    The path was cleared of any enemies, and we went further into the dungeon. More monsters had appeared. This time it was a group of small crocodiles that had shown up.

    They were smallpared to the ones I had seen in my old world. It was pretty cute when you looked at it. Even if they were aggressive, I couldn''t see them much as a threat. It is a shame that they had to die.

    It was my first time using my sword for the day. I went in at them and cut them up. For a monster on the third floor, they seemed weaker than the monsters on the first two floors. They weren''t fast and were as strong as a low second-rank monster.

    I had asked them what the third-floor boss was. They told me it was a giant crocodile. The one that we were fighting could be considered a babypared to it.

    The monsters on the floor were rtively the same. We were almost in the territory on the boss floor. Minutes had passed, and we had arrived. Up ahead, the giant crocodile was there staring at us.

    It opened its mouth and chewed on its teeth, trying to intimidate us. The crocodile was at the border of a rank two monster. If it got any stronger, there was a chance for it to break through, making it a tier-three boss. This monster was as strong as the serpent I had fought before it evolved.

    After initiating an attack, Tina, watching this whole time quietly, started using her bug magic. This monster could genuinely hurt us, so she went in to attack. She had summoned tiny mosquitoes surrounding the crocodile, trying to suck its blood.

    The crocodile tried to stop the flying bugs by shaking its body and using the water to repel them. With itsrge body, it was futile. There were too many mosquitoes for it to stop it. I could see it agonized as the boss''s blood was beginning to drain.

    The four of us didn''t feel the need to step in since the fight seemed like it was over. Tina looked slightly drained, summoning many bugs to swarm the boss. It was a good thing I could defend against attacks like that overwise. I might have a mental meltdown if I faced her.<sub> </sub>

    Now that the first three floors had been cleared, we were going in blind, we didn''t know what was ahead of us, but the monsters would be stronger in the future.

    "Tina, do you want to rest before we go in?" We had all the time we needed. We didn''t need to rush in. Tina, who heard me, shook her head, saying that we should continue. I couldn''t tell her to rest, and the rest of her members didn''t want to ruin her mood.

    The water went to our kneecaps, and the five of us entered the fourth floor. I don''t think we could continue after the fifth floor if it kept rising. I could see why they wanted extra help. Riley could push the water away, but it would go to her allies. Most of Tina''s insects were used for air and ground.

    "About tworge fishes areing!" Citrus warned us that we could see that shadow within the water. These fish wererge, thergest ones I had ever seen. I wondered what it would taste like if they were freshly cooked.

    Focusing on the monsters ahead, I fired a sma spear toward them. One of my attacks had hit the giant fish, and it pierced its body. Seeing that the fish was struggling to move, my spear had not killed it.

    The fish that I hit was incapacitated, leaving the other fish around. Seeing that I had harmed its friend, it came rushing to me. I wasn''t worried about the fishing at me because the movement of the fish was too linear.

    Timing my attack, Iunched another spear toward the direction of the fish attacking me. Unlike thest one, my hitnded on the head, instantly killing it.

    "You girls want to eat fish for dinner? I heard high-ranking fish taste great for seafood lovers." I haven''t had seafood since I came to this world. Now that there was a chance to eat one, I should take the opportunity to use it.

    Hearing me say they looked hesitant to eat it, it was worth points. "I could use the fish as my portion of the deal." I didn''t mind since I was the one that wanted to eat it.

    They didn''t hesitate anymore because I was going to make it mine. The group agreed since they were also craving fish for the night. It looks like we had fish. It was a shame that we didn''t bring sauce for seasoning.

    The water was getting to them. The more we walked, the more demoralized they became. No one liked being wet for hours. I wanted to help them, but there might be a chance that I could harm them instead. We explored more of the cave and headed to the boss room.

 Chapter 64 Dawn Forest Day Three (Part V)

    The boss, this time, was a flying stingray. I never thought a water monster would fly in the air, not needing water to survive.

    Shooting electrical and poisonous attacks at once, Isabelle used her walls to block the attack. Thebination of the stingray was horrifying. She then made a tform for us so the electricity would not affect us when we were in the water.

    Just by being hit by it, electricity would poison us. We had to be cautious against it and find a way to defend against it, I don''t know if any of us have any medical knowledge, but I wasn''t here to find out.

    This was the first third-rank boss that we had found. It was undoubtedly the strongest monster that we had faced here.

    Tina had begun her attack and summoned some insect to attack it, she hadn''t fully recovered, but it was still enough for her to use her magic.

    The stingray cloaked itself with electrical power, stopping any insects from attacking. Isabelle then expanded her magic, making our tform much wider for us to attack it from all sides.

    Standing apart, we began to barrage the boss with magic attacks. Isabelle sent a golden rod trying to pierce it, Riley attempted to push the stingray away from us, and Tina used her bugs to distract it.

    With all that happening, I made multiplences trying to prate its skin. Before Iunched my attack, the stingray used an electrical discharge, trying to harm all of us at once. I used my armor at the maximum capacity, entirely nullifying the attack.

    Isabelle manage to block it with her wall, Tina wasn''t hit luckily, and Riley deflected the attack. Citrus was the unlucky one since she couldn''t dodge it on time.

    Citrus was pained by shocked by the boss''s attack. I don''t know if the poison affected her, but we had to end this battle quickly.

    Riley began to go to Citrus and check on her condition. She could not do anything to the stingray, so she went to protect Citrus.

    With the stingray electrical discharge gone, I made up morences shooting at the boss. Mynce hadnded against the stingray, all my attacks hadnded, but it wasn''t strong enough to break through the skin. Although the attack couldn''t go through it, my attack was still effective in harming it.

    The boss was angered by my attack. Seeing that I did it, the boss sent magic to me. I couldn''t evade the attack, so I defended it with my magic armor.

    "Tina! Try to distract it for a few seconds." I said, preparing tounch a big attack. Tina, who saw that I was up to something, had no choice but to agree.

    Isabelle joined in and shot her attack at the back of the stingray. The attack didn''t hurt the stingray, but the attempt to attack seemed to annoy it.

    I began to condense my mana in a singr point since I masked my mana into a minor attack. The boss wouldn''t notice it. I learnedst time that they could interrupt me if they knew what I would do.

    Both Isabelle and Tina were still attacking the third-rank boss. I was almost done charging my beam.<sub> </sub>

    After finish charging, I unleashed my condensed beam at the stingray, used my beam above it, and moved my beam down, hitting the boss. My beam had cut the stingray in half like it was butter. With the boss dead, we were finished with this floor.

    All of us sighed in relief, seeing the boss die. Citrus looked like she was in critical condition, and the rest of us were tired from using a lot of mana.

    "What is the situation looking like for Citrus?" Isabelle asked Riley to see if she was alright. Riley looked a bit downcast, seeing Citrus''s condition.

    "We don''t have anything to cure her poison. We''ve to leave right away to cure her." I didn''t know how to react to that. Right now, we''re not in a suitable condition to descend to the next floor.

    "I could heal her," Tina said, looking at Citrus.

    "Are you sure you could heal her?" Isabelle didn''t want to take responsibility when something could happen to her.

    Tina nodded confidently that she could heal her. Seeing that Tina didn''t look worried, Isabelle sighed, "If you''re so confident, then you would be responsible for what happens to her."

    Tina didn''t object when she heard Isabelle''s response. It was her who wanted to heal Citrus. Tina began to summon her insects, and I saw them enter Tina''s body using them. Everyone who saw this skin crawled, creeped out by the situation.

    "Is it necessary to do that?" Riley asked, looking ufortable.

    Tina didn''t respond to that question and touched Citrus concentrating her magic inside it. We couldn''t tell if Citrus was feeling better or not. She was paling even more, but her expression looked relieved.

    Was her blood begin drained along with the poison? Man, I wouldn''t know how to feel if I got poisoned. Seeing Tina finished with her work, she recalled her bugs.

    "Her poison is gone, but we would need to rest for a while to continue to the next floor." Tina then began to take out a red pill from her storage bag. She then proceeded to feed it to Citrus and began to rest. Citrus''s pale face was starting to regain some light, but she was still tired.

    "How long do you think the monsters in this dungeon woulde back?" I asked them since I didn''t know when they were in the dungeon before, so they looked like they had a possible answer.

    "From the looks of it, it would be the minimum of eighteen hours." I nodded, thanking her for an answer.

    "Then let''s rest for the day and continue tomorrow." All of us agreed to that choice. With Citrus down, it would be hard for us to leave her here.

 Chapter 65 Dawn Forest Day Three/Four

    Hours had passed since Citrus was healed from the poison, and we were just resting on the ground to recover our energy. I didn''t know what time it was, but since my stomach was hungry, dinner seemed close by.

    "Should we get dinner out of the way? It''s almost time that I usually have dinner." Looking around, I check for everyone''s answer.

    Hearing everyone''s opinion except for Citrus, who was asleep and was on board with my idea, I began to take out the fish we had caught earlier. I had extra wood from my previous days.

    Getting them out, I realized I had never deboned a whole fish, so I didn''t know what to do with it. "Does anyone know how to debone fish?" Riley raised her hand, telling us she could do it. Handing a meter of fish meat, Riley began to debone the fish.

    Since I had four more pieces, I looked at her to see how she handled the bones. She took out a knife and cleaned it with fresh water. She then began to cut the ribs of the fish and then the spine. Using her magic, she pushed out all the remaining bones. I don''t think I could replicate her pushing out the bones.

    With Riley finish deboning the fish bones, I began to take out the woods from my storage bag and start a fire.

    "Wake up, Citrus, after the food is cooked," I told them as I began roasting the fish. It has been three days since I started learning how to roast animals. I think I had a knack for it. The fish began to smell fresh, and everyone started to silvate.

    After I finished cooking, we began to eat. The meat of a monster was great. At first, I thought this world sucked because the food here sucked. No wonder everyone in this world doesn''t focus on cuisine. The monster''s meat was already top-tier food for everyone. And they didn''t need to find ways to improve it.

    Not to mention the higher the rank, the better it is. The fish I was cooking was finished, all we needed to do was debone it, and the fish would be ready to be eaten.

    Looking at Riley, Isabelle went to Citrus and tried to wake her up. Even if she needed rest, she still needed to eat. She would have all the time to rest after eating.

    With Citrus woken up by Isabelle, we began to dine. Citrus looked out of it, but at least she could eat without problems. Honestly, this was the most incredible fish that I have ever had. If I had some seasonings, the fish would''ve tasted better.

    After finishing our meal, I saw happy faces from the group. Citrus was tired, so she immediately went to sleep. We began to do shifts just in case there were extra monsters on this floor. Most of us wanted to go first orst, so we decided to do rock-paper-scissors.

    I had won most of my battles, so I decided to go first. Isabelle got second, so she wentst. Riley goes after me, and Tina goes after Riley.

    With our schedule decided, we began to talk about trivial things to pass the time. As time passed, the others were starting to get sleepy, and Isabelle took out an hourss, giving us a timer of two hours.

    Watching out was pretty dull and tiring. I had to watch over everyone defending whatever hade. What was worse was that no monster had arrived, one hour had passed, and there was nothing. There was an hour left before I went to sleep.<sub> </sub>

    Another had passed, and I was finished with my shift. No monster had attacked. Going up to Riley, I shook her body a little waking her up.

    "It''s your turn. My two hours are finished," I told Riley and gave her the hourss.

    I was getting tired from watching nothing for two hours. I went to my tent and began to sleep.

    "Everyone, wake up!" I could hear Isabelle scream, telling us to wake up. I was a bit dizzy, but I went out with my sword.

    There was a group of fish that Isabelle had distracted. I sent a sma spear at them, prating two of them. Four more were alive, and Tina and Riley used their magic to repel them from their uing attack.

    Making more sma spears, I sent another wave of spears toward the group of fishes. This time I had hit all four of them. Three of them were killed in the process of my spear, with one alive cut on the side.

    Isabelle made a sharp golden rod and finished off the remaining fish. Now with them dead, the battle was over. I then looked at the hourss. There wasn''t much sand left on the top. Since she woke us up, we should prepare breakfast before going to the next floor.

    "Citrus, is there anywhere you''re feeling ufortable with?" I asked her, checking if Citrus was fine.

    Seeing that I was worried about her, she smiled and replied. "Don''t worry, I fully recovered thanks to Tina''s blood pills." She said, telling me that she was okay.

    Since we still had more fish for today''s hunt and yesterday, I began to take out a meter''s long worth of fish meat. I gave Riley the fish so she could start deboning them.

    After Riley finished, I began to cook, and we ate. I then voiced my opinion rting to the next floor. "The next floor might be our final one. If there is a six-floor, we won''t be able to cross it since the water level is too high."

    The others also thought the same. The dungeon was fruitful, while the monster outside were a bit more random. Here, they had a fixed power level making it easier to gauge their strength.

    "Are you guys ready?" They nodded at my question, seeing that we started going to the fifth floor.

 Chapter 66 Dawn Forest Day Four (Part I)

    The fifth floor was the same as the previous floors, but the water here had reached our waist, unlike the rest. It was starting to get hard to walk in the water. Our clothes were wet, and our motivation was diminishing. It was depressing that this water was more tiring than a monster.

    "A shark is swimming ahead!" Citrus warned us as we were walking.

    Sharks? These monsters should be much stronger than those fishes that we fought earlier. The shark''s speed was insanely fast, faster than the serpent I had fought. It was swimming around us in circles, deciding who to pick off.

    Deciding its target, it went to Citrus man Citrus''s luck wasn''t very good at all. Isabelle, who noticed this, made a golden cage around Citrus, helping her defend against the uing attack.

    Charging in for the kill, the shark rammed into the cage. The shark made a dent in the cell, stopping its attack.

    Citrus sighed in relief, seeing that the shark couldn''t make a break into the cage. The monster then began to search for another target. Finding it, the shard went to Riley. Unlike Citrus, Riley could stop the shark. Not only that, she could make it easier for us to kill the shark.

    With the shark speeding toward Riley, she used this chance to make an opportunity for us. Using her magic, she tried to push the shark into the air. Both Riley and the shark were contesting each other strength.

    Taking this chance, I fired a beam, trying to make an attempt to hurt the shark. The attack that I did made a difference, weakening the shark. Riley then used this chance to push the shark into the air, making it unable to do anything.

    Isabelle and I had the same idea to finish the shark. The both of us made a sharp object dealing the finishing blow to the shark. It was good that we had a way to beat the shark. Isabelle released the cage freeing Citrus from protection.

    I could see cold sweat dripping from Citrus''s forehead. She was still nervous about that attack. Having no ce to rest, we began to head forward to the dungeon.

    Other than the shark, monsters like the fish from the previous floor and turtles had attacked us. We were quick to defend against their uing attacks, and when the time was right, we destroyed them in seconds.

    The time that we spent on this floor was much longer than any of the previous floors. I could feel that we were almost there. The monsters were more frequent the further we went in.

    Walking for a few more minutes, we found the door to the boss''s room. There was a monster guarding the entrance to the door, and by the looks of it, we had to fight the monster.

    The monster is a seaweed-looking thing. Extending its seaweed, it began to attack. By the looks of it, the only attack it would do was to use the seaweed and attack. The monster was a third-rank monster, meaning that the attacks were at least on par with us.

    It was a good thing that it was a nt base monster, making it easier for me to burn it into dust. Firing my beams toward the seaweed monster, it tried to block my attack. With my magic touching it, the seaweed monster jumped in pain, trying to stop my attack.<sub> </sub>

    Finding that my attack was highly effective against it, Isabelle made a golden bar around it, trying to limit the seaweed monster movement, with her doing that. I kept on firing sma beams to wear the monster down.

    With my constant shooting, I could see that the monster was close to death, it was lying on the floor, but I could still see some movement with the seaweed.

    Isabelle used a golden rod to finish off the seaweed monster. With the monster dead, all we needed to do was beat the boss.

    Going into the room, the ce turned blue. Unlike the dark ck walls, the walls inside this ce were blue. This was thest floor. There weren''t any doors to the next room.

    The boss was different from the rest. It was kind of humanoid but a lot stronger than the rest. What we would be fighting would be a water spirit. What makes these monsters notable is their intelligence.

    Spirit had the intelligence of an average adult. They could make logical choices. Still, because they were created by dungeons or ssified as monsters, they are pretty hostile toward most races.

    What makes spirits unique is that their body is made out of mana. This means that any kind of attack that doesn''t have many included would be rendered useless. They could be the bane of the existence known as men.

    The spirit looked at us and red menacingly. We could feel its aura, it wasn''t terrifying or anything, but we felt a little pressure. The spirit was a high third-rank monster, almost at the peak of its rank.

    Some of us were scared, while the others were prepared to fight. The spirit was a liquified woman that was transparent.

    For some reason, it kept looking at me, I didn''t know why, but something was telling me to kill it or run away from it.

    It began to attack, sending a wave of water, and we began to defend. Isabelle built a wall around us, blocking all of our attacks.

    We were at a significant disadvantage in this fight. This whole ce was almost covered in water, meaning the spirit could use it at any time without wasting any precious mana.

    The five of us needed a way to stop the spirit from attacking. "Citrus, find a weakness for this thing!" Tina yelled, realizing what we were up against.

    The spirit was still staring at me, I didn''t know what it wanted from me, but all I knew was that this would be my most challenging fight yet.

 Chapter 67 Dawn Forest Day Four (Part II)

    I was starting to feel ufortable with how the spirit looked at me. Since that was the case, I began to attack the spirit sending in beams of sma toward it.

    The spirit submerged into the water and dodged the attack. It came back up and began to attack. Citrus was still observing the spirit, waiting for the chance to find its weakness.

    All five of us didn''t know how to fight the spirit. Seeing how it dodges our attacks underwater, it would be hard for us to find a way for us to attack it.

    With us observing the water spirit, the spirit began to shoot more bursts of water at us. We were in a helpless situation of defending against her attack. At this rate, we would be wiped out.

    Stopping her attack, Isabelle created a golden cage trying to capture the spirit. Sadly the water spirit was a liquified monster turned into a liquid state and got out of the cage.

    None of our moves were working. There must be a way for us to defeat it. Citrus, who was still trying to find its weakness, had no ideasing to her mind.

    Tina then began to use her insects to attack the spirit, I don''t know what she was nning, but I decided to wait for an opening to fire my magic.

    With the bugs going to the spirit, I could see the displeased look of the water spirit. Seeing that it wasing, it sent more water, trying to drown the flying insects that Tina had made.

    Most of the insects died from the spirit attack, and the surviving insects had attached its body to the water spirit.

    Pain could be seen in the spirit. The bugs that Tina had summoned were draining her mana. I didn''t expect her bugs to do that, but nheless helpful. Distracted by that, I went in for an attack before the spirit could get rid of the insect on her.

    Making a barrage of beams, I shoot at her, most of my attacks had killed the bugs, but my magic had hurt the spirit significantly.

    The spirit got angry, dived into the pool of water, and began to push away all the bugs on her. All the insects that were on her were drowned,ing back up. It felt like she got stronger from all that rage. She began to shoot more water at us attempting to drown us.

    This attack she made was much stronger than the previous one. It took Isabelle and Riley a lot of mana to block everything. They were getting tired from defending against the spirit.

    Should we retreat? No, I doubt that they would want to leave despite the difficulty that we were facing. We needed to find a way to finish it as fast as possible.

    With Isabelle and Riley finished defending, the three of us began to attack. Like Tina''s usual strategy, she sent more insects toward the spirit, and Isabelle made a sharp rod trying to kill the spirit.<sub> </sub>

    Having the two of them attack, I went for a different attack and sent sma needles, making them small and fast. The three of us had attacked the spirit, but seeing our uing attack, she went to the water to dodge everything.

    It was getting on my nerves that she could use the water to do many things with it. Not only could she use it to attack, but she could also use it to dodge everything. Is there a way for us to erase the water here?

    I had thought of an idea, but it was too risky for me to attempt it. I didn''t know whether I should try it or not. If I failed to do so, the chance of us dying to too huge.

    With me trying to think of a n, the water spirit attacked again, but unlikest time she used a different attack. She made a water tentacle using it to grab us.

    Riley and Isabelle were trying their best to block all of the attacks. I joined in to ease and made a barrier surrounding us. Suddenly one of the tentacles broke through our barrier and grabbed Citrus.

    Fuck, why is it always Citrus? She was held up in the air, being dragged to the water. We needed to do something quickly. I think it was time for me to do my thing.

    "Everyone tries to distract the spirit. I have something to make it easier to defeat her!" They didn''t know what n I had in mind, but all they could do was trust me.

    I gathered a lot of mana and tried to vaporize every water I could find. Steam was beginning toe out, and the room was bing hot. With how hot my magic became, I could see some of the water disappearing and turning into a gas state.

    The water spirit saw what I was doing and tried to stop me. My attack had already destroyed the tentacle freeing Citrus. Isabelle then made a wall blocking the ie attack aimed at me.

    I didn''t have much mana left. Most of the water here was already drained. I didn''t feel too good just as I finished clearing the water. All the mana that I had was gone. I could see the water spirit irritated by what had happened.

    She was weaker now that all the volume of water was gone. Isabelle and Tina attacked, making it hard for the spirit to dodge. Every attack they made hadnded, the water spirit yelled in pain, unable to do anything against their attack.

    It was hard for me to keep my conscious. Citrus and Riley went ahead and fed me a mana potion. The fatigue I had felt earlier was disappearing, but the chances of me using mana again were unlikely.

    Watching Isabelle and Tina fight, I saw they were about to kill the water spirit. It was beautiful to see it die from how annoying the way it fought.

    Isabelle doing the finishing blow had killed the spirit. All it dropped was a mana core, different from the one we usually see. The mana core was a blue sphere gem that could be used as jewelry. With all of that done, we had cleared the dungeon.

 Chapter 68 Dawn Forest Day Four (Part III)

    With the spirit dead, we had finally finished the dungeon. It took us a day and a half to beat, but I don''t think it was worth it. We could''ve hunted more monsters without being harmed outside. Just as I felt that something had appeared.

    Citrus was injured again. She had to take the heat of my magic because she was in the water from the spirit. Riley went up to her and applied some medical treatment to her.

    Three pirs had shown up with the water spirit dead. The five of us could see artifacts. There were three artifacts that we got from the boss. I was wrong to say that this dungeon wasn''t worth it. Just the artifacts alone could easily ce me top of my year.

    "Good job, everyone!" Isabelle said, smiling that we got something good out of the dungeon. Everyone was happy with the prize that we''d earned. Even Tina, who looked like she had never smiled, was feeling good about what we got.

    The first item was a blue ne with dark blue jewelry surrounded by light blue decorations on the side, we had to go back to check what it did, but it was a lovely ne.

    Unlike the first item, which was an essory, the second item was a blue staff. It had a bright blue core on the top of the stick, and the base of the staff was whitish blue with some lovely details on it.

    Seeing the prize handed out, I doubt any of us would be allowed to use any of these artifacts. Most of these artifacts would boost water magic users. At least we would earn double the price for these things.

    The third item was a medical pill. Checking it out, the five of us had no idea what it did. We would have to go back to check it out.

    Just as we were about to finish checking out the content of our prizes, something big happened. Above ground, we could hear loud noises. The room was shaking, and it looked like this ce would copse soon.

    Citrus, who was already injured and taking medical treatment, paled even more and realized what was happening. "Citrus, what is happening?" Isabelle asked, with everyone around wondering what was happening.

    "Mon...Monster Tide!" Her face paled as she gulped, seeing what was happening. Monster tide? Has the monster outside begun to form an attack or some sort? That would be bad news.

    "We should stay until the monster tide is over. Otherwise, we would be in the middle of the swarm. I would say that our chances of staying alive there would be close to zero." If we went out in our current state, we would definitely die. So I would prefer if we avoid that.

    "I agree, leaving is simply too dangerous," Isabelle added in her opinion to the matter. The rest of her group also didn''t want to get involved with the tide.

    "Then we should wait it out until the tide is over." Having that said, everyone began to set up camp. We were going to wait for to monster tide to die out. Setting everything we needed, we sat in a circle and began talking.<sub> </sub>

    "With us selling everything, what ce do you think it would put you, girls, in?" Without a doubt, even if I did nothing for the whole four days, I was pretty confident that I would be first. But now, with the beast tide, there might be a little of a chance that I don''t.

    But there will be some students that will die. I just hope Olivia and Serena aren''t too caught up in this whole mess. I wouldn''t even know what to do if one of them died.

    "Just from the artifacts alone, we would at least be the top five team. I gotta say that I didn''t expect you to vaporize the water here. Many things could have gone wrong if you didn''t have enough mana." Riley, who was pretty quiet the whole time, spoke about her thoughts.

    "Well, that was the only thing I could do to improve our chances of winning. You saw how it was pretty impossible to beat that water spirit with the waters surrounding us."

    "Besides, Citrus would''ve drowned if I didn''t do that." Even if I technically injured her more, she probably would''ve died if I didn''t do that.

    They couldn''t reallyin, seeing that her groupmate would''ve died. They were just worried about the risk that we took.

    Riley sighed, knowing that she really couldn''tin. In the end, we did get what we wanted, and even if they had to split the loot, the artifact here was at least the third rank. Not to mention that there was a weapon mixed with it. They were pretty expensive since they gave the most effects out of every artifact.

    With us talking, it was still pretty noticeable what was happening outside the dungeon. We could see rumbling still happening above us, and the noise was still there. I wondered how long with tide wouldst.

    "Anyone up for lunch?" It had been a while since we cleared the fifth floor, and with how hard the fight was, it would make us hungry after that experience.

    But I didn''t want to eat fish again. Even if they tasted great eating, them three times in a row would get tiring. I had leftover meat from rank two monsters that I had killed before meeting them.

    "Then let us get ready for dinner." Isabelle joined in the conversation, hearing us talk. Taking out my meat, they were surprised that I didn''t take out the fish.

    "Don''t worry, these were leftovers from my hunt before I met your group. Also, it was tiring to eat fish constantly." I dispelled their worries about the number of points that I might have spent. The leftover that I had were pretty good, definitely better than having fish for another meal.

 Chapter 69 Forest Escape

    How long has it been since the beast tide? About two days had passed since we beat the boss, everyone had fully recovered from the fight, and we began to head up to the dungeon. The five of us were on the second floor of the dungeon. Ever since the boss had died, the dungeon stopped spawning any monsters.

    We were checking out the situation that might have happened outside. The beast tide had died down to a considerable amount. There was still rumbling however it wasn''t as much as before.

    "Citrus, what is the situation like?" I asked, confirming how exactly safe it was once we got out.

    "The monsters had thinned out, but there are still a lot of monsters out there, and it would be exhausting for us to fight most of them." So there were still many monsters out there, but at the same time, we had to go back and have our materials exchanged; otherwise, what we did in the dungeon would be invalid.

    "Citrus, if we went out, do you think you would be able to lead us with the least amount of monsters out there?" If we wanted to leave safely at most, we would need to go in a direction that was the safest.

    "Umm, that would depend if the monsters above couldmunicate with the others. With all the monsters working together, it is hard to tell what could happen." Was there a high-ranking monster controlling them? If so, the forest was too dangerous to be in. Citrus was also not confident that we woulde out unscathed.

    "Then should we proceed to head out at night? At most, only nocturnal monsters would be out, and I don''t think there would be many of them." I gave a pausable idea that we should try since it was still dangerous during the day. We might as well during the night when it is less dangerous.

    "Let''s leave the conversation at that. We should rest and prepare for the night." Isabelle said as we prepared for camp. Having to set up our sleeping bags, we went in our bags to sleep for the day. After all, we would need all the energy we would get.

    After resting for half of a day, it was finally nighttime. The five of us went to the first floor, preparing to leave the dungeon.

    "Citrus, how is the situation outside now?" She closed her eyes and observed the surrounding.

    "Some of the monsters are asleep. The scary-looking monsters are still awake, hunting for the weaker monsters for a meal." While it was still dangerous, at least the numbers won''t be a problem.

    "Then lead us out with the lowest and weakest amount of monster there is," Isabellemanded. Citrus could only nod at her words.

    Leaving the cave was the first time we had seen what was outside for the first time in a while. The moon was bright, but my magic wasn''t powered up like in the dungeon because there wasn''t any sun.

    Sneaking around the forest, we followed Citrus since she was the one who knew where to go. Our journey out of the forest was quiet. We could hear the noise of an owl or some bird monster. We had to take many turns just to avoid anything.

    The forest was pretty gruesome. There were many corpses of monsters out in the field. We had snagged the monsters that would cost a lot. It was not only monsters that we had found. There were some humans mixed in with the corpse. Some students could be found, and some random adventures.<sub> </sub>

    The four of them had sour faces when they saw the corpse of each human. I was surprisingly calm about it. Maybe the dark part of the inte had numbed me about it. Seeing that I wasn''t scared or excited by a corpse was great. My abilities would have been reduced if I had met one and got scared by chance.

    Creeping, we encountered our first monster of the night. It was a dark panther. The panther was a rank three monster, and with its type of beast, I bet its specialty was its speed. I''ve encountered many monsters that were faster than me, and I had to find a way to deal with them.

    The monster was looking for an opportunity to strike us. The three of us were waiting for it to strike, seeking a counterattack.

    With all of us staring at each other, we are waiting for a slip-up from the opponent. Riley used a monster''s corpse and pushed it to the panther, making the first strike.

    Seeing the corpse flung to the monster, it sliced the body in half with its ws, leaving a chance to attack. The three used our magic, dishing it out as quickly as possible, trying to finish this fight.

    ? Our attacks grazed it when the panther dodged. Isabelle had a golden rod stuck on the panther''s leg. We had nearly disabled the panther just from that attack.

    It growled at us angrily with the damage we had done. It wasn''t our fault that the panther hade in to attack us. It would have been fine if it wasn''t here to kill us.

    Isabelle then created arge cage around the panther. Even if it was fast, the legs of the monster were damaged. Unable to move correctly, it was trapped.

    Locked in the cage, we finished it cleanly, with Isabelle making a guillotine inside the cage and chopping its head.

    Doing all that, the fight was finished. It was great that the fight wasn''t that loud to attract more monsters. Done with the fight, we looted the panther''s body and began to move.

    On our way out, more monsters appeared. Since we were closer to the outer edge of the forest, the monsters here were weaker. There were more monsters in groups, but we dealt with them efficiently.

    Hours had passed since we started to travel, and we had encountered at least fifty of these beasts. We were getting worn out just by the continuous fight. Another half an hour passed, and we were finally out of the forest. It wasn''t as dangerous as it seemed, but it was still tiring.

    All of us were relieved that we had left the forest. With all of that done, we began to head our way back to town.

 Chapter 70 Points Get!

    Arriving back at Dawn Creed City, we could see something had happened in this ce. There was a big battle anyone could see if they crossed here. With the stench of blood, many monsters and people were killed.

    The city gate was still intact, meaning that the city had sessfully defended the gate. We went to the front gate and saw some guards.

    Just as we were about to enter the city, the guards outside stopped us. "Hold it! Show us your identity before you go in!" The guards point their swords at the gate blocking the entrance. The five of us had school uniforms, so I didn''t think we would need to prove that we were students.

    "I''m Isabelle Goldlocke. The second daughter of the Goldlocke family." She then took out her student card and showed it to the guards.

    "Goldlocke, eh? Do you have proof that you''re from the Goldlocke family?" They questioned her, making sure that she was speaking the truth. It was a crime to pose as a noble if she couldn''t put in proof, they would arrest her and put her up for interrogation.

    Isabelle then used her magic and summoned a brick of gold, handing it out to the guard. Inspecting the gold brick, the guard looked at it with a glimmer of happiness before the gold brick disappeared. Disappointed, he let us in without questioning us any further.

    Going in, we could see more guards than usual. There weren''t many people outside since it was night, and the rest of the students and city folks were asleep. Most of the people we would see would be guards.

    "Let''s look for a ce to rest. We will be leaving this ce and returning to school after tomorrow. Even though we slept earlier, it would be better for us to adjust our time schedule for the day." They didn''t have anything toin about, so the five of us went to a hotel to see if we could book a room.

    It took us a while for us to get a room. Some of the establishments had closed down for the night while the rest of the rooms were full. Finding a room was a miracle itself. We agreed to meet up first thing in the morning after we had woken up, taken the keys to my room, and began to be in deep thought.

    These six days were pretty rough. Due to my past and present shelter, I knew I wasn''t the type of person to go out in the wilderness for a long time.

    But it also was a valuable experience. I wondered how the other three fared against this. Would they still be alive holding a grudge against me? Or would they be dead from the monster tide earlier? I sigh, having thought about it, but time will only tell tomorrow.

    A day had passed by after my rest at the hotel. I felt a bit tired for some reason. Even if my body was sore, I still had to get up. I began doing some light stretch seeing if this would fix this feeling for a bit.

    I left the room and headed to the main hall to see if anyone was there. Looking around, it looked like everyone else, but I had arrived.

    "Sorry if I slept in for too long." I apologized, seeing that I had made them wait.<sub> </sub>

    "It''s fine. It''s still pretty early. We were excited to see our earnings," Isabelle spoke for the whole group. Seeing their faces, I could tell that she was telling the truth.

    "Then, should we go to the school''s examination site?" It was still early. I didn''t know if they operated at this time.

    "We shall!" The receptionist, an olddy, smiled at us, seeing our chat. She bid us farewell as we left the hotel, thanking her we went to the school''s examination site.

    The examination site was less crowded than before. Luckily there was an avable receptionist. Walking to her counter, she said, "Wee! How may I help you?" She asked happily.

    "We would like to exchange our findings for the exam," Isabelle spoke like she was experienced in these kinds of things.

    "Would you like to use the back room so we would be able to record your findings?"

    "Yes, please." Having to do so, we followed the receptionist and entered the back room, taking out all the corpses we had taken. The receptionist began to examine the materials that we brought.

    With how many items we had, we had to wait an hour before the receptionist calcted everything. That would be 86,250 credits with a bonus of two times. You would get 172,500. Hearing that, I knew that I was rich. The previous amount of credits I had to earn was nothingpared to this.

    "How would you like to divide it? I would assume that some of you are in different groups." It was odd seeing five of us in a group; it wasn''t hard to deduce this.

    "60% percent for her and 40% for us," Isabelle said. She thought I did an exceptional performance to get the bonus. I may have to owe her in the future, seeing that she was doing this to gain my favor.

    "We would also like to check out the artifacts we found in a dungeon." The receptionist was shocked when she heard this, but it was a wee surprise for her.

    Taking out the artifact, Isabelle handed her the three artifacts we had gained. The results were shown after scanning the ne we had gotten. The ne would regenerate your mana by thirty percent, and not only that, but it also increased magic that is rted to water by twenty percent.

    The staff we found increased your magic''s strength by 10% and water and spirit magic by thirty percent. Both of the items were pretty great. Only the medical pill was left. I wondered what the pill would do.

 Chapter 71 Pills Get!

    With the medical pill left, the receptionist began to scan what it did. Looking at the scanner, I began to check the results, the pill wasn''t that useful for the others, but to me, it was a precious pill.

    The pill would allow us to break the limits of one''s inner body. As previously exined, this would be the most effective for a second-rank mage. Once you reach the second rank, to get to the third rank, you would need to gather mana to strengthen your inner body.

    But there was a limit to how much one could strengthen their inner body wouldn''t do too much damage to it. This pill would remove this limit, and if I took it, my speed of increasing to the third rank would be much faster.

    Everyone was disappointed by the effect. Even the receptionist was a bit disappointed. Using this chance, I spoke. "Would you mind if I use this pill? I''m a second-rank magician. This pill would be helpful to me." I spoke my piece taking advantage of this situation.

    "I would also give you guys the full price of the ne." While I lost some credit because of it, the pill was worth much more.

    They had no reason to reject my proposal because I wanted it. In fact, Isabelle and her group were happy that they got a more significant share since they were already losing a lot.

    "If you want to sell the ne, you would be given 85,000 credits at full price." The number of points they would receive had more than doubled. Just from this ne, I could see money in Riley, Citrus, and Tina''s eyes.

    "The staff would be worth 180,000 credits." The weapon we got is worth more than double the price of the ne. Without a doubt, I would be guaranteed first ce in this test. I don''t know about Isabelle''s group, but they would easily be one of the top people in their group.

    Isabelle''s group began to salivate, seeing the number of credits they earned. Since I was getting sixty percent of the amount earned, I would be getting 108000 from the staff and 103500 from the monster corpse.

    Adding everything together, the receptionist transferred the credits to our student card. I had forgotten to ask how they would rank students by the number of credits they earned. Still, they would keep track of everyone''s credit during the start of the exam.

    Having to do all of that, we left the room and went back to the central area of the school examination site-building.

    "Miss receptionist, could you tell me when this exam will be over?" The headmaster of the academy and teachers haven''t stated what time we would have to leave, so it was better for me to ask now.

    "After today, we will be leaving at 6 PM. Please enjoy the rest of your stay in this city." Having said all that, we decided to leave the examination site.<sub> </sub>

    "The four of us decided that we would continue hunting, we''re not guaranteed to be first in our year, so this is where we would split up. It was nice meeting you. If you so happen to be free in the future, let''s have a talk." All of them bowed politely, and I waved them goodbye. I didn''t know what to do here since I was all alone.

    I had forgotten that I still had the pill in my hand. I took it out and scanned the pill, checking if anything was wrong with it. I lightly used my magic on the pill to see if I could purify the pill.

    All I needed was some water to swallow it without any mishap. Taking a ss of water out, I swallowed the pill and took a big sip at the water.

    With the pill taken, I felt something happening inside my body. My body was getting stronger, and the mana I had absorbed increased as time passed. At this rate, it would at least take me a month or two for me to rank up.

    Now that was out of the way, and there were two things that I could do. One was to wait at the examination site, or the other was to explore the city.

    This city had three different parts for different people depending on the status of one. The outeryer of Dawn Creed was for the poor. Monster tides were rare, but in case a situation like these happened, the people in this part of the city would be the bait. That is why the area that I surveyed was in poor condition.

    Then we have the middle part of the city. It had the most poption and was apparently well kept. If one wanted to do business, the middle of the city would be the best ce.

    After the middle, we got to the center of the city. The center has the least amount of poption and the least amount of space. Most notable people would go there for entertainment or for businesses demanding high deals. The food, sight, and houses are the best one could receive in this town.

    I didn''t know when my groupmate would return, and I didn''t feel like waiting for hours or a day. They weren''t even guaranteed to go here.

    Deciding on my decision, I went to the middle part of the town. The walk took me an hour for me to cross. Showing my identity to the guards, they had no choice but to let me cross. Even the town owner wouldn''t be stupid to offend anyone in my family.

    This part of town was a bit cleaner than the outer part of the town. I thought this ce would be a bit messier with how many people are here.

    I then walked around, there weren''t many things here that interested me. I felt someone was following me, but I knew I couldn''t do anything about it. Should I go to the inner part of the town? Maybe they have an artifact that would allow me to disguise myself.

 Chapter 72 Dawn Creed Auction House (Part I)

    It took me a while to arrive at the inner part of the city. The process of entering was much more tedious than entering the middleyer. I was still being followed, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

    Walking in the area seemed like this was part of a different town. Everything was cleaner here, and the buildings looked like they were newly made with a hint of expensive materials.

    Searching for something to do, I saw an advertisement for an uing auction house. Apparently, today was the day when it would start. I didn''t want to miss such an event, so I went around and searched for the auction house.

    It didn''t take long for me to find it. "Dawn Creed Auction House." The sign said. "The person who names this ce must be a narcissist for naming everything about them," I muttered quietly.

    "You''re not wrong about that." I could hear a voice beside me. Hearing someone talk, I looked at the person talking to me. It seemed like she was the one who replied to me.

    "Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I''m Fay. Nice to meet you." She gave me a smile that seemed a little off to me. Fay looked like someone from my age. She had perfectly nice long white hair. Her eyes were green as an emerald making her captivity to look at. Her body was fit and well indulged like any woman I came across.

    "I''m Charlie." I didn''t know her, so I told her the bare basic of my name.

    "Are you here for the auction? I''m here alone, so why don''t we go together?" I didn''t know why, but something about her seemed challenging to deal with. I could just refuse and go alone, but I felt that would make it much more troublesome.

    "Are you thinking of going alone? Won''t that be boring? Let this little sis apany you!" I looked at her weirdly. To call herself "little sis" to someone she had just met was a little too pushy.

    I sighed to myself, hearing her talk. I talked because it might be hard to get rid of her. "Sure, let''s go in." Having to say that, we walked into the building.

    "What year are you at the academy? I''m seventeen and will attend school next year. I''m going to be your junior. Please take care of me when I get there." I don''t know why but I felt she was having fun saying whatever came to her mind.

    Keeping the conversation alive, "I''m a first-year student and don''t worry, I will take care of you "personally." I tried to sound as sarcastic as I could.

    "Don''t worry, senior! I will stick close to you!" I groaned inside, hearing her say that.

    Entering the building, there were bodyguards guarding the entrance. "Do you have a pass to enter?" Did we need a pass to enter? Even if I had money, it is not like I should just spend it needlessly on things that I don''t need.

    "Here my pass, she with me!" Fay cheerfully showed her pass. The guards then proceed to get out of the way and let us pass.

    "Fufufu! Senior, you don''t have a pass, right? Since I let you in without a problem, you owe me one!" I had no right to deny that. My eyes twitched with annoyance, but she was right. Otherwise, I would''ve done an extra process just to get in.<sub> </sub>

    "Senior! Do you know what''s in the auction? Is there anything that you''re interested in buying? If so, what are you going to buy?" Sheesh, calm down, why don''t you?

    "I just came here to check if there was anything that I wanted. I don''t particrly know what there is to this auction." I was just checking out if anything was interesting in this auction. Otherwise, I wouldn''t havee here.

    "I see, then, senior, you''re in for a surprise!" My eyes widened hearing her words. A surprise, you say? I hoped there would be a surprise; otherwise, my hopes would be demolished if nothing happened after hearing that.

    "I hope there will be a surprise."

    "Don''t worry, I won''t disappoint you!" She gave me a cheeky smile listening to me say that.

    Going to our seats, we were somewhere on a VIP seat. Was she from an influential family? I don''t think it was right for me to ask since she did me a favor.

    Sitting in our seats, it looked like it would be a while before the auction started. Fay would keep asking me questions about myself. They weren''t too personal, so I didn''t mind answering them.

    From talking, time had passed, and the auction was about to begin. A woman in her twenties came out and introduced herself.

    "Good day, everybody! My name is Jennifer, and I will be your today''s host!" There could be countless men that cheered from her introduction. She was the definition of a woman if you were to define one. She had insane curves in everybody that one would need.

    "Look at these people, cheering for something so stupid." You would think Fay would be jealous saying that, but instead, I could see herughing her ass off. She found them entertaining instead of seeing them like dirt.

    I didn''t have much of an opinion about them. I wasn''t so desperate for a girl that I would need to cheer for one.

    "Today''s auction is special, and I know that some of you are anticipating the featured item today!" Hype could be seen in her words. Many people were cheering, hearing something special wasing.

    Seeing that everyone was excited about this "special" item, my anticipation had also reached its all-time high. Even back where I lived, I had never seen this many excited people. I wasn''t much of an outdoor guy, but it was refreshing to see something new.

    "Without a further a do, let''s begin this auction!"

 Chapter 73 Dawn Creed Auction House (Part II)

    Jennifer, the host of the auction, left the podium, this was my first time going to an auction, so the only thing I could think of was that she was trying to bring out the item.

    It didn''t take long for her to leave. She held a cart, but an expensive-looking cover covered the item she was showing.

    "The first item we will show is the magnificent Dark Drake Skin. The Dark Drake is a rank-four monster that lives in the country of Etheal. This material is very durable, not to mention. It helps increase the speed of the wearer." Uncovering the material, everyone could see the item.

    It was very dark skin, with an excellent scale. What surprised me was that the host showed something perfect for the first item.

    "Starting from 250 gold, the lowest bidding price would be ten gold!"

    Many of the people in the seats were raising their hands, prices were increasing, and it was not stopping.

    "Senior! Are you interested in this?" My neighbor had asked.

    "They are indeed good, but I don''t think I would need something like this." It would cover my weakness of speed, but I don''t think ck would look good on the current me. I''m pretty nitpicky with my clothing, even as a boy.

    She looked at me and said, "Is that so?" She raised her sign and bid for it for a price. "1500 Gold!" Fay had increased the price of it by six times.

    "Do you really need something like that?" Fay didn''t seem like the person to use it, so I had no idea what she wanted to do with it.

    "I don''t really need it, but because everyone bid for I want it. Teehee!" She stuck out her tongue, trying to pose. I didn''t know what to say to that.

    With Fay bidding for the drakes skin, no one else had bid for it. The price was already more than what it was worth.

    "Does anyone else want to bid for it? I guess that''s a no, then it''s sold to VIP 5!" Jennifer replied happily, d about the price it was sold in.

    The next came out with someone else carrying the item like the previous item shown. It was also covered for the suspense. The co-worker dragged the holder for the Dark Drake Skin.

    "Senior, what do you think the next item would be? Do you think the price would be higher or lower?" Is she trying to make a bet with me? Despite being pushy, Fay seemed like she knew what would be sold.

    "Since it was the first sold item, it would probably be higher. It would be bad if the first item would be more valuable than the rest." I exined my reasoning.

    "Is that so?" I couldn''t tell anything from her reaction, and it seemed she wouldn''t tell me.

    "Now that we''re finished with the first item, it''s time to begin the second!" The sheet of red cloth was covering it, and unwrapping the cloth, the item was shown.

    "This time, we have the eyes from the monster Evil Eye!" Looking at it was pretty disgusting to look at. Even Fay, who was pretty happy, was creeped out by it. Not to mention the audience also didn''t like its appearance.

    "Even if the eyes scare you, the item is pretty useful. Once consuming it, not only would it fix the blindness of someone who lost their vision, but it has a chance to give you an ability of the evil eye!" The host tried to convince someone to buy it with her words.

    My monthly allowance was about 150 gold. It was a lot to the average person, but I was considered dirt poor to people here.

    Everyone who heard Jennifer''s words was shocked. It was pretty valuable to gain an ability that wasn''t magic that they were born with. This item would help someone''s versatility.

    With the crowd cheering, "The starting price is 800 gold, and the lowest bidding price is 50!"

    "1000 Gold!" Someone from the crowd raised his sign and instantly raised it to the thousand mark.<sub> </sub>

    "Are you not going to bid for it? I thought you wanted something that everybody wants?" I tried to tease her from her previous words.

    "Sorry, even though I may not look like it, there are things even I don''t want." She looked away, remembering what she had said.

    "1500 Gold!" Another person shot up the price for the eye.

    "3000 GOLD!" An old man screamed, trying to obtain it with certainty. Everyone was silenced by the price. Unless the old man was blind, or someone he knew was blind, it was worth getting this by all means.

    "Wonderful! Does anyone else want to bid for it?" Seeing no one else raise the price, it was sold.

    Now that I think about it, Fay probably didn''t know everything sold at the auction, seeing her reaction to the Evil Eye.

    Only two items were sold, and each was pretty umon to see. If more items were shown, then the unique item would be precious.

    The co-worker then dragged away the Evil Eye and brought out another one. Like the other two, everyone couldn''t tell what was inside.

    Jennifer then took out the sheet covering the item. "This time, we would be selling an artifact!" The artifact shown was jewelry tailored for your ears. It was an earring being shown.

    Unlike every earring that was shown, this one was the one that stood out to me the most. Not only was the design appealing, but I could feel that it was something good.

    "This is an earring found in a dungeon bordering the Star State, Etheal, and the country Avadris." Like Etheal, Avardris was bordering Star State.

    Avardris is a country known for its beast men. Their country is the biggest, and their poption is the highest. Most nations are in terrible rtion to them since monsters and their outer characteristic are simr. There were theories that they were monsters at one point in time.

    The earrings shown were blood red that is crystallized. The fact that it was shaped like a cross is pretty amusing.

    Additional Note: Since this chapter, money is relevant.

    Currency

    Copper Coin = $1 USD

    Silver Coin = $10 USD

    Giant Silver Coin = $ 100 USD

    Gold Coin = $1,000 USD

    tinum Coin = 10,000 USD

    Diamond Coin = 100,000 USD

    ck Diamond Coin = 1M USD

    School Credit = Silver Coin

 Chapter 74 Dawn Creed Auction House (Part III)

    "The Bloody Cross Earring. A tier five artifact that increases the user''s blood flow by arge margin would increase the blood user''s magic powers."

    "We''ll be starting at the price of 800 Gold with the lowest bid of 50." Like the Evil Eye, the earrings would be the same as the eye. Fifth-rank artifacts were pretty rare, and not to mention it would increase one blood flow. With this, healing would be more effortless.

    "Does this item interest you?" I asked because, unlike the Evil Eye, she wasn''t keen on buying it.

    "No, I decided to let everyone else have a chance. If you want it, I could buy it for you." She offered to buy it for me if I wanted it.

    p "No need." I didn''t want to owe her anything else, so I declined her offer.</anda>

    She chuckled, heard my answer, and got back to the crowd. The highest bid was currently 1500 gold. The price was rising slowly, it was a great treasure, but most people here didn''t want it.

    "1700 Gold!" Someone in the crowd raised their sign and offered 1700 gold. With that offer, no one ced a higher bid.

    "The highest bidder is at 1700 Gold! Does anyone else want to make an offer?" Jennifer asked, seeing if anyone else wanted to make an offer.

    "Bidding at the price of 1700! In 3!" No one had made an offer during this time.

    "Bidding at the price of 1700! In 2!"

    "Bidding at the price of 1700! In 1!" I guess this was the price that one would usually get an artifact of this tier would be worth.

    "Sold! To bidder number 68!" It was a shame that it was sold in this country. If it was sold in Etheal, then the price could''ve tripled. With that out of the way, I wondered what few items would be sold.

    Time passed as more items were going to be sold. Fay found something she was interested in and brought it. She had bought an artifact that would allow her to cast an illusion. Thankfully, it would only be on people with the same or lower mana than her.

    Other exciting items were sold. A music box with a range of 1km could make anyone below the fifth rank asleep in a matter of time. It was good that the max range was 1km. Otherwise, no one would feel a bit safe with that around.

    "Fay, when do you think the special item will be shown?" I didn''t know how long this auction wouldst, so I asked the person I was sitting with.

    "Senior, don''t be so impatient. The special item is near. All the people who haven''t spent their money would bid on it." Hearing her talk, it sounded like she knew what it was.

    "Do you know what the special item is?" I questioned her.

    "Heh! That would be a surprise!" She gave me a wink and looked back at the venue.

    It didn''t seem like she would tell me. All I could do was wait quietly and see what it was. The item that was being auctioned was sold.<sub> </sub>

    "Everyone! Now that everything has been sold, the time has finallye! This is the item that you all have been waiting for!" Everyone cheered loudly, expecting something precious for the item toe.

    The co-worker slowly dragged the item out. Everyone couldn''t see what was inside it, but the size of the item would be enormous.

    Taking out the cover, there was a mixed reaction that everyone could see. Some were too shocked by what it was, while others were disappointed. Not everyone here knew what was so special about this item.

    "Folks, this item you see is an egg! You''re wondering why this egg is the main attraction! Yes, it is an egg but not just any egg! This egg is from the dragon that attacked our town a few days ago." Had a dragon attacked this town? I didn''t know much since I was isted from the battle.

    "Most of you may know the dragon that had attacked us with the monster tide was the group''s leader. The dragon that was killed was a rank seven beast! This egg has the potential to reach the seventh rank upon being raised!" The people who weren''t excited about the egg were now wanting it.

    This egg would undoubtedly be expensive. Fay, beside me, was smirking, seeing everyone''s reaction. "Is there something funny?" I asked what she found amusing.

    "Oh, it''s nothing." She simply smiled as she said that.

    "Let''s begin the auction! The starting price will be 100 Diamond Coins! The lowest you would be allowed to bid is 10 Diamond Coins!" The price was ridiculously high, and whoever said, "money is not everything to live!" I was pretty jealous that I couldn''t obtain it. I doubt I could use my status as a Sris to get it.

    Numerous people tried to bid first, hoping they were on top of the pack. I couldn''t do anything but sigh. Fay chuckled, seeing how I reacted.

    "Senior, even if you got it, I don''t think you could raise it well." Was she calling me poor? Or irresponsible? I couldn''t say anything but curse at her.

    "100 ck Diamond Coins!" Someone shouted in the crowd. The one who said it was a stern-looking old man, capable of doing business. He probably was a sessful merchant or an owner of apany.

    Most of the people stopped bidding because the price was already reaching a high point. 100 ck Diamond Coins equal to 100 million dors in my old world.

    "110 ck Diamond Coins!" Another person had outbid the old man, this time, it was a woman in her thirties wearing a fancy dress.

    "120 ck Diamond Coins!" The old man then gave a more significant bid than the women

    "150 ck Diamond Coins!" Another person had bid much higher than the previous price. Like the woman, she seems like a person in her twenties.

    There weren''t any bids after this. I don''t think anyone would bring billions in an auction. You could get robbed after all.

    With 150 ck Diamonds Coins being the max, the auction had finished. Some people were eyeing the prizes of others. I had nothing, so no one was looking at me. Having to do that, I left with Fay exiting the auction.

 Chapter 75 Casino In Dawn Creed City (Part I)

    With the auction finished, the two of us left the building, "Senior! How was your experience in the auction house? I take it that was your first time going to one."

    "It was. It was a great time to kill time," I told Fay my thoughts.

    "What are you going to next? I doubt you would stay long. After all, I heard that your "test" would soon be over." I didn''t know what there was to do, so I thought of an answer to her question.

    "I will walk around to see if anything interests me." That was the only thing that I could think of.

    "Senior, I would like to apany you, but I have an appointment to make."

    "Senior, meeting you was nice, but it seems we would have to part ways." She said, looking at the sky. It was understandable. After all, she seemed like she was a noble despite her easygoing attitude.

    "Don''t worry, senior, if you''re still in school, then we will meet one day!" Saying all of that, we parted ways. Even if she was pretty annoying sometimes, I would miss her presence.

    The auction took half of my time here, but there was still time before I returned. I then went around and checked for anything else that was exciting.

    Checking out a ce that I found, it was a gambling den. This was apparently the gambling store everyone would go to in the upper ss.

    Entering the store, I could see many peopleughing and getting angry. All of the gambles done were manual. Things like slots didn''t exist.

    Should I try and gamble? I didn''t want to lose money. I took ten gold coins from my pocket and decided to go with them. The first thing that I had to do was exchange these gold coins for chips. The gambling den only used currency such as gold or higher.

    Walking around, I had someone call out to me. "Hello, Miss. Would you like to watch me y a game or two?" He winked at me, giving my skin a shivering shake.

    "Sorry, but I prefer to be alone," I said as sternly as possible, indirectly telling him to back off. I didn''t want any male friends unless I was strong enough to reveal my identity.

    "Don''t be so hasty. It would be fun." Persistence, there are things that you shouldn''t persist in, and this is one of them. I could see that he was trying to flirt with me, but I ain''t interested in men.

    If I kept talking to him, he seemed like he would keep following. Ignoring him, I walked away. There was a roulette wheel. I have heard about it but have never seen one in person.

    Sitting down, the wheel was already in y. There were already five people here gambling. The man that was trying to flirt with me had followed me. What was wrong with him? Does he take the word if you fail, then try again? ... I sighed.

    For a gambling game this game had a lot of options. Many picks would determine how many coins you would get if you won.<sub> </sub>

    Since it was my first try doing the roulette, I would go with the odds of 50%. I could pick high or low, odds or even red and ck.

    Putting a chip in evens, the wheel began to spin. The ball hadnded on red three. It seemed like I had lost my first bet. Some people were wilding and putrge amounts of money on a number.

    Losing my first chip, I doubled my bet and picked the color ck as my pick. The wheel began to spin with everyone on the table finished putting in their bets.

    The ballnded on red 25. It seemed like I had lost another bet. The poor old man had gambled everything on a square connected to four numbers. Unluckily he had nothing left, and he left the table, losing everything.

    Like the old man, the person following me lost 20 gold coins. Since I had lost, surely I would win my next bet, right? Losing three chips in total, I decided to put four.

    Since thest two were the color red, I decided to pick ck again. What were the chances that they would be red again?

    I prayed inwardly that the spinner would pick a number that would be ck. I could hear someone speaking loudly, hoping for a number they had chosen.

    The spinner moved, and the ball was rolling,nding on ck 13. The money that I had lost had returned. I now had 15 chips resulting in 15 gold coins. Some people left, and some joined the table.

    My neighbor then started a conversation with me. "Are you a student of Saint Maria''s Academy?" It wasn''t hard for anyone to see that with the dress that I was wearing, seeing that she was trying to start a conversation I had no reason to be rude about.

    Looking at her, she was a woman who seemed to be in her twenties. I couldn''t tell anyone''s ages with magic involved. She could be fifty for all I know.

    "I''m, I''m Charlie, a student of ss A." It would be troublesome if I told her that I was an S-ss student and be wrong if I was ranked lower.

    "Talented one, aren''t you?" Talking, we both decided to pick which spot we wanted. Should I go for an even higher bet now that I have surplus gold? I had nothing to lose as long as I didn''t overbet.

    Should I go with Dozen or Column? Deciding, I went with the second column and put three chips. Thedy beside me picked her up and returned to talk with me.

    "Where was I? Ah! You may call me Shelly." Shelly? The name was pretty silly, but she didn''t seem like a terrible person to talk to. The man following me looked distraught, seeing me conversing with someone without giving the person a re.

    The wheel then began to spin once again.

 Chapter 76 Casino In Dawn Creed City (Part II)

    The wheel had begun to spin, "Now that I think about aren''t you supposed to be in an exam? I heard that the students here would hunt some monsters to clear the forest." Shelly asked, wondering what I was doing here.

    "The exam will end tomorrow, and I''m pretty confident I would ce high." The wheel had stopped at ck 15, meaning that I had lost.

    Shelly had some by putting some of her chips on odd. I had 13 more chips and decided to put three chips into the same bet.

    "Is that so? When I did my first test in the wild, I got pretty high on my test." It may sound like she liked the results, but I could feel she was bitter about it.

    It felt weird if I asked if that bothered her. I didn''t know her, so I stopped myself from asking. It was pretty silent after she said that. She probably had realized what she had done.

    The wheels started to move after everyone had made a bet. All of us were staring at the ball, seeing where it wouldnd. Landing on red 23, I had earned nine chips giving me 22 chips. I had more or less doubled my initial bet.

    "Shelly, it was meeting you was nice, but I''m going to find something else to bet on." I got pretty bored with the roulette. It was the same over and over without giving me any excitement. She nodded and gave me a silent goodbye.

    I wandered around and searched for another type of game to choose from. The man from earlier left and began to follow me. I didn''t know what I did to make him do that, but my dislike toward him grew.

    Should I try poker? Or do I pick ckjack? ckjack seemed a bit too simple for my taste. Checking around, I found a table with eight yers ying the game. This was a two-hand poker that had fivemunity cards. A pretty ssic one.

    Joining in, the match had already begun. This table was people someone who used the bare minimum amount of chips. The small blind would need to give one chip as starting while the big blind would need two chips.

    There were only two people that were still in the game. Everyone had already folded their cards and watched thempete for the pot.

    Three cards were already shown, with the fourth and fifth being next. "I raise 10!" The woman in blue who waspeting said. Pushing ten of her chips into the pot.

    "Check!" The man in ck handed his ten chips, saying that.

    The two remaining cards were shown, and both had shown their cards. The man in ck had won about 35 chips because he had a three-of-a-kind in queens. Inparison, the women had two pairs.

    I was big blind since I had joined at the wrong time. Handing two chips out, I looked at my cards. My luck was pretty bad. The cards that I got were a clover 2 and 7 hearts. Everyone that had decent cards had put two chips.<sub> </sub>

    "Check!" I told the dealer I already had two chips on the pot. The dealer then put out threemunity cards. The first card was a queen of hearts. After a clover jack and a heart three, three people had increased the bid while the rest withdrew their hands. Seeing that I had nothing, I returned my cards to the dealer.

    ying a few more rounds, I found that poker wasn''t my game. I only lost three chips in the process, and my hands weren''t excellent for me to keep bidding. It was a good thing that I never increased my bid. Otherwise, I would have lost.

    Having to start a new round, two new card pairs went into my hand. I had two kings. One was spades, while the other was a diamond one.

    This was finally my chance to win! I internally told myself that. With most people here cing two chips, I have begun to give my two pieces of chips. Three cards were shown, surprisingly there was a king shown, it was a king of clovers, and the other two were an ace diamond and a six of hearts.

    Three people had stayed in after seeing the cards. The pot was 20 chips with us increasing it. I then increased the number of chips by three. The remaining three had also chipped in their amount.

    Now there were 32 chips, and the two remaining cards were shown. It was another six that was spade and a ten of hearts.

    This was the final part before we decided who was going to win. The three people who remained in this battle had all been checked. I was confident about winning, so I drew five chips and put them in.

    One of them withdrew their cards, seeing that I was confident. What a pussy he made it this far and couldn''t even end it. The remaining two had sent five, making 47 chips in the pot. The guy who followed me had spent his veryst chip in. Was he trying to impress me?

    Showing our hands, one of the women who I saw wonst time remained had a pair of aces as her final hand, not enough to beat me. The man following me had a straight. He wasn''t so straight if he went for me.

    Seeing that I had won, the 47 chips went to me. Now I had 67 chips on me. I had earned more than six times my amount started.

    Going to the counter, I prepared to withdraw all the chips that I had earned. "Please touch this crystal to confirm that you didn''t have any way of cheating." They had things like this? Why didn''t they do this when I entered? Touching the crystal, nothing had happened.

    The guy who managed the chips gave me 60 gold coins. So the casino took 10% of our numbers earned? "Why don''t you people use this right when we enter the casino?" I asked out of curiosity.

    "So when they withdraw the money, we keep them." He snickered at them, seeing that they got the cheater''s money. That was pretty smart, they would gain money for people who cheated in the casino, and it was not they could escape without being a criminal.

    Having to get all of my cash, I left the casino.

 Chapter 77 Meeting The Small Fairy

    Having to leave the casino, I checked on the sky. The sun was beginning to set. How long was I in there for? It didn''t seem like I was in for a long time, and time had passed.

    I should go to a restaurant with the money I had earned. The man who was in the casino still followed me. What a pain in the ass. Should I get rid of him? If I did, I needed to find a way that made it seem like I had nothing to do with it.

    <o>,m Maybe I should go eat first. At first, I thought that I should enter a fancy restaurant, but in the end, it seemed like it would be a pain to be in.</o>

    Going into an alley, there seemed like no one was around. The man who followed me was closing in. This was an excellent chance for me to get him off of me.

    Getting closer, he then called out to me. "Miss! I saw you looking around. Are you new to this ce?" As he kept talking, I used my mana on my fist and punched him in the face.

    The stalker had no way of defending my attack, so he flew backward, getting hit on the face, checking out on him. It seems like he was still alive but knocked out. I wasn''t going to see him ever again, so I left.

    Leaving the upper area, I returned to this city''s middle parts. More people were hustling, and the atmosphere here was better. There was a pub on my way back. The ce is entirely made of all wood. The ce would be burned down quickly if fire so happens to appear.

    After finishing my food, I went to a hotel and checked in for the night. The room here was much more excellent than the one where I slept previously. The bed quality was much higher, and the room was less stuffy. With nothing to do, I slept in quickly.

    The next day appeared, and I felt great. This bed did wonders for me, considering how I had lived in the past week. I left my room and went to the hotel employee. Giving him my keys to the room, I left the hotel.

    There was still some time before we left this city, but I had enough traveling and wanted to take a break. I still had to go back to the lower area of the city. Checking the time, it was 8 AM. I had 10 hours to do what I wanted.

    Exiting the building, I went out to buy some food. I wasn''t sure what to buy, so I just bought the first thing I saw. Getting amb chop, I took a bite out of it. Not gonna lie. It was pretty mid.

    Should I wait at the school''s examination site? My groupmates might be waiting for me, and I could use this chance to meet my old acquaintances.

    Having to decide on my n, I went out of the middle area of the city, and leaving was much easier than entering this ce.

    From the exit point of the middle area, it took me thirty minutes to go to the school examination site. Entering in, I could see students doing their things leisurely. No one in the right mind would return to the forest, seeing that today was thest day. If they werete, getting back to school would be a pain in the ass.

    Searching around, I couldn''t find anyone in my group. It was 11 AM, 7 hours to go. Olivia and Serena weren''t here, so I didn''t have anyone with that I could freely talk.

    After a while, I found a person that I was friends with. "Tess, it''s been a while!" Seeing that little fairy, I went over and talked to her.<sub> </sub>

    She was with a group of three students, and none of her team had been harmed.

    "Charlie! It''s been a while. How are you doing." She asked, d that she could see me.

    "I''m doing fine. My name is Charlie Sris. It''s nice to meet you." I looked at Tess''s group and introduced myself.

    The three seemed too nervous to introduce themselves, so I waited and didn''t try to pressure them into doing so.

    "Don''t worry, girls. Charlie may seem scary from the rumors, but she is a nice person! I guarantee it!" Tess tried to make it easier for them to talk to me.

    One of the girls dared to tell them about themselves. "I''m Jamie from ss E." She mustered all her courage to do so.

    "It''s nice to meet you, Jamie." I greeted her, making her feel wee. Jamie gave me a nervous smile, seeing that I greeted her.

    Seeing that Jamie dared to talk to me, the other two began to establish a talk with me. Their names are Fiona and Flora. Jamie is a ginger with small short hair and is pretty short.

    Fiona had purple hair tied in a ponytail and was rtively as tall as me. While Flora had long blue hair and was in the middle between Jamie and Fiona.

    "Tess, how well do you think your group did on the test?" Seeing how they were not harmed, they probably stayed in town for a while, or they had found a way to secure kills without any danger.

    "I don''t know how well Ipared to the others, but I bet our group is fairly high in the ranks." For her small stature, she looked pretty cute posing with both of her arms on her hips.

    Her group members all looked proud, seeing how I asked such a question. I could see that all of them were excited to see how well they did in this exam.

    "Charlie, you seem like you would do well in an exam like this." She was also interested in how well I did. I thought I did pretty well seeing the artifacts that were sold for a high price.

    "I did pretty well, but we would have to see our results to see how we did." There wasn''t any way to confirm how we did.

    "Now that I think of it, where are your group members Charlie?"

 Chapter 78 A Reunion

    "Now that I think of it, where are your group members Charlie?" I also didn''t know where they went. Just as I was about to talk, someone walked in on us.

    It was shocking that my group arrived, but the state that they were in was shocking. The three of them looked sick, I didn''t know what had happened, but now I saw them, I felt terrible. Sitting with us, they plump their faces on the table. They looked exhausted.

    "What happened to the three of you!" I felt a little responsible seeing them in that question, so I asked in a panic.

    "After you left, we went to the forest and hunted some monsters. During the monster tide, we got food poisoned and had to rest for the rest of the exam." Trisha gave out what had happened the past few days.

    We all gave a wry smile hearing what had happened during the whole event. On the bright side, the effects of their problem weren''t as harmful as I thought.

    "I''m sorry," Crystal gave me an apology. I didn''t know why she did so.

    "No, I''m sorry for leaving the three of you."

    "That''s not it. You did that so you could get us to a higher rank, we wanted to help, but all we would do was slow you down." She said depressingly. It was getting more depressing seeing their faces on the table.

    "Should we leave the four of you alone? The four of you should catch up." Tess gave us some consideration and looked at the four of us.

    "I don''t mind you staying here, Fiona. It''s been a while." Elly tried to be as cheerful as possible.

    "I hope you get well soon." Fiona prayed. Looking at Elly''s condition, she hoped she would get well soon. I left them alone since they seemed like they knew each other.

    Hours had passed since the three members of my group had shown up. While Serena wasn''t here, Olivia and her group have yet to show. There were still four hours before we all left.

    Olivia didn''t have many ways to defend herself. I didn''t want to think that something terrible had something to her.

    Serena was someone who I was less worried about. Her magic could basically do anything that she wanted with enough mana. Unlike Olivia, she had a way to protect her.

    While thinking about them, someone came to the school''s examination site. I recognized the person who hade.

    "Serena!" I yelled out to her, walking toward her. She was alone. Maybe her group was somewhere else. That was what I secretly hoped.

    "Charlie." Hearing her words, I felt that she was different from before. Thest time we met was two weeks ago.

    "How have you been in the past two weeks?" I asked Serena, who was strangely calm.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m doing better than ever." Her calmness was now starting to get eerie.

    "What about your group members?" She was alone. Did she decide to go on without her group?

    "I asked the teacher to let me do the test alone, and they agreed because the number of people participating was uneven." It would have been understandable if that had happened. There was a variable amount of students to form a group of four.

    Talking, we went down and found a seat to take with just the two of us. Serena was so much different from the times that I had met her. It was like her personality had changed during the two weeks she had been away.

    I wanted to ask why she had changed so much, but the words couldn''te out of my mouth. I stared at her silently, unable to mutter a word.

    p "Are you that worried about me? As I said, I''m doing better than ever. My mom made me do mental training, it''s very rxing, so if I seem different to you, that is it." If she was saying that she was fine, there was nothing I could do about it.</anda>

    "Then, are you done with your training?" If she wasn''t, she would be away again.

    "There is still a week for me to leave. I will be back after that." She then checked on the time, and seemed like she had something to do.

    "Sorry that I have to leave early. I won''t be leaving with the rest of you." She moved her face close toward mine, giving me a kiss. ... To think that she would do that in public, what if someone notices?

    "Don''t worry, I cast an illusion making it hard for anyone to see us do that. It was nice meeting you, Charlie. I will be back in a week." Even if she had changed, I still see a part of her. If she wasn''t harmed, then that would be fine.

    Watching her leave, I went back to my group. Hours had passed by, and it was almost time to leave. Olivia, where are you?

    As I wasminating about her, I could see Olivia and Jenny. Most of my worries were gone seeing both of them here.

    Looking at their expression, I could see that they had it rough. Olivia wasn''t looking so hot. It looks like she has barely slept for the past few days. Jenny was in a bit better shape, but she was also sleep-deprived.

    "Are the both of you okay?" I rushed over to them, checking if they were physically okay. "Charlie, is that you?" Olivia said she was probably delirious. Jenny didn''t reply, using my shoulder as a sleeping cushion.

    "If you''re tired, you can use me as a pillow," I told them both, dragging them to an empty seat. I lend my shoulder to both Olivia and Jenny.

    I didn''t know what had happened to them, but seeing that they couldn''t sleep and the two of them were the only ones left, I could say that something had happened to their group. I hope this experience wouldn''t scar them too much in the future.

 Chapter 79 Going Back!

    With both of them resting, the time hase. The exams were over, and it was time to return to our school. The headmaster wasn''t there, but a teacher could be seen.

    "Everyone! We will be leaving within twenty minutes. Get everything you need and be ready to return within that time." The teacher exined what was going to happen. Saying her piece, she left the room.

    Students all over the room began to leave, and some stayed since they got what they needed. While the rest went to get some stuff that they wanted. Olivia and Jenny both stayed asleep during the teacher''s speech.

    It was pretty amazing how tired they were. Since I already had everything I needed, I did not need to go. I don''t know if Olivia and Jenny had some things that they needed, but I would feel bad if I woke them up and they needed nothing.

    Some students had returned after leaving. Time was ticking, and most of the students that had left returned.

    I didn''t know how many students were there, but I could sense that some students hadn''t arrived. Most of them probably had unfortunate idents during the exam, it was unfortunate, but that was what the exams had tested us on.

    "Everyone! We will be leaving in five minutes! There is a teleportation circle drawn in this whole area. You would be sent back as long as you stay here!" I was worried about how we would be teleported.

    Since the teacher had told us how we would leave, all my concerns about the teleport had been gone. Many of the first years also seemed relieved, knowing how we would leave.

    Within a few minutes left, some students would arrive before we would leave, five minutes were up, and I could see a glowing light surrounding us. It was time for us to leave, I didn''t have much attachment to a ce like this, so I was d I would return home.

    Teleported back to our school, I held both Jenny and Olivia on my shoulders. My actions looked very conspicuous, but they couldn''t be helped.

    Hurrying back to my house, I powered walked all the way there. It wasn''t far from where I lived. Seeing my house, I feltfortable. Staying somewhere else other than my house for a week wasn''t fun. I hope there wasn''t an event that would make me leave for a while.

    Going to the door, it took me a while to open it. I still had Olivia and Jenny to carry, and I was surprised that my power walk hadn''t woken them.

    Walking in, I immediately went to Olivia''s room. They needed a proper resting ce, so I gently put them on the bed.

    Now all that had been finished, I went to my room and began to take a bath. While I could use my magic to burn everything dirty touching me, a bath was something that would help me rx.

    Refreshing my mind, I dried my hair and went to my bed. I wasn''t physically tired, but mentally. I needed to mentally recover because of how much had happened during this week. Thinking about this, I drifted into a deep sleep.

    Waking up, Olivia was sleeping, hugging me. What time was it? I then began looking out the window. It seemed like the sun was beginning to rise. It was somewhere between 4 to 6 AM.

    Since Olivia was here, where was Jenny? Did she go home? Or was she still sleeping in Olivia''s bed? I didn''t know, but I don''t think I could move without waking her up.<sub> </sub>

    Taking a peek at Olivia''s face, she looked much better than she was during her arrival at the school examination site.

    I didn''t know how long I was staring at Olivia''s face, but the sun was already up. When I looked away from her face, it was already somewhere in the morning.

    It was soothing that Olivia was clinging to me. I felt oddly emotionally detached when I wasn''t around her.

    Thinking about these things, I could see Olivia''s eyes twitching. She seemed like she was going to be awake. Her eyes then opened, and she stared at me.

    "Goodmorning Olivia," I gave her a morning greeting seeing her awake. She didn''t answer me but instead gave me a kiss on the lips and hugged me tightly.

    "Is Jenny still here?" Asking that, I felt my shin being kicked. I didn''t know why she did that, but it wasn''t painful, to say the least.

    "She left." I didn''t know how she felt when she told me that.

    I nodded, seeing that I shouldn''t continue, "Then are you feeling better?" Changing our topic, I asked how she was feeling.

    "Better." I didn''t know what had happened to Olivia in the forest, but by the sounds of it, something terrible had happened.

    Should I ask about her experience, or should I leave it? If it was terrible, I could make this worse. Moments like these are the worst.

    "We should get up. We shouldn''t stay in bed for the whole day," I told Olivia that we needed to get out of bed.

    She shook her head, signaling that she didn''t want to move. I guess that we''re going to stay in bed then. I couldn''t really me her for that. Seeing only two of them return meant something had happened to her group members.

    They were most likely killed during this monster hunt. I needed to do my best so she could feel better about it and move on.

    It may be cold of me to say that those two deaths were good for Olivia. In the future, events where Olivia''s partners may die again, but this could be used to drive her to be stronger and grow as a human being.

    "Olivia, since you''re not going to move, use this chance to train. We might have a test like this again, which could be more dangerous.

    I could feel fear in her eyes. But in the end, all she could do was close her eyes and begin training her mana.

 Chapter 80 A Date With Olivia (Part I)

    A few days have passed since we returned to our old living space. We had fully adjusted our lives back to the norms.

    Olivia''s condition had improved significantly over the past few days. I, on the other hand, haven''t done much. Other than my mana growing by itself, the speed of it was growing at a fast rate. At this rate, I would be halfway til I''m on the third rank.

    "Olivia, we have been in bed for the past few days. Don''t you want to see what''s outside?" I tried to convince her to go out. When she was stubborn, she was almost unmovable. This was the tenth time I had tried to talk her out of it.

    "Don''t wanna," Why does she have to be so cute? It was hard for me to stay mad at her for doing so.

    "How about I do anything you want if you go out with me?" I tried to motivate her with a request. That was the best I could think of when I asked such a thing.

    "Anything?" She looked at me, checking if I was telling the truth.

    "Yes, anything, as long as it isn''t too embarrassing." I don''t doubt Olivia''s morals, but if there was a low chance that she made me do something terrible in the public''s eyes. It could affect my public image, which is thest thing I wanted.

    Looking at her, I could tell that she was thinking. She was in a daze, thinking about what she could do.

    Olivia then nodded, having to finish her thoughts, "So, have you decided what you wanted to do?" I asked, making sure mypromise worked.

    She gave me a funny smile and nodded her head. Since we were going to go out, we had to get change. We wouldn''t want to go out wearing our sleepwear.

    I then changed my sleepwear into clothes that were a long pair of shirts and a long pair of pants that made me look like someone who showed no skin.

    Olivia took a little longer than me to change, but she looked dazzlingpared to me, who had just put on clothes.

    Her ck dress matched herpletely, a couple with some essories on the side and some make-up. She looked like she was ready to go. Olivia was someone who could look good with any clothes that were made decently.

    With us ready to go, we began our date. Olivia was the one who decided what she wanted to do since I did tell her that she could choose whatever we wanted to do.

    "Olivia, where are we going?" She was dragging me around, so I had no clue what we would do.

    Olivia then looked at me and smiled without giving me a word. By the looks of it, she wasn''t going to tell me.<sub> </sub>

    Our hands were held together. If someone were to look at us, they would consider us good friends. While it wasmon to see people dating in setting like these, for someone like me, who serves a considerable family, it was rare for people with our status.

    Olivia then led me to a theatre room. We had to pay to enter, but I wasn''t so stingy that I wouldn''t. I usually wouldn''t go to a ce like this since I found theatre ys boring. Since Olivia wanted to see one, what right do I have to deny it from her?

    The y we watched was unusual, different from what people would generally do. I don''t know what mind these actors would y such a show, but since it was different from the norms, some fans woulde and check them out.

    It was a story about a girl who was once seeking strength to be the very best. In her adventures, she came to enjoy the taste of a man. Once she did, she found a hobby of stealing men''s from other women. In short, it was a y about NTR.

    I take it back. It was kind of funny in its own way. Olivia and I had a fewughs in between, and with the show ending, we left the theatre. Olivia enjoyed that show a bit too much if I had to say.

    Lunch was around the corner, and we decided to go to a y to dine. We could use Olivia''s magic to make some food, but where is that fun? It wouldn''t be a good date experience if she did that.

    Walking around, we found a store where we would like to dine. The store seemed like a ce where nobles would dine. I had fifty extra gold coins that I earned from the gamble, so I think I could afford to use them since I wasn''t going to spend much on anything anyways.

    "Hey Olivia, what do you want to order?" Olivia was pretty picky with the food we ate. With her magic, it wouldn''t be a surprise if she was to turn into an expeditor.

    "Let''s go with the Shrimp Supreme." Seafood eh? I had good fish during my trip. So I wouldn''t mind having shrimp since I haven''t had one in ages.

    One food on the menu wouldn''t satisfy us, so I ordered an extra dish with some desserts. Calling out to the waiter, he arrived to take our order, "My friend and I would like the Shrimp Supreme, with some corn on the side. After that, we would like chocte ice cream and vani ice cream.

    "We will have your order ready in a short while." The man dressed as a butler said, it was my first time seeing someone dressed like that in this world. My family didn''t have male employees, so it was my first seeing one.

    "Charlie," Olivia called out to me.

    "Yes?" I replied to her.

    "I"m kind of nervous." That was natural since Olivia had never been in a restaurant from such a high ss. She didn''t want to mess up this date because of her mistake.

    "Olivia, you''re worrying about it too much. No one is going to look at you strangely as long as you don''t eat with your hand." I tried my best tofort her.

 Chapter 81 Date With Olivia (Part II)

    Doing my best to calm Olivia, my words helped her a little. I tried my best, ok? I didn''t know what to say to help her morale.

    Trying toe up with a better saying, the butler had arrived. He had carried out a giant shrimp about 7 times the size of a shrimp back where I came from.

    I didn''t know what ran the monster was, but I couldn''t wait to eat it. Getting rid of the shell, we began to dine on our shrimp.

    With both of us tasting it, the shrimp tasted sweet with a good amount of salty taste. None of less, it was still the best shrimp I had eaten.

    Olivia was beaming when she took a bite. Despite her worries, the way she eats is eptable. She wasn''t eating strangely, so her worries were for nothing. It didn''t take long to finish the shrimp, the corn was taken a bit into a bowl by the chef, and this was high dining. Using a fork, we ate our corn.

    While the shrimp wasn''t filling, the corn had done its job. The waiter then took our tes and brought us our dessert. Olivia had the vani ice cream, and I took the chocte.

    Taking a bite of our snack, the cold feeling of the food was excellent. Olivia looked at me and was smiling sweetly, looking at me eat.

    I then spooned my chocte ice cream and attempted to feed her. At first, she was confused about what I was doing, but she then realized what I would do.

    Opening her mouth, I fed my ice cream to her, and she greatly savored it before the cream melted in her mouth. She then picked up a chunk of her cream and fed it to me.

    The both of us were done with our meal. I then called the waiter to prepare the bill. With the waiter sending us the bill, this meal was expensive, as expected from a restaurant of this standing. Given 15 pieces of gold coin, we exited the building and prepared for our next destination.

    It was already evening, but I could still tell that the day was long. Olivia, who held my hand, was walking fast. She had an idea where she wanted to take me next.

    Olivia walked me around to where she wanted to go. We went to a clothing store to see where she wanted to check. I didn''t know why I hadn''t expected this. Olivia is also a girl, so she is careful about her appearance, even if she doesn''t do it publicly.

    My money, I knew a date would be expensive, but I hoped Olivia wouldn''t spend more than necessary. This store was also pretty high-end, meaning the quality and price would be on the roof. Should I get something from here?

    If I did, I hoped I found a uniform that would be used by both girls and boys. "Charlie, how do you like this?" We were in a changing room, and Olivia was making me give an opinion on how she dressed.

    She had picked many clothes to try out, and I was afraid it would take hours for her to dress up something she wanted.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, I''m not gonna lie to you. You would look good with most of the things that you had chosen." There were too many clothes that she had chosen. I tried to take the fast route and told her what I thought.

    She began to sigh, seeing that I wasn''t in the mood to sit here for hours. She had reduced 4/5 of the clothing that she got.

    While it was shorter, there were still many clothes to be picked from, so I might as well get this over with. Changing right in front of me, Olivia chose a dress that looked like she was going to a ball. It was good-looking, but I don''t think there would be many asions where she would wear a dress like that.

    "How do I look?" She was happy with how well the dress had fit her.

    "You look great, but dress like these would only be used in a special event."

    She didn''t look sad at it but changed again right before me. There were many types of clothes that she had chosen, and we had decided on what she would get.

    I was surprised that I had made it out of the shop. Note to self, if a situation like this appears again, find a way to step out.

    We both exited the store, the sun was beginning to set, and our date would end soon. Before we ended it, we both took a walk in the park. Our walk to the walk was silent. Both Olivia and I are enjoying the silent aspect of our walk.

    The two of us did not need words to express how we felt. Our silence was broken when Olivia asked me a serious question. "Charlie, can you promise me something?" Her expression showed that she had something important to make out.

    "Could you promise me no matter what, you would always be with me?" Tears started to form on her face. What had happened to her on the test had a considerable effect.

    I had no reason to leave her, "Olivia, I won''t leave. Even if you tried to leave, I wouldn''t let you." I held her tightly and attempted to make a joke at the end, but I could see Olivia blush from my joke. A small sigh of relief showed her face, "Let''s head back." I said.

    Leaving, the two of us went home. Today''s date was enjoyable. Olivia''s mental state has recovered a considerable amount.

    After the date, both Olivia and I went to the bath. Olivia, who was out for most of the day and wanted to take a bath to clean herself.

    We took a bath we had dinner made by Olivia, I don''t know if it was just me, but I felt Olivia''s food getting better and better. At this rate, I don''t think I could leave her if her food bes too good.

 Chapter 82 A Night With Olivia (R-18)

    Dinner was finished, and it was almost time to sleep. Before we hit the hitch, I would go to my room and think about what I should n for the future. During my time here, all I did was just get by doing what I wanted.

    Thinking about this, Olivia entered my room. Since we often slept together, it wasn''t weird that she had crawled to my bed.

    Taking a nce at her, I saw that her cheeks were red. "Charlie, our date hasn''t ended yet." Olivia moved closer toward me and whispered into my ears. Her face was red from the lust that she was feeling.

    Her clothes, which were on, were slightly tattered. I could see her skin clearly making her look sexy. The current expression that she was making looked very erotic. I knew what she meant when she told me our date hadn''t ended.

    My hands then moved toward her body, undressing her. All she had left were undergarments covering all of her erotic parts.

    "Charlie... Give me a kiss." She looked at me with a face full of lust. Olivia then held my face and stuck her tongue inside me, giving me a long kiss.

    "Mhmm." Unbuttoning her bra, I took off the bra. Now that some of her fronts were uncovered, I used my hands to y with her breast. Touching them, I could feel Olivia''s breathing rougher as we continued to kiss.

    After our kiss, Olivia moved her head towards my crotch. My penis was already erect by our past actions. She then moved her hands and started to rub my dick. Her hands were soft, and with the movement of her hand, precum started to leak.

    Opening her mouth, she began to suck on my dick. Olivia did pretty well sucking on me. Her movement and technique were excellentpared to when she first gave me a blowjob.

    Olivia felt that I was rearing to let go of my little brother and moved her body, spreading her legs toward me. We were ready to go.

    With our position locked, I moved my hips towards her, and with my penis inserted, Olivia moaned in pleasure. Before I started moving, Olivia and my eyes were locked on one another.

    "Charlie, you can move." With her ready, I began to thrust my hips.

    "Ahhhh! Awhhh! Hahhh!" My hips were moving rapidly, Olivia was currently moaning, and her face that she made looked like she was filled with ecstasy.

    "Charlie, I love you!" Doing a missionary position, Olivia hugged tightly. She had her legs locking me into ce while I was pleasuring her with my hot rod.

    "Olivia, I going to move faster." Moving my head to her ears, I whispered to her, speaking right to her ears. Proceeding to pleasure Olivia even more, I began to kiss her on her neck.

    Telling Olivia that I would move faster, I began pistoning my hips, moving quicker. A while after, I felt Olivia''s insides begin to tighten. Fuck! Because of that, I felt I would release my seeds sooner.

    "Charlie, I''m about to cum!" Olivia yelled in pleasure, with her vaginal tightening. With her pussy trying to suck everything from me, I released what I could inside of Olivia.<sub> </sub>

    "Ahhhh!" Olivia came right as I seeded her. Her body moved violently before making aplete stop. Both Olivia and I weren''t going to be satisfied with one run. We had done this multiple times before consecutively.

    "Olivia, I''m going in again." She nodded, knowing that I would go inside of her again. Grabbing her from behind, holding her waist, I slid my cock inside her.

    In a doggy style, I began to move back and forth. Since Olivia hade earlier, I felt her insides so much wetter. Feeling it, I felt it was easier to move, so I made my body move faster.

    Olivia''s moans continued to echo through the room, the both of us were lost in the pleasure of each other''s bodies. If someone had shown up, we would''ve never realized anything happening outside us.

    Some time passed, and my hips were still moving the both of us were near our limits, and we were going toe, "Olivia! I''m pretty close to cumming."

    "Charlie! Release all your seeds inside me. I want you to be with me forever~" Holding her waist, I thrust my hips as fast as possible. The pping noise from our lovemaking was bing more violent sounding. Feeling the rush of my crotch, I entered Olivia for the second time.

    "HEEKKK!!!" Olivia''s voice leaked, trying to suppress such sound. Looking at Olivia, it seems like she still had more energy for us to continue. We haven''t had sex with each other during the trip to hunt monsters.

    Doing it our third time, Olivia hurried and screamed, "Charlie... Let me rest... for a bit." She was a bit out of breath with our session of intimate actions.

    But Olivia had cases where she was tired but enjoyed it even more. Besides, she had made me spend a lot of money, and she should pay her debt.

    Olivia saw that my little brother was still on the rise. Even if she said anything, we knew I wouldn''t stop.

    Grabbing her from behind, I plunged in my dick. Olivia squealed in pleasure. Even when she was a bit tired, the feeling of being prated by my body couldn''t stop her from feeling good.

    "Awahhhh!" The moans that Olivia was starting to be more disorientated. Her body was still extremely sensitive, and who knew how long this loving-making session wouldst.

    Hours passed by, and Olivia passed out from our intense session, cleaning the mess that we made, I prepared to go to bed.

    Days like these were something I looked forwards to. I just hoped things won''t be more hectic, but after going to the wilderness for a week, I don''t think I have much motivation to go out more.

    Having these thoughts, I slowly drifted into sleep.

 Chapter 83 My Peace...

    A few days had passed since our date, the ss had started, and Ms. Mary had started to exin how monsters came to be.

    There were many reasons for this. The simplest way for a monster toe into being was with a dungeon. Once a dungeon is formed, mana would be gathered into the dungeon. Once gathered together, when too much mana is gathered, the excess mana would be turned into a monster.

    The other options are when monsters would breed with one another and create another monster. It was pretty self-exnatory.

    Once ss was over, Ms. Mary called me to follow her. "Olivia, you should go home first. I don''t know how long I would be away for."

    "Olivia will be following you. She will be needed for this announcement." And why didn''t she say that first? I wanted to retort, but I couldn''t

    "Follow me to the headmaster''s office." Ms. Mary started to walk out of the ss, and Olivia and I followed her.

    It didn''t take long for us to go to the headmaster''s room. Maybe this was one of her offices that she often uses.

    Ms. Mary knocked on the door, "Teacher Mary Celeste here." Our teacher informed the headmaster of our arrival.

    "Come in," The door opened without anyone pushing or pulling it. Magic sure was convenient in life. I wish I could do that with the door.

    "Mary, thank you for bringing these two. You can leave if you want." Ms. Mary bowed and left the room. The headmaster sounded like a good friend to Ms. Mary.

    "Umm... Did we do something wrong?" Olivia was nervous. She didn''t know the reason why we were called. I assumed it wouldn''t be bad, considering I did nothing wrong to my recollection.

    p "No, the both of you did nothing wrong." She closed her eyes, thinking about something. The headmaster was less intimidating than I thought. When she first used mana to attract the attention of us students, I had chills running through my body then.</anda>

    "May we know why we''re here?" I didn''t want to ruin her thinking, but the silence was starting to get to me. So I asked what we were doing here.

    "Charlie, I heard you earned first ce in the trial. Congrattions." She ignored my question and started to congratte me.

    The results were me getting first ce with Serena getting second. Apparently, she was close by 1000 credits off. Any other group was far off. Third ce had a 70000 point difference between Serena.

    Despite losing two group members, Olivia''s group did pretty well. Her group was rank 8th. The prizes were handed out, and the things I got were genuinely great. My credit has doubled, and the price of everything rted to credits decreased by 50%.<sub> </sub>

    "I had a meeting a week ago with people from other countries. You had seen the increase in monsters, right?" Both Olivia and I nodded at her question, but what was the point of this topic?

    "The monster king of this generation has been born. Dawn Creed Forest and other ces had been infested by monsters." Olivia was scared shitless from the headmaster''s mouth. Anyone with enough knowledge would know what the monster king was. To think one would appear this soon.

    While thinking, the headmaster continued, "During our meeting, to tighten our alliance, we would send two students from each year to each academy." We had just returned from our trip, and I knew where this was going.

    "You and Olivia will be selected as exchange students for the country of Avadris." The country of Avadris? Thergest nation within the continent? The country for beastmen? How troublesome.

    "Starting tomorrow, a staff member will send you to Avadris with a teleportation circle. The two of you and six other students will be sent to Avadris capital city and received as a guest." So there wasn''t anyone from this country to supervise us?

    "You''ll be there for three months before returning to an international school battle." Even if Charlie was locked up in his house, he had some information about it.

    Every nation would send in its best students to check out the strength of the said individual andpare them to their peers. This would motivate students topete for first ce and help them with their pride.

    Looks like my plead for a peaceful life will be postponed to ater date. So the eight of us would be hostages to the other country. If a fight starts to break out, I hope I wouldn''t be in any of these messes.

    After having to example all of these, the headmaster suddenly disappeared. Did she use an artifact to exin everything? If so, that would exin why she ignored me and had almost no presence as the headmaster.

    Leaving the room, both Olivia and I had to think. "Olivia, don''t think you think school is seriously hardcore?" Many people died in the third month of this ce, and now we''re getting sent as hostages. What a brutal world we''re in.

    "Charlie, do you think the food in Avadris will be better?" At least Olivia was thinking on the bright side. Her magic could be improved as long as she finds more food to eat.

    Doing my best to keep her mood up, "There should be, the country is bigger, and there are more people in that ce." There should be some better food, probably.

    "Then should we go shopping? We would need to prepare some things that we need for our next home." We were gonna live in a different house for three months. It would never hurt to prepare for something we prefer from this ce.

    Olivia agreed to my arrangements. In doing so, we went to a store that sold furniture for homes. Olivia and I had arrived at the store, and many homely items could be seen.

    Walking around many items that we found were bought, and having to do that we went back home and rested well for the day after.

 Chapter 84 Avaris Here We Come!

    The next day had arrived since our meeting with our headmaster. I had told most of my acquaintances about my situation, I wasn''t going to see them for three months, so I said my farewells. Olivia did the same with hers.

    With some of our things packed up, we were ready to go. We didn''t know when to leave, so we packed up earlier thanter.

    It was already lunch, and Olivia had conjured a meal for us to eat. I had wanted something light to eat. We could be leaving anytime, and I didn''t want my stomach to ache if there was a situation where any problem could arise.

    Just as I thought of that, the door outside was being ranged on. I had just finished my lunch and went up to the door.

    Opening the door, a woman in her twenties had shown up. "Charlie Sris? Is Olivia with you?" I nodded, confirming that I was Charlie and Olivia was here.

    "If you''re ready, then we will leave right away." Standing there, I went back into the house and called out to Olivia.

    "Olivia, our transportation is here. We will be leaving now." Olivia ran to her room and began to dress up for the trip. I didn''t have much to do so I waited for her. All the packages were in my storage bag, so I didn''t need to return them to my room.

    Olivia came back looking better than ever and followed me out the door. "We''re ready to leave," I told her that we could leave immediately.

    Setting up a teleportation spell, Olivia and I appeared in a spacious room we didn''t seem to know. There was only one door meaning that this room was usually used by anyone who teleported only to exit the building.

    Other than us, there were four students from our school. The headmaster had mentioned that we had students from the upper grade.

    I didn''t recognize the four other students, but we would have to introduce ourselves sooner orter.

    Shortly after we arrived, two more people joined us, I had known one of them, but the other one was pretty unknown to me.

    Audrey ze, someone who had dueled me about a month ago. I had heard that she had mellowed down after our "fight." I had also heard that she was within the top three of her group, making that shame of a fight wash a bit.

    Audrey saw me and looked away. Unable to face me, she backed off in the corner, waiting for further instruction. If she doesn''t bother me, I won''t have a problem with her.

    A little while after, someone that was a beastmen had received us. It was a beastmen of a cat variant. The woman had ck hair with two cat ears on the top of her head.

    Her key features were her tail sticking out of her back and her nails, which were extremely sharp. She didn''t have a whisker-like what cats usually have. If she were to be in my old world, people would crowd her because of her looks.<sub> </sub>

    The cat girl had ck hair with yellow and blue eyes. Yellow on the right and blue on the left. Wearing a school uniform, she began to introduce herself.

    "Hello, everyone~ My name is Felicia~. I''m a second year and will be your guide for the day!" The cat girl in front of us is pretty energetic. I don''t know why but I felt Felicia ncing at me frequently. It might be me just being paranoid.

    Felicia, our guide, opened the door leading us out of the building. Outside, there was just a narrow path for one person to be in front.

    "Sorry, everyone~ this path may be irritating to deal with, but please stay calm~ it won''t be long before we get out~."

    ? This path was crowded, and most of us were displeased by the treatment we had already received. It was suffocating just to be here.

    It was good that we had reached the end of this narrow path quickly. Otherwise, someone like Audrey could blow it up. Going up the spiral stairs, we arrived out in the open of a grassy field.

    "Now that we''ve arrived~ We''re just right outside of the academy!" Moving closer to the Academy for the beastmen, the forest was blocking the view of the area. If one of us strays away from the path, it wouldn''t be hard for them to get lost.

    Five minutester, we arrived in the middle of nowhere. "Where is the academy?" A senior asked, wondering why we stopped with nothing in front of us.

    "It''s in front of us~" We couldn''t see anything. Was the ce invisible? Or did we need to do something for it to appear?

    Some of us were dissatisfied with how Felicia was acting, Felicia then walked in, and we followed her. Right when we passed a certain point, everything started to appear. Buildings and beastmen were wandering around the streets.

    "Wee to Avaris Royal Academy~! Home to students that study at this academy~!" It was a good thing that she didn''t end with a meow. My ears would''ve to bleed if she did.

    "We''ll be going to the principal''s office. We will be getting your schedules for your uing sses." Watching our surroundings, we passed by multiple buildings with items we were interested in. I had noted toe back right when our tour is over.

    With Felicia leading us to the school, we arrived at the principal office quickly. Knocking the door, Felicia had notified that she was outside the door.

    "Principal Ann! Felicia has arrived~!" By the way, Felicia was calling the principal, and I could tell that they were close.

    The door opened, and a woman like Felicia sat on afy chair. Like Felicia, she had cat ears, but her hair was grey for her age. Were they rted by blood? That would exin why Felicia couldfortably call out to her.

 Chapter 85 ...

    "Felicia, thank you for your hard work. You may finish up with your work." The principal kindly told Felicia to leave. Doing so, Felicia went out of the door and left.

    With Felicia leaving, the principal turned her face towards us. Her happy-going attitude had disappeared, and she started to talk.

    "I thank you all for attending this academy as guests. Your schedules are in these papers. There is a map within the pile and keys for your house. You will be grouped by your years and will be living together. Please take them before you leave." She then looked at her paper and stopped paying attention to us.

    Her voice showed a bit of disdain toward us. Even if she disliked us, she didn''t show it to us upfront. What was the point of her signing the alliance if she didn''t like us?

    Taking our items begrudgingly, we left the office, leaving the school building. The seniors were venting their emotions to each other.

    "What with her attitude? That bitch had made an alliance with us and couldn''t even bother to help. This is why beasts like them are hated." They ranted their frustrations to the sky.

    Since we had things to do, I couldn''t be bothered to go near them. I checked on the map. The house we had gotten was on the opposite side of the remaining three groups.

    Our house was located on the top of academy city. At least there were many facilities near our location. Olivia and I didn''t have to go far to the academy. The other three were pretty unlucky with their location.

    "Olivia, let''s go to our house and pack our things." We didn''t have all day to see how our seniors were doing, leaving the seniors told us to wait.

    "Where are you both going?" A senior genuinely questioned us about what our ns were.

    "We''re going to our house for a checking." There wasn''t a need for us to go as a group. In fact, I think our grouping could make the situation worst.

    The principal already had shown her dislike toward us. If we stayed together for three months, they would suspect we would do something.

    I also didn''t n to get along with them. I had established enough connections needed as a student. If I did, the chances that I would be suspected as a male would be much higher, and it was thest thing I needed.

    "Is that so? As a senior in our school, let me give you a tip. Don''t cause any trouble. You saw how the principal acted. Our position here is an all-time low, so do your best not to attract any attention." I didn''t need that tip. I could control my emotions myself. Besides, they seem like they should be worried about themselves.

    "Thank you for your wise words." Sarcastically saying those words, I left with Olivia. Looking at the map we were given, we were told that a path was leading to our house.<sub> </sub>

    Walking to our destination, a stone road walk that would act as a guide appeared. Following the road, we arrived at our new house and passed many stores along the way. We will check them out when the time is right.

    In front of us was our new house. I thought the house we would be given would be in bad condition. The house we got was arger one than the one where we lived. It was made out of magic stone, unlike the one where I lived, which was made of wood.

    Olivia and I walked into the house, checking out our living space. The house was cozy. I tried to sense every corner of our house, checking if any audio or anything was recording our movements.

    I may sound extremely paranoid, but considering how we''re not liked by the higher-ups of Avaris, there is no knowing what they would do.

    It had taken me hours to search around the house, but nothing hade up. Maybe I was too paranoid, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

    Going to a room I had picked, I had to unpack everything I had in my storage space into this room. Olivia then came to my room and checked out my progress. She had finished packing everything while I was checking the whole house.

    "Charlie, let''s eat dinner. You can pack your thingster. Dinner is more important," Olivia called out to me. It was dinner. I then checked on the window in my room. The sun was setting down. I had wasted so much time and hadn''t finished unpacking everyone.

    Going to our dining room, it was pretty broad. In fact, our table had twelve seats too big, and it was hard to eat with Olivia sitting like this.

    The both of us were sitting side by side at thisrge table. It was pretty ufortable sitting beside someone who I was talking to.

    "Olivia, let''s buy a smaller table after," Olivia nodded her head and agreed with my decision. I liked it better if we sat face by face.

    "Olivia, what do you think about our stay?" Except for the ce we will be living in, I would say that our recent experience in this country was terrible, and I hope this exchange will be over soon.

    She had a wry smile when I asked such a question. "I don''t think the principal liked us. I hope that it was only her that acted like that. Felicia was nice, so I''m hoping it was just the principal who would act like that."

    Olivia gave me a positive outlook on the situation. I hope that she was right about her thoughts. Otherwise, it would be a pain in the butt if someone were to gun at us from the start.

    After finishing my dinner, I returned to my room. I unpacked everything, the ss would start tomorrow, and I couldn''t afford to bete. Unlike Saint Maria, attending sses was unnecessary if you bring results, but here we''re for an exchange program.

 Chapter 86 First Day In The Royal Academy

    The next day appeared, and I was in bed with Olivia, today was our first day of ss, and we hadn''t done much other than stay at our house.

    Not only would we meet beastmen from this academy, but other exchange students from other countries. There are ten countries on this continent. Star State is the home to humans, elves, fairies, and the country where I reside.

    Avaris thergest country existing on this continent. Most of the poption are beastmen, and with thergest country, they also have the highest military power. They''re also a bordering country next to Star State.

    Etheal is the country of darkness, the ce where demons live in. Etheal is known to always be dark. Their magic is usually known for darker effects. Like Avaris, they''re also bordering Star State.

    "Charlie..." Olivia, who was sleeping next to me, muttered my name. I better wake her up now. We wouldn''t want to bete for our first ss.

    "Olivia, wake up!" I shook her violently. She was a heavy sleeper, so I had to wake her up harshly.

    "Uahhh!" Olivia screamed a bit when she woke up.

    "Charlie, stop waking me up like that." Olivia was a bit angry. I tried my best to calm her down.

    Kissing her on her lips, I stuck my tongue inside of her. Olivia, who was angry, had softened her expression. Our kisssted for half a minute before we released ourselves, taking a deep breath.

    Before Olivia could strip, "Let''s save it forter, we have ss soon." I broke the news to her. Before, she was angry. Now, she was a bit horny.

    "Let us dress up and have breakfast before we leave." Olivia and I did as I said and then began eating breakfast.

    "Olivia, today will be our first day. Not only students of Avaris are here, but other countries from this exchange program are."

    "Really???" Did Olivia not know that? Even if the headmaster hadn''t informed us, it was obvious since other students from our grade would be sent to other schools from different countries.

    "Try not to attract any attention. Those students may be our future opponents in the internal battle for the uing three months." I told Olivia what I had in mind.

    "And definitely don''t tell them my magic." It would be annoying if someone prepared a fight against me due to their pride. Olivia nodded her head,prehensively understanding what I wanted.

    With breakfast out of the way, we headed out of our house. Locking the door, we went to school.

    On our way, we could see students from Avaris. All of them were beastmen from different animals. We couldn''t see anyone from different countries due to the size of students from this country.

    Students around would look at us just to simply observe what we were doing. They weren''t hostile, and that was good. Maybe it was just the principal that had a disdain toward us.

    Olivia was nervous with all these stares. She was walking behind me, hiding behind me. I couldn''t me her, she wasn''t used to these surroundings, and it would probably be a while for her to get used to it.<sub> </sub>

    Getting to the school, we searched for our ss. Finding our room, we entered and saw some students there. All of them were staring at us, observing us.

    There were forty tables in this ss. Meaning that twenty of their students had left while the other twenty stayed with twenty exchange students entering this room.

    With two seats in the back empty, I took one on the window seat with Olivia beside me. There were still some beastmen staring at me and a girl with white hair and red eyes looking at me.

    I couldn''t tell what their problem with me was, but I felt ufortable with their stares, unlike the ones I usually receive. The stare that they give is more intense. Please stop staring at me.

    There was time to spare, but everyone in this ss had arrived. There were many races in one room, all looking at each other, each of our characteristics.

    The time was ticking, and the teacher, I presumed, hade to the front desk. Standing up at the front desk was a person with peacock-like features. While she was human-looking, the tail on her back was revealing.

    "Goodmorning, everyone," The teacher spoke with a pompous ent. "I''m Miss Colorful. It''s a pleasure to meet you all." Miss Colorful introduced herself to the ss, her name was pretty weird, but it wasn''t like I could tell her that. She was someone who got carried away by talking about herself.

    Ms. Colorful was weirdly dressed. She had a green and ck dress, with her hair colored in many colors. Her earrings were obnoxiously big, and the jewelry around her was bright.

    Half an hour had passed, and she was still talking about herself. For a teacher, she was incredibly proud. Most of the students had stopped listening at some point during the talk. Even the students of Avaris have stopped listening.

    By the time the teacher had stopped talking, half of the ss time was over. "Oh, would you look at dat! Time has passed by in a short time." Ms. Colorful sounded surprised when she said, " Is her self-awareness that low?

    "Since most of you are in this ss for the first time, why don''t we have a ss battle?" A ss battle? Ms. Colorful wanted to see us battle so soon.

    It was interesting to see how everyone here would do. Ms. Colorful was shrewder than I thought. She wanted to see everyone''s capabilities right from the start.

    Everyone in the room was a bit excited about hearing Ms. Colorful words. Everyone here wanted to see the capabilities of the others.

    I have to limit myself to a certain degree if I fight someone. The chances of me being targeted were high if everyone here found out how strong I waspared to my peers.

    With that decided, I would agree to use at least 15% of my mana. Olivia, who was on my left, was shaking. She had no moves that would attack. So Olivia here wouldn''t be able to participate in this battle.

    "Now then, we shall leave to the battle room." Ms. Colorful then exited the room with everyone following her.

    Walking with Olivia, we left the room and followed the teacher and the ss to fight our ssmate.

 Chapter 87 Class Battle (Part I)

    Arriving in the battle room with everyone here, Ms. Colorful told all of us to sit on the bench on the side of the room.

    "To decide who you will be going against, please stand in line, and I will pair you in groups of twenty. Does anybody have any questions?" Before we decided who we would fight, Ms. Colorful wanted to know if anybody had any questions.

    I then looked at Olivia, but she was too nervous about speaking. Being the helpful person I''m, I did it in her stead. Raising my hand, Ms. Colorful looked at me. "Yes, what is your question?"

    "My friend here doesn''t have magic that makes any harmful magical attack. Could she drop out for this event?" Olivia had no need for this fight. It was apparent she would lose without any way to defend herself.

    "Is that so? Does anybody else have magic that doesn''t cause any harm?" Since Avaris is a country that is proud of its firepower, they probably haven''t had students that had no attacks to support them.

    Seeing no one but Olivia had any way to attack, I took this chance. "Ms. Colorful, since it would be uneven if my friend left, do you mind if I also stayed out of the fight?" Heh, now I didn''t have to fight, even if I attracted some attention, but with this, I could scout everyone out.

    "Very well." And with that, the two of us stayed out of the fight.

    "Everyone, please stand in a straight line. You and you will fight." She paired an exchange student with a school student, pointing at the students. There was a pair of student extra, so she let them fight.

    What the teacher did was intentional. She wanted to set up a fight between the exchange student. "The first two I called, go to the battle arena and fight. Introduce yourselves before you fight."

    The first two students have to walk to the arena. The beastmen who was called first was a squirrel variant. It is evident by way of her tall brown bushy tail. And her opponent was an elf with long silver hair and long ears.

    "Adeline from Avaris," The squirrel girl introduced herself.

    "Sonya from Evergreen Forest," Sonya the elf gave her name, and the fightmenced.

    Adeline made the first move and ran toward Sonya. I didn''t know what Adeline had in n, but it seemed like she nned physically fight Sonya.

    Sonya was perplexed, she probably had never fought someone running up to her, but without any dy, she shot an arrow infused with mana toward her. I didn''t know what her magic was, but something had happened.

    Adeline used a clone as a meatshield. Did her magic allow her to make a clone? Or was it something entirely different? Either way, it was extremely useful in any situation.

    What was the limit of her magic? I didn''t know. I could only observe how she would fight. Sonya, the elf, was surprised to see two Adelines. With one blocking them, she prepared a barrage of arrows.

    Like before, Sonya summoned another clone and used its body as a shield. The arrows couldn''tpletely pierce through the clone''s body, making the arrows stuck to the clone.<sub> </sub>

    Adeline was already close to Sonya. She was already a few steps away from getting to Sonya''s melee range.

    Sonya, who clicked her tongue, mana''s suddenly rose sharply. She was holding back from the earlier exchange.

    Feeling the mana around Sonya grow stronger, Adeline''s eyes slightly sharpened, readying for the uing attack. Now that I think about it, why doesn''t Adeline use her clone to charge at her? Was there a condition upon using it?

    Sonya used an empowered arrow toward Adeline, building up mana in an arrow. Feeling the power, Adeline was worried about the uing attack.

    Within the next few steps, Sonya used her arrow against Adeline. Sonya tried to use a clone to block the strengthened arrow.

    The arrownded, breaking the clone into pieces shattering like ss. The squirrel girl who had her clone shattered made a metal appear out of nowhere to block it.

    Adeline''s metal wall was bent, and the impact had pushed her back,nding on the ground. Adeline''s magic wasn''t cloning. It was more like a substitution. That would exin why she wouldn''t summon more clones for an offensive maneuver.

    Thisst fight for a minute is currently in Sonya''s favor. Even with Adeline substituting everything to block all of Sonya''s attacks, she wasn''t able to reach near the elf''s range.

    Adeline was looking stressed out. While her magic was good, I don''t think it would help her more in this situation. From what she had already done, it seems pretty taxing to use these substitutions to block the uing attacks.

    "I surrender." Adeline raised her hand, telling everyone that she had given up.

    The teacher looked pretty displeased by how this fight ended. If the teacher wanted to see the other student''s abilities to a full extent, I would see why she would be annoyed by the oue.

    While the fight isn''t highly eye-catching, it raised the importance of Sonya''s evaluation of other students. I still didn''t know what her magic was, but it could pack a punch on some of these people.

    This was still the first fight, I didn''t know how this could bepared to the rest, but it was noteworthy to see how the others would fight.

    After finishing a bit of my analysis, I asked Olivia a question. "How well do you think they would bepared to the others?" It was good for me to ask the opinion of someone more normal.

    Olivia was sitting here like a baby. There were a few nces over, looking at Olivia. If they think Olivia is easy picking, I would need to stay with her all day. I wouldn''t want someone to pick on her.

    "Olivia, if you''re nervous that someone would bully you, just stick with me. I will protect you." I muttered quietly, only for her to hear these words. Olivia rxed for a bit and began to tell me her thoughts.

 Chapter 88 Class Battle (Part II)

    "Ummm... I think Sonya could be the fourth strongest in our year regarding firepower, while Adeline wouldn''t be much of a threat to you." While her opinion was simple, it was helpful. I didn''t care much about our ssmates, so I barely paid attention to them.

    I wouldn''t need to pay attention to my growth unless their importance had risen. But the people sent would at least be one of their school''s top.

    Not only that, the people here could be considered my future opponent. With how big the international battle would be, the Sris family would clearly watch this fight.

    If I perform poorly due to my carelessness, I would easily be disposed of by the Sris. And with how proud the Sris family could be, I had to reach one of the top ranks within the tournament.

    I needed to grow stronger, to the point where the Sris family had no way to harm me. While being in the family has its benefits, my future was guaranteed as long as I stayed alive.

    My growth was much faster than everyone else. Also long as I stayed alive, I would be a powerhouse in this world. The second round was about to start with me thinking about my future.

    The two of them were already in the arena. "I''m Reba Avaris, princess of the Avaris kingdom!" She was pretty cocky when she said that. She had white hair and red eyes. She is a bunny variant of beastmen.

    Reba had been watching me closely, I didn''t know why she was, but I felt I needed to stay away from her.

    As the princess of this country, no one in Avaris has the right mind to want to draft her to a different country. With her introduction done, her opponent introduces herself to everyone.

    "I''m... Rica from the... country of... Everest." She was intimidated by Reba''s imposing aura, a person that hade from the same country. She looked at Rica with displeasure while the rest of the exchange students looked at Sydney, trying to get any information about her.

    Rica was a small humanoid race. I didn''t know if she was a human but was just small, or was she a dwarf? No, she was probably a dwarf. Everest was a country that lived in the mountains, and dwarfs liked to live in them.

    The students of Avaris had a grin on their faces, showing their strength to the others. They are incredibly nationalist. I couldn''t understand people with these thoughts.

    Moving on, the battle was going to begin. With both of them ready, Reba had moved. Rica stood still, waiting for the best action to take.

    In a split of time, Reba had instantly teleported a few steps ahead, moving closer to Rica. Rica was flustered, thinking of what to do. Rica tried to use her magic to shake Reba off.

    Conquering a fly swat, Rica used it to try to hit Reba. Reba, who saw it, looked like she had paid no mind to it. Running in front of the giant swat, like before, she had teleported going over the swat.

    Rica panicked seeing her attack miss. Summoning some more weapons, she aimed them toward Reba in a volley of waves.<sub> </sub>

    Reba seeing this smirked, finding this amusing. "Is that all you got?" shing over the waves of weapons, Reba began to taunt Rica.

    "If that''s all, get off." Reba then teleported to Rica and kicked her in the face, sending Rica flying out of the arena. Rica was knocked out by that kick. Begrudgingly a student from Rica''s school walked to her and picked her up, leaving her to sit on a wall.

    Everyone who had watched the battle was wary of Reba. Her ability to teleport within a small range was highly troublesome. Not only that, it seems like she was very experienced in martial arts.

    To me, it wasn''t that worrying. I could create armor around me. With Reba''s second-level strength, it would be impossible for her to hurt me instead. If she tried to hurt me, it would be her that would be wounded.

    Sonya, who had battled earlier, looked at Reba. Apetitive aura could be seen within her. Reba felt her gaze smirk at her, probably finding thatpetitive drive interesting.

    With both of these battles finished, more continued. Watching all of these fights, I would say that most of the battles we watched were less attractive than the first two.

    While there are some people I had to watch for, I''m confident I could easily overwhelm anyone I have to battle.

    "Alright, everyone! now that everyone has battled, the ss will be over for the day, and you''ll be free to do what you want for the rest of the day." Ms. Colorful said that she had left the gym.

    Now that ss was over, both Olivia and I could do whatever we wanted. We had wanted to buy a smaller table for yesterday''s dinner.

    "Olivia, do you want to go shopping for the things we need?" We both have nothing to do, so why not just buy what we need first? And besides, I''m not here to make friends with anyone, so I wanted to leave immediately.

    Olivia nodded, and the both of us were just going to leave. Someone called out to me as we were about to leave the area.

    "Hey! You with the blonde hair!" I knew who that arrogant voice belonged. Reba, the princess of Avaris, was calling out to me.

    "Olivia, my love. Always stay away from these people. They attract too much attention." I muttered quietly, loud enough for only Oliva to hear.

    Olivia could only agree. She also didn''t want to get involved with someone like Reba, so we walked as fast as possible, leaving them out of sight.

    This may make Reba angry, but if we ignore her long enough, we should make her lose interest in us. I don''t know why she was interested in us, but I could only hope that it was nothing significant.

 Chapter 89 It Just A Misunderstanding Right?

    With both of us leaving, it was good that Reba didn''t choose to follow us. We may earn the wraith of Avaris students, but everything will be alright if they don''t bother us.

    The streets of Avaris Royal Academy were pretty different from Saint Maria''s. Unlike our school, the ce wasn''t that crowded. With how popted it is for the beastmen, no matter where you went, you would always see someone around the streets.

    Olivia was close to my side, grabbing my hand and ensuring we wouldn''t get separated. I don''t know if it was intentional, but for some reason, I felt I was being touched purposely by the people in our surroundings.

    I don''t know if I was paranoid about being touched by many people, but this feeling was unpleasant.

    Many stores were passed as we walked by. From restaurants to entertainment, there were things that both Olivia and I wanted to check out after our shopping trip.

    Walking through the crowd of people, we found a store that had reached our requirements. Having to walk in the store, it was nice that we did so. There weren''t as many people inside here as there were outside.

    "Olivia, if anything catches your interest, do tell me." Fashion wasn''t something that I had any expertise in. Olivia was someone who knew much more than me, so her opinion was much better than mine.

    "Don''t worry, Charlie, if there is something good, we will buy it." Olivia sounded confident. It was nice seeing this side of Olivia.

    There was a lot of tableware, from tes to tables. Many of them could be seen here. Unlike just in metal, the materials used here are made from precious gems.

    Now that I think about is it safe to even use these materials? I don''t want to suddenly have food poisoning right when I eat my food with these tes.

    Olivia, who was wandering around the store searching for things to buy, I went to the receptionist and asked her a question.

    "Miss, I have a question concerning the tablewares in the store. Are they safe to use? I won''t get poisoned if I use them, right?" Asking the receptionist, I may sound like a bitch, but I''m more concerned about Olivia and my safety.

    "Don''t worry. You''re not the first to ask such things. All materials used here are safe; otherwise, our store wouldn''t be running by now." The receptionist sounded very particr about it. With her words, I was reassured a little.

    Getting back to Olivia, she had already chosen some of the things she wanted. Three tes were picked with three sets of utensils, each made from different materials.

    The first one was a bright shiny bright gold color mixed with white. It was a ssical fancy set made for a usual rich guy. I''m notining since I actually liked the design of it.

    The second was a te made of art. Unlike expensive materials made from gold, this one had a red flower covering half of the te and an excellent background.

    Finally, thest one was a violet te, just the color violet, it wasn''t bad, so we decided on these three. We weren''t here for this tableware, but it was nice to have extras.

    Eventually, we searched for a table to buy. The table we found is a table enough for eight people. It was made of smooth wood, which both of us could get behind.<sub> </sub>

    Going to the cashier, we went ahead and brought the tes set to the cashier. "That would be worth four gold," The cashier told us the price of the things we bought.

    "We would like to buy a table. Could you tell us the price for it?" The two of us couldn''t just pick up the table. That would be weird, so telling the cashier she followed us. No one else was in line, so she was free to do so.

    "This is the table we would like to purchase."

    "That would be two gold," Paying her 6 gold, I bagged the table into my storage bag and the tes and utensils we bought.

    After buying them, we left the store. Olivia and I were going to head home and be done with the rest of the day. There were just too many people in the streets for us to do anything worthwhile.

    Heading home, I heard someone familiar shout toward us. "Hey, blonde!" That annoying voice had resurfaced.

    Looking at the speaker, Reba was standing behind us. How did she find us? Did she ce a person to spy on us so she could stalk us?

    Tired of this, I asked, "What do you want?" Speaking rudely, I asked what she wanted from me.

    "You!" ??? Me? What did she mean by that?

    "I want you!" My eyes twitched. What was she taking when she asked me that. Besides, I don''t think I was that interesting for someone to want me suddenly. And if it was for my looks, many people could be on par with me or, even better, depending on someone''s taste.

    Olivia, who was beside me, was mind blown. Steam could be seen on her red face. From her expression, something lewd must have been dreamt of.

    What did I do to deserve this much attention? I know I wasn''t a good person, but I don''t think I did anything to warrant such attention.

    "Sorry, but I''m not interested in being a property."

    "Let me rephrase that. I want you to be my mate!" ??? Now I was convinced that she was taking some drugs.

    I don''t know how someone could make a decision like that in an instant, but if someone did, you better stay away from them. You won''t know what they will do.

    You must be perfectly insane to dere that to someone you just met. We didn''t even have much of a conversation before this. Dwelling on this won''t help. I must ask why Reba wants me to be her "mate."

    Or maybe I just misunderstood the situation. Yeah, that was probably it. No one in the right mind would ask for marriage right away. Reba probably meant mate as a buddy.

 Chapter 90 Smelling Nice

    I had to ask what she meant. I needed to make sure that I understood what she asked. "What do you by, mate?"

    "Oh? Wasn''t I clear? I want you to be mine." It seems like I thought right the first time. I sighed. Like I said earlier, there wasn''t anything interesting about me.

    "Is there a reason?" To determine why she wanted me, I had to ask why.

    "Your scent, the scent you''re giving out, is wonderful. Just being near you gives me full of joy!" She nodded, talking about my scent.

    My scent? I don''t think I smelled any different from usual. "Olivia, do I smell that good?" Olivia, still in her own delusion, couldn''t hear me.

    Grabbing Olivia''s shoulder, I shook her, and she snapped back into reality. "Nhmm???" Olivia made a cute noise waking up.

    "Olivia, do I smell good?" Now that I had asked her that again, I felt embarrassed asking such a question.

    "Yes, I like your smell." Olivia gave me a goofy smile telling me she liked my smell.

    Did I smell that good? If so, why haven''t I heard of this? No, I wasn''t specific enough with my question to Olivia.

    "No, I mean, do I smell that good for people to be attracted to me?" I specified my question, hoping that Olivia would give me an honest answer.

    "I like your smell, Charlie." I don''t think I will be getting an unbias answer from Olivia.

    Now that I think about it, the beastmen of my age around this country has been looking at me. Were the beastmen attracted to my scent? If so, I had to find a way to remove my smell. I had already attracted Reba. I didn''t need anyone else troubling me.

    "Sorry, even if you''re attracted to me, I will still have to reject your proposal. Besides, I''m not interested in girls." I lied my ass off and said that.

    "I''m the heir to the crown. You dare to reject me." She sounded pretty pissed when I rejected her proposal. She couldn''t really do much to me.

    While we were hostages in some sort, it would be stupid of her to attack me because for a pity reason. I may not be able to cause a war, but if the country of Avaris wanted war, it would end up badly for them.

    Unlike Star State, the Avaris border four countries. While they may be the strongest in terms of military power, if they try to invade a neighboring country, some other nation would attack them in return.

    No one wanted Avaris to gain more strength than they had. It would be outright foolish for them to attack.

    My opinion of Reba declined because of this sentence. If she was trying to attract me, she shouldn''t have tried to indirectly threaten me.<sub> </sub>

    "Sorry, but I''m not interested in your crown." While I may not have much support from my family. The Sris family was a bunch of prideful beings, and I may not be considered essential to them.

    They wouldn''t want me to be property to them. The Sris'' pride wouldn''t allow such a thing. If such a thing happens, I might end up dead.

    Seeing that there was nothing else to discuss. Olivia and I left, and Reba, who saw us trying to leave, was trying to tell us to stay.

    Having no words out, we went home. With the both of us home, going to the dining room, we had removed therge table and changed it to the one we bought. We now had a lot of space in the dining room, but it was okay. The tes and utensils were ced in the kitchen.

    There was still time before dinner. Olivia was in her room doing something. Should I go to her room and ask her to do something before having dinner?

    Since there wasn''t much to do, I went to Olivia''s room. Olivia was changing her clothes, and her bare body was shown. I was used to that sight, so I had nothing to be flustered about.

    Olivia, who was changing, looked in my direction, "Charlie, is there something you need?"

    "No, I was just bored. Before we go eat dinner, want to go to a perfume shop?" Since Reba had told me that I had a distinctive smell, my smell may attract trouble one day, so I had to find a way to stop it.

    Olivia looked at me with her eyes widened. Was it surprising that I asked such a thing? Who am I kidding? If I didn''t know that I had such a smell, that would be thest ce I would go.

    Even if I was dressed like a girl, It wasn''t that much of a hassle to be one. I had my natural beauty and found it pretty easy to clean myself. Other than that, there really wasn''t much for me to do.

    "Charlie, let''s go." Olivia, who was still naked, held me tightly. Her well-indulged body had a nice feeling to it. It was a shame that I was still dressed.

    Olivia dragged me out of the room, rearing to go out for this trip. "OLIVIA! YOU''RE STILL NAKED!" She hadpletely forgotten that she was changing. We couldn''t leave with her naked, people would think of her as a pervert if she did so, and it would ruin our school''s reputation.

    Olivia then blushed, embarrassed. She went to her room and dressed quickly. Trying to dismiss that incident, Olivia held my arm and dragged me out of the house.

    Going out to the streets, the street was lesspacted than earlier. While there weren''t as many people as there were, it was still crowded.

    We had already known where our destination was. During our trip for some tableware, we found a store that exclusively sold makeup products.

    I had arrived with Olivia, I didn''t have many expectations whening to a store like this. I just wanted a way to deal with my scent. Otherwise, the problemsing up to me would rise.

 Chapter 91 Dont Bully Her

    Olivia walked into the store with me. I had to check out the products they had in the shop. It was my first time going to one. There was much merchandise for many products made.

    Walking around the store, Olivia and I check for the perfume section. Seeing how many products could be picked from the rest was overwhelming.

    The perfume section had many choices that could be chosen from the venue. Olivia wanted to test the samples before we bought them. It was a good thing the chances of us getting a virus were low from these kinds of things, right?

    "Charlie, which perfume would you like to pick first?" Looking around, many kinds of perfume could be found. I didn''t need to be picky, so I decided to go with something that would work.

    Now that I think about it, why don''t I just buy body odor? This cross-dressing is getting to me. I sighed to myself for realizing this toote.

    Should I leave now? I then looked at Olivia, and she was filled with expectations. I couldn''t do this to her. Spraying myself with a fruit-scented perfume, Olivia went close to me and smelled the scenting from me.

    "It has a fresh and sweet smell, but I don''t think this is the one you''re looking for." I needed something that would overpower my smell. I couldn''t test it out with Olivia since she wasn''t a beastmen.

    "Olivia, I think I''m just going to use body odor." That was the safest choice that I could decide with.

    Olivia looked like she was going to tear up when I said that. "You could go around and pick whatever you want." I had brought Olivia here already. I didn''t want to be a dick and head home right away.

    The tears that Olivia was going to leak were gone in an instant. Olivia had some things that she wanted to try out right away.

    Testing out multiple perfumes, Olivia decided to pick on the best three she thought. Just as we were going to buy our things, a group of girls called out to us. Looking at them, I could see the four of them.

    "Aren''t you the girl that can''t attack with your magic?" One of the group members, a beastmen, had called out to her.

    Where were they going with this? I didn''t know them too well, but I could see they weren''t here with good intentions.

    They walked up to us and stared at Olivia''s eyes with a grin. Olivia was nervous when they did so. Olivia hiding behind me, made the group of beastmen stare at me. They were trying to intimidate me, but to me, it was just something annoying they were going to cause.

    Olivia, who was behind me, had done the worst thing possible. Now that they know Olivia was someone who gets scared easily. They will pick on Olivia when they have the chance.

    "Are you going to keep staring at us? If so, get out of the way. You''re just wasting our time." There was no point in causing a scene when they''re just bugs to me

    "And who are you to tell us what to...?" Before they could finish their words, ring at them. I used my mana to pressure them. Feeling the mana that had surrounded the group of beastmen, they got down to their knees, unable to get up from the pressure they were feeling.<sub> </sub>

    We had attracted some attention by doing that, but as long as we hadn''t done any damage, they wouldn''t get in our way.

    I had to remember who they were. The group of beastmen was a ssmate that had lost during their battle. Were they here just so they could vent their frustrations onto Olivia?

    Nodding, I had to figure out what to do, "Are you that much of a loser? I know that you guys lost during the sses match. But do you think you would have a chance against us?" Intimidating them, all they could feel was pressure, unable to say anything.

    "Olivia, let''s leave. We shouldn''t waste time on trashes." Bringing Olivia with me to the cashier and bought the items that Olivia wanted.

    I lifted my pressure against them, but they were too emotionally damaged for it to get up. The group of four was staring at the ground, trying to grasp for air.

    "Olivia, are you alright?" I didn''t see much of her reaction during that interaction. I was too focused on the group to notice how Olivia felt.

    "I''m fine. Thank you for what you did back there." Olivia was relieved seeing that nothing terrible had escted.

    "There is no need to thank me for doing that. You''re mine, so, naturally, I would protect you." I said what I naturally meant, no one in the right mind would let someone bully what was theirs.

    Olivia had a beautiful smile hearing me say that. "Olivia, stay by me at all times. You never know who woulde up next." After this, they would be wary of me. But if there was a chance for them to mess with Olivia, they would do it in a heartbeat.

    Thanks to those four, our trip ended earlier than expected. Now that I think about it, I was a bit grateful they showed up. Otherwise, this trip would have taken longer than expected.

    On our way home, I got body odor, and we both had a peaceful walk. The worries that Olivia had were gone. I opened the door to our house and asked Olivia to take a bath. She had mixtures of perfume, and their smell was pretty intense.

    Taking a bath, Olivia and I sat down next together. It has been a while since the both of us had taken one together.

    "Charlie, I''m going to wash your hair." Olivia took a shampoo bottle put the shampoo in her hand, and started scrubbing my hair. Her hands were rtively soft, and she was skilled in doing so.

    Rinsing my hair, I asked Olivia a question. "Do you think our days here will be rxing?" Many things had already happened, and it was the second day.

    Olivia was silent, hearing my question. I keep hoping for a less troublesome day, but it would be impossible with how things are going.

    With our bath finished, we ate our dinner. I was mentally drained and went to bed with Olivia. Taking her in as a body pillow, I drifted to sleep.

 Chapter 92 What An Unexpected "Encounter"

    The three days had appeared, and I had woken up in Olivia''s chest. Her bare chest was soft andfortable to be in. I heard a slight chuckle from Olivia, rubbing my face between them.

    She gave a small chuckle when she saw what I was doing. I didn''t care how she thought of it. Right now, me being in her chest wasfortable.

    "Is my chest that enjoyable?" I nodded, feeling the sensation of her warm breast. It was rxing staying in our position, making me not want to leave.

    "You should let me spoil you more often." Olivia had her arms over my head. I was the one who usuallyforted her, but it was nice having times like these.

    It was rare for Olivia to wake up earlier than me. I had enough of snuggling and looked at her. "Goodmorning, Olivia." I greeted her with a tired tone.

    Checking on the time, it seems like we woke up pretty early. There were still three hours before ss started.

    "Hey, Charlie... We still have time before ss... Wanna do it~?" My head was still calibrating from my drowsiness. I had just woken up, so it took me a while to get what she meant.

    I had gotten hard thinking about it. My crotch had risen from Olivia''s yful nature. We had time to spare, so we could take our time to enjoy ourselves.

    Going for her lips, the two of us started our lovemaking. Two hours have passed since our session, and it was a good stress reliever.

    The two of us were taking a bath. Olivia was a bit tired. We had done it nice and slow, and it was pretty rxing during the whole thing.

    With the two of us cleaning, we got out of the bath and dressed. Putting on my body odor, I hope the "smell" around me has lessened, making it easier to get around.

    There was still an hour left before ss started, and I was sitting at the dining table. Olivia had made some food for us to eat.

    Breakfast was delicious, as usual, and there was still some time left before ss started. "Olivia, try your best to ignore those four once ss starts." We didn''t want to cause any more trouble.

    Olivia nodded at my advice. We didn''t have anything else to do, so we left our house and started going to school.

    On our way to school, we could see Reba walking toward us, I grumbled at the sight of her, but there wasn''t much I could do about her.

    "Hello, now that I think about what''s your name?" Reba was pretty pushy when asking me that. I didn''t want to argue with her first thing in the morning, so I told her my name.

    "Charlie," I said my name without any care. I didn''t say myst name just in case a problem couldplicate my situation.

    "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie." She repetitively said my name, getting a feel for it, and she seemedpletely satisfied with it.<sub> </sub>

    Olivia was giving her a partially hostile nce. With how Reba was over me, Olivia was getting pretty annoyed with how Reba was acting.

    ? Reba was like Serena in a way. They have the same upbringing, where they were born at the top. Both of them were highly prideful, and both of them were aggressive.

    There were slight differences between them, but they were a big deal. Unlike Reba, Serena''s feelings toward me were more genuine, while Reba''s feelings toward me were more lustful.

    If it were me months ago, the feelings of those two wouldn''t have mattered to me. But the current me was much more of an emotional person. I suppose staying with Olivia and Serena changed me slightly.

    Looking at Reba, I was surprised she hade close to me, sniffing me out. I quickly moved away from her, hoping that she would stop.

    She had mixed reactions when taking a whiff of me. One feeling was a feeling of lust, while the other was annoyed. Reba took a nce at Olivia. "She has a huge scent on you. Did you both do something sexual?" She was pretty shameless talking about it, someone she met a day ago.

    We both did our activities with each other, but we had washed up after the act. Was Reba''s nose that strong? She also liked the smell that I emitted. Does my body odor not work? I had wasted money if that was the case.

    "Did you lie to me when you said you weren''t interested in girls?" I looked away when she said that. I didn''t want to have a discussion with her.

    On our way to school, Reba kept on bugging me with some questions, the walk was painfully long, and I was already feeling stressed right after my stress relief.

    We had finally arrived, and the three of us got to our seats. Reba, seated further from us during our first ss, was now in front of me.

    Was that even allowed? Who am I kidding? She was the princess. No one in the right mind would question Reba, while the person who had sat in front of me was also a beastmen.

    With everyone here waiting for the teacher to arrive, I saw the "bullies" arrive. Seeing that I was there, they quickly looked away in a hurry.

    No one had noticed this except for Olivia, who was on the scene. They were doing their own thing, so the people around them didn''t find it strange.

    The teacher then arrived on time, and our lesson began. "Hello, ss." Our peacock teacher greeted us, seeing that everyone was there.

    "Today, we will be doing something fascinating." When I heard it from the teacher''s mouth, I knew that something big would happen.

    I didn''t know what Ms. Colorful wanted us to do, but I could feel that the task we were going to do was troublesome. It was only the second day, and she wanted to do something "fascinating."

 Chapter 93 A Field Test (Part I)

    "Today, we will be doing a monster battle test." Another fighting test will be happening today. Now that I think about it, Avaris was a country dictated by power. For the next few months, I wouldn''t be surprised if all we did was battle.

    "As most of you know, monsters are currently rampant. The chances of you encountering a monster would be extremely high." Remembering the outing we had on our school trip, the chances of us fighting them were certain.

    "Today''s lesson would be a live battle against a monster." So, we were going to fight monsters? Seems easy enough.

    "You will be grouped into four fighting against a third-rank monster." Do we have to be grouped into four people? Olivia would be someone with me, but I don''t know the other two.

    "Failing to do so, you would be required to do some retest until you pass the test." The punishment didn''t seem too bad.

    "If you still fail to beat a third-rank monster within three months, you will be expelled from your school." Never mind that that seems highly punishing, and besides. Does she even have the authority to do so?

    Most of the ss were shocked when they heard that. No one would expect to hear that they could be expelled during the second day of school.

    "Does anyone else have any questions before we start?" Just as I was about to ask, someone else did before me.

    "What right do you have to expel us when you don''t even have any influence in our school?" I was going to ask that, but an exchange student had asked before me.

    "Hoh, we teachers were given permission to do so unless we have a justification not to, don''t expect to be scot-free if you did something wrong." I don''t think anyone would do that hearing what she had said.

    "Does anyone else have any other questions?" There wasn''t much to ask, so nobody felt a question was needed.

    "Now that is out of the way, please follow me to the field test area." After getting up from our seats, Ms. Colorful went up and left the room. We had to follow her since we didn''t know where exactly we were going.

    The school was pretty extensive. It had taken us ten minutes from our ss to arrive at an open space with monsters locked up in cages.

    They were oddly settled down in their cages. I thought they would be a bit rowdy when students like us would be visiting.

    There were many monsters of different variants, from monsters that could fly to the sky to monsters that could live underground.

    "All of you will be fighting a monster from this cage. You have one minute to find a group. If it so happens that you don''t find one, you will be paired with the remaining members of the ss." So, there weren''t any penalties for not picking anyone?

    It didn''t matter who was on my team. Even if I held back, I was confident that I would be able to kill a third-rank monster as long as my team could damage the monsters.

    The groups were being formed quickly. People had fought using their abilities, so most knew who to choose.

    Olivia and I weren''t considered a choice since they didn''t know much about us and knew that Olivia didn''t have any moves to attack.<sub> </sub>

    I had stuck with Olivia, not minding who was left over. Reba hade over with another girl

    who didn''t seem interested in us much. Walking towards us, Reba smiled and talked to us.

    "Charlie, the four of us are the only ones left." Everyone else had formed a group, and I was surprised that Reba wasn''t picked from her peers. She probably rejected everyone''s invitation just so she could be in mine.

    Let''s look at the bright side. Our chances of beating a third-rank monster without me doing much were pretty high with Reba and her friend. Reba had influenced our group''s chances by not having anyone join them.

    Besides, Reba was a person that I had recognized. Like Reba, she was someone also from this school. Her name was Reece, and she was a sheep beastmen? I wasn''t entirely sure, but she had long white hair and sheep-like ears extending from her head.

    During her battle yesterday, she yed an exchange student like a fiddle. While her magic wasn''t strong but it was tricky to deal with.

    Her magic was cotton, a defensive type of magic. She could easily defend against attacks in her rank but could also use the cotton to deflect their magic. Deflect wasn''t the right word I was looking for. It was more like absorption.

    I''m not sure what the limits were with her magic, but this battle against monsters could let me do so.

    "Everyone!" Our peacock teacher raised her voice, gaining our attention.

    "Now that everyone has formed a group, we will begin this battle."

    "Note that this won''t be fair. All of you will fight a random monster of varying levels." So, it depends on luck on which monsters we would fight. It didn''t matter which third-rank monster would appear against me.

    "To pass this test, you must make the monsters unable to fight." So, we didn''t need to kill it to pass the test, not like that mattered.

    "Would anyone like to go first?" Ms. Colorful asked if anyone wanted to volunteer. Everyone looked around, and no one wanted to go first.

    "Princess Reba, would you like to go first? For someone like you, a test like this would be easy." Since no one had wanted to go first, our teacher had picked someone randomly to go.

    It seemed like she had chosen us to go first. Before I could say a word to Reba, "Something like this isn''t too hard. In fact, I would say it''s easy."

    Without any choice, it was decided that we would go. First, the other 36 students went out of the way and went far enough not to be in the crossfire of the fight.

    Once they left, we were going to start our battle.

 Chapter ?94 A Field Test (Part II)

    With our battling beginning, Ms. Colorful then opened a cage, and the monster walked out of its cage.

    Olivia, our support, had begun to conjure easy food to eat. She had given the three of us a snackable with mana concentrate.

    Taking a bite out of it, I felt my mana increase by ten percent. Reba was surprised by Olivia''s abilities. With Reece, there standing without any trace of change of emotion.

    Our peacock teacher looked interested in Olivia. I then took out my sword and got ready to attack. The monster that we would be facing was a tiger with two horns on the side of its head.

    Unlike the monster being docile before, the tiger made a loud roar trying to shake us up. It was one of the stronger third-rank monsters, and that roar it made had shaken all of my team.

    My group members were affected by the monster''s roar, I had expected more from the other two, but there wasn''t much I could do about it.

    Reba, who was snared, snapped out of her snared state. She, who was usually a proud person, felt insulted.

    Running in rage, Reba dashed in, in anger. I couldn''t just let the princess run alone and fight against the beast. I would prefer that we finish the monster early without doing much.

    Reece was next to snap out of her snared state and summoned some cotton around the lion. Reba and I were charging at the tiger with it running toward us.

    Olivia also felt less intimidated and started going to the corner to hide from the battle. Our sh began when Reba teleported close to the tiger''s back.

    I was in the front, taking the aggro of the tiger, and Reba was in the nk, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

    The tiger in front of me lunged right at me, using its left ws, trying to swipe me. Now that I think about it, wouldn''t this be a problem if a student got killed?

    Using my sword, I tried to parry the uing attack. Our sh had started, and I was already on the losing end. Rica, who had already had cotton around the tiger, had helped me absorb the blow.

    Reba, who was behind, ran in and stabbed him somewhere in the back with a ck dagger. The monster roared in pain, having strengthened in power. My sword and I were pushed back a few feet,nding entirely still.

    The monster who was on me now turned around and went for Reba. Angered by Reba''s blow, the beast ran toward her, trying to get revenge.

    Reba wasn''t worried at all. In fact, she was amused by the reaction of the tiger monster. With the tiger on Reba, Reba instantly went on top of the tiger''s back and pierced the tiger''s eyes.

    Howling in pain, I took the chance and stabbed it in the back, which Reba had already done. The battle was set in ce. It was dying already from the blood loss we had caused. Reba thennded the final blow and stabbed it in the torso.

    With the tiger dead, our exam had finished. It was easier than expected. From the looks of it, Reba already had experiences killing monsters as strong as this.

    Maybe that was why the teacher was so confident that Reba would win even if she had no teammates to help.<sub> </sub>

    "What a wonderful performance!" Ms. Colorful pped, impressed by the disy of skill that we had performed.

    "Now that I think about it, the two of you haven''t introduced yourselves. What are both of your names?"

    "I''m Charlie, and this is Olivia. We''re from the country of Star State" I gave what information was needed to our teacher.

    Ms. Colorful nodded and began to speak. "An impressive battle indeed, Olivia, who had empowered everyone before the battle. Charlie, the decoy, Reece, was helping Charlie and Reba, who had been injured." Our peacock teacher started topliment us on our test.

    "Now that is done, please go to the corner and wait for the next contestant to start." Done with herpliment, she told us to leave the arena.

    Going to where the rest of our ss was, people surrounded Reba asking her questions. I didn''t want to participate, so I dragged Olivia to the other side. Reece, who didn''t seem bothered, stayed in the crowd.

    It was a good thing that no one came to bother us. Thinking about it, I heard someonee over and talk to us.

    "Congrats on your victory," The elf who came over said as she congratted Olivia and me.

    "That a nice magic you have," Sonya told Olivia, and Sonya then looked at me with a bit of interest.

    "Thanks? Sonya, right?" I didn''t want to mispronounce her name by ident. It would have been awkward if I did.

    "Hmm" She nodded, implying that I had it corrected. "I had noticed that you didn''t use magic in your fight. Why is that?" Sonya, who was curious, asked.

    "I just simply didn''t need to use it." There was no reason to show all my strength when our team could defeat it without me using any magic.

    "You''re really not talkative, are you?" I don''t know why she was trying to start a conversation with me, even if I hadn''t shown my magic. My performance also wasn''t that praiseworthy. If youpared it to someone like Reba.

    "Is there something you want?" I didn''t know what her motive was, so I asked.

    "Nope, I just wanted to get to know everyone." I then looked at her weirdly. Did she have a personality change? I swear that she did a 180 from yesterday''s performance.

    "Did I do something weird?" Sonya was confused about the way I looked at her. I shook my head and denied such a thing.

    While the both of us were talking, our teach, Ms. Colorful decided on which group was to go next.

 Chapter ?95 A Field Test (Part III)

    "You group of four, why don''t you show us what you''re made of." Our peacock teacher had picked the four girls that tried to bully Olivia.

    I was surprised that the four of them decided to be in a group. I know they are friends, but I don''t think they would ovee a third-rank monster considering their strength. It wasn''t like I looked down on them, but they were pretty weakpared to most students.

    Now that I think about it were they siblings? They all came from the same breed but don''t have simr appearances. They were some kind of dog breed, but that was all I could see from them.

    With the four of them picked, they went to the middle of the field. "How do you think they will do?" Sonya, who was still beside me, asked Olivia and my opinions.

    Olivia, who wasn''t sure about the results, didn''t reply, and she probably didn''t want to talk about them right now.

    "They would definitely lose," I said out of spite. I knew they would lose, but I wanted to be crushed by the monster they would fight.

    "How are you so sure?" What with her and these questions.

    "They look pretty ipetent." That was all I needed to say to her.

    "Now that you said that, they kind of do." Sonya lightly said, trying to lighten the mood. Olivia, who was beside her, also joined in and smiled.

    The battle has just started, and it seems like they will fight a snake monster. It seemed as strong as the tiger that we fought. It had ck scales with grayish stripesing from it.

    The four dogs were a bit scared when they saw it face to face. The snake they would be fighting might be a bit tougher now that I look at it more closely.

    With the snake slithering toward the four dogs, the four sent a spiked metal ball. The four had the same magic, meaning they were probably rted.

    Their moves were hitting the snake, but their firepower wasn''t enough to pierce the monster''s scale making the snake slither toward them without batting an eye on their attack.

    Honestly, it was looking pretty rough for them. All the dogs could do was run and hope the snake wouldn''t kill them.

    "Stop!" The teacher shouted, stopping the fight. Ms. Colorful thought the battle was pointless, seeing that all they were doing was running.

    It was also my first time seeing the peacock so angry. Was our teacher ashamed of the students that she had taught here? I would probably be ashamed if that had happened to me.

    The group of dogs had returned to their corner, ashamed of their disy. My hatred towards them turned into pity. Who am I kidding? They tried to bully Olivia. I didn''t need to look at them anymore since their battle was over.<sub> </sub>

    "I thought you were kidding when you said they looked ipetent," Sonya said, disappointed by the skill that they disyed.

    With that, Sonya then looked around the field. "It was fun talking to you, but I better get back to my group. Later," The elf had left to go with her group. She should''ve used the chance tomunicate with her group instead of talking to us.

    "Olivia, didn''t she seem different from how she was before?" It was weird how she talked to us like that when we saw how she was yesterday. Sonya waspetitive, but she wasn''t like that when talking to us.

    "Really? I hadn''t paid attention to her before, so I couldn''t tell." I guess it really didn''t matter at the end of the day. We weren''t close. I don''t even know why I am being so nosey about it.

    Ms. Colorful, disappointed by the second battle, had called forth the next group. Eight groups were left, and the next chosen was Sonya''s group.

    In her group, there was an elf like her. They are from the same school, but I haven''t remembered her name, but her magic was rted to the weather. It may sound impressive if only she could show more of it.

    With her were two fairies. I had heard that the rtionship between elves and fairies was extremely close. In Star State, Humans, Elves, and Fairies were primarily inhabitants of the country. While humans are close to them, elves'' and fairies'' rtions are much closer.

    The monster that they were going to fight was a human-sized monkey. It was weaker than the other two that were shown.

    I could see Sonya being slightly disappointed by such a monster, but it was random at the end of the day. Ms. Colorful had given the call that the battle had begun.

    With all of their members out, their magic abilities were stronger with range moves. I had noticed that beastmen here were much more potent with them using magic physically.

    Now that the battle has started, the monkey has made the first move. Its agility and movement are what made it trickier than the other two monsters.

    The monkey ran toward the group of four while dodging every attack that the four could dish out. I had made an early judgment of mistaking this monkey as weaker than the other two. Unlike the others, it was craftier.

    Sonya, fighting this monkey, was getting more frustrated by the minute. I don''t know how someone could make so many expressions within a day. Was she bipr? I had mentally noted this just in case her personality had changed again.

    While this fight wasn''t as pitiful as before, it was pretty hard to watch. Sonya and her group had already lost their reasoning due to the monkey''s taunt. The teacher wasn''t stopping the fight because it had made them look bad and would lessen the damage to the reputation damage from the earlier fight.

    The fight ended with their defeat, they were extremely angry so they went to their own corner to cool off. Olivia and I didn''t go to Sonya because we didn''t want to deal with that anger.

    Having to finish their fight, the other seven had fought their battle with them losing. Only our group had won the fight what a surprise.

 Chapter ?96 Hierarchy Status

    A week had passed since our monster battle test, many things had happened within these weeks, and I could feel moreing.

    The ss hierarchy was established, and fights had already broken out because some didn''t agree with such things.

    Reba, the princess of this nation, was at the very top. This fact was undeniable as she had shown herpetence in the battle against a third-rank monster.

    Reece, Reba''s right-hand man? Or thedy was behind her. While she wasn''t influential, she was someone close to Reba making her untouchable unless you wanted to earn the irk of Reba.

    Behind them were two exchange students, Sonya''s little group of schoolmates with the fairies. They had shown results this week by being the second group to defeat a third-rank monster.

    Equal to them was a group led by someone named Ruby. She was someone who came from Etheal, race home to demons. Like Sonya, she had demon ssmates and people from Everest, the group of dwarfs. After Sonya had finished their challenge, Ruby also finished theirs right after.

    Below them were the social group or the "cool" kids. What made them there was not because of their strength but their charisma. They were people that made friends with most people in our ss.

    Then the rest were below with nothing worth mentioning. The rest of the ss is in the bottom barrel with no power. If someone wanted to pick on the people at the bottom, then they would not be able to resist it.

    Other than people inside the hierarchy, there were also outliers. We outliers aren''t in any of the grouped mentions.

    Olivia and I were one of them. We didn''t take part in this and had always left after ss. I had been challenged once, but I had mercilessly destroyed them, marking me as someone who shouldn''t be messed with.

    Then there were also two drags. They were hybrid dragons. I had heard that they were among the strongest races, but their poption was lower than the rest. Like us, they also didn''t want to participate in this "hierarchy."

    Our sses are always doing things physically. None of them were us staying in ss listening to the teachers. It was much different from the one we had in our old school, but it was refreshing.

    Fights were happening a lot in this school. In fact, this school encourages everyone to fight more. Because they were encouraged, everyone between the first and fourth years fought every day.

    Audrey, the second year of ours, was making big moves. Her pride, which was hurt by me, had somewhat recovered.

    She was challenging all the second year with her emerging top with every battle. It wasn''t surprising that she had restored some of her egos, showing dominance toward her year.

    Felicia, the cat girl who had "shown us around," was the only one who had tied with her, making them rivals.

    Our third and fourth-year seniors didn''t make many resultspared to Audrey, but at least they weren''t in the rung bottom.

    Other than that, there were people from my ss trying to make some connections with me. I didn''t care enough to make connections, so in the end, they didn''t bother me at all.<sub> </sub>

    Reba also had tried to stick her nose in me multiple times, and there really wasn''t much I could do about it.

    Sonya had also tried tomunicate with us. Still, despite her weird personality switch, I didn''t mind her as much as Reba.

    I had also made some progress in magic. I could feel how long it would take for me to reach the third rank. I still needed a week and a half to reach the third rank.

    Today was a day off, so there weren''t any sses today. There was still an issue of me being attractive to some beastmen.

    Apparently, it wasn''t my body smell that had attracted them, but my mana itself. I had no way of changing my mana, so all I could do was hope that nothing terrible would happen.

    Olivia and I went out today because staying inside our houses were boring. It was still early in the morning, and Olivia slept in bed. I didn''t need to wake her up early since the school wasn''t in session.

    I don''t know if this was a bad habit, but I enjoyed looking at Olivia''s sleeping face. Her peaceful face made it easy to look at, and the fact that she was attractive made it hard to look away.

    Her body was also to be marveled at. As I said, Olivia''s body was so much different despite her shy personality.

    To think that I''m bing so reliant on Olivia. I''m also bing more lustful because of her. Compared to my first time transmigrating into this world, to think I have someone I really cared about for the first time.

    Staring at her, I felt Olivia''s body move. She had woken up and looked at me with her eyes slightly opened.

    "Charlie? Mhm," She said my name and then let out a tired moan before trying to go back to sleep. I was pretty rough on herst night, so it is reasonable that she wanted to rest more.

    I couldn''t watch Olivia sleep forever, so I got out of bed and began to take a shower. With me finishing, Olivia had woken up.

    "Did you have a good rest?" Olivia already had some kind of awareness from waking up. She nodded in response, giving a small yawn.

    "Go wash up. We will be going out today." Hearing what I had said, Olivia had jolted a bit before going to the bathroom.

    Olivia still had to get ready before going out, so I decided to get a good dress. I didn''t want to dress extremely girly, so I had to wear nice uni clothes.

    Looking at the mirror, I was ready to go. Olivia had finished cleaning up and had begun to make breakfast. We couldn''t go out before eating.

    After breakfast, we headed out, hoping that today would be a great day.

 Chapter 97 A Morning Outing

    It was refreshing that we had gone out for once. The cool breeze and the fresh feeling made it worthing out.

    Olivia and I had decided to check what Avaris had in store for us to do. We hadn''t explored the area enough to know what this ce had to offer.

    There weren''t many people around as it was still early in the morning. I hated how some beast girls looked at me because of my mana. I''m surprised that I haven''t been jumped on once because of it.

    It was a shame that we had already eaten breakfast since most open stores were ces to eat.

    "Charlie, look!" Olivia shook my arm while pointing out something that had caught her interest.

    Before I could say a word, Olivia then dragged me with her. There was a store that Olivia had found interest in.

    The store that we went to was extremely well designed for what it sold. Many plushies were hung on the walls. Many kinds of plushies could be seen.

    "Olivia, just choose one at most, please." I noticed that Olivia''s value over money was bing more distorted. Every outing that we had done was bing expensive. While they weren''t much to me, I''m afraid Olivia would be too spoiled because of it.

    Olivia nodded. It was great that she didn''t seem upset by my suggestion. We wandered around searching for which one Olivia had wanted.

    The store was pretty huge. I was surprised to see how many dolls and plushies could be seen in the store. Olivia had already narrowed down on which plushie she had wanted.

    "Charlie, which one should I choose? I can''t decide." She had pointed toward three giant plushies. All three of them were pretty strangely adorable.

    The first one was a giant pink pig with wings. It was pretty basic, where you could find it anywhere, like in my old world.

    The second plushie was a friendly-looking roon monster. Its fur was brown, and its bushy tail wasfortable to feel. Coupled with it, a mischievous face had a captivating look to it.

    For the third plushie, I would say this one was the one I liked the most. It was a white cat, and with how round it was, I would say it was much easier to cuddle it, not to mention the texture of it felt great.

    "If you want my opinion, I think the cat is the one I would pick." That was my honest thought about it. Not only was it soft to touch but to me it also looked the most pleasing to look at. Olivia then looked at the cat more carefully and nodded.

    "I will get the cat then." She smiled and held it. We went to the counter and paid the cashier for two gold coins, purchasing the cat plushies.

    "Hey!" Just as we were about to head out, a voice called out to us. Coincidentally the plushie that we had gotten resemebled the caller.

    The feline that had supposedly shown us around had yelled toward us, making the both of us stop. Felicia if I remembered correctly walked over, waving her hand toward us, giving us a warm and happy smile.

    "Remember me~?" Felicia had asked if we remembered her. With how she talked, it was pretty hard to forget about it.

    "Felicia, what are you doing here?" Olivia, who was slightly annoyed that our date was interrupted, asked.<sub> </sub>

    Felicia, who sensed a bit of hostility from Olivia, was confused but shrugged it off, seeing itst for a few seconds.

    "There were a few plushies that I was interest~ in." She had a bag of plushies in her hand, showing it to us.

    "Did you girls have anything else nned~?" Felicia looked at me with a bit of interest.

    "Yes." Olivia jumped right in and answered. Olivia seemed a bit snappy with herment.

    "Is that so~? To think that I''m unwanted." Felicia was acting sad, seeing how dismissive Olivia was.

    "That''s fine. I was about to leave ~ anyways. Here take this." She handed us a ticket. Looking at it, we didn''t know what it was for.

    "There is a concert today in the evening. If you''re interested, you can go~." Felicia left immediately after saying her piece.

    The short meeting was eventful. Felicia gave us tickets to a music concert. If we wanted to go, we would''ve to be there in seven hours.

    "Olivia, let''s check it out." It was a rare event that I hadn''t ever experienced in my present and past lives. I had at least wanted to see what it was like inside a concert.

    "Hmm!" She nodded and her sour mood toward Felicia had disappeared. Like me, she was also interested in the concert. I didn''t even need to ask her to go.

    There was still some time left before lunch, and we wanted to see what was in store next.

    The ces that we saw weren''t so much different from the ces that could be seen in Saint Maria''s Academy.

    In Avaris there are much more ces to battle or use magic. We could check them outter but I wasn''t in the mood to check them out right now.

    Both Olivia and I were conversing as we walked the street. "Olivia." Interrupting her talk, I had gained her attention.

    "There was a store that I found interesting. Why don''t we check it out?" I had pointed the direction of where I had wanted to go.

    I pointed out that Olivia''s interest in the ce had also been raised. I hadn''t expected that there would be an arcade in a ce like this.

    This ce was extremely popr with the younger audience. Many schoolmates and younger children with their parents could be seen here.

    The ce was cheappared to the rest of the stores I have been at. It had taken a few silver coins for hours of y time.

    Where should we go first, it has been a long while since I have been in one. While the games here are different from the one where had been, I was still excited by the games here.

 Chapter 98 Playing Arcade Games

    "Olivia, which game would you like to pick?" We had enough time to do what we wanted. I was patient and let Olivia pick a game she was interested in.

    Olivia had pointed in the direction of a game she wanted. The game she picked was something that I didn''t expect from her.

    Not surprisingly, there was a fighting game with some joysticks on the machine. This game brought back many of my old memories.

    Because Olivia wanted to y this game doesn''t mean I would go easy on her. I was verypetitive in games like these. While I may not be the best, I could say I was, at the very least, decent.

    There were five characters to choose from, four female and one male. Before we yed against each other, we had picked all five characters testing out the moves of each of them.

    With the both of us having time to figure out who we wanted to y with, we began our match. Olivia had chosen a girl with revealing clothes that had blue clothes and primarily used a kick.

    And I have chosen the only male character. He was a big buff dude with too much muscle for his own good.

    Having to start the match, Olivia and I began our battle. The fight was brutal. Was this really Olivia''s first time ying?

    The match had already started, and I was already losing. Olivia was doing perfectbos, making it hard for me to fight back. I had a few hits and many blocks, but in the end, she demolished me.

    "DEFEAT!" That was what the screen had shown me. There was a bit of anger within me seeing this screen. I have seen this word many times in my days.

    "Again." I had demanded, thinking that she was just lucky.

    Olivia didn''t object and stared at the screen, picking the same character. I did so with mine, and we yed our second match.

    This time I couldn''t evennd a hit. Olivia had done an extendedbo on me, and right when my character got back up and had done abo again. The screen repeated "DEFEAT!" was shown again.

    "Olivia, are you sure this is your first time?" With how she yed, I was pretty sure this wasn''t her first time ying this game.

    She had done a perfect on me without mending a hit. I felt highly demotivated seeing that. Unlike when I thought she was lucky, I knew she was someone I couldn''t evene close to.

    "This really is my first time. It was better than what I expected." She gave me confirmation that this was her first time ying.

    "Why don''t we y a different game?" I don''t think watching me lose all day here would be entertaining.

    "Then could we try that." Going to the next game was a racing game. Thest time I yed these kinds of games was when I was a kid.

    Racing games weren''t for me, so I never decided to pick them up as a hobby. Since racing games were self-exnatory, I decided to win this back from my previous loss.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, this time, I won''t lose!" I told her and myself this.

    The course of this race was pretty simple. All we needed to do was a race in a circle with threeps. With tenputers adding ces to the race, twelve cars pitted against one another.

    With the beeping noiseing, the race was about to start. Counting down, we hit the drive button, starting the race.

    Starting with the firstp, I was in the lead with Olivia in the middle of the pack. I had been cutting it close to the corners making my tracking speed more optimal.

    In the secondp, Olivia was close behind me. I don''t know what she did, but she was on my tail.

    It was scary how good she was. One mistake and I would lose my lead. Trying to outpace her, Olivia rammed into the back of my car.

    OLIVIA!!! STOP!!! I spun out of the track with Olivia ramming my car on the back. Olivia had passed by me and finished the race without making a mistake.

    I had wanted to smash the wheel but didn''t want to cause trouble. "Charlie, good game!" Did she just use gamer lingo on me? I was devastated and unable to reply to that.

    I refuse to believe that she could beat me in everything. There was a shooter game that we could do topete with who would kill the most monsters.

    Surely I wouldn''t lose in a game like that, right? "Olivia, why don''t we try the shooting game." Watching Olivia race, I knew my chances of beating her were zero. I will beat her somewhere else if I can''t beat her there.

    My soul was crushed. Olivia somehow had perfect aim when we were ying the shooting game. She just doesn''t miss.

    Olivia, you were truly born in the wrong world. If you were born into my old world, your dream of a peaceful life would happen.

    It was indeed a pity that had happened. In the midst of all things, my respect for you has grown tremendously.

    I have decided, let''s not y a game that would pit us together. "Olivia, could we please y a game that requires us to y together?" I''m not a masochist, so losing every time wasn''t something I wanted to do.

    With her agreeing we left and yed some games together. I wasn''t going to lie, but the games that didn''t require us topete was kind of refreshing from the times she destroyed me.

    Looking at Olivia, she seem to enjoy ying these kind of games. It was good that she she was having fun, that was what we were here for anyways.

    Some time had passed and lunch was approaching Olivia seemed a bit sad that we were going to leave but I had told her we could alwayse back on ater date.

 Chapter 99 Fighting Ring

    What was your opinion on people eating two meals a day or three? I prefer eating three times a day to keep my energy level rising.

    Lunchtime had appeared, and Olivia and I wanted to go somewhere nice to eat. "Olivia, what food do you have in mind?" There was much food here we hadn''t tried, and we hoped to eat.

    "I saw a fairly popr restaurant. Why don''t we check it out?" Olivia had gone with a safe choice. If you choose a popr restaurant, surely something couldn''t go wrong.

    "Then I will follow your lead." I didn''t know what ce she had talked about, so I could only follow her to arrive at the restaurant that she wanted to go to.

    Olivia seemed a bit lost about where we wanted to go. "Olivia, are you lost?" I didn''t want to doubt her but looking at her expression, she did seem a bit lost.

    She looked away in embarrassment. I remembered when we first met that she was also lost when trying to go to school. I should keep that in mind for the next time I ask.

    I sighed and decided what to do. "Olivia, why don''t we go there?" I pointed in the direction of where to go.

    The ce that I pointed out seemed like an excellent ce to eat. Olivia saw where I wanted to go, and she had no objection to my decision since the ce I wanted to go seemed fine.

    Going into the restaurant, the ce was half full. With us two, the waiter had taken us to our seats. This ce wasn''t one from the high end, but it was enough to satisfy people.

    Looking at the menu, most of the food sold was some kind of meat with some side dish. I had decided what I wanted in an instant by looking at a meal I hadn''t had in a while but something I had enjoyed.

    "Olivia, I have decided what I wanted," I told her. I picked a dish already.

    Olivia ignored my words and stared at the menu intensely. She was too focused on the menu, Olivia, who had decided on what she wanted to eat.

    Calling the waiter, "I want a well-done steak, with some fried potatoes on the side. Could I also get some orange juice." I had ordered what I wanted.

    "A rabbit stew and some chicken wings, water, please," Olivia said her piece, and the waiter left to take our order.

    A few minutester, the waiter arrived with our food. Lunch was ready, and we started to dine on our food.

    Taking a piece of my well-done steak, I took a bite of it. The chewiness was what I had expected from it. With the sauce, the food was nicely cooked.

    Olivia saw my steak and wanted to take a bite out of it. I didn''t mind sharing our food, so I took a slice of my steak and fed it to her. In return, I took a piece of her chicken wings and ate it.

    The fried potato was somewhatcking, but I couldn''tin about how they made their meat. After finishing our lunch, we both left with us, paying for silver coins.

    There was still some time before we went to a concert. I had a fine meal, but I wanted to do something exciting.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, could we go to a fighting ring?" Olivia was a bit conflicted hearing me say that.

    "Don''t worry, the both of us would only spectate." I wasn''t going to fight. I just wanted to see someone get beaten from the frustration of loss that I had taken.

    "Are you sure you want to go? I''m afraid you might have to fight with how many mishaps had happened." There is no way someone would pick a fight with me, right? I wasn''t someone who would interact with someone, so I would probably be fine.

    "That''s true, but Olivia, we came here to check out everything. I haven''t seen someone fight with both of their fists." All the fights we saw were with magic. Not everything has to be about magic with fighting.

    "How about I give you a rewardter?" I grabbed her ass and gave her a kiss. I used mana to sense my surroundings. No one was looking at us, so it was fine.

    She blushed, embarrassed if someone could have possibly seen what I did. "Don''t worry, no one was watching," I said to dispel her worries.

    Olivia hadn''t rejected what I wanted to do. Grabbing her hand, we went to the fighting ring. It wasn''t far from where we were.

    Stepping into the building, we had to pay a few silver coins to step in to spectate. Man, everything needs money. It was great that I wasn''t poor. Otherwise, we wouldn''t be able to do half of these things.

    The fighting ring was your standard boxing ring. Enchanted by special metals that could withstand any blowsing from the contestants.

    A fight had already started, and we could see it almost finishing with both of the people in the ring tired.

    Two muscr men were relentless, going on one another without trying to stop. Bruises on their faces were shown, and the man who excelled in kickboxing kicked his opponent in the face.

    Connecting his kick, the man fell unconscious, prompting the kickboxer to win.

    Cheers could be heard from the crowd, entertained by their fight. The winner had taken glory in this fight.

    The kickboxer, despite being tired, was waving his hand around to the crowd. He must like attention if he hasn''t left the ring yet.

    After a while, the kickboxer left the ring, and the announcer spoke and introduced the nexting contestant.

    "On the right corner, introducing our Newbie Jason! From the information that was recorded, he specializes in boxing!" A beastman with a lean build had shown up. Judging by his features, he must have been a leopard.

    "On the left corner, we have the UNSTOPPABLE SHANE!!! With his 35-0 Record, it is anticipated that our neer would be destroyed!" This was thergest man I had ever seen, standing eight feet tall. The ground shook.

    Sorry newbie, but you''re doomed. I silently prayed for him in my mind.

 Chapter 100 Fighting In The Ring (Part I)

    "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd was cheering the fight for the girl in front of me. You may have wondered how this had happened. Sometimes I also wondered why this had happened.

    I looked at my opponent, and she seemed to have a grudge against me. "Do we really need to do this?" What I did wasn''t so bad. I don''t know why she was making a fuss over it. That is what I get for going to a fighting ring and not expecting a crazy person to pick a fight with me.

    "Yes, we do! I got a bone to pick with you." She spoke like I was her enemy from our past lives.

    "Didn''t I apologize?" I apologized to her. What more does she want from me?

    "Shut up and start fighting!" It looks like whatever I said would be ignored.

    Why did this happen? It started twenty minutes ago when I was chatting with Olivia. I didn''t expect someone to be so unreasonable.

    ~Twenty Minutes Before the fight~

    Looking at the two entering the ring, it was easy to tell who would win at first nce. Shane was not only bigger but had a track record of being undefeated.

    "Charlie, who do you think would win?" I looked at Olivia and stared at her in silence.

    "Shane, without a doubt. Not only will he fight a neer, but that Jason guy looks like he never fought." I gave my input on how the match should go.

    "I mean, look at him. He looks pretty sleazy. Not only that, his face is pretty crooked. And look at his hair. No one likes those hair cut styled dyed in a dirty blond color." He really does look like a fuck boy.

    "Olivia, when you see a man like that. Please stay away from them." I warned Olivia. I don''t want her to be tricked by those people.

    "Are they that bad?" I nodded in confirmation.

    "Yes, usually they are the type to use their mouth and try to trick you. They also have a small peepee trying topensate with other areas." Olivia then looked at Jason with pity.

    "And look how confident he looks. He probably is overestimating himself. It would be more embarrassing for him to lose." I have seen people like these, and it is honestly mind-blowing that there are people like these.

    "How dare you talk about my lover like that!" The girl beside me spoke angrily.

    Now that was awkward. Who would have thought that the guy I trashed talked lover was beside us. I stared at her awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

    "Sorry." I deeply apologize.

    "Does your lover have a small peepee?" Olivia, who asked the wrong question, was curious. It was the wrong time to ask her that.

    Jason''s lover was red, judging by her reaction. It kind of confirms that answer. Was she feeling shame? I remember having that feeling when I was younger when people talked about those topics right before me.

    "I challenge you to the ring!" She pointed her fingers at us.<sub> </sub>

    Is there no way for us to back out? The crowd around us was looking at us, as the fight had already ended within a few seconds.

    Shane had knocked him out in a single punch right in the face. Why was Shane allowed to fight someone like that?

    "Shouldn''t you take care of your boyfriend? He looks seriously injured." I tried to change the subject, prompting her to help her boyfriend. I didn''t want to fight today.

    "Who cares about that! I care more about my honor!" ??? What??? I then looked at Olivia, confused about the situation.

    Olivia looked at me back, also confused. I thought she wanted to duel us because of us insulting her boyfriend.

    What an unreasonable person. I couldn''t let Olivia fight. So it was up to me to fight. I told Olivia I wouldn''t fight, but it didn''t seem like I had a choice.

    The crowd was egging us to fight since the battle had just ended. Peer pressure sure works at its finest when you''re surrounded.

    I tried reasoning with her more, but it was pointless. I guess I would have to be in the ring.

    "I will be the one to fight you." I sighed and decided I was the one who was going to fight her. Olivia looked worried when I volunteered but thankful that she didn''t have to be the one to fight.

    I don''t know what I did to deserve this, but I know this won''t be thest.

    ~Present Time~

    The fight was now present. I just hoped the crazy woman in front of me was inexperienced in a fight. But that was just me thinking that, considering she was the one who challenged me.

    While thinking, she took the first step and ran toward me. I wasn''t that experienced fighting close range, but I think I had enough battle sense to know what she would do.

    "Take this!" She screamed, jumping and giving me a high jump kick right on my face.

    I couldn''t take this blow with the momentum that she had. Dodging by moving to the left of her, her attack has missed.

    With how the girl kicked, I knew she had at least some experience doing this. I don''t know if it was intentional if she picked a fight with us, but I knew that she didn''t care about the guy who was just beaten.

    "What is your real reason for picking a fight with us? I doubt you cared about the guy who got beaten like a pig!" She was just too dismissive about his beating for her to care.

    She was silent, staring at me, waiting for an opportunity to strike. I had to take this fight seriously. I can ask the questionster after I beat her.

    Now that I had established what I wanted, I ran toward her. Raising my legs, I whipped my legs to the side of her face.

 Chapter 101 Fighting In The Ring (Part II)

    In attempting to kick her in the face, my opponent used both her arms to take my attack. My legs hadnded on both of her arms, pushing her back.

    The girl''s expression hardened, realizing that this fight wasn''t as easy as she thought. Without giving her time to rest, I took a few steps toward her, clenched my fist, and aimed at her guts.

    I was expecting my attack tond. This girl who wanted to fight us was good. The crowd was already cheering from our first few "opening acts."

    I just wanted to have a nice day with Olivia. Why is this even happening? Olivia was in front of the crowd and was cheering me on. My morale had increased hearing her say that.

    The girl prepared for a kick, she was pretty fast on her feet, and it was hard for me to dodge all her iing attacks.

    Her relentless attack was making it hard for me to breathe. Managing to slip up, a kick of hers had cleanly hit my stomach.

    I was moved back from an attack like that. The both of us were face to face. I knew I was disadvantaged in a face that decided on skill. I needed a way to attack. I needed to throw away that I needed to fight cleanly.

    I needed her to mess up so I could make a counterattack, but it would be hard for me to do something like that with her skill. Thinking of a n, a thought came over me.

    With a n, I grinned sinisterly. The girl who saw my face was now wary of what I had in store.

    "Hey, stupid bitch! Did you pick a fight with me because you were jealous of our faces? Now that I think about it, you seem like a petty person?" I said that just to rile her up.

    The girl''s expression had twisted into an ugly frown. The wait, was what I said actually actual? Seeing her act like that, what I had said had stung her.

    Now I see that I won''t feel a bit bad that I would beat her up. She was now fully serious without holding anything back.

    Launching a kick at my face, I had a chance to finish this fight. Cheating secretly, I used a bit of mana to react to that attack. No one had felt me using mana, so I can''t be med for it.

    I then tackled the girl, and she fell down. I went on top of her, gaining my advantage. I was stronger than her physically, so her chances ofing out from this were low.

    Being on top of her, I started punching the girl. She used her arms to resist any hitsing toward her. She was trying to roll her body around to get me off her.

    "Please surrender," I told her, not wanting this to continue. I wasn''t so sadistic as to want to pummel someone to the ground.

    ? "DO YOU THINK YOU COULD BEAT ME?" She screamed in a fury. Was her jealousy that intense for her to be this stubborn?

    I needed to end this. I wasn''t using all my strength when I did a barrage of punches on her. My punches became more potent, and some attacks harmed her.

    The girl''s face started to form a fearful expression, and her resistance had weakened. I had punched her into a bloody pulp.<sub> </sub>

    Landing the final punch, she fainted with her face pretty messed up. Leaving the ring, I went to Olivia. The crowd was pretty silent when I came out. In fact, they looked pretty scared of me.

    Was I too brutal? My opponent wasn''t stopping, so it was hard for me not to do so.

    "Olivia, let''s leave," I had burned the blood dripping from my hand. The burnt smell was there, but it would go away soon.

    I took Olivia''s arm and left the ce. "Sorry for asking to go in there." We had wasted time going in to fight. I apologize for causing trouble for her.

    "Don''t worry, I''m also at fault. And it is enough for you to be safe." It was warm hearing Olivia say that to me. Her cheering me on during my fight helped immensely.

    "Does her kick still hurt?" She then looked around and found a corner that made it less visible for us to be seen.

    She then gave me a kiss on the lips. Doing so, I tasted something on her lips. It was sweeter than usual. The small wound that I had received had healed.

    "Is that a new ability that you thought of?" She nodded, confirming my suspicion.

    "We could do many things with that." I grinned and whispered right into her ears, making it more sexual.

    She was blushing a little, thinking of the things we could do. We could always do itter, but we have something else.

    "Thank you, Olivia," I thanked her for that healing kiss.

    "Let''s move. It would be pretty sus if someone were to look at us from here." We left the corner and went back to the main street.

    "Do you have anywhere you want to go?" No matter where I wanted to go, problems would alwayse. Olivia''s idea would probably be better for both of us.

    "There was one ce I had always wanted to go to, but I''m not sure you would like it." A ce I wouldn''t like? Thinking about it, I probably wouldn''t have liked it if Olivia said I wouldn''t.

    "What ce is it?" I asked just to make sure where she wanted to go.

    "To the salon." A salon? I don''t think that both of us needed to go there. I don''t need to beautify myself more. But if Olivia wants to go, I will go with her this time.

    "I don''t mind. It''s not the worst ce to be in. I prefer only to do the basics even when I''m there." Olivia was delighted seeing I had agree, seeing that I had agreed we went to the nearest salon.

 Chapter 102 Beauty Salon

    Olivia and I had already been near a salon. It didn''t take long for us to find one. Looking at the building, it seems the ce was doing exceptionally well. There were already a few customers that the employees were dealing with.

    "What would the both of you like?" An employee who had seen us walked over and asked us what we wanted.

    "I would like my hair to be styled. My friend here would also like her hair to be styled and do some skin treatment." I honestly didn''t know much about a beauty salon, so I asked what was reasonable.

    "Follow me," The employee had asked us to follow her.

    Olivia and I both followed her. She had two stations ready for both of us. Behind us was a washing machine, presumably something that would help us wash our hair.

    I was pretty nervous about doing this. What if, by chance, they had stumbled and discovered that I was a boy.

    The female worker finished getting the needed materials and started with the process. Putting my head down on the washing station. The female employee began to wash my hair.

    "Your skin and hair are nicely groomed. Do youe to ces like these often?" My stylist had struck a conversation with me.

    "Back where I''m from, I go to my usual ce every month." Because of my magic, I didn''t need to go to a beauty salon for skin care. And broken or dead skin or would be indirectly burned by my magic.

    My hair was also lovely because of my products and daily baths. The only thing I could do was have my hair styled in a ce like this.

    "Are you from a different nation? I heard that there were exchange students at this time."

    "I''m from the country of Star State." Her question was out of curiosity, so telling her that wouldn''t be harmful.

    The stylist conversed with me, and it didn''t take long for her to finish rinsing my hair.

    I looked at Olivia, who was to my side. She was less talkative than me, which speaks a lot. Her hair took much longer for it to be washed.

    "How would you like to be styled?" The stylist who was washing my hair said.

    "Do what you think would look best for me." I didn''t know what looked best for me, so it was better to ask for a professional opinion.

    She nodded, understanding what I wanted. The process of this took a while. I knew that for a girl, styling her hair would take forever.

    But I didn''t think it would take hours. What pissed me off more was that I looked much more beautiful than before.

    My hair was cleanly straightened, and my hair was glowing brightly. It had taken longer because the stylish had done my skin also. Which I didn''t ask for.

    I hoped this didn''t cost more than what it originally was. Olivia was still being cared for, but it seemed like it wouldn''t be long for her to be finished.

    Going to the counter, I asked for the price, "That would be worth four gold." Expensive was the first thing that I thought about. Beauty products were expensive, and I couldn''t help but sigh as I gave her the money.<sub> </sub>

    "Would you also like to buy the products we used for your treatment?" Not only was she a good stylist but also a good business dealer.

    The shampoo and skin products were pretty good. While I wouldn''t need the skin product, I would get them for Olivia.

    "Then give me three bottles of the shampoo and some lotions."

    "That would be five gold." I had spent too much today. After today I will spend time with Olivia hunting some monsters for more money.

    I had reluctantly given her my money, but in the end, it would be for the greater good. Paying my money, I waited for Olivia.

    Olivia didn''t take long to finish, with me waiting five minutes. After finishing, both of us left the salon.

    Looking at her, she seems kind of fresh. Olivia''s skin was shining, and her hair was styled. That was one thing that I didn''t mind spending my money on.

    "Charlie, you look so cute." She hugs me tightly, making my face twitch.

    I didn''t want to look cute, but Olivia''s soft face calmed me. "Olivia, you look beautiful." The beauty salon really did a great job on their work.

    "Olivia, I have bad news." I decided to break it to her.

    "Bad news!??" No one likes to hear bad news.

    "Yes, bad news. While we''re not tight on money, we need more if we want to enjoy our current lives." Olivia felt terrible hearing the news after because of our activities. The money I have is being spent costly.

    "After today, you will apany me to hunt monsters." I know this is a sour taste in Olivia''s ears. After the incident in the forest exercise, two of Olivia''s members died.

    Olivia paled, hearing me say that. I needed her to fix her fears of the monsters now. With how our current ss operates, we would be fighting more than the tiger we had fought.

    I was already close to Olivia, "If you''re scared, remember I''m always next to you. I will protect you. We could fight low-ranking monsters just for the money if you want." We didn''t need to hunt strong monsters. In fact, I think it would be better if we fought the weaker ones so it would help with Olivia''s psyche.

    Olivia had recovered from hearing me say those words. "Let''s talk about itter. We have the concert in an hour. Why don''t we just walk and look at the scenery to pass the time?"

    Holding her in my hand, I dragged Olivia with me around the streets. Walking along, the both of us were in a park.

    There were some kids here, and looking at them made me frown. Don''t get me wrong, I don''t hate kids. But hearing them cry and whine gets pretty annoying.

    Olivia, who looked at the kids, was a bit saddened. I didn''t know what exactly had happened to her past, but I knew she wasn''t someone who liked to talk about it.

    "Let''s go to the concert by the time we get there. It would be crowded."

 Chapter 103 Idol Concert (Part I)

    Leaving the park, we went to the concert. By the time we arrived, many people could be seen in line.

    There were still thirty minutes before the ces opened, and the line was already long. I just hope the ce inside the concert won''t be too packed.

    I had heard people died just by being suffocated inside a concert. That was something I hoped wouldn''t happen when going into it.

    "There sure are a lot of people." Like me, Olivia was also here for the first time.

    "It is a concert. With Felicia vouching that this one would be great, it is bound to have many people." Felicia wouldn''t give us a ticket for a crappy band, right?

    "The singer should be at a level where people would enjoy it." Now I''m starting to doubt it. Olivia, who saw my expression, also wasn''t sure what would happen.

    The time was ticking, and looking back. I could see that the line had extended to a sizable amount. In front, the people were moving, and the guards would let us in by the looks of it.

    It didn''t take long for us to arrive at the front of the stadium. The female guard was there looking at us. "Show me your ticket." Taking two tickets out, we handed them to the guard for her to verify our entry.

    "The both of you may pass." With her saying that, Olivia and I enter the venue. There weren''t as many people as there were still people trying to get in.

    Since the concert was held in a stadium, we sat near the front row. On our seat were some glow sticks. I wasn''t someone that openly supported someone, so the chances of me waving these things were low.

    The stadium was filling up quickly, and the seats in the front were all taken. I had Olivia sit on a corner of a seat with me beside her.

    Olivia was on my right, while guy was on my left. It was pretty ufortable that he was staring at us. But what could we do? We were already in our seats waiting for the concert to happen.

    "Charlie, how long will it take for the concert to start?" It was reasonable for Olivia to be impatient. After all, she was excited.

    "It probably would take at least twenty minutes for everything to set in."

    "Now that I think about it, is this concert for one or multiple people?" Before I could answer, the guys next to me answered for us.

    "Don''t you know? Three idol groups wouldpete on the fans'' vote." While it was unnecessary for them to intervene, I appreciated the information that they gave.

    So, three groups of idols would bepeting? That sounds rough if they underperformpared to the other two. It would be a pity if they had to disband because of that.

    "The first group performing would be Wild Gals, the group of girls consisting of beastmen. They''re a group that mostly ys music in the rock genre."

    "This is a secret, but it was said that this group would most likely win. Since this is their home turf, most people would likely vote for them."<sub> </sub>

    That is shocking, to say the very least. I wouldn''t want to be in the remaining two groups if I were them.

    "The second group would be the ck Dragons. I think this group of idols was the best in terms of skill. It was said that all the members in this group are all dragonewts. Their music is a constant of gothic-styled music."

    "Not only that, they''re pretty hot." ... That was not necessary, but ok.

    Realizing what he said in front of us, he coughed andughed it out nervously. Diverting the topic, "Finally, the third group and my personal favorite is Sweet Dreams." He was ecstatic having to say that.

    "Sweet Dreams is an idol group that consists of five members. They''re a group of idols ying music that makes rxing easy." I could see that he had the urge to suppress his desire.

    Olivia was a bit disturbed seeing his expression. As he tried to speak more, it seemed like the concert was about to start.

    I never got into idols in my old world. In fact, I fail to understand how people would get too attached to them.

    "Hello~!!! Everybody~!!!" A voice that had been amplified had been heard.

    "My name is Felicia~, and today I''m your host for this concert~. Today we will have three groups of idols performing multiple songs~!"

    Felicia, who had shown up, had surprised Olivia and me. It shouldn''t be too shocking, considering her background and the ticket she had given us, but it was still something that we didn''t expect.

    "Now that the event has started, why don''t we introduce the three groups~!" The fans who heard that cheered loudly. I was lucky that I wasn''t noise-sensitive. Otherwise, my eardrums would have burst.

    "Then let''s get started! Our very first group, the loveable and cute idol group! Sweet Dreams~!" Felicia, who had to announce the first band, had our neighbor screaming out of delight.

    Five girls hade out when they were introduced. I would have thought that some people would''ve booed at them, considering that this wasn''t their home turf.

    Those five girls had idolized costumes. Each was wearing a different colored version of their dress, matching their colored hair.

    "Before we introduce the other group, why don''t the five introduce themselves to those new~!"

    "Hello, everybody~!" A girl with pink hair held the microphone. Her voice was pretty adorable with a perfect pitch of a tone. As expected of a singer, her voice had riled up their fans, making them cheer for them.

    "For people who haven''t heard of me, I''m Lilianna, and you may call me Lily for short! I''m also the lead singer, and I hope all of you will be my fans starting today!" She winked at the spectator, adding some cutest to the factor of her introduction.

 Chapter 104 Idol Concert (Part II)

    With Lilianna introducing herself, the crowd had gone wild. Our neighbor had especially gone crazy screaming her name.

    Lilianna had long pink hair with a twin tail on the back of her hair. She had reddish eyes, different from her pink hair. I couldn''t see any notable features that would make her a different race, so I assumed she was human. She was on the short end of the height spectrum, but I guess that adds the appeal to some people.

    "Lily! I LOVE YOU!!!" He screamed, scaring both Olivia and me.

    "Thank you for your love!" She replied to all her fans.

    "I won''t take up all your time as my bandmates would also like to introduce themselves to the crowd."

    The following person was a girl with long wavy blue hair. Unlike Lilianna, who was pretty cute, this person was the opposite. The girl with blue hair was the sexy type, she was about the same height as me, but her proportions were pretty good.

    "Good Morning, everyone! I''m Eir, and I want to thank everyone for attending this concert." Unlike Lilianna''s cute personality, Eir seems like the big sister type with her mature personality.

    Looking at all five of them, I realized they all had red eyes. Was that a coincidence or something?

    Eir''s introduction was short, but the boys who had listened to her were enthralled. My neighbor was screaming like a pig the whole time everyone introduced themselves.

    With Eir finishing, a girl with shoulder-length green hair started to talk. She looked more normal than the other two, but she also had a naive-looking personality.

    "Aye, my name is Emi, and I want to thank you all foring!" She wasn''t loud, per se, but her calm voice was something I wouldn''t expect from her. While there wasn''t much cheerpared to the other two, she received a sizable amount.

    Emi, who had finished introducing herself, gazed at the next person to go. The following person who was going was a girl with orange hair. Unlike the rest of the group, she was pretty nervous.

    "I''m Reina... and I hope all of you will enjoy our music!!!" She had mustered the courage to yell and was flustered by saying it.

    Reina, who had finished giving her introduction, passed it to the final member of her party.

    "Heyo! My name is Bianca, and I want to thank you all for spending time with us!" By how Bianca talked, she seemed like the cheerest of them all.

    Looking at the five of them, they all had different personalities. A group like them could cater to most of the audience.

    Now that one group had finished, there were two more groups. It was going to be a long night seeing everyone.

    With the first group finished, Felicia called in the second group. "Now that we know about the group Sweet Dreams~. Let''s get ready for the ck Dragons~!!!"

    The crowd cheered even louder than the group Sweet Dreams. I guess the ck Dragons are something else for the crowd to be that cheerful.<sub> </sub>

    Coming in were three girls that had simr looks. Were they triplets? The only difference could be seen as the color tint in the front hair.

    "Give it up for the BLACK DRAGONS~!"

    "For those new, the ck Dragons are triplets that had formed a band. The difference between them is the color tint of their hair~! Why don''t youdies introduce yourselves~!!!" Felicia gave them the chance to give their introduction.

    The triplets had long ck hair with a tainted color on the front of their hair. Each was wearing a ck hat and sunsses covering their eyes. Their uniform was also ck. In fact, everything that they wear is ck.

    On the right, one of the sisters spoke. First, she had red-tinted hair on the front. "My name is Ruby, and in the concert, I will outperform the others and win!" She had the same name as a ssmate of mine, were dragonewts names all some kind of shiny objects?

    Were the two remaining sisters named Sapphire and Emerald? She passed it to the sister in the middle with a blue tint on her hair.

    "I''m Sapphire! Like my sister said, I''m confident that our song will move your hearts!" I guess I was right in the names. Sapphire, like Ruby, sounded arrogant, but I guess one needed confidence to be the best.

    "Emerald here. Nice to be acquainted with you all." Emerald had a green tint and spoke the least. But by the sound of it, she sounded confident in this ce.

    Not only the three had simr looks, but they were also simr in personalities. I guess their blood had a significant influence on it.

    Now that the ck Dragon hade, only one group was left. "Olivia, don''t you think this introduction is taking too long?"

    I had asked Olivia what her take on this was. "I think it''s fine, we would need to vote for them in the end, so I think it''s fine for them to talk about themselves." Personally, judging by the two groups, their music would be totally different.

    The type of songs people taste would influence this match''s oue. Besides the guy beside me, thest group would also have a different type of music they would sing.

    "Thank you, ck Dragons, for introducing yourselves~!"

    "For our final group, we have the Wild Gals~!" When Felicia said that, I immediately covered my ears with mana. Almost everyone was cheering loudly. Some even used magic to enchant her voice.

    Olivia was a bit dizzy hearing that, but I don''t think she was too harmed. "You alright?" She nodded, trying to fix herself.

    Four beast girls hade out when Felicia had announced their band name. Looking at Felicia''s expression, I could tell Felicia and the girl band was close.

    "Citizens of Avaris~! I hope that all of you will be fair in the votes~! Otherwise, it wouldn''t be nice~ to our other guests." Felicia had said that, and the other two groups had frowned hearing that.

 Chapter 105 Idol Concert (Part III)

    "Why don''t the four of you tell us about yourselves~!" Most of the citizens of Avaris that had joined the concert had known them. But there were still people like us that were clueless.

    "Everyone, thank you all for joining our concert to support us! As most of you know, I''m Jane, the lead singer for our group!" Jane was a cat girl like Felicia. Unlike Felicia''s ck color hair, Jane was a white cat variant.

    "Jane! Jane! Jane!" The fans repeated their names, hyping her up.

    "Charlie, don''t you think these idols are amazing?"

    "I don''t think I could gather many fans even if I tried."

    "Olivia, you''re fine the way you''re."

    "If possible, please don''t be an idol. It would be annoying if you got famous and people came up to you every second."

    While talking to Olivia, I glossed over the introduction of the other three band members. It wasn''t that I wasn''t interested in them. But I preferred to talk to Olivia and then listen to the band''s introduction.

    Other than Jane, there was Catherine. She was a fox girl. Even if she didn''t show it, I could feel she was pretty cunning.

    The next one would be Mimi. She was a dog girl that had the temperament of a chiwawa.

    And finally, we got Sophie, the cowgirl who has an unreasonable size chest. Most of the boys were wowing at them when she was introduced.

    The four seemed to get along if I were to say their roles in the group. Jane would be the one to make everyone happy, with Catherine the one teasing people.

    Then we got Mimi, who would be quiet but likes to be around her friends. Sophie would be the type to make people jealous with the size of her chest.

    Now that all the band members had appeared, the music concert was about to start. My neighbor, which I had forgotten about, was waving his stick, wildly excited about this event.

    "With everyone here~! Let the concert begin~!" Felicia had announced that the concert was now in the show.

    "WOOH!!!!!" People cheered, wanting the idols to sing.

    The concert was held in an open-roof stadium. The sun was setting, and the orange sky created an atmosphere for this concert.

    "For the first group to perform, we got Sweet Dreams to go first!" It wasn''t surprising that they were sent. First, the ck Dragons were considered the most skilled out of all the two remaining groups, while the Wild Gals were more loved.

    People around the stadium cheered for them, giving them a confidence boost. The other two groups left the performing tform with the five up.<sub> </sub>

    On the right was Emi, who was on the drums. On the left was Reina, who yed the musical keyboard. On Emi''s left was Eir, ying the bass, and on Reina''s right was Bianca, who also yed the guitar. And finally, in the middle was Lilianna, who also had a guitar.

    There was now nothing left stopping them from ying. The lights were now on them. The concert finally started with all of them starting to y their first note.

    Everyone was silent. The music that Sweet Dreams yed was happy, with a cuteish vibe. People around the stadium were vibing the music. It wasn''t something a song where people would shout to join in. All they were doing right now was appreciating their music.

    People around were waving their glow sticks, joining in their song. This song was catered more to people who liked things that were easygoing and cute.

    With their song finished, many people around the stadium pped. I would say that they are pretty good. Their skill was on par with mid-level rock stars in my old world. After finishing the music, they left, and the next group yed.

    "Charlie, their song is so pretty." Olivia incredibly liked their music. It was understandable with her taste in cute things. My neighbor also liked it and cheered for their names.

    Coming out next was the ck Dragons. The three girls were all guitarists. By the looks of it, all three of them were going to sing. Since they were all simr to me, it didn''t matter who was who.

    Their music had started, and their vibes were totally different from Sweet Dreams. If the group Sweet Dreams was having fun, then the ck Dragons yed for the kill.

    Not only were their vibes different, but their music was different. If the group Sweet Dreams had yed cute and slow music, then the ck Dragons were ying them fast and intense.

    "WOOO!!!" Unlike the previous silent and the go happy. The ck Dragons had the crowd riled up. Not only that, their singing was perfectly in sync, and the power of their voice showed that they were practicing hard.

    In my opinion, the ck Dragons were at a different level. It may have helped that I prefer songs like this, but if the Wild Gals didn''t y something like this. Then the ck Dragons would have my vote.

    Their performance was finished, and the cheers were louder, indicating that more people liked their music. I pity the group Sweet Dreams as they were like an opening performance for the ck Dragons.

    Now that the ck Dragons had finished their song. It was finally for the Wild Gals to show up. Before the Wild Gals had appeared, Felicia had popped out and was going to say something.

    "Hello everyone~! How do you like the two groups'' performance~?" Felicia had asked a question to the crowd.

    "We love it!!!" The fans shouted loudly, excited for the next group.

    "Before we start the next performance~, I would like to say before you vote~! Please listen to thest band before doing so~!" Now that I think about it, how do we vote for our favorite group?

    "Once you pick a group, there is no going back~!" So if we misclick, there is no going back, huh?

    "To vote, there is a button under your seat telling which group you prefer~!" I see. I will go pick it up after the final group performance.

 Chapter 106 Idol Concert (Part IV)

    Also, won''t telling us now put the Wild Gals at a disadvantage? I guess it wouldn''t, considering the bias this country was showing.

    The Wild Gals, consisting of four people, had a musical keyboardist with whom Mimi would y. With both, Catherine and Sophie were on the drums. And Jane was the soloist on the guitar.

    The wild Gals'' music started in their y, simr to the ck Dragons. While their vibes are simr to Sweet Dreams.

    Having to y funky music, most of the crowd joined in as background music. Did the Wild Gals already sing this song before? The crowd seemed to know the song, so it was probably something they had already sung.

    More and more people joined in, singing as the song continued. Having to finish their music, more people cheered than the other two.

    In my opinion, in terms of performance, the ck Dragons had done the best, but I alone wouldn''t be able to change the oue of the vote.

    Now that all of the group had performed, Sweet Dreams hade back in to do another performance.

    "Olivia, which group did you like more out of the three?" While it may be the first music, it was the only one they had heard.

    "I preferred the music of Sweet Dreams." I had guessed that she would pick them, considering her taste.

    "Comrade, it seems you have seen the way." My other neighbor had overheard our conversation and liked Olivia''s choice.

    Ignoring him, Olivia asked me the question, "Charlie, how about you?"

    "Going by the current performance, I would pick the ck Dragons." While both Sweet Dreams and Wild Gals had great music, I liked the music more from the ck Dragons.

    Now that Sweet Dreams were singing their second song, everyone was listening to their song. The song they yed differed from the one they had previously yed.

    Unlike the slow-paced song they yed. The music that they yed was much more appealing to my taste.

    They were more fired up, and the song that they yed hit more to the heart. Compared to the song they yed, it seemed they had matured from the cute and happy to the cool and stylish.

    I don''t know if they intentionally did this song, but it was a great move on their end. The expectations for their next were now high. If they could keep doing better songs, their momentum would be immense.

    "This is what I love about Sweet Dreams. Their diversity in music is almost unmatched!" At this point, I don''t know if he was talking to himself or to us.

    It was already nighttime as time passed, and the three bands had yed to their heart''s content. All three bands yed a great deal of music to the best of their ability.

    "Before we finish tonight''s concert, I would like to give a round of apuse to all the performing contestants~!"

    "Whoever wins this event~ I hope that no one would have any hard feelings about who wins this match~!" Even if Felicia had said this, I don''t think thisment would help.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, who did you vote for?" Even if I had a guess, I still wanted to make sure.

    "I voted for Sweet Dreams." It was her original pick, so it wasn''t too hard to guess.

    "I, too, have voted for Sweet Dreams, myrade!" Of course, he did.

    "What about you, Charlie?" I already had an idea who to pick.

    "I had picked The ck Dragons." Not only did Sweet Dreams step up their game, but the ck Dragons did.

    If it wasn''t for ck Dragons, my next choice would be Sweet Dreams. The Wild Gals were terrific, but it wasn''t someone who I would vote for.

    "Tsk, what a normie." The guy beside me muttered, who is even talking to you? I wanted to scream at him, but it was prettyte. I didn''t want to spend more energy than I needed to.

    "Now that the votes are finished~!" A screen was popping up from the top of the stadium. The votes were in, and the winner had been decided.

    "The winner of tonight''s concert is the Wilds Gals~!" When Felicia announced the results, mixed reactions wereing from the crowd.

    The citizens of Avaris were cheering loudly, while the angry fans were booing from the results. This concert was a poprity contest, so the results weren''t fair in the first ce.

    Looking at the reactions of the idol group, I could see the ck Dragons angry at the results. They didn''t have it. I hope someone will calm them down. On the bright side, they were in second ce and had almost beat the Wild Gals.

    Sweet Dreams are downcasted by the results, and Lilianna and Eir are trying to cheer their members. It was sad seeing them lose, cing themst in the event. I don''t know if this would affect their future performance.

    "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" It didn''t help that my neighbor was mad at his idol beingst.

    Felicia seems a bit distressed. It was to be expected. "Everyone~! Let''s give it up for the Wild Gals!" She called them up for a prize, with the four girls in the spotlight. Felicia had given them a trophy for their victory.

    "Olivia, let''s leave before it gets too hectic," I whispered to her ears, and she nodded, agreeing with my choice.

    The both of us had silently left the stadium and left the angry fans to do their own thing. I didn''t want to get caught in it with Olivia.

    Tonight was a night to remember. I could see why people hade in live to watch these artists performing live.

    With my arms held tight by Olivia, I could see that this outing was sessful. Times like these would be moreplicated, more fights would be happening, and Olivia and I needed a way to grow faster.

    Refreshed by today''s outing, I would work hard for tomorrow''s hunt.

 Chapter 107 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part I)

    It had been a day since the concert ended, the ss ended, and it was time to leave.

    "Olivia," I called her out.

    "Hmm!" She was in a daze, thinking about something. Hearing my call, she looked at me.

    "We''re going to a dungeon today, remember?" I told her that we could earn some money yesterday.

    "Do we have to go?" She didn''t like the idea.

    "Unfortunately, we do. I will stick by you if that makes you feel better."

    "The two of you are going to a dungeon? I didn''t think the two passive pussies would go to a dungeon." That voice, I know the voice of someone I didn''t like.

    "Ruby. I didn''t know you were so bored that you woulde to talk to us." It was Ruby, the other liar in our ss.

    "I thought overgrown lizards would stay out and live as overgrown parasites." I threw back a jab toward her.

    "What did you say?" I don''t know why she was angry when she threw the first jab.

    "What do you want, Ruby?" She usually wouldn''t associate with anyone but with her friend. But she came to us wanting to talk.

    "I heard the both of you are going to a dungeon."

    "Why don''t the four of us go together? The four arepetent enough to travel far in a dungeon." Ruby had stated her purpose for this discussion.

    We could let them join. With Ruby and Gold here, they could keep Olivia safer. But with them there, I would have to hide my power.

    On the other hand, I could go all out without hiding anything, but I was stronger. There was no need to decide on these choices.

    "Sorry, but I prefer to go alone with Olivia."

    "What is she? Your mistress?"

    "Could say the same about Gold to you." If Olivia was my "follower," Gold was Ruby''s follower.

    "Ok, smartass, we don''t need the both of you." Without anything else to discuss, the both of them left.

    "Olivia, let''s go!" I grabbed her hand and started dragging her to a dungeon nearby.

    It was a shame that the dungeon we had to go to was different from the one in our academy. Meaning that we would have to start on the first floor.

    There wasn''t anything that we really needed to get to go to the dungeon. The dungeon that we would be going to would be Avaris Greater Labyrinth.<sub> </sub>

    One of the more incredible dungeons that these countries own. Like our school, this dungeon''s floor limits were unknown.

    I had already wanted to try fighting the dungeon, hearing that the dungeon was simr to our school. Saint Maria''s Greater Labyrinth, the monsters here would be randomly generated. I wonder if they were connected in some way.

    It was nostalgic for the first time that we went to the dungeon. The first time I went was with Olivia and Serena. I wondered how Serena was doing.

    "Olivia, hold on to me tightly." The both of us were at the entrance of the dungeon. I was ready to enter and needed Olivia to be calm.

    The two of us then entered the dungeon, and the terrain had changed. The both of us were on a in hill, and we could see giant rabbits up ahead.

    "Do we need to kill them? They''re pretty cute." Olivia was hesitant about me killing them.

    "Olivia, they''re monsters. If we don''t kill them, they will kill us." I had to walk up on them as I spoke to Olivia.

    Since we were on the first floor, the monster here wouldn''t harm me much. The rabbits who were ahead had noticed that I was walking toward them.

    With my vision appearing to the rabbit monster, it uses its horn, trying to ram me. The power of the monster didn''t scare me.

    Making contact with me, I had burnt the rabbit into dust, killing it without even trying. The monster core had dropped upon its death. Taking it, we continued exploring this hill filled with grass.

    "Don''t you think this would be a nice ce to pic if no monsters were to appear?" Olivia tried to think of the positives as I killed the cute giant rabbit.

    "It would. We could, but I must take the monsters on as they appear."

    Talking to Olivia, I had killed any monsters that had approached me. It didn''t take long for the both of us to reach the boss room when nothing had stopped us. The in grassy hill made it easier for us to travel.

    The boss I saw was cute. It was a human-sized rabbit holding some sharp object. It was a shame that I would have to kill it immediately.

    I went ahead and sent some mes toward it. The monster had tried to defend itself by attacking it back with its weapon. But my attack was too strong for it to do anything. The intelligence of this monster was low, making it pretty easy to kill.

    "Charlie, an artifact had dropped!" Not all bosses would drop an artifact. It was lucky and unlucky that it dropped on the first floor.

    I picked it up, and it seemed like the weapon of the rabbit. "We could earn a hefty amount with this knife." It was a low-tier artifact, but in the end, it was still an artifact.

    A door had appeared with the boss dead, not only that. The progress crystal had appeared, and the both of us saved our floor.

    "Olivia, let''s hope for an easy floor like this." Since each floor would be different, we didn''t want a floor to affect our mental or physical state.

    "Charlie, don''t you think you''re exaggerating? I don''t think floors like those exist." Olivia didn''t seem to believe me when I told her floors like those existed. She probably doesn''t want to believe them for her mental health.

    "Olivia, I think you''re jinxing it." With her mentioning it, we would definitely get a lousy terrain of a floor.

 Chapter 108 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part II)

    Entering the door, we went to the second floor. The ce we entered was a swamp. "Olivia, please don''t say things like that next time."

    She looked away, seeing we hadnded where we didn''t want to be. Currently, we are in a swamp. The dirty water was touching us, activating my magic. I had stopped the water from touching me.

    Olivia didn''t have my magic, so she had to endure dirty water. It wasn''t just the water that was annoying. But it was this gloomy atmosphere filled with trees.

    We didn''t know where we needed to go to the next floor. There was no path for us to follow since we just needed to go in a direction and hope it was correct.

    "Olivia, let''s go straight." We hadn''t moved since we had appeared on the second floor. So, what was in front of us was likely the direction. The dungeon wouldn''t be, so sadist to put it in the opposite direction.

    Olivia and I had started to move forward. I already hated this ce. Not only is the area disgusting. But the monsters were some kind of bugs that looked like giant bacteria.

    "Olivia, I don''t me you if you want to puke." Not only are they disgusting, but the smell is horrible. I already wanted to leave this ce.

    I took some stomach medicine and gave one to Olivia. I had annihted everything that hade our way.

    The monsters that had appeared had doubled since the first floor, which was rare since the first and second floors were almost identical.

    Even if there wasn''t a path to the boss, I had found it swimming across the swampy river. The boss here was a ck crocodile.

    Both Olivia and I wanted to leave this ce right away. I didn''t hold back andunched a sma st toward it.

    There was no way for the ck crocodile to survive an attack at this level. Walking up to it, I picked whatever it dropped. Unfortunately, there wasn''t anything but the monster core.

    With the doors opening, I grabbed Olivia and left the ce immediately. We finally left the stench behind, and the new floor was already a better ce.

    "Olivia, I hope we will never go to a ce like that again," I told Olivia, who also seemed to have had enough of that ce.

    "Do you need some time to change?" She smelled terrible after entering the swamp. Muddy water was on her legs, so the smell stayed on her.

    She would be sick if she didn''t clean herself right away. "I will protect you when you''re changing." We were lucky that we found a pond right as we entered the third floor.

    We walked to the pond to see if the water was safe. Fortunately, there weren''t any monsters in the pond here. Olivia then stripped and went in for a dip.

    While guarding her against any monstersing our way, I also enjoyed the view that Olivia disyed.

    There was no way for anyone toe into this area, so Olivia wasn''t worried if anyone would show up or not.

    "Olivia, are you finished?" She wasn''t washing anymore.<sub> </sub>

    "Do you need me to dry you?" To think that I would use my body as a dryer. Not that I''mining.

    Walking toward her wet body, I changed my body temperature. I had put enough heat in to warm her up. The watering out of her had dried right as I touched her. I touched every part of her body before we left the pond.

    "Could you bring me some new clothes?" Her old clothes were dirty. Taking out new clothes from my storage, I gave them to Olivia.

    The three-floor was a ce simr to the one we had on our second floor in Saint Maria''s dungeon. We were in a forest, where a river connected to the pond.

    "Olivia, let''s follow the river." Even if we got lost, we could always go back to the pond with this river.

    With a direction in mind, we choose to follow the river line. I was honestly surprised that there weren''t any monsters attacking when Olivia was in the pond.

    "Olivia, stay behind me." I had sensed something that was hiding behind the trees. Olivia listened right away and went behind me.

    I couldn''t make out what monster it was, we had wandered around the forest, and this was the only thing I had sensed.

    Something wasn''t making sense. I felt something wrong was happening on this floor. Guarding against the monster I sensed, I sent a sma beam to the tree. My beam had destroyed the tree, but the monster I tried to hit was unscathed.

    "Fuck!" I cursed, seeing what we were up against.

    The monster in front of us is pretty ominous. It was a humanoid shadow monster. What made it wrong was it was as strong as a rank three mage. And to make it worse, its strong point was its speed.

    Speed-type monsters were my worst kind of enemies. I needed to test what this shadow thing could do.

    Sending many beams, it merged with the shadows of the trees. Fighting this thing would be annoying because it hides seeing any attack.

    There was only one thing I could do. "Olivia standing right on me." I couldn''t get her caught with this crossfire.

    Harnessing a quarter of my mana. I had sent a bomb to the forest. I had to destroy the forest to defeat this monster.

    The forest was now on fire. It was a good thing that I was in a dungeon. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have done this much damage to the environment.

    The shadow monster now had nowhere to hide. Before it could run away, I sent a fast homing attack. It tried to dodge my attack, but eventually, it would be hit, killing it.

    "Olivia, could you help me recover?" I should have told Olivia to boost my magic power earlier. I was too tunneled on the fact something was amiss to ask Olivia for a strengthening.

 Chapter 109 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part III)

    With Olivia here, my strength had almost fully recovered. I was lying on Olivia''sp, taking a rest. Her soft legs were healing my mind, but I couldn''t stay on it forever.

    There weren''t any monsters except for that humanoid shadow. Was that a secret boss or something?

    After defeating that thing, nothing had shown up. There wasn''t even a droping from the shadow monster.

    What was happening? Ever since the mention of the Monster King, everything was going to be a shit storm.

    "Olivia, as much as I like yourp, we should get our way to the next floor."

    "We don''t have anywhere to go. You can stay a bit longer. I don''t mind." Olivia, sometimes you''re spoiling me too much.

    "When you tell me that, it gets harder for me to say no."

    "Then say here, we got all the time we need." I guess it wouldn''t hurt to stay here for a bit.

    With me outright not able to make a choice of objecting to Olivia''s proposal, we both stayed in one ce, rxing and enjoying the wind with the burning forest on the side.

    After twenty minutes, I got up from Olivia''sp and fully recovered. The both of us then went back to our usual selves and explored the floor.

    "Olivia, don''t you think it strange that no monsters are on this floor." We need to find a way to the boss. Otherwise, we could be stuck on this floor forever.

    "When you say that, it feels pretty eerie."

    "Do you think the monster king has something to do with it?"

    "I don''t know, but the chances are high."

    Getting to this topic wasn''t going to help. We couldn''t really tell what the cause of this was, but all we could was specte.

    It took us thirty minutes to search the whole area. We had finally found a door going to the next floor.

    There wasn''t any boss battle on this floor. It was unsatisfying not killing the boss of this floor. Not to mention the drops of the boss were gone.

    "Olivia, I hate that shadow monster." It had probably killed every monster on this floor, which was why no monsters had been found.

    "We will get more loot from the next few floors." I hope we will. That was the point of this dungeon crawling.

    Going on the next few floors, there weren''t any abnormal activities on the next few floors. It was nice to see that things were going well. We were getting artifacts from every two bosses, from weapons to essories.

    "Olivia, we could head back now." We have earned enough money for the day.

    "Let''s stay," I was surprised that Olivia wanted to keep going.

    "Is there a reason?" I thought she would want to leave already.<sub> </sub>

    "Since we''re here, we might as well keep on going." She had a point. There wasn''t a reason to stop yet. As both of us were still well rested.

    "Then let''s keep going." I entered the gate to the next floor.

    I had already defeated the tenth-floor boss, making this floor the eleventh. We had probably earned about 50 gold coins with how many monsters I killed.

    The eleventh floor was vastly different from the tenth and below. The monsters were much more potent, and even the weakest monsters were at second rank.

    I could feel the mana stronger, and even theyout was different. Does this happen every tenth floor, or was it just this floor.

    "Charlie, don''t you think this floor is beautiful." The wood of the tree was a light pink color. And the leaves were the color purple. For a colorful tree, I didn''t expect it to have some mana inside it.

    Not to mention, the grass we were standing on was vibrant. It was kind of difficult looking at the grassy field. It was a shame that I would have to fight in a ce like this.

    Sometimes I couldn''t help but think that the dungeons here are part of a different world.

    "Yes, it is Olivia, yes it is," I repeated myself twice, saying those words.

    The both of us were bathing in this view, and it wasn''t long before we began exploring. While this ce was beautiful, I couldn''t say the same for the monsters.

    Monsters that had appeared were insect-type monsters. It was disturbing to fight a giant bee looking at its stinger and eyes. Not to mention how hairy it was, making it much more ugly to look at.

    And to make it worse, there is a swarm of them. The bees were doing everything they could do to harm both of us.

    Not only has the difficulty risen, but the amount of them has also risen. What a pain in the ass to deal with.

    "OLIVIA, WE''RE GOING TO RUN!" At this rate, even with my enormous mana pool. I would run out of mana with how many swarms of bees wereing at us.

    I decided to retreat, knowing that killing all of them would waste time. We were running away from the swarm, and it seemed like they weren''t giving up chasing us.

    The bees were making a buzzing noise which was starting to get annoying. I had sent some mes toward them as we retreated.

    Olivia, who was running, was already tired, I would like to carry her if it helped, but I won''t be able to outrun them with her on me.

    Sending a wall of fire, we made a sharp left turn. Diving in a bush with Olivia, the two of us finally got out of the swarm of bees.

    Olivia and I were panting, catching our breath, "Olivia... Are you alright?"

    She was still catching her breath. I could see that she was sweating. "Charlie... I want to go home... I hate bugs." I also hated insects, but there was nothing we could do about it.

    "Then let''s... find the boss." Finding it would be a pain if the boss was a queen bee.

 Chapter 110 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part IV)

    It took us a while before the both of us had recovered our stamina. With the bees not around, the both of us left the bush. I was grateful that there weren''t any bugs in the bush.

    "Olivia, I have bad news." I had told Olivia what I had thought.

    "We might have to go back to the swarm. The boss of this floor might be the queen bee." Olivia wanted to cry hearing that.

    "Olivia, I know it would be hard for you. But believe in me." I had to keep Olivia''s morale high so she wouldn''t be distressed.

    Olivia was pretty indecisive. "Olivia, if you want, you could stay here while I fight the boss." I had to make this choice. I couldn''t keep spoiling her. I know this would make her more distressed. But this was something that I had to do.

    "Please don''t leave," She was scared by the aspect of being alone.

    "Then follow me, like I said earlier. I won''t let anything harm you." With this, I had forced an option for Olivia,

    "It would be annoying for us to fight the swarm. Let''s try to sneak past the bees."

    "We should be able to pass by if we crawl under the bushes." By her expression, I could tell that she didn''t want to.

    "If there are bugs in them, I will burn them."

    "I will be in front. Is that ok for you?"

    "Please do." She rxed a little with me saying that.

    Now that we had a n, our first operation was to hide. "Follow me."

    Heading back slowly to where we were, there was no sign of the bees anywhere. "Olivia, let''s get on the bushes now."

    Any further ahead, the chances of us encountering any bees were high. We didn''t want to alert any monsters nearby.

    The two of us then went into a bush. The branches of these were pretty annoying to pass by. So far, there wasn''t anything in the bushes we were at.

    "Charlie, it''s a bit too tight here." Looking behind, I could see that she had a problem crawling. I looked at her chest, which seemed to be why it was hard to move.

    "Olivia, try your best." I tried to encourage her.

    As we both crawled further, it didn''t take long to hear the bees buzzing. There really was too much for us to handle.

    Olivia was starting to get nervous about how many bees there were. When we crawled further, we saw a giant bee''s nest.

    We both didn''t make a sound, trying to hide as much as possible. By the time we were near the entrance, we had made aplete stop.

    We had done what we needed. The only thing we could do was make it in without making any scene by entering.

    Thinking I had thought of an idea, it would be mana heavy, but that was why Olivia was here. Grabbing Olivia by her hand, we made a dash for the entrance.

    The bees who saw us ran toward us, trying to stop us. Making a strong wall of me, I stopped them froming in.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, we better hurry. Every second, I will lose mana from my wall." I couldn''t be bothered to listen to her right now.

    Running towards the tunnels, we saw some bees working to make honey. Any attack from them had me shoot a beam toward them, killing them instantly.

    Olivia and I didn''t take long to reach the queen bee''s room. It was just a fat bee sitting on a throne. The sight of this was utterly ridiculous.

    I had already lost forty percent of my mana to reach this area. I could lose more, but it wasn''t something I wanted to do.

    Ending this farce, I built enough mana to destroy this queen bee. Finishing this bee with a sma beam to the face.

    Every other bee had stopped working and fell to the ground. Seeing this, the wall I put out was now gone. I had cleared the eleventh floor with my mana right at fifty percent.

    "Charlie, look! we got an artifact!" Olivia was relieved that we earned something from this floor. Looking at it, I couldn''t tell what it was. We would have to get an appraiser to see what this artifact could do.

    I then put it in my storage and left it there. With nothing left to do on this floor, I said, "Olivia, we''re going back now."

    We saved our floor progress, and it was time to leave. We had already been in the dungeon for some time and didn''t want to be the night before we got out.

    I had filled enough monster cores from the number of monsters I had killed. We were going to earn a lot from the things we had hunted.

    Leaving the dungeon, they both teleported to a teleporter near the dungeon entrance. The sun was going down, and both of us were mentally tired.

    "Olivia, let''s cash out our drops and rest for the whole day."

    "I would like that."

    Both Olivia and I went to an adventure guild. It was pretty huge, as expected for a country that liked power. There were a sizable number of people in this ce.

    There weren''t as many students as I thought there would be. Most of them were grown women doing their own things. I guess it isn''t just students thate to this dungeon to earn money.

    "Hello, how may I help you?" I went up to the receptionist of this guild.

    "I would like to sell our earnings from the dungeon."

    "Do you have an adventure card?" Adventure card?

    "Do I need one?" It would be annoying if I needed one.

    "You would earn ten percent more of what you earn." I did a 180 in my mind when she said that.

    "How do I get one?" I totally didn''t ask for one because I wanted more money.

    "All you need to do is pay five giant silver coins."

 Chapter 111 Adventures Guild

    It was pretty expensive to get an adventure card. I wonder if adventures would have to spend their life savings just to get them.

    I got five giant silver coins from my pocket and gave them to the female receptionist. She then gave me a form that needed my signature.

    "Please sign this paper." Reading the paper, I wrote only my first name.

    "Could my friend also get one?" If a situation had happened where we both couldn''te together, I would like her to get one also.

    Giving another five giant silver coins to the receptionistdy, she gave us another form of paper. Olivia then wrote her name, took the paper, and got a device.

    "I will take a photo of you for your card. Could one of you stand toward the whiteboard?" I was closer, so I stood on it first.

    The receptionist then shed her device at me. "If possible, could you please smile?" I stared at her in silence. She sighed and took another picture, prompting me that I was finished.

    It was Olivia''s turn, and unlike me, she could easily make a smile for the camera. With all that done, the receptionist went to the back of the room and exited, giving us an adventure card.

    Looking at our cards, it was just cheap stic card showing us our "identity." It had our picture and our rank.

    "Would the two of you like a short exnation of what each ranking does?" Since we were already here, it was better if we already did.

    "If you could please do so." Olivia had answered for me.

    "There are five ranks of an adventurer. Starting at the bottom with both of your ranks is bronze. Once you have enough achievements, you would be at the rank of silver." I wanted to ask how they would record these achievements, but I will do it after her exnation.

    "After silver would be gold. You won''t have to worry about these ranks until you reach them. After gold is tinum, and at the top would be diamond." They were surprisingly basic, something straightforward to remember.

    "How do the guild record these "achievements."

    "Do you see your adventure cards? The price is high because of the material we use. They were specially made for technologies that could scan them.

    "So what happens if we lose them?"

    "You would have to start over again and buy another one." ... What an easy way to earn some money.

    "What if someone impersonates someone using their card?" It didn''t seemplicated for people to do so.

    "If caught, you would be arrested." I don''t think I would do that, so I''m fine.

    "Would both of you like to sell your items?" We were initially here for that, so I would like her to hurry with it.

    "Yes, please."

    "Then follow me,"<sub> </sub>

    The receptionist took us to a room that had arge table. Taking out everything I had earned, I put everything on the table.

    Most of the items I had earned were cores from the monsters I had hunted. A few monsters dropped their material, but I was most excited about the artifacts.

    The female receptionist began calcting the prices using a scale. The number of monster cores that I had farmed was a lot. It was pretty heavy, by the looks of it. Coupled with the fact that the materials were in there.

    It took a while for the pricing to be done, "Everything that you''re selling would be thirty gold in total." I had noint with that much I have made. Olivia was also happy that we earned a lot.

    Taking the thirty gold, "Could we check out our artifacts?" We had earned five artifacts during our adventures. It would be nice if they were worth many coins.

    Giving the receptionist the five artifacts, she began to appraise their worth. The knife from the first floor was the first to be appraised. I didn''t have much hope for it, seeing that it was from the first floor.

    The following two artifacts were from the fifth and sixth floors. On the fifth floor was a carrot monster that dropped a carrot ring.

    Having to beat the sixth-floor boss was a praying mantis, and it dropped a saber. It was a weapon, so the price skyrocketed just because of it.

    The other two were from the ninth and eleventh floors. The ninth floor provided us with a leather shoe from a ram.

    While the eleventh floor gave us an artifact, I couldn''t tell what it did. It was just a jar filled with honey, it may be a recovery item, but I couldn''t fully tell what it was.

    It didn''t take long for the appraisal machine to finish. Our dagger only boosted its sharpness to a high degree, making it easier to pierce things.

    The carrot ring improved magic on any vegetation-based magic which Olivia could use. "Olivia, do you want it?" While she could use it, its effects didn''t help much.

    She shook her head and denied it. The design was cute. I thought it was something that she wanted.

    Our praying mantis saber could pierce through things, an upgrade to the dagger we got from the rabbit.

    The leather boots have a speed boost and an additional speed boost for charging in a straight line.

    And finally, the final artifact that we got was pretty unique. It was a honey jar that could recover your stamina. Not only that, it was refible every day.

    This was something that I would never sell. Even if I had Olivia, there was always a chance that we would get separated.

    "We will sell only these four items." The receptionist was disappointed that we kept the jar, but there was nothing she could do about it.

    "Then these four artifacts would sell for 25 gold coins." It was less than the materials we got, but I could understand seeing the effects of these items. They weren''t so great.

    "Goodbye! Have a nice day!" She bid us a farewell as we did the same. The both of us left the room, then leaving the guild''s building.

 Chapter 112 Morning (R-18)

    "Olivia...?" I woke up and heard slurping noises from my crotch. My penis was awake, and I could feel Olivia''s saliva.

    Her bottom was my face, aplete view of her womanly parts. While staring at it, I almost forgot that Olivia was sucking me.

    Taking her mouth out of my crotch, "Charlie, use your tongue!" She shook her assets, prompting me to pleasure her.

    Thanks to her, I was already horny waking up. Licking her right in the clit, she stopped moving her head. She had stopped from the pleasure she felt from my touch.

    I didn''t know how long she was sucking me, but I felt I was already going to cum.

    Stopping my tongue, "Olivia, I''m going to cum!" Despite saying that, she kept her mouth on me moving my head faster, wanting me to release my seeds.

    Warning her, I couldn''t hold it anymore. My cock, which was burning, had burst like a volcano, I couldn''t see it, but I had imagined it happening inside her mouth.

    Olivia has done this multiple times and is pretty good at this. She instantly swallowed everything I had dropped and continued sucking on my rod.

    My mouth went back to her vagina, and I proceeded to move my tongue and insert it inside her.

    Olivia''s breath became harder inside my mouth, making signs of her feeling good. It didn''t take long before Olivia came.

    Taking her mouth out of my cock, "Charlie~, let me do the work~ you have been working hard yesterday~." With how much vigor she said, it was pretty hard to reject her. I didn''t know when the ss would start, but it was not like it was mandatory to go to ss.

    Olivia was on top of me. Her whole naked body was now in full glory. Without saying a word, my dick plunged her inside, taking everything in.

    It was amazing how she could do this without feeling like it was nothing. Her inside was already molded by me. She seemed very frustrated with how horny she was.

    "Awh~!" Olivia moaned loudly as she stayed sitting on top of me. She moved her body up and down, sliding my penis in a rhythm.

    "Charlie!" She screamed my name out of love.

    "Ahh~!" With Olivia moving her body, I couldn''t stop moving my hips.

    "Charlie!~ Didn''t I say... Let me do it~." She was angry and hungry, looking at me. It was amusing, to say the very least.

    "Olivia, I can''t help it since you''re too beautiful." I tried ttering her, even though she wasn''t angry at me.

    "Geeze~ Mhm~ Charlie," She couldn''t help moaning in the middle of her sentence.

    I felt her insides tightening as she was about to cum. With the both of us having sex many times, I learned what I liked to do.

    Grabbing her from the back, I dragged her toward me and rotated her to the bottom.

    "Charlie~! I said Awh~! I will do the work~!" I was now on top, and it was my turn to y with her.

    "Sorry, Olivia, but I prefer to be on top." I then moved my hips back and forth, rocking her entire body.<sub> </sub>

    Olivia, who wanted toin, couldn''t. My movement had her stun locked, making her moan in response.

    "Olivia, isn''t this much better?" She hade when I said this, but knowing so, I didn''t stop moving.

    "Charlie~! Charlie~! I''m cuming~!" Her tight pussy had squirted upon cumming twice.

    "Fuck! Olivia! I''m going to y with you all day!" Giving in to my lust, I yelled what I had in mind. I guess, like her, I was also sexually frustrated.

    Looking at Olivia, her face was filled entirely with lust, even when she just came. Her stamina didn''t seem like it went down at all.

    Moving my head to her neck, I began to kiss it. Her skin was smooth and soft. Not only was her skin perfect, but it tasted pretty sweet.

    "Ahhh~ Ahhh~" All Olivia could do was moan from my crotch. Her eyes looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered to her.

    A whileter, both of us were close toing. My dick was stiffened to the max while Olivia''s pussy tried to squeeze me with all its might.

    "Charlie~ I am cumming!!!" Like her, I had also released my body fluids inside of her. And with that, both of us took a bit of a rest.

    "Charlie, give me a kiss~!" At Olivia''s request, I gave her a peck on the lips.

    I had told her that I would be fucking her all day. So with this short break, I turned her around and lifted her body, making her doggy.

    Starting another round, I rammed my cock inside of her. Olivia moaned in delight with my dick inside her. I couldn''t help but move my hips immediately.

    I grabbed Olivia by the hips with both my hands, and by using her body, I gained fast momentum in my movement.

    The two of us were like rabbits in heat. Even if one of us wanted to stop having sex, the other wouldn''t allow it.

    Our beds began to shake by the positioning of our love session. The sun was rising, meaning it was still pretty early in the morning.

    With the creak of our bed and Olivia''s moans mixed within, it was like music to my ears.

    ~Hours Later~

    How long has it been since I made love with Olivia? She was sleeping in bed, too tired to wake up.

    Looking out, I could see the sun setting. This was the most extended session that I had with Olivia. I had used my honey jar on her when she tried making us double our time.

    It was good that I had found a way to make things less messy, it would be a pain to clean everything. I had burned all the cum stains released by me.

    Looking at her sleeping body, I sighed. How am I going to live without her? Not only did her magic made having sex with her better, but she also had captured my stomach.

    I swore to my heart, that I wouldn''t be able to forgive myself if something had happened to her.

 Chapter 113 Dinner With A Princess

    After taking a shower, it was already night. I didn''t expect to be that deprived of doing it for that long.

    I haven''t eaten anything yet. It was a good thing mana could sustain my hunger. Otherwise, I would have been on the floor crawling for food.

    But in the end, I still have to eat. I haven''t had any food in this house since Olivia was here.

    After Leaving the house, I went out to find something to eat. It has been a while since I''ve been alone. Olivia was usually with me by my side.

    Walking around, I went to see the stalls that were selling freshly cooked food. I heard someone call out to me on my way through the search.

    "Charlie, right?" I looked at my caller but couldn''t remember who she was. But one thing I noticed about her was that she looked simr to Reba.

    "I''m Rosey Avaris, the younger sister of Reba Avaris." She noticed I didn''t know who she was, so she introduced herself.

    "Ms. Avaris? Do you need something from me?" I wasn''t sure what she had wanted from me when she called me out.

    "I just wanted to apologize for putting up with my sister''s antics." It wasn''t like she was the one doing it, so I didn''t see a reason for her to do so.

    "You don''t have to."

    "But I just feel like I need to." My eyes twitched when she said that.

    "Then is that all?" I was pretty hungry, and waiting wasn''t really appealing.

    "Why don''t the two of us be friends!" Seeing her being transparent about it, it was hard for me to reject her.

    "Could I get something to eat first? I haven''t eaten today at all." Before I could give my answer, I had to do something about food.

    "Sorry!!!" She sincerely apologized, realizing why I was a bit cranky.

    I didn''t want to get too deep into it and just epted it. After all, I wasn''t me when I was hungry.

    "Why don''t I pay for your food?" She wanted to make it up to me for wasting my time, but I know these people.

    Rosey was the kind of person to want to make it up to you as soon as possible. And as time went on, she would keep on bothering you.

    "Fine, your treat." Like I said earlier, I didn''t want to go back and forth with these topics.

    "Do you have any rmendations?" She probably knew this ce much better than I did, so I asked her what was good.

    "Would you like to try my favorite?" Rosey had a pretty good idea of what to get when I asked.

    "Why not?" I don''t know if beastmen have a different taste from me, but I don''t think it would be any harm to do so.

    Following Rosey, she led me to a restaurant. I wasn''tining but considering that she was a princess, it wasn''t unreasonable to choose a super fancy one.<sub> </sub>

    "Miss Avaris, thank you for choosing our establishment for the day." The waiter immediately went to Rosey as soon as we entered.

    "I would like my usual seat if you may," With the waiter leader, he had let us sit on a window seat near the corner. The table was enough for four people, but Rosey liked this seat.

    Looking at the menu, Rosey had already taken our order without telling me. I guess I did say I would eat her favorite.

    It didn''t take long before our first food was served. I didn''t know what it was, but it was some buns with something inside.

    Splitting it in half with Rosey, apparently, some meat was inside the bun she ordered. I used my fork and took a bite of it.

    While the appetizer was good, I preferred to eat in meat. It was just my preference.

    "How do you like it?" Rosey finished her appetizer and asked how it was.

    "I enjoyed it." It wasn''t a lie. I did enjoy it.

    She nodded happily that I liked it, and with the appetizer finished came more food. Fried octopus legs andmb chops both came.

    Rosey took a bite of the fried octopus legs. It looked pretty good from the expression that she was making.

    Eating themb chop. It was cooked pretty good, coupled with its seasoning. I gotta say this was the bestmb chop I ever ate.

    I then took a bite of the octopus legs, which were pretty crunchy and chewy. Something I could get used to.

    "Rosey, does Reba talk about me a lot?" For Rosey to recognize me, someone had to talk to her about me.

    "Looking at you, I could see why my sister likes you very much. Even if she puts people off, you''re someone who makes it easy to talk to despite your rough demeanor."

    Easy to talk to? Where did she get that idea from? In fact, I make it hard for people to talk to me about my current condition.

    "If you were a boy, I would have gone for you." Where did thate from? I didn''t know how to reply to that.

    "Don''t think about it too much." Rosey, who had jokingly said that, dismissed it.

    After finishing the two dishes, some desserts came, and she got us a blue block of jelly. I didn''t know what it was but took a spoonful of it.

    The blue jelly had a sweet but sour taste but was somewhat easy to eat. Dinner was finished, and Rosey had paid for the meal.

    "It was nice hanging out with you. It''ste. Let''s go somewhere else next time." Before I could reply, she left pretty quickly.

    Well, my day was just sex and dinner with someone I had just met. My day was pretty eventful in more than one way.

    I wouldn''t mind having days like these more often. I wonder how long days like these wouldst.

 Chapter 114 School Without Olivia (Part I)

    It was already morning by the time I woke up. Olivia was beside me, awake, staring at me with a lustful face.

    "Olivia, no sex." I think I turned her into a nymphomaniac. Yesterday''s stimtion must have been too much for her. But seeing her ufortable, I doubted what she was asking for.

    "Charlie, my crotch hurts." I may have overdone it yesterday.

    "Stay here for the day. I would like to take care of you. But I don''t think it will be good to skip ss again." Olivia was heartbroken seeing that I wouldn''t take care of her.

    "Do you want anything before Ie back?" She was going to stay in bed all day long. The best I could do was get something for her.

    "Could you get me some magazines?" It would be boring if she stayed here all day. And it wasn''t that hard to get.

    "Let''s eat first." It may be wrong if we ate on the bed, but I could easily erase the crumbs that would fall on the bed.

    After finishing our meal, it was time for me to go. Giving Olivia a deep kiss, I dejectedly left the room. It was the first time I went to this school without Olivia. I just hope this won''t be harmed in any way.

    Arriving at ss didn''t take long. Seeing that I arrived alone and was absent yesterday had gotten some attention.

    Reba walked up to me and was going to ask me something. "Did you leave your maid behind?"

    "No, she''s just sick."

    "Sick? That is rare for a magician." It''s not like she is sick from an illness.

    "She will be better tomorrow."

    "How about we go shopping after ss?"

    "Sorry, but gotta take care of Olivia."

    Reba looked displeased by my rejection, but there was nothing she could do about it. Before continuing, our teacher came in. With that, she went back to her desk.

    "Everyone!" Our weird teacher screamed, getting the attention of our ss.

    "Today, we will be doing some activities with other sses from our school." I don''t see a point in this since the others would likely be worse than those in other sses.

    "What would we be doing with the other sses?" A random ssmate of ours asked.

    "We would be fighting them. What else would we do?" Ms. Colorful had a sadisticugh when she said that.

    I see. Our teacher just wanted us to beat up the other sses to show her superiority as a teacher. I wouldn''t be surprised if the other teachers hated her guts.

    "But isn''t it pointless if we fought? I thought that our ss would easily win." An exchange student said, making her argument urate.<sub> </sub>

    "Life isn''t fair sometimes, and this is today''s lesson." Everyone in the ss didn''t know what to say to this.

    "In life, sometimes you would have to face weaker opponents, and today you would learn how to fight them." I could get behind that if that was my everyday life.

    But knowing my luck, that wouldn''t be true. I would have to fight much stronger things in the future.

    Before we did that, the teacher talked about her day for about thirty minutes. I don''t know how Ms. Colorful could do that, but it had stalled enough for us to do the ss battle.

    We could already see two sses, with the whole ss going to the gym. It was a good thing Olivia wasn''t in ss today. Otherwise, she would''ve fought someone.

    A whileter, another ss came. There would be four sses grouped together, fighting against one another.

    "By the way, if any of you lose your fight. You will be punished." That was pretty dark. Her pride as a teacher clearly showed.

    Leaving us on our own, the four teachers went up to the gym stage. "Don''t you think this is boring?" Ruby, who was beside me, spoke.

    "Why do we have to waste time on these weaklings?" She was clearly angry that she had to fight people below her level. It was understandable since she was someone who enjoyed fighting opponents.

    Ms. Colorful, using her mana, gathered the attention of everyone. She was going to speak due to her status as the head teacher.

    "Now that everyone is listening, all of you know what we''re here for." Ms. Colorful wasn''t loud, but her voice had been heard clearly.

    "Everyone here would be fighting a member of a different ss. To make everyone here fight seriously, we added a reward for the winner." A reward? It never hurts to get free stuff.

    People in our ss were happy that they were going to get something for winning. Our chances of winning were much higher than the others.

    "For the lower sses, if you beat someone from an upper ss, you would take their ce." That is a heavy punishment for losing, but it wouldn''t bother me anyways.

    "And for the upper ss, if you win. You will get a rank two purity mana crystal." My eyes widened, hearing that we would get a pure mana crystal.

    They are rare mana crystals that would improve the rate of mana absorption. What made them pretty rare was to make a pure mana crystal. You would have to take your own mana to make them.

    Making them would make you lose your progress as a mage. Not only that, they had to be made by someone under forty.

    No one in the right mind would do that. Pure mana crystals are rarely sold in shops; to make it worse, they are insanely expensive.

    Why would the teachers of Avaris do something like this when exchange students are mixed in? I doubt that they would give us it, and not to their main students that had been exchanged to other countries.

    Were they trying to flex how much resources they had? I couldn''t figure it out so I stopped this train of thought.

    As I was busy trying to figure out why they were doing this practice, most of the students moved to the side of the gym making way for the battlers.

 Chapter 115 School Without Olivia (Part II)

    Sometimes I think that the country of Avaris had too much money to care for. As everyone was in ce, a giant screen was shown on the side of the front wall.

    Now that overkill, "The battles would be at random, but the chances of you fighting your ssmate are zero." How is that random? I wouldn''t be surprised if they put the exchange students to fight the strongest of the other sses.

    How long would this take? 159 students meaning 79 fights. They would also be verified depending on the fighters. It would definitely take hours before this whole thing finishes.

    But this was also a chance to see most of the first year of this school. The remaining three sses weren''t too far off from this ss.

    People from our ss would lose, and the dogs in my ss were prime examples.

    The screen began to move, and two random names appeared. I didn''t know them, but students from sses A and B were going to fight.

    I didn''t bother remembering their names since I knew very well that my chances of interacting with them were low.

    "Bitch I could finally put you in your ce!" Did they have a grudge against one another? That was pretty interesting having to fight someone like that.

    "Fufufu! Someone like you could never beat me! It''s a shame I haven''t fought a ss S student." The A ss studentughed arrogantly, mocking the student from ss B.

    Gritting in anger, the B-ss student used her magic right at the A-ss student. Firing a grass de, the ss A student had blocked it with a giant flower.

    Flowers and grass are two simr magics. Was the student from ss B perhaps a branch family from the ss A student?

    Now, this fight was interesting, would the person from ss B win, or would the student from ss A win.

    The match waspletely one-sided. The flower girl could block every attacking from the grass girl.

    "A loser like you should know your ce!" Saying this line, the flower girl made a flower that would tangle her opponent.

    Stuck by the vines of the flower, the grass girl was struggling as hard as she could, trying to break free from these vines.

    "Fufufu! I won''t make this hard for you if you surrender now." The ss A student said, clearlyughing at her opponent.

    Staying silent, the grass girl continued to struggle. "If that is your answer, be it."

    Making a whip, the flower girl whipped the grass girl. At this point, it could be considered torture. The teachers weren''t stopping this fight, and the grass girl wasn''t budging.

    Most of the students were ufortable, and I would say the reputation of the flower girl would change after this battle.<sub> </sub>

    It didn''t end until a student couldn''t take it and stepped in, the flower girl tried to provoke the heroine, but the teacher stopped it. At the end of the battle, the ss A girl won.

    That was the first match, and the atmosphere was already intense. I didn''t know how to feel about that torturing thing. I wasn''t a hero who would step in like the girl before.

    With the battle finished, the next match was going to begin. This time it was a C ss fighting an S ss student.

    This would be a massacre. The C ss student was sweating seeing her opponent. The S ss student who was a ssmate of mine wasn''t anyone noteworthy.

    Looking at my ssmate, she seemed a bit too happy that she would fight a student from the lowest rank.

    With the battle beginning, I could see it was already over. My ssmate had run over and pummeled her. The C ss student didn''t even put an ounce of resistance.

    The teacher of this student had a disappointed look. She was clearly embarrassed by the performance that the student had given. I bet the students of ss C would getughed at from this moment.

    Battles had kept on going. Most battles with C ss were pretty one-sided. A few students had taken over the other ss, but it wasn''t much.

    None of my ssmates had yet to lose. It would be pretty embarrassing to lose as an exchange student. Once you lose, facing your peers would be pretty hard. Not only that, the progress you make would be much slower.

    It was finally one of the four dog siblings to fight in the ring. Most of my ssmates weren''t confident in their abilities to fight.

    They were usually one of the lowest performers in our ss. In fact, I could see that some of our ssmates hoped that they would lose.

    The four dogs were like a stain to most of my ssmates. Not only were they, but embarrassingly so. I didn''t know how they got to S ss, but this battle would decide her fate.

    Her opponent would be a student from B ss. I would prefer it to be a student from ss A, but it wasn''t my choice.

    When they fought, I was surprised that they were pretty even. Maybe our ss was stronger than I thought. Maybe they were just filling the spot of S ss so they could be used as motivation.

    I guess in the end, it doesn''t matter. It had been a few minutes since they fought, and now they were both on theirst straws, waiting for a mistake from the opposing force.

    In the end, one of the four dogs won their match. It was a close match, but the dog used her brain and attacked her from the back using a rock from behind.

    There were about sixty battles left, and I couldn''t help but think about when my battle would start. I wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible and go home.

    The next battle was between Ruby and a student from ss C. I gave the student from ss C my condolence.

 Chapter 116 School Without Olivia (Part III)

    Ruby, like me, has fire-type magic. She was like me but much weaker. The opponent was scared out of her mind. It wouldn''t be surprising if Ruby were well-known in the first years.

    "I surrender." The C ss student had said before the match had started that it was a wise choice on her part.

    Ruby was dissatisfied by this oue as she looked slightly annoyed, seeing that this fight was over before it started.

    More battles had progressed, and now two-thirds of the battle had finished. Two of my ssmates had lost to two A-ss students making them my new ssmates. Surprisingly all four of the dog siblings had won their battle.

    None of the exchange students had lost, and when the next battle was going to begin. I was matched up with a C ss student.

    "I hope you go easy on me." My opponent looked pretty nervous. I didn''t say anything hoping this would end as quickly as possible.

    When the battle started, I sent mes under my opponent''s legs. My opponent began to defend by jumping away from my magic.

    Making a weak beam, I shot it in the direction of where she was about to jump. Unable to move in midair, my beamednded, causing my opponent extreme pain.

    My attack had caused my opponent to faint, and with that, the match was over. If you didn''t include Ruby''s opponent in surrendering, it was the quickest battle in this fight.

    Should I stay or leave? If I leave, I won''t get the pure mana crystal immediately. I didn''t need it, but it was helpful to Olivia. Olivia was probably bored and went to sleep.

    I would wait. More battles progressed, and finally, an exchange student lost a match.

    What a shame, and it wasn''t someone from A ss but surprisingly a student from ss B. They would lose a lot of faces if it were known to their whole school.

    The student that came with her was highly disappointed by her performance. But the ss B student was pretty good, as strong as an average S ss student. Not to mention. The B ss student magic was a counter to hers.

    I wonder if it was intentional for this match to happen. Ms. Colorful didn''t seem disappointed by these results. She seemed a bit happy. Did that ex-ssmate of mine piss her off or something?

    Reba was next, and she was going to fight a C ss student. Looking at these results, all my strong ssmates were against C ss students that were extremely weak.

    While strong people were up against the weakest members of my ss, I couldn''t help but think it was intentional.

    "Don''t you think this is boring?" Reba, who had just won, went toward me.

    "It is," I replied, hoping this would be over soon.

    "Let me tell you a secret, this small event was made to get some exchange students to go to a lower ss," Reba whispered.

    "It''s not like it''s a secret or anything. You have seen how the matches were."

    "What would happen to your old ssmates? Would some of them be demoted?"

    "Don''t know, but who cares." She didn''t seem close to any of them based on her answer.

    Both Reba and I began to talk about casual topics. And by the end of this battle, two more exchange students lost to two A-ss students. We would be getting three new ssmates while losing another three.<sub> </sub>

    It took four hours to finish this whole thing. After getting our prizes, I left without giving anyone a farewell.

    The pure mana crystal was a white-colored rock made of solid mana. By touching the pure mana crystal, I could feel how much mana was radiating from it.

    Olivia could quickly get an upgrade after absorbing this thing. It wouldn''t do me much since my mana pool was much higher than a regr person''s.

    I still had to get something for Olivia. What was it again? Ah! I remembered it was a magazine. What kind of magazine should I get for her? Now that was the real question.

    A fashioned one? Or a food one? With those two choices, I decided to go with the fashion magazine. I didn''t want Olivia to think that I think that she was a glutton.

    Going to pick some magazines, I suddenly got sidetracked by a digital game store. I remembered how Olivia had crushed me in the arcade, and those were memories that I didn''t want to remember.

    Looking at popr gaming devices, the 3DA console is currently the most used and newest device. There were many games, but I decided to go with three.

    After I finished my shopping spree, what did I need to buy again? I guess it didn''t matter.

    Eventually, I returned home after I bought a gaming console. I went to my room where Olivia was.

    She was awake, staring at the window. Should I y a prank on her? Olivia still hasn''t realized that I''m here.

    As I sneakily walked toward her, she was still staring out the window, unable to notice my presence.

    "AWEEEEEK!" Olivia was scared out of her mind when I glomped on her earlobe.

    "I''m back!" I smiled brightly when I sessfully scared her.

    "That''s not funny!" Olivia looked angry after I made her scared.

    "Sorry!" I tried to hug her, but she pushed me away, and my depression meter rose when she did that. I deserved it after what I did.

    "I got you something!" I got a pure mana crystal and gave it to her.

    Olivia looked confused about what I had given her. Doesn''t she know what this is? "Olivia, it''s a pure mana crystal. It helps you gather mana at a faster rate."

    "But isn''t it better for you?" She seemed taken aback by what I had given her.

    "It''s less effective for me to use it. I need more mana than an average person." I exined it to her, making Olivia less hesitant to use it.

    "I also got you this." I gave her a 3DA device.

    "What is this?" Olivia looked confused about what I had in my hand.

    "It is a 3DA, used for gaming. Try it out!"

 Chapter 117 Self Improvement: Money Making Grind

    A week had passed since Olivia had stayed home. I had given her a pure mana crystal, which significantly improved her mana levels.

    That much mana made three months'' worth of progress for her. She would be at the third rank if she had two more.

    The present I gave her almost turned her into a NEET. Olivia would y it whenever she got the chance, and I had to limit her ytime to at least two hours a day.

    Was this how parents felt when their children were like this? I was starting to get scared if I was a parent one day.

    It was morning, and today there wasn''t any ss. We could do whatever we wanted today without worrying about the time.

    Last night was pretty wild. I had given in to my desires and had done what I did to Olivia a week ago.

    Olivia was hugging me tightly. I had to wake her up, so I could move. I have decided what I need to do this week.

    "Olivia, please wake up." I grabbed her bare tits, using pleasure to wake her up.

    "Hmm~!" She squirmed before waking up.

    "Charlie...?" Olivia woke up from my touch.

    "We have something important to do."

    Olivia jolted wide awake. "Important? I don''t remember you saying something was important today."

    "We''re going to do self-improvement." Olivia and I have been indulging ourselves for the past few weeks. The both of us had been highly unproductive with our time.

    "My crotch hurts. Maybe next time." Olivia wanted to go away hearing the word self-improvement.

    "Olivia, I also don''t like to hear that word, but it is a must." If we kept going with this lifestyle, I''d be afraid of what was next toe.

    "We''ve been too unproductive with our time. Thinks this as a change of paste." I tried to motivate myself and Olivia on this matter.

    Olivia sighed and went along with it. The both of us went to take a bath and clean ourselves.

    "Charlie, what are we going to do first?" Olivia was unsure of what we were going to do first.

    "Olivia, life runs on money. To be productive, it is to earn money." If we had money, we would get to do more things.

    "Let''s earn enough money to keep buying you pure mana crystals." The stronger she gets, the more money we earn.

    "We could go to the dungeon or do a service where you sell your food."

    "Which would you prefer?" There were two choices: we could earn gold coins as fast as we could. I gave Olivia a choice since her opinion on this mattered the most.

    "I don''t have enough mana to sustain everyone." Olivia was thinking of the possibilities of her choice.<sub> </sub>

    Olivia sighed and picked a decision. "I would like to try selling my food first." Olivia had never done that, but it was something we could easily do.

    "First things first, we need a permit."

    "Why do we need a permit?" Olivia couldn''t be that dumb.

    "Don''t we need a permit to set up a stall?" Otherwise, it wouldn''t be safe.

    "No, my caretaker had set up a stall in my orphanage without needing a permit." Was she serious???

    <o>,m "Then what would happen if someone got poisoned by the food of the seller?" I had eaten some stall food, but now I know they weren''t safe. I have to be careful of them now.</o>

    "If it were known, then they would be imprisoned." That was good.

    "So all we need to do is buy a food stand." Where should we go to buy one?

    "We could buy it from someone." Olivia gave an idea, and it would efficiently work.

    Heading out of our house, we both searched for a stall to buy. It was early morning, and many people were in their stalls selling their food.

    Finding a target, I found a person in mind. "Olivia, let''s go with that old man." He looks like an easy target to pick on.

    "Gramps! How much money would we need to buy your stall." The old man looks pretty tired of working. He would be someone who we could buy this stall from.

    "Five gold coins." Five gold coins could be a lot for someone who couldn''t use magic. If he lived an honest life for his remaining days, he could live off those five gold coins.

    Handing him five gold coins, the old man looked shocked. He probably wasn''t expecting us to buy it. Taking the coins, he left the stall for us.

    "Olivia, how much do you think your magic is worth?" It was her magic, so she should price them.

    Taking out a pen, I changed the menu. I had taken Olivia to many ces for lunch and dinner. She had a wide variety of food that she could conjure. But it was hard to write which we should sell.

    Sticking with chicken, beef, and pork would be our three menus because we added effects to them for an increased price.

    Food that would recover stamina would be worth three giant silver coins. Food that recovers someone''s mana would be eight giant silver coins, and food that recovers one health would be worth eight giant silver coins.

    It was necessary to write that it would be effective on rank three mages or lower. We didn''t want our stall to have a reputation as a scammer. Olivia''s magic work best with rank three magicians or lower.

    With our signs ready, our stall is now open. "Olivia, since you will be doing the heavy lifting. I will let you y on the 3DA." I gave her the console since we had nothing better to do than stand here.

    Olivia was happy that she could y on the 3DA while working. ying a game while working that doesn''t hinder you is a dream for most people.

    Since all the work was done. Olivia needed to use her magic for the people who requested what they needed.

 Chapter 118 The Money Grind Continue

    Watching Olivia y on the 3DA, our first customer appears. The customer began to look at our menu from the sign. Thinking that it was too expensive, she left.

    I guess not everyone can afford prices like these. It was a shame that our potential first customer had left our stall.

    A whileter, another customer appeared. This time it was a male somewhere in his forties. Looking at the sign, he also frowned slightly.

    "Good morning, would you like to buy anything? I guarantee that the food we sell is of the best quality." I tried my best to appeal to him with my smooth talking.

    He was flustered when looking at me. He coughed slightly and began ordering. "I will take a beef meal set to increase my stamina." Paying three giant silver coins.

    Olivia waved her hand and made a small cube of beef. Stabbing the meat with a wooden stick, I gave it to the man.

    He looked confused about why the beef was small. "Try it first before youin." I didn''t want to deal with an angry customer.

    Listening to my advice, the man looked skeptical. Taking a bite of it, his eyes widen. "UWWWOOHHH!!!" He screamed as his muscles began to grow. Was this the effect of someone would who couldn''t use mana? It looked like he took some drugs to make himself stronger.

    Everyone who was nearby had heard themotion. The other men were wondering what was happening to the man before them.

    "I have never felt this good in my life!" He was flexing his muscles wide in the open. He made a great advertisement for our store.

    Before anyone came to our stall, I had changed the price of the stamina meat to five silver coins. I hope that Olivia''s food wouldn''t have any side effects.

    "Jerome! When did you be so muscr!" An unfamiliar man who knew "Jerome" appeared and was surprised by his appearance.

    "Do you see that show there? Their stamina meat made me like this. I could work all day!" "Jerome" left excited for the day.

    The man who bought our food had directly advertised our food. This was a great start to our business.

    The money will be raking in no time if this keeps up. With Jerome''s help, more men came and asked for a lump of meat that helped boost stamina.

    Olivia, who was still ying on her gaming device, had waved her hand with one hand and summoned multiple foods dealing with all the customer''s orders.

    At first, a manined about the portion of the meat we gave, but after he ate it. He had nothing he couldin about.

    We had earned five gold from ten men. "Olivia, how much mana do you still have left?" I needed to check on her and see if this wasn''t too taxing for her.

    p "I have plenty. I didn''t use much mana for the meals that I created." Since men didn''t need much mana, Olivia could continuously make them without being tired.</anda>

    Should we raise the price for women? Olivia would need more mana for them to be satisfied. I should ask Olivia how she would feel about it.<sub> </sub>

    "Olivia, do you think our business will be better if we raise the female prices?" Ultimately, her products would be sold at the price of her mana.

    "Please do. I don''t want to get tired too easily." Women in this world are not only more robust, but their profession makes them earn more money with their magic. I don''t think they would beining.

    The decision was made to double the price for all females. This way of money-making was much quicker than going into the dungeon.

    It wasn''t long before a student came toward our stall, looking at our prices. The female student looking at me had her eyes widen. "Aren''t you Charlie from ss S-1? What are you doing here!"

    A curious one, wasn''t she? "Making money?" I mean, there wasn''t any reason other than to make money here.

    "That''s pretty expensive." The student looked at the price and spoke in an exasperated voice.

    "And why do we girls have to pay more?" She thought it was weird that the price would be higher for females.

    "The food we sell is made out of mana. Men use less mana, so the cost is lower for them." I told the female student the reasoning behind the price.

    "I see. I will buy the mana recovery chicken." Paying 16 giant silver coins, I got the chicken that Olivia had already summoned.

    The female student was surprised by the portion. But knowing that the food was made of mana,ining wasn''t something that she wanted to do.

    Her eyes widened like the first customer we had earlier. "I didn''t expect my mana to return this much." She was talking to herself when saying it.

    After finishing, the girl left with a happy face. As the day went on, more and more customers appeared, and Olivia''s mana was going to run out.

    "Olivia, look how much money we earned." Olivia was drained from the food she had made. It was cute how she was leaning on me with our cheeks connected.

    Our stall had closed, ensuring no customers were going to order. "Olivia, we earned about 80 gold coins today. Almost doubled our money from a dungeon."

    "That''s great." Olivia wasn''t in the mood to celebrate with how low mana she was on.

    "How about we go get lunch in a restaurant?" I doubt Olivia would want to make food in her state. Also, my trust in stall foods became much lower, making it almost impossible for me to go there.

    "Hmm," Olivia grunted, not in the mood to talk.

    "Why don''t we take a short break first?" Olivia looked like she could barely stand up in her state.

    Instead of Olivia''s face on mine, I put her head onto myp. Maybe I was a bit too hard on her. I should tone the amount of food made for our next service.

 Chapter 119 After Work Comes Enjoyment

    After finishing our lunch, Olivia and I explored the west side of the academy. We only stayed on the north side since it was near our house.

    "Charlie! There is an aquarium!" She shouted and pointed in the direction of the aquarium.

    "Do you want to check it out?" I haven''t been to an aquarium in this world. I wonder if there were dangerous sea monsters inside of it.

    Confirming that we could go, Olivia grabbed my arms, and the both of us went ahead to the aquarium.

    The building of this aquarium was massive. It was thergest building in this district. I wouldn''t be surprised if the aquarium were this area''s main attraction.

    Upon arriving at the aquarium, a female worker was working at the booth. "Do both of you have a promotional pass to enter?"

    "No. Does the promotional pass do something?" Were they doing an advertisement for this ce?

    "A promotional pass would let you enter with four people at one price." That was a pretty good deal.

    "Without it, you could buy two passes for one giant silver coin." It wasn''t anything too expensive, paying for it we went into the aquarium.

    Man, sometimes I can''t understand this world. Technology is sometimes superior to my old world. But the culture in this world was so much worse.

    Entering, there was a ss panel everywhere in the aquarium. "Charlie, look!" Olivia was looking up to see a whale. Was it a baby whale? It was about 30 meters long.

    This ce was pretty unreal. I wondered how strong the ss panels were in this ce. Besides that, how long did it take to make them considering it was everywhere?

    Olivia and I were both like a child looking around everywhere, curious about what we would find.

    It was peaceful looking at the sea creatures doing their things. At times like these, I wish I could dress as a boy and act how I want.

    "Olivia, there''s a shark." A shark had appeared, snapping me out of my thoughts.

    "Wohh!" It was a sight to behold, looking at an apex species. I couldn''t tell how strong it was, but it could demolish me if it tried.

    The shark was entirely ck and looked like a creature from a movie. Its eyes were red, and its teeth were razor sharp. If a creature like that somehow broke the ss panels, I wouldn''t know what to do.

    "Don''t you think creatures like that are scary?" With my current strength, I would be scared shitless fighting this shark in the water.

    "Yes, but we should be safe here." I didn''t know how Olivia could be sure that we were safe.

    "How are you so sure?" Wanting to know her thoughts on it, I asked.

    "I believe it would." I patted Olivia on the head. Her innocence was sometimes too much. Sometimes when she was in this state, I wished I could gobble her up.

    She was confused about why I would pat her on the head but wouldn''t question it. Olivia was too good for this world.

    The further we went into the aquarium, the more fishes we found. Schools of fish would appear. It would be nice if a hungry predator didn''t chase them.

    "Are the sea creatures even allowed to eat weaker monsters in the aquarium?" It was pretty graphical for an entertainment resort that included children.

    "Olivia, it''s not like the workers here could stop them unless they put a separate tank for every creature."<sub> </sub>

    With our idle talk, we dove deeper into the aquarium. More creatures were appearing, and some nts you would never usually see would be underwater.

    "Charlie, what is that?" Olivia pointed at the eight-legged creature.

    "It''s an octopus."

    "The legs of it look pretty creepy." Olivia was disgusted by the way it moved. Maybe I shouldn''t tell her that I ate those things when she was bedridden.

    It wasn''t long before we finished the small tour of aquatic animals. On the other side of the building, there were more things we could explore.

    There were stores where merchandise could be bought from only in ces like these. And there were even events that the workers here do with aquatic animals.

    Suddenly, Olivia, holding my hand, dragged me around a dolphin parlor. Many family and friends were sitting by watching the disy of the dolphins ying around with the spectator.

    "Olivia, don''t get close to the dolphins." I had heard the news about them. They may look cute, but under that cuteness is something dark.

    "Why? Look how cute they''re." It would be best if you didn''t judge them by their looks.

    "They''re also pretty cruel creatures."

    "Cruel? In what way?" Olivia wondered how they could be cruel.

    "They like to kill things just for the fun of it." I also heard they do sexual assaults, but I wasn''t going to say that to Olivia.

    "Not only that, they could easily spread diseases." I don''t know if we could get diseases with our bodies, but I would instead not test them out.

    "Mom! Is what that prettydy saying true?" A child close to us had overheard our conversation.

    The mother red at me and wasn''t sure what to say to the child. "Of course not, sweety, but you shouldn''t get close to them." ... I ignored them and looked at Olivia.

    Olivia was mind blogged by what I said. All her excitement of seeing the dolphins had died down from my words.

    "There are other things that we could do. There are souvenirs of the animals that we saw." I bet she would like some cute dolls.

    Walking to the souvenir store, there was a seafood restaurant right next to it. So they kept some animals here to eat themter.

    After our shopping trip to the souvenir store, we left the aquarium. We both had time to do more, but we had already spent the day doing work.

    "Olivia, let''s head home." I was pretty pooped out from taking orders from every customer. Olivia was even more so from using her mana.

    "Hmm!" She nodded and stretched her arms up in the air.

    "Charlie... Let''s do it." Olivia whispered into my ears. It was pretty bold of her to do it here.

    Looking at her, she is looking at me, hopefully. I sighed but agreed in the end. With our ns made, both of us went home.

 Chapter 120 Magic Test V2

    It has been a month since we have been at Avaris Royal Academy. Olivia and I were making progress on our money-making scheme.

    I had bought Olivia many mana recovery-rted artifacts. Our average ie was about 100 Gold coins per day.

    With how much money we spent on artifacts, we had about 1500 gold coins. The both of us were trying to see if a pure mana crystal was on sale, but it was almost impossible to find.

    The bright news was I had reached the threshold of a third-rank mage. There wasn''t as much power boost as I thought there would have liked.

    My sun magic, orange mixed with red, was now entirely red. Meaning my magic itself had improved in power.

    It was alreadyte at night, and Olivia was already asleep. I wanted to test my magic out but was afraid of someone watching close from behind.

    I wondered if the training facility was still on. It should be open 24/7, with some people using their magic at night.

    I hoped that wouldn''t wake Olivia up when I slipped out of bed. Taking a face mask, I left the house. I went to a training facility that was nearby.

    Arriving at the training facility, I could see the lights turned on outside. The training facility was free for students, but they recorded your results.

    "I would like an hour''s worth of practice." I went to the receptionist of this ce, who could reserve a spot for me to test out my current capabilities.

    "Are you studying at this academy?" If I confirmed I was, I would get a free pass, but it would be recorded.

    "No." I didn''t want attention, so I denied that I was a student of this school.,

    "Could you tell me your name and rank?"

    "Ashley, four rank mage." I gave her a random name. I should be as strong as a fourth-rank mage with my current strength.

    Writing down my name, "That would be five gold coins for an hour''s worth of your training facilities times."

    Paying her five coins, she led me to a room. It was pretty isted, which was perfect for me. While I could use my magic, I wouldn''t be suspected with my fourth-rank power.

    It was a shame that there wasn''t any sunlight in here. My magic power wasn''t strengthened by it to be tested.

    Inside the white walls were multiple tools for me to test my abilities. A magic dummy would allow me to check how strong my magic was.

    Testing my power, I first made a fireball swirling in a circle. I haven''t put much mana into it, but it should be as strong as my most decisive moves during my being a second-rank mage.

    Launching it on the dummy, the number 32520 appeared. My moves had tripled from thest time I had used this dummy. Seeing how far I havee over these few months was excellent progress.

    After finishing my first move, I went to the next one. If my fireball were a normal attack, my sma beam would be a fast pration move.<sub> </sub>

    Shooting the beam quickly, I had done 42350 damage to the dummy. I knew why I used this move the most often. Not only was it solid but quick, not only that the cost efficiency of this move was almost the same as the fireball.

    Using these two moves, I had one more in store. Charging fifty percent of my mana, I used it to create a red sun the size of a boulder.

    Finishing charging, Iunched it toward the dummy. With my finishing move making contact with the dummy, my sun exploded, making a massive explosion around the room.

    Dust wasing towards me, and it was good that this room was substantial. Otherwise, it would be a pain to fix.

    Doing damage of 145000, my attack had more than tripled my beam attack. If I needed a move to finish something, this was my go-to.

    I had done everything I needed in this room. The other training equipment was pretty useless for me. I have a ss tomorrow, and I should get as much rest as possible.

    Olivia shouldn''t have woken up, so I hoped my disappearance wouldn''t rm her. Before I could leave, a thought came to my head.

    Should I stay a bit longer? It would be pretty suspicious if I left too early. With that in mind, I stayed an extra thirty minutes.

    After thirty minutes, I left the room. "How was your experience in the training facility?" The receptionist must be bored enough to start a conversation with me. It was understandable since there weren''t many people at night.

    "I had a pretty good experience." I couldn''t say anything was wrong with it except that it could be monitoring me.

    "Pleasee again when you have the time." She smiled and bid me a warm farewell. I nodded and smiled at her, and left the building.

    The dark sky was pretty lovely, despite being from the Sris family. I didn''t mind if days like these happened more.

    Walking, I remembered a girl named Lua. I wondered how she was doing. It has been a few months since Ist saw her. I wonder if there is a chance that we will meet again.

    When I was reminiscing, I arrived at my house. Entering the house, I went into my room. Olivia was there awake, looking pretty worried.

    "I''m back." I changed back into my sleepwear and went back to bed.

    "Did you go somewhere?"

    "I advanced into a third-rank magician and went to a training facility to test it out."

    "So... Fast." Olivia was shocked beyond what she could say. For someone to reach the third rank within four months was unbelievable in the eyes of magicians.

    "Let''s go to sleep. We have ss tomorrow, and it''s prettyte." I went close to Olivia and snuggled against her body.

    "Warm." Olivia wrapped her legs around me and closed her eyes.

 Chapter 121 Traveling Mission

    Olivia and I woke upte. We had a block of meat and ran to school. We arrived right before our teacher arrived.

    Reba, who was in front of me, conversed with me. "Did you hear? Our school will receive an assignment."

    "Assignment???" Olivia didn''t hear the word that Reba had said.

    "Don''t we always do something during ss? What is the big difference?" Ms. Colorful always made us fight something, and I don''t see what was so different from this assignment we''re getting.

    "The school would decide this one. Which means we would get rewards for finishing them. But our punishment would be harsh." Olivia had freaked out when she heard the word punishment.

    Let''s hope that our assignment allowed us to work in groups. "Is the school even allowed to punish the exchange student?"

    "If you mess up in your assignment, you probably will."

    Before we could talk more, our teacher walked in. Ms. Colorful was more severe than usual. If anyone made a noise, they would be destroyed by her.

    "Everyone!" Her tone caught our attention, which was usually elegant and arrogant, and was now gone.

    "Today, we will be doing our monthly special mission. It has been four months since all of you gained the ability to grow your magic." Monthly mission? So will we do one for next month and the one after?

    "You could either do these missions alone or in groups." That was good. I don''t want to be a worried mother if Olivia is off alone doing something that could be too hard for her.

    "After finishing these missions, you would get the reward given by the mission you choose if there was an indication of a mission you chose with a penalty. You will be penalized by the mission that will be given."

    "To find a mission, you must head to the mission hall on the other side of the school."

    "Once you pick a mission, the mission for one chosen would be closed. The first one to pick it would get priority to the mission chosen." So if we get there first, we could pick a mission immediately.

    "sses would be canceled every first day of the month. You are now free to choose a mission." Our teacher left saying those words.

    "Olivia, head home first. I will choose one right away." I could see some students making a run for it. Not only the first years would have to pick. But the second, third and fourth would need to choose.

    I then dashed out of the room, leaving Olivia inside. She should be home by the time I choose a mission that both of us couldplete.

    <o>,m Like me, all the first year were out of their ss, hoping to get a mission. Half of the requests were already gone when I arrived at the mission board.</o>

    It was unfair how the second, third, and fourth years had an advantage of knowing this before us.

    I was first in my year, but the others woulde in soon. Looking around at the request made, many of them stood out.

    Eliminate the bandits that have been robbing our vige. The reward was fifty gold with the bandit boss at the second rank mage. The penalty was forty gold upon failure.

    Most of the requests made were from the area outside of the school. It was nice to see how the school treated us like a handyman.<sub> </sub>

    Looking at the most promising request, I took it right away and headed to the receptionist handling the mission requested by the people.

    I felt terrible for the receptionist having to deal with almost a thousand of us for the day. "I would like to take this mission."

    "May I have your name and your group member?"

    "Charlie from ss 1S and Olivia from ss 1S" It was only me and Olivia that would take this mission on.

    "Are you sure? I rmend two more students from your grade to take this on." It may be hard for an average student, but I was pretty sure I could do this alone.

    "I''m prepared for the consequences of the failures of my action." The consequences of the mission weren''t that bad. At most, we would have to pay for one day worth of working in a food stall, which means 100 gold coins.

    The receptionist saw that I was determined to take on this request. It is not like she can entirely reject it, even if we were students. In the end, we are adults.

    Signing the papers, "The mission is now yours. Please finish it as soon as possible." I nned to do so.

    The room with first-year students as I left the mission hall. Walking back home, Olivia should be there at the moment.

    Arriving, I saw Olivia standing outside the door and sitting on a nearby bench. "You could have waited for me outside."

    "Sorry, I was a bit curious about what mission you had chosen."

    "I had chosen an easy one. The only problem would be how far we had to travel."

    "Which one did you choose?"

    "It is a mission to transport an essential item." While it may be shady, I heard the group we were transporting had an outstanding reputation.

    "The reward is two tinum coins per person." Almost six weeks'' worth of our sales.

    "Isn''t that too much for us? What if we have to fight something too strong for us."

    "Most strong monsters only stay in their hideout. Even if a fourth-rank monster had appeared, I could easily distract it." I wasn''t overconfident, and my power was proof of it.

    "Our mission starts tomorrow. It is estimated that we would be traveling back and forth for ten days." Which means we could see other parts of the world freely.

    "Which means no sex for this trip." I thought Olivia would feel devastated by this. It would be good if she could have reasonable self-control.

    "We could buy a noise-canceling artifact." ... Man, she is a genius when she needed it to be.

 Chapter 122 Escort Mission (Part I)

    It was the day of the escort mission. Olivia and I were ready to go. We had over-prepared for this trip, but I could say that it was worth it.

    We bought a noise canceller because of Olivia''s request. It was also suitable for recon missions which we might needter on. Yeah, I bought it totally because of this.

    There was also a tent artifact that we bought. The tent we bought was pretty small on the outside. But inside was the size of the room.

    Olivia and I were pretty loaded with money. And at the rate we were gaining them, we bought more artifacts just in case.

    Both of us bought a sensor device detecting any hostile enemies within one hundred meters of the artifact.

    We also bought artifacts for armor and boots. Mainly for Olivia. I wouldn''t want to get her hurt, and she needed a way to run if a situation turned for the worst.

    The armor we bought for Olivia was a pretty light weighted armor made to increase speed by twenty percent. With the boots, it added up to seventy percent.

    "Olivia, let''s go to our meeting area." The mission poster had requested us to meet at the medical bay of their store.

    Olivia and I would be transporting with some other guards from their store. It wouldn''t make sense if the two of us were the only ones to protect their product.

    Travis'' Medical Progression, A genius male doctor, created thispany. Many branches of thispany had spread out wide in every country known. I had heard that Travis was already in his eighties and near deathbed.

    It was a shame that he didn''t have mana to keep him alive longer. Sometimes life isn''t too fair for people who have talents.

    Meeting at our destined location, a girl of our age greeted us. "Charlie and Oliva, right?" It looks like the receptionist had already informed us that the two of us had taken her request.

    Olivia and I nodded at her confirming that it was indeed us. "I''m Ka Eynder. I''m your contractor." Wasn''t Travis''sst name Eynder? Maybe she was his granddaughter.

    "We will do our best to protect your product," Olivia stated, trying to keep the vibes positive.

    "I hope the both of you will do that."

    "We will be departing in half an hour." That shouldn''t be too long.

    "It would be wise for you to get to know the others." Ka looked at the others. Like us, four more students were waiting for the departure of our escort mission.

    Walking to the four students, they were talking among themselves. "Angie, do you think you could be the leader just because you''re a senior?"

    Oh boy, they were already fighting. Seeing that Olivia and I hade over, the seemingly angry girl smiled at us.

    "Both of you are first years. I had heard that you were one of the strongest exchange students." Was I that famous? That is all it matters if they don''t know my true strength and family name.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m Kimi Lenoragate from ss S2, and these two are my friends, Lora and Jess." Kimi had neatly introduced herself. Kimi was some dog beastmen, along with two of her other friends.

    "Our proimed leader Angie is a student from ss E3." I looked at Angie. Her expression turned red when Kimi kept mentioning her ss rank.

    "How deplorable we would have to takemand from a student of ss E."

    If the other person seems dependable, I wouldn''t mind, but seeing how Angie would lose her cool quickly means she wasn''t worthy of leadership.

    "I don''t think a leader is necessary. Ka, our employer, would probably be better for the job. She looks like she has been doing this for years."

    Travis'' Medical Progressionpany was originally from the country of Evergreen Forest. Travis was a male elf. In fairy tales, the elf was supposed to have longevity, but Travis doesn''t have mana, so it doesn''t apply to him.

    "There you have it. Even our neers don''t want to be in your lead." Angie could only clench her fist in anger. Unable to do anything about it.

    "Now that we''re on the topic of getting to know one another. Why don''t the both of you tell me what your magic is? It would be easier for us to work together if a problem were to happen.

    "My magic is fire, while my friend here can make food that would heal any of us." I had said what I needed, and Kimi had nodded.

    "Healing? That''s pretty rare. d to have both of you." She raised her hand, waiting for us to give her a handshake. I didn''t want to be rude, so I took her hand and shook it.

    "What magic do you seniors use?" It wasn''t fair that only the both of us told our magic.

    "My magic allows me to enchant myself physically. In contrast, Lora slows down the opposing force. Jess here weakens the opposing force." I would say their magic would work well together, maybe. Maybe that''s why Kimi brought them along.

    "I see, then about Angie?" Even if she was from E ss, she was two years older than Olivia and I. So she should be helpful in something.

    "My ability allows me to see through the weak points of my enemy." Before Kimi could answer, Angie did so herself.

    Her magic was more practical in groups but useless against opponents that were stronger than her.

    I could see why she wanted to be the leader, but even if she were the leader, she would need to be calm and collected all the time, which I haven''t seen at the moment.

    Before we left for the escort mission, our employer Ka did a head count. She didn''t want to leave until everyone was there.

    With everyone arriving on time, it was time for us to depart from Avaris Royal Academy.

 Chapter 123 Escort Mission (Part II)

    It had been an hour since we left Avaris, and I thought we would be in a carriage for this escort mission.

    I thought a mission like this would be easy. Now I could see why it was worth two tinum coins.

    Olivia, beside me, didn''t look too thrilled about this job. I could understand her frustration, but it was already toote toin.

    In novels, doesn''t the main character always sit beside the manager in the carriage? Who am I kidding? It''s not like I''m some charismatic main character.

    "How are the two of you holding up?" Kimi asked while grinning.

    "Nothing like you expected, right?" She probably had the same idea when she first did a job like this.

    "Don''t worry, the both of you will get used to this." I rather not doing a task like this was too much work. I might as well choose a different task next time.

    "Olivia, let''s buy a transportation artifact next time," I said. I would self-improve with Olivia. Still, exercising was pretty useless, considering we have mana.

    "Agreed." Olivia was on board with this idea.

    The scenery was the same for the most part. Everything was just a forest with a road to walk by. It was a good thing that we hadn''t encountered any monsters.

    "Olivia, I''m sorry." It was so dull, and I regret picking a mission like this. Olivia looked toward me and understood why I was apologizing to her.

    "I''m going to make you work extra hard. In bed." She said those two words extremely quietly, only for me to hear.

    I wasn''t sure if I wanted to do it with her here. There were many people here that could catch us in the act.

    Even if we bought a noise canceller, there was a chance that if one of us woke upte, it would be all over. Olivia, I would have to talk to her about thiste at night when no one was around.

    It wasn''t long before some presence arrived near the carriage. A pack of hungry rank two wolves was lurking around us.

    Looking at the leader howl, I could tell that he was a rank three monster. "Stop the carriage!" Ka yelled at the coach to stop the carriage.

    The wolves were on standby, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Why would I let them strike first when I could do so?

    Firing a beam of my magic, I had already killed three of the wolves. And more were still going to die from my beam.

    The pack leader growled, looking at its pack die to my magic. Before I could cause any more harm to them, the leader ran straight toward me.

    Before it could reach me, both of Kimi''s friends had weakened the wolf leader. Kimi herself jumped toward the wolf leader and grabbed it by the head, smashing it to the ground.

    With the wolf leader killed quickly, the rest of the wolves ran away in fear. This battle was pretty easy, I wished it was a bit harder, so my boredom would''ve been relieved.

    "Charlie, that was a nice shot. Thankfully we didn''t wait a long time before they struck first." It couldn''t be helped. Kimi, our main attacker, didn''t have any range moves. On the other hand, Angie didn''t even have moves that could help.<sub> </sub>

    After picking up the bodies of the dead wolves, we went onwards. It was good that the sun was at its peak, well, for me, that is.

    Olivia was sweating a bit. "If you''re hot, make some ice to cool down."

    Olivia had the tools to do so. So making them wouldn''t be a bother to anyone. It was already near lunch. By now, the carriage had stopped.

    It wouldn''t be funny if someone here died from hunger. Sitting on a carpet that we bought, Olivia had made us a fancy meal.

    "Do you mind if the three of us joined?" Kimi and her friends asked.

    I looked at Olivia, and she didn''t mind. Switching my position to beside Olivia, I said. "Go on right ahead."

    Having the three of them join the mix, Olivia created more food. Lunch was nice with Olivia''s magic.

    "Thanks for the meal!" Kimi thanked Olivia for the food she had created.

    "I had heard that your food was pretty good. But I didn''t think it was that good." Kimi was someone who knew how to talk.

    "It is also nice that you joined us. It is notmon for us to eat fresh food out in the wild while traveling."

    Returning to our post, I could see Ka was dissatisfied with us. Was she jealous that she couldn''t eat Olivia''s food? Maybe we should invite her for the next meal.

    Our day went the same as the rest. I loved it the most when the sun was at its peak. That was when I felt the best.

    Now my mood was going down by the minute. The sun was going down, and more monsters would approach.

    Nighttime was when the hunters woulde and y. Olivia and I wouldn''t have any intimate times during our trip.

    "We''re going to set camp for the night." It was getting dark, and going further wouldn''t be safe. Olivia and I had a tent that was an artifact, and it didn''t take long for us to set up.

    Ka and Kimi''s group also had an artifact that would house them safely. Only Ka''s employee and Angie would have to do them manually. I sometimes pity the poor.

    Before we ate dinner and slept, Ka had to discuss something with us. "Before we sleep, I want us to decide our shifts for the night."

    Olivia had forgotten that we had to do this. Her lovely n had been ruined just by those words.

    "Then do you mind if my friend and I go first?" Some people who heard me say that were dissatisfied with my choice. Everyone here wanted first orst.

    "I will let everyone here eat my friend''s delicious fresh cooking." She would have agreed with me if I didn''t ask for Olivia''s opinion.

 Chapter 124 Escort Mission (Part III)

    With Olivia''s cooking, no one couldin that we took the first shift. The night was already in, and everyone had begun to sleep.

    Olivia and I would watch out for two hours before informing the next person to watch for us.

    The both of us were leaning on our artifact, it was pretty cold during this time, and Olivia was hugging me for warmth.

    "Olivia, your n tonight might have to be shortened." She looked at me and asked what I meant. Did she forget what she wanted earlier?

    "You said that you would make me work extra hard tonight." When I said that, she remembered.

    "Why not?" She was displeased by what I had said.

    "If we wake upte, it will be over."

    "At most, we could only do a few rounds before going to sleep." Olivia had calmed down hearing me say that, but she was still disappointed by what I said.

    While expressing our love for each other, a few monsters appeared. It wasn''t even an hour before our time yet.

    Luckily the monsters here were something I could take on without waking the others up. But I''m afraid we might have a sleepless night.

    If stronger monsters appeared during the shift of others, they might have to wake us up, which would be a pain.

    The strongest of the bunch is at the peak of a third rank. All I needed to do was instantly kill the leader, and the rest would run.

    Shooting a quick beam at the lizard-looking monster''s head, my beam prated its skull, instantly killing it.

    With the leader dead, the other lizards had scattered. They knew they would be easily defeated, seeing how their leader died.

    The battle was as quick as I did it with your mom... Sorry, bad joke.

    I didn''t want this battle to be noticed by the others, so I quickly grabbed the corpse of the peak-rank three lizards and put it in my storage bag.

    "Charlie, how strong are you exactly?" While I was always with Olivia, my strength was rapidly increasing. Olivia couldn''t tell how powerful I was precisely just from this battle.

    "I''m as powerful as a mid-ranking fourth-rank magician during the day." There was no reason to lie to Olivia.

    "Don''t you think that''s unfair?" She sighed and smiled warmly, happy about my progress.

    "Life is unfair, Olivia," I grabbed her head toward my chest and gently patted it. Olivia, you innocent child, there isn''t anything fair in life.

    "Geez, you don''t need to treat me as a child." Olivia had pretended to be mad at my intimate contact.

    "But you like this feeling, don''t you?" If she didn''t, she would have resisted me.<sub> </sub>

    Olivia was too flustered by my teasing, even if she was someone who was highly perverted. She hasn''t changed much. That was what I loved about her.

    Two hours had passed, and it was the next person to guard for the night. Only two more attacks had appeared, but they were weaker than the lizards we had fought.

    Waking up the next person, we both went to our tent. "Olivia, even if we can''t overdo it, we could still do a few rounds." She nodded at my suggestion, hoping we could.

    The next day, Olivia and I were wearing our sleeping clothes. It was early in the morning, and Kimi had woken us up. It was a good thing that we kept our activities limited.

    "Olivia, wake up. After breakfast, we need to leave." Olivia, who was used to me waking her up, had opened her eyes.

    "Charlie..?" She was a bit dizzy from waking up, and it would only take a few minutes before she would be fully awake.

    Changing my clothes, I also went to change hers. Groping Olivia''s breast, she let out a soft moan. But in the end, that had woken her uppletely.

    With Olivia awake, the both of us left the tent. We were turning our tent into a small capsule.

    After turning our tent into a capsule, we went to Ka to check when we would depart. Getting to Kayle, most of the people on the trip were already there.

    "Let''s eat first while we wait for the others." Ka had looked at Olivia queuing her to make the food.

    Olivia nodded and went to a corner with me, who hadn''t picked this up. I wasughing at the sight of this. The proud and serious Ka was distressed, seeing that Olivia wasn''t going to feed them.

    Many workers had asked Olivia if they could make something for them. Olivia being the nice girl she was, had done so, and it wasn''t a big deal in the end.

    After breakfast, our journey continued. Ka was grumpy that she didn''t eat any of the food that Olivia made. If she had asked, I''m sure Olivia would''ve made some for her.

    It was toote now. We had already eaten, and it was time for us to move. We started our daily walk, which should take four to five days to arrive.

    "Olivia, when Ka asked us to have breakfast, I think she wanted a taste." I had whispered this to Olivia for only her ears to hear.

    "Really?" She checked up on Ka to see Ka staring at Olivia.

    Olivia, who saw this, looked away immediately. Just by looking at Ka, Olivia knew what I said was true.

    I wished there was a way for us to travel faster. I had told myself that I hated to travel. I should have stuck to the words of what I said about the forest exam.

    "Kimi, how do you not get bored of this?" I was bored enough to ask Kimi how she could stand this kind ofmission.

    "Just don''t think about it." ... That wasn''t helpful. Olivia, beside me, also had her shoulder slump hearing that.

    It was wrong for me to ask Kimi since I was bored. I just kept on talking to people that were near me.

 Chapter 125 Escort Mission (Part IV)

    Our whole morning was nothing but walking. No monsters had appeared, and I was surprised by that.

    On the first day, we had monsters to fight. I know it was wrong for me to ask some monsters to attack, but I was so bored that I did.

    The never-ending scenery of us watching trees was getting stale. The sight had barely changed from the day we traveled.

    Lunch had ended with everyone satisfied with the lunch that Olivia had made. Olivia was friendly enough to make enough for everyone to feast.

    I know that I had asked for monsters, but not during lunch. The food that Olivia made attracted the attention of some starving animals. It was now the afternoon, and we still had a long journey ahead of us.

    "Kimi got any interesting stories to tell?" I might as well learn something about Kimi. At the same time, this might be our only time doing something together. It was better than doing nothing.

    Anyone that was near us was also interested. Most of us were silent, watching our surroundings and checking for any problems.

    "There was this onemission that I did that was interesting." I just hoped her storytelling was good enough to make her stories fascinating.

    "Funny enough, it was our firstmission that the three of us did." So the events should be exactly a year ago.

    Lora and Jess, who werepanions of Kimi, eyes widened, knowing what story Kimi was going to tell.

    "Kimi, do you have to tell that story?" Lora, who I presume, spoke with a bit of difort.

    "Lora, it''s not that big of a deal. It''s all in the past!" Kimi grinned excitedly to tell this story of her.

    "Our first mission was in the city of Rekdon, a city right above Avaris Capital City."

    "The three of us had taken a job to take out the bandits robbing merchants." Kimi sighed, reminiscing about the events that had happened.

    "It was good that our seniors were around during that time. Otherwise, everything could have gone wrong." She showed a gloomy expression saying that.

    "If you don''t want to continue, no one expects you." I had jumped in when she said it.

    Kimi shook her head and continued. "Our enemies were in the third ranks, and we had to fight off eight of them with our group of six."

    That sounded pretty rough, considering they had more people and were a higher level ranking than most of them.

    "Lora and Jess were caught and used as hostages during that fight because they were hostages ofmunication." Depression started to hit when she said that.

    "Fortunately, we had a fourth-year senior at a fourth rank" She must have been talented to be at that rank from age 21 to 22. But not as talented as me.

    "When Lora and Jess were both captured, our seniors had to find a way for my friends to be safe." It must have been mentally exhausting doing work like this.

    "It was good that our senior had found a moment to strike when the bandits were not on guard." The issue was solved pretty quickly, by the looks of it.

    "That was pretty much it." While it was short, at least Kimi told only the exciting points of the story.<sub> </sub>

    "Now that I told you a story, why don''t you tell me one of yours?" Did I have a story that I could tell? were

    If I were confident in knowing a story that I could quickly tell, I would do so, but unfortunately, I didn''t have any.

    "I would like to share a story, but my life hasn''t been interesting." I gave a wry smile apologizing indirectly.

    "Olivia, how about you?" Kimi had asked Olivia instead because I wasn''t going to tell a story.

    Olivia looked in the distance, checking if she had a story to tell. It wasn''t long before Olivia concluded.

    "Sorry, like Charlie, I don''t have much to share."

    "I got a story if you all are willing to hear." A female guard of Ka who had listened to Kimi''s story has spoken.

    "Please do tell me if you got anything interesting to say," Kimi replied, interested in what the guard had wanted to say.

    "It was a few years ago before I took a job as a guard." The female guard had started with the timeline.

    "I was traveling around the world with a friend."

    "There was onemission that my friend and I found interesting, so we took it." The female guard smiled as she told her story.

    "The mission we chose was to investigate kidnapping in a small vige." Now that was a story that I was looking forward to hearing.

    When everyone heard the word kidnapping, everyone perked up and listened closely. Stories were something appealing, something that would help us pass the time.

    "My friend and I arrived during the night. It was odd that the viger''s chief knew when we would arrive." That was odd, indeed.

    "Being greeted by the chief, my friend and I made ourselves home at the chief''s house."

    "With the night being around, my friend and I decided to sleep for the day before we started our investigation." From stories that I read, they would usually do the investigation during the night.

    "It was rough when my instinct didn''t allow me to sleep. The time was alreadyte, and everyone should be asleep."

    "I heard a noiseing to our room quietly and faintly."

    "With our doors opened, the vige chief had a weapon in her hand." By the sounds of it, the vige chief had made themission a trap.

    "Surprised that I was awake, the vige chief tried tomunicate with me. I had woken up my friend and attacked the chief, tying her up."

    "It didn''t take long for us to get information from the chief. The vige chief nned to use us as sacrifices to summon their "god." Stupid cultist." The female guard had an unpleasant look when she said that.

    With that, the story ended, and we continued our stories to make up for the silence we had earlier.

 Chapter 126 Lovely Alone Time

    With no problems for the remaining day of the escort mission, we were freed from our job as guards and could do whatever we wanted.

    The money we earned would be back at themission area at school. We could go back immediately, but I didn''t want to consider our long walk.

    "Olivia." Ka, who had exited her carriage, had called out to Olivia. I wonder what she wanted from her.

    "I have a proposition to make. I want to hire you as my chief." What did this bitch say? Did she want to take my Olivia from me? My hands clenched when she made this offer to Olivia.

    "Sorry, but I prefer not to make long travels." Olivia saw Ka as someone who liked to travel. It sounded pretty exhausting to Olivia.

    "I will give you a sry of 1 diamond gold a month." So less? Olivia could easily earn double that if she tried.

    "Sorry, but I like my current lifestyle." Olivia rejected the offer without any hesitation.

    "Is that so? Sorry for wasting your time. Take this." Ka had handed Olivia a bag of coins.

    Ka, who did that, left after saying what she wanted. With the bond Olivia and I have, I doubt any money would have attracted her.

    "Don''t be mad, Charlie. I won''t ever leave you." Most of my anger had disappeared through the words of Olivia. My grudge against Kayle would still stand.

    "I know, and that is why I think you''re the greatest." I wanted to hug her, but we were out in the open.

    The both of us had arrived in the town near the border of Avaris Royale Capital. The town was lively as many beastmen were around. While it wasn''t as fancy as the school''s area, it was still a nice ce to be.

    "Olivia, want to find a ce to stay first?" We could use our artifact to camp, but it was weird to do that in the town''s middle.

    "Hmm." She nodded, prompting us to go.

    The both of us were feeling fancy. We went around and found someone very knowledgeable and asked for highly-rated inns for their high prices.

    Arriving at the hotel, I asked for arge room for one week. Olivia and I had decided to stay in this town for a week before returning.

    I had paid the employee at the counter ten gold coins to get the room to stay in. We then went up the stairs to our room. The employee said that our room was soundproof, which was nice. I didn''t want our neighbors to look at us funny.

    Opening the door to our room was a sight to behold. The size of the ce is pretty roomy for something that wasn''t a house.

    There was a living room and a dining room, coupled with two bedrooms and two bathrooms for each bedroom.

    "Olivia,e here!" I sat on the bed and called Olivia over.

    "Charlie, what is it?" She had no idea why I called her over but still did so.

    "Let me reward you. Come rest on the bed for a second." Olivia''s words then significantly affected me, so I decided I should let her feel suitable for it.

    Laying down in bed, I went behind Olivia and spooned her. Olivia was confused about what I would do but wasn''tining.

    "You''re pretty exhausted, right? During our six-day walk, we barely got any break. Rest first before we do a tour of this town." I used one hand and rubbed her head gently.

    Olivia''s body felt nice, even if I had touched her many times. I don''t think I could get over it.

    Even if I couldn''t see Olivia''s expression with her back to me, I could feel that Olivia was enjoying the treatment I was giving her.

    "Olivia, don''t you think this is nice?" It was just peaceful, something that anyone would enjoy.<sub> </sub>

    "It''s unfair for you to do this." Her words were barely audible, but I had heard what she said.

    "What do you mean?" I had no idea what she meant.

    Olivia turned around and looked at me closely. I know that I had seen her up close many times, but she was just too appealing for me to look at.

    Olivia, who had shifted her position, leaned her head on my chest. Hugging me tightly, I felt that she was thinking something strange.

    "Charlie, sometimes I wished you had boobs." ... I didn''t know what to say to that. I''m a male. Of course, I wouldn''t have any boobs.

    "You make them seem fun to y with." ...

    "Sometimes, I think you like them a tad too much." I couldn''t tell if Olivia was dissing me or not.

    "If my breast was smaller, would you still like me less?" I don''t think that would have mattered.

    "Olivia, you have no right toin." If she kept talking, I would be depressed.

    "What do you mean?"

    "You y with my little brother "a tad too much," even when I''m asleep." I countered back from herint.

    "Isn''t it your fault?" ??? The audacity of this woman.

    "How is it my fault?" I didn''t see why I had anything to do with that.

    "You made me addicted to it." She got off my chest and looked into my eyes.

    Olivia shifted her body to her previous position and grabbed me by the head. Moving her face closer, she nted a kiss on my lips.

    With the kiss finished, she gave me another peck on the lips. Olivia wasn''t satisfied. She kept on kissing me until she gave me a french kiss.

    "Charlie, how long do you think we have met?"

    "Three months and a half." It was precise, but it was somewhere there.

    "I heard close couples have a nickname for one another."

    "I don''t think my name works with any nicknames." I voiced my opinion.

    "Want me to call you Char?" My face turned twisted from hearing that.

    "Please don''t." I pleaded to Olivia not to call me that.

    "Could I call you dear~ in private then?" My heart skipped a beat when she said that.

    "Only when we are alone." It was deadly. I needed to prepare for her to say it next time.

    "Give me a nickname too." Giving her a nickname didn''t take much thought.

    "Livie," It was easier to say and a bad one, if I must say.

 Chapter 127 Shopping For Artifacts

    With the moment of us bonding alone, we were mentally well-rested to make a tour around the town.

    "Livie, shouldn''t we get up now?" I thought we were mentally well-rested, but Olivia wouldn''t let me go.

    "I like our current position." I sighed, unable to get her up.

    An hourter, we finally got up. For real, For real this time. It was somewhere nearte in the afternoon before we got out.

    Livie and I were touring around town, searching if anything was interesting that could be found.

    Walking around town, we attracted a lot of attention. The townsfolk mainly were beastmen, and other races were rare in these ces.

    It was a good thing none of them had bothered us, nor were they hostile in any way. The town was lovely, but the ces we saw were ces we had already gone to.

    "Charlie, I think it was better for us to stay in our hotel." Like me, Livie hasn''t found anything that interests her.

    An idea popped into my head as I was thinking of a ce to go. "Why don''t we get more artifacts? We could find one that allows us to travel without walking."

    The chances of that were slim to none, but it was still possible that we could find an artifact like that.

    There is also a chance we could find some unique artifacts that could be used for something shortly.

    "Ah, I forgot. I don''t want to do that walk again." Just by her words, I could tell Livie had agreed with my suggestion.

    "Then let''s ask for directions." The both of us went back to the ce where we had found information about hotel ces.

    Asking the information guy, he told us three locations that had sold artifacts. It was sad to hear that all three of them were far apart.

    Going to the closet artifact store with Livie didn''t take long. The store itself was reasonablyrge, meaning many artifacts would be around.

    Livie and I were now checking the disyed artifacts in ss frames. Most of themon artifacts had only boosted one''s magic powers.

    While the others mainly boosted one''s basic parameters of one''s stats. We could buy them, but I prefer we wait until we are fully loaded with cash.

    "Livie, did you find something interesting?" Livie was staring at something for a while. It was probably something good if she was looking at it closely.

    "Charlie, could we please buy this." I looked at the artifact Livie was looking at.

    "Jelly production." I looked at the effects and the cost of the artifact.

    "Can''t you just make them?" Theoretically, Livie herself could easily make them. I don''t see the point of us buying it.

    "I could, but they would only be used as food." Did she want to buy it for skin care?

    "Then what are we buying it for?" I asked, wondering what she wanted it for.<sub> </sub>

    Livie then went closer to my ears and whispered what she wanted to use it for. My eyes widened at what she wanted to do with it.

    "Livie, you need to be purified." Her thoughts are turning more degenerate by the day.

    "So, could we please try it?" Ignoring my joke, she wanted to buy the jelly artifact.

    "Our money management is horrible but fine." Money at the end of the day was meant to be spent.

    One artifact was on hold. Now we had to scout for others that we found valuable. Other than the jelly producer, there weren''t any that had interested me at an affordable price.

    Paying 150 gold coins, we then went to the second store. The second store was much smaller than the first, and it took us a while to get there.

    The sales here were much more different than the first store, unlike the first store, which focused on powering the wearers.

    The shop here focuses on valuable tools that would help for survival. The things here were more helpful than the artifacts in the first shop.

    Searching around the store, three artifacts particrly caught my gaze. The first artifact allowed us to diminish our presence greatly. Shaped like a ck bead, it made it pretty easy to carry.

    It was a shame that it only allowed one person to use it, but giving it to Olivia should increase her safety by arge margin.

    For the second artifact, it could deflect fifth-rank magic, making it twice as strong as the original strike. It was a one-time-use ne that was shaped like a mirror.

    Finally, we have the third and final artifact that allows us to travel automatically. I couldn''t believe that something like this was here.

    The third artifact was a flying carpet. Unfortunately, the speed of a person walking. It was still better than nothing.

    I then asked the sales clerks for the artifact. Taking them out, we bought the three artifacts. I sighed at the prices, but they were necessary.

    We lost 95% of our money. We couldn''t buy much, but we could live with Livie''s food. The defensive artifact cost us 60% of our coins, but I could say it was worth it.

    "Livie, we''re broke." The both of us left the shop and started wandering around the town.

    "Do you want us to set a stall?" Livie thought of a way for us to earn our money back.

    I shook my head, "We''re here to enjoy ourselves. Doing work constantly would only tire us out."

    The only reason we were staying in this town was so the both of us could enjoy ourselves. We didn''t want to go to school every day.

    "Then what should we do?"

    "There are two options, we leave after tomorrow or stay for the remaining week." I would prefer if we stayed for the week but what was there to do here?

    "Then you could fulfill that promise that we made earlier!" What promise did we make again? I couldn''t remember.

 Chapter 128 A Disaster

    Six days have passed since our stay in this small town. Nothing much happened during our stay.

    Livie and I were bonding a bit too much physically. I was worried that the staff woulde in to check on us.

    But it was a good thing that no one had done so. Otherwise, it would be humiliating if someone here were to find me cross-dressing. It waste at night, and after today we would leave.

    "Livie, we should sleep for the day. We got to go back without any problem happening." Both of us needed to be in top condition for tomorrow.

    Just as we were about to sleep, an rm was activated. The beeping noise kept ringing and wouldn''t stop any time soon.

    "Livie, we should check what is transpiring." Livie and I moved from our beds and left the hotel room.

    Leaving our hotel room, I smelled something burning. "Livie, stay with me. If there is any fire, I could protect you."

    I was pretty calm despite a problem appearing. A disaster like this wasn''t too troubling since fire wasn''t something that I was scared of because of my magic.

    <o>,m Our hotel floor was pretty high up. I got down the stairs and saw people who had stayed there were leaving in a panic.</o>

    "Please! Could you please help us!" The mother who had seen us pleaded for help. She was someone that had expensive clothes but didn''t seem to have much mana.

    "If you want me to help, follow me closely." It would leave me a sour taste if Livie saw that I ditched them when I could quickly help.

    The lower we went, the more smoke started to appear. While I was immune to the fire, the smoke wasn''t something I was immune to.

    Covering our mouths, we ran as quickly as we could. The smoke was getting to Livie and the family of three.

    Getting on the first floor, the ce was like a burning hell. The exit was barricaded in a firewall, making it impossible for an average person to leave.

    I could only carry two people out of the building. Grabbing Livie and the child, I made a barrier around them and got them out of the building.

    The child was crying, seeing that their parents were still inside. I went back into the building without wasting time to get the child''s parents.

    With meing back, they were surprised. It was weird holding the wrist of the married man and woman in the middle of them.

    Exiting the hotel, the parent ran toward the child and hugged them together as a family. I didn''t want to ruin their moment, so I went to Livie.

    I would have liked to help extinguish the mes, but I probably would have caused more damage with my fire.

    "Livie, are you ok?" She had inhaled some smoke earlier, and I wanted to check if she was doing fine.

    She was gasping for air when we exited the building. I needed to check on her current condition. "I''m done fine now. Thank you for helping those three."

    A crowd came toward us, asking, "Is there anyone still inside the building?" Questions like these were thrown around, and I couldn''t answer with people shaking me and stopping me from talking.<sub> </sub>

    "LET HER TALK!" Someone had screamed and given me a chance to speak.

    "I didn''t see anyone other than the family of three," I answered the question that I found most important.

    "What about my family!??" A person hadined and was distressed by the whole situation. I didn''t know where her family was.

    Just as they were going to question me more, another group of four exited the building. Seeing that I didn''t have much information, they quickly them toward them.

    I was d that they could take the crowd away from me. It was exhausting dealing with a lot of people in that short amount of time.

    The fire was now spreading to the second and third floors. I wonder if the hotel could recover its reputation.

    Now that I think about it, where are we going to sleep? The ce where we are staying is burning to a crisp. Thinking about where we would stay, the family of three came up to Olivia and me.

    "I would like to express my gratitude for your help." The dad had kneeled on the ground. This was the first time I had seen someone doing this.

    "Please, get up. I just did what I felt was right." Livie would have chewed me up if I didn''t help the family out.

    Standing up, the father of the three had taken out a bag from his storage. He handed it to us, showing his gratitude.

    I couldn''t reject just a gift. Opening a gift in front of someone was rude, so I waited for an opportunity after they left.

    After getting my gift, some girls rushed over and dispersed the fire from the building. The fire was now gone, and people with family inside had rushed in.

    "Big sis, will we see each other again?" The little girl I had just saved had asked.

    "If fate allows us to, then we shall." I had spoken a quote that I had ever so often heard.

    "I would like to stay and talk with the three of you, but my friend and I have got to find a ce to stay for the night."

    "I see, then I won''t take your time. Have a good night." That said, Livie and I went to find another ce to stay.

    Opening the gift that I had earned, I found five diamond coins in the bag. "Livie, look, we''re rich once again."

    Saving the family of three was worth it. Doing good for the rich did pay off. Next time I should do it again if there is a situation. Even without Livie''s influence, I will do it.

    "Charlie, I don''t think we could use money like this. We should exchange them for lower-value coins."

    "Let''s do that after we find a ce.

 Chapter 129 Back To Avaris

    Luckily we had found an inn where we could stay for the night at a low price. It was early in the morning, and our money could be exchanged for tinum and gold coins.

    It was a shame that we would lose five percent of the diamond coin''s worth. But that was how businesses work.

    Livie and I were going to leave the town. We had left the hotel early, so we didn''t discover what had happened.

    We had finally departed from this town to set up the flying carpet that could fit six people.

    "Livie, let''s eat now." Breakfast hasn''t been served. The both of us had decided to eat breakfast while we were traveling.

    It was amazing how two weeks had passed by in a sh. And with our speed, it would be almost three weeks before we returned to the academy.

    "Livie, after our return, we would have a little more than a week to choose a secondmission," I told Livie the news.

    "Would you prefer to take the long or short request?" I prefer the request to my liking.

    "Hmm... I don''t think it matters. Now that we have this carpet, I don''t mind another escort mission." I see. I would choose something that I would prefer to do then.

    Eating a snack, a giant bird came out from the sky and lunged at us. The bird who took my snack went flying, nevering back.

    I was too shocked by the development. Our carpet was over tree level, making it hard for monsters to climb and attack us.

    Flying-type monsters were now our primary focus. It was a good thing Livie here could make me another snack. Otherwise, I would have cursed and stomped at the carpet angrily.

    "Livie, could you perhaps make me another one?" Sheplied with my request and gave me some chocte cookies.

    They were right when they said, "Conqeour their stomach to win their heart." It was fantastic to have someone make something for you every day.

    "Livie, take this." I gave her the artifact that allowed her to lower her presence. I couldn''t afford more annoying flying pests toe over and attack us.

    "Livie, want to y on your gaming device?" I was surprised that Livie hadsted this long without ying on it. It''s been two weeks since shest yed.

    Snatching the gaming device, Livie started the game. "Livie,e sit on myp. I want to watch you y."

    Obeying what I had said, Livie made herselffortable being on top of me. Watching her y the game itself was entertaining in its own right.

    What made this world much better was the free wifi. Wifi itself runs in mana, and this world runs in mana, meaning online y is essible to anyone.

    Online games were popr with kids and many adults who didn''t n on bing great mages. The games distracted their progress, so mages themselves were usually distant from games.

    While these things were expected, videos and live streams didn''t exist. If I had that kind of entertainment, I wouldn''t have left my house in months.

    Livie, who was sitting on myp, was starting her game. My arms were warped under her arms, and my head was on her neck.

    The position on my body shouldn''t hinder her performance in the game. The game she was ying was simr to a viral game in my old world.<sub> </sub>

    Popr characters were featured in the game that Livie was ying. It was a four-yer brawling game that determined thest man standing.

    Livie was ying a one-on-one match against her opponent. I felt bad for the opponent since Livie hasn''t lost a life against them.

    Days have passed by in a blink of an eye. Livie and I were chilling on our carpet. Even with our artifact, monsters had approached us.

    I couldn''t me the artifact since we were out in the air, waiting to be attacked. But it was still annoying to be attacked while I was asleep.

    "Livie, we''re back!" I had lowered our artifact to the ground, and I didn''t want to be caught for doing suspicious activities by flying above the school.

    The guards that were at the entrance had let us in. I was surprised that they didn''t do an identity check.

    "Livie, I''m going to hug my bed after." While I haven''t been in the school long, the home in Avaris was like a second home.

    "Charlie, we still need to get our reward." Livie had pointed out what we needed to do.

    "Ah." I had forgotten about it. It was a good thing Livie reminded me about it.

    While we didn''t need the money, getting our earnings was better the earlier we did. It has been almost three weeks since we went to themission room.

    Entering themission area, Livie and I went to the receptionist to im our prize.

    "Hi, is there anything I could help you with?" The female receptionist had asked.

    "The both of us would like to get our reward for ourmission."

    "Whichmission did youplete?"

    "We did an escort mission for our client Ka Eynder two weeks ago." Checking ourmission request, the receptionist found it.

    "Charlie and Olivia, correct?" We nodded, confirming that it was us.

    "Do you have identity proof?" Livie and I took out our student cards and showed them to the receptionist.

    Looking at the student cards, "Here is your reward."

    She handed four tinum coins to the desk. "Come back soon." The receptionist smiled at us, greeting her farewell.

    Taking the money, we left the area. I looked at the sky, which was already somewhere in the evening.

    It waste by the time we got back, and I just wanted toze around my bed. Tomorrow Livie and I will go back to ss.

    I wondered how the rest of my ssmates did for themission. I had heard that there were times when some first years died from an ident. I wondered how my ssmate fared. I will see it tomorrow.

 Chapter 130 A Small Reunion

    Today was the first day of ss in a while for Livie and me. I sighed and told myself that I had to go. It wouldn''t be good if I procrastinated.

    Livie and I were already awake, and the both of us walked to ss. Walking in, the students that were already in were staring at us.

    "Holy shit! Charlie, you''re still alive??!" A familiar voice appeared, calling out to me.

    Everyone then looked at the person who spoke the vulgar words. Ruby hasn''t changed one bit since I saw her.

    "Alive? Why would I be dead?"

    "You were away for two weeks and four days." It was creepy how she kept track of the days we were away.

    "Whatmission did you even take for it to take so long?" She was being quite nosey.

    "Olivia and I had taken an escort mission that took six days toplete. Our pay was two tinum coins each" I had said Livie''s name to Ruby, and I got too embarrassed to say her nickname in front of her.

    Not only that, I told her what mission I had done and how long it took. And to end it, I flexed how much money we earned.

    "Six days? Then what took so long toe back?"

    "Olivia and I took a week''s worth of vacation in the town we had escorted. It then took four days toe back."

    "Is taking a vacation even allowed?" Ruby asked.

    "Don''t know and don''t care. Not like they could punish us."

    "As long as we can finish amission once per month, they wouldn''t care what happened to us." These were my opinions.

    Reba appeared in the ssroom as Ruby, and I talked. "Charlie! You''re still alive!"

    Reba walked over to me and hugged me while sniffing me. It was weird for someone other than Livie to do this to me.

    Getting her off me, I could see Olivia giving Reba the eye treatment. "My offer still stands. Why don''t you be mine."

    "Not possible." I shook my head and denied it.

    "Stop flirting in front of me." My eyes twitched hearing Ruby say that.

    I wanted to refute it but felt it would only cause amotion. "So, what were you talking about before I came in?"

    Ruby had exined what had happened to mymission. I was toozy to repeat it, so that I would thank Ruby for it.

    "Lucky you. I, the princess, couldn''t do something like that." She sighed, very much jealous of what Livie and I had done.

    "Whatmission have the both of you done?" It wasn''t fair if I was the only one that had told my part of the story.

    "Mymission was pretty simple." Reba had started her story first.

    "All I had to do was make a speech in front of arge audience."

    "Isn''t that supposed to be your job as the first-born princess?" Ruby had said, questioning hermission.

    "Exactly." I guess princesses do have their privilege.

    "What about you, Ruby? What did you do?" Ruby looked stoke, seeing it was her turn to tell her adventures.<sub> </sub>

    "Gold and I went to the forest and hunted a rank three gori threatening a vige." Ruby had her arms around the hips trying to retell her story.

    Despite her making weird fighting poses that had attracted everyone in the room. Ruby seemed like she enjoyed telling it.

    "Our fight was close, our attack had reached one another, and I emerged as the winner." Even if some parts of the story were exaggerated, it would still be a great story.

    "That''s nice and all, but how much money did you get from that?" She should have earned a hefty amount of money for an action-pack adventure.

    "100 Gold Coins for our group." That was pretty low.

    "Are you serious? Olivia and I earned two tinum coins each for barely doing anything."

    Ruby could not say anything when I mentioned the amount we earned. Ruby felt that her effort wasn''t worth what she had done.

    "Charlie, we also got some diamond coins for saving a noble." Livie had added a nail to the coffin.

    "Charlie, I will outperform you for the nextmission!" Ruby had found a goal for the start of next month. I hope she won''t be killed because of it.

    "Good luck then?"

    "I don''t need your encouragement."

    After that minor scuffle, Ruby changed the topic. "It has been almost two months, and none of us have hanged. Why don''t we go somewhere together?"

    I didn''t mind doing so. Before I could ask, Reba asked Ruby first, "Where would we go?"

    "I heard there was a contest today." It was oddly convenient that it happened right when we returned from our trip.

    "Oh, that contest? I''m hosting it." Now I was curious about what contest they were talking about.

    "Of course, you''re hosting that." Ruby sarcastically replied to Reba''sment.

    "What contest are the both of you talking about?"

    Ruby, hearing that sheepishly, smiled. "It wouldn''t be fun if I told you right away. You will see when we get there."

    I then looked at Reba to see if she would give me an answer. "Sorry, Charlie, but it would be better if you knewter."

    Great! I told myself, looking at Gold, who was talking to Olivia. "Gold, what is the contest about?"

    "Ehe... it is a scavenger hunt for prizes." Despite Gold being a dragonewt, she was a quiet person like Olivia.

    "Hey! Don''t threaten Gold!" Ruby had angrily replied.

    "I didn''t threaten her. I just asked, and she told me." I corrected Ruby by saying what I had done.

    Before we continued, our teacher arrived. Ms. Colorful was the same as always, and everyone returned to their seats after her arrival.

    Our lesson began, and I was surprised that this lesson was going to be about reading, which was rare in this school.

    Now that Ruby and Reba had stated that there was a scavenger hunt today, I couldn''t wait to try it out.

 Chapter 131 Rubys Bet

    The ss was now over, and Ruby, Gold, Livie, and Reba had grouped to go to the scavenger hunt event.

    Reba was the event host, so I asked for something from her. "Since you''re the host, do you know where the prizes are?"

    "Where is the fun in that? If I told you." I knew she wasn''t going to tell me, but it was worth trying to ask.

    "Olivia, could I get something to eat?" I have often been snacking. Since I had free ess to sweets, I had been addicted to eating them.

    Seeing me eat made the rest of the group crave something to munch on. Livie, being the nice girl, had offered some snacks to the rest of the group.

    We still had some time before the event started. "I would like to stay, but I have the stuff to prepare for the event."

    Reba had left our group leaving the four of us. The four of us sat down at a table near a food court.

    "Charlie, why don''t we make a bet?" Ruby smiled widely when she proposed an idea.

    "A bet for what?" For the event? I didn''t know the rules of the event.

    "What else is there to bet about? Of course, I was talking about the event." Ruby had apetitive aura when she announced this.

    "Gold, you should stop her sometimes." It was not wrong to bepetitive, but Ruby was toopetitive.

    If she were to keep making bets with the wrong person, I would be too afraid of what will be in store for her.

    "So what will you say?" Ruby was egging me to ept her bet.

    "What does the winner get?"

    "If I win, I will get an unlimited free meal from your friend Olivia." It wasn''t too bad if I lost. I then looked at Livie and checked if she didn''t mind.

    She nodded, confirming that she didn''t mind. "If you win, I will give you this."

    Ruby had taken out something from her storage bag. It was a medallion of some sort. I couldn''t tell what it was used for.

    "What does that do?" Ruby and Gold were shocked hearing me say that. Olivia, like me, didn''t know what the medallion was for.

    "You seriously don''t know what this is???" I shook my head and denied knowing what that medallion did.

    "Then do you know where Mt. Igarde is?"

    "Yes, I''m not that stupid." It was where the dragonewts resided.

    "Then do you know how to enter Mt. Igarde?"

    "Can''t we just walk in?" Livie had to interject.

    "No, of course not. We dragonewts are pretty territorial. We don''t let outsiders in.

    "So that medallion would let us in?" It was just a guest on my part, seeing that we were on this topic.<sub> </sub>

    Ruby nodded, satisfied that we had got it pretty quick. "Are you sure you want to bet that medallion?"

    I don''t want to undermine Livie''s cooking, but if she wins. It would only be a month''s worth of cooking. Not only that, we will be going to do our nextmission soon.

    "While you may suck ass. I trust you enough not to cause any trouble, willingly." My eyes twitched from annoyance. Even if her words were valid figuratively, the only ass I sucked was Livie''s.

    "Then how will we determine the winner?" It was a scavenger hunt, and we couldpete in many ways.

    "The winner will be decided if one of us has the better prize." I had no problem with thispetition, but I doubted I would win.

    Ever since my transmigration, my luck has been dog shit. The only good thing that happened was my meeting Livie.

    "I ept." With my eptance, the bet has been made.

    We were still thirty minutes before the event started. The four of us started heading to the venue to participate.

    "Wait, we have to sign up?" A long line of students was waiting to sign up for the event. I could see the front person signing up.

    "Yes." ... I just couldn''t.

    "And why didn''t you say that earlier?" That was the first thing she could have said before telling me about the bet.

    Ruby had looked away, embarrassed to answer. "Hehe... I forgot."

    I shouldn''t make a ruckus. I hope that we can make it in time. Luckily only students of this school were epted to the event. Otherwise, the line would take forever.

    After waiting twenty minutes in line, it was finally our turn to sign up. If we were to arrive anyter, I don''t think we would be able to participate in the event.

    There was only one line. I felt terrible for the person overseeing the list of participants. Writing my name down, I had to get my student card scanned, making me eligible to join.

    With the four of us epted. All we needed to do was wait for five minutes. The event was in a building, and we couldn''t get in until the event started.

    "Do you girls see Reba anywhere?" There were still a few minutes before the event started, and Reba said she was the host.

    As I said, a girl dressed wonderfully appeared on the screen. A projection of Reba was shown to anyone around the ce participating in the event.

    "Good afternoon, everyone!!!" Reba had greeted anyone that had listened.

    "As you may know, I''m Reba, the first princess of Avaris!" Everyone knew that Reba was the princess, but she stated it because she very much liked the title.

    "For everyone unaware of what is happening! Today we''re hosting an event for the students of Avaris!" Reba then stated the purpose of the broadcast.

    "What will we be doing, you wonder?! Today we will be doing a scavenger hunt!"

    "And where would we be doing it? In a giant castle, of course!" What castle? Looking around, I didn''t see a castle.

    Suddenly the floor began to shake. Something wasing from underneath the ground. The Castle Reba had mentioned is here. My eyes couldn''t believe what had just happened.

 Chapter 132 Scavenger Hunt!

    Most of the participants had expected this to happen. Was this something that had happened often? Livie, Ruby, Gold, and I were astonished.

    The castle in front of us was decently sized. Reba herself said it was giant. In what way was it giant? I couldn''t see what was inside yet.

    "The castle inside is ten timesrger than it appears!" Reba answered that question for me, exining the size of the building.

    "Inside the castle, artifacts will be waiting to be found!" I wonder how they would be located. Would they be there in the open? Or somewhere hiding? Maybe both?

    "Weak artifacts could be taken just by a snatch, while strong artifacts would need to test your skills to get it!" That''s good to know.

    "I can''t wait to see what our contestants will get!" I also can''t wait to see what I get.

    "Participants! Please make your way to the castle in an orderly fashion!" The gate to the castle had opened. Everyone here walked toward the gate and went in.

    Arriving, everyone had teleported to a different location. That was great. It wouldn''t be fun if everyone got overcrowded from the starting point.

    I was teleported to the armory room, and many metal swords were around me. I couldn''t sense any artifacts.

    When I tried to move, my body wouldn''t allow me to. "Before we start the event, let''s wee our sponsor!"

    I didn''t think they would have something like this in another world. I groaned inside hearing this. "I want to thank Barney''s Antic for providing most of the artifacts scattered around the castle!"

    "If you want to check for any artifacts, Barney''s Antic is the ce for you!" Reba had spoken like an authentic businesswoman. And what kind of name is that for a store name?

    "Also, mana is prohibited in this castle! Anyone with mana is unable to use it!" How am I supposed to find an artifact in this room if I can''t tell what it is?

    "In your pocket, there is an artifact tracker! Getting close to an artifact will make a beeping noise!" When did they put this? It was freaky seeing how it was done.

    "With everything said and done, we will begin in ten seconds!" It was finally for the event. I was bundled with joy, wondering what I would get.

    Now that I think of it, aren''t I just a loot goblin? I have been obtaining artifacts left and right, and I will continue to do so. I guess that''s just how everyone is.

    "Go!" Hearing Reba starting the event, I began to move. I was overthinking, and Reba''s saying go startled me.

    Everything in the armory became more apparent. My tracker had already made a beeping noise, and I had walked around searching for where the noise had be louder.

    I thanked my luck that I spawned in the armory. I will indeed find a lot of artifacts in a ce like this. And not only that, it is armor and weapon-based artifacts.<sub> </sub>

    Now the question is, could I find a recement for my sword? My current sword is good and all, but I reached the third rank ever since. I felt my weapon wascking.

    Finding that my scanner was beeping close to a pile of weapons, I had to scan them one by one. After finding the right one, I put the artifact in my storage bag. I wouldn''t want to be taken from me.

    It was a shame what I got was a low-tier artifact. There was no test when I took them, and by the looks of it, the same would be applied to others.

    There were too many low-tier artifacts here. I''m notining, but I want a suitable recement for my weapon.

    After a while of searching, I found ten artifacts within the room. There were five swords, two bows, two spears, and a set of armor.

    I was surprised that no one hade into my room by now. I wondered how the others were doing.

    While I do not doubt I had the most artifacts, it still wasn''t the strongest. Just as I was about to leave the armory, I looked back to see if I had missed anything.

    Did that door appear out of nowhere? I rubbed my eyes, checking if I wasn''t hallucinating. I swear that door wasn''t there before.

    Now that a new path was open, it would make sense for me to go there, right? What is the worst that could happen? That I get trapped and miss the entire event? Or maybe there is something good in there.

    Taking the risk, I went in the door. What was in front of me was a long hallway. It had taken me a while to reach the end of the hall.

    What awaited me was a sword stuck to the ground. Was this some test or some sort? Was it to determine whether I was worthy or not?

    The sword was made from a ruby-looking ore, with the hilt ck. Grabbing the sword, it had afortable sensation making it easy to hold.

    I had thought an artifact like this would be a challenge, was there no test for this sword? I hope it was better than my current one.

    Going back to the armory, the door behind me had disappeared. Freaky, that was the first thing I thought when looking back.

    A door from the other side had opened, and it was a student from our school. I didn''t know who she was, but I kept my guard against her.

    ... We both stared at each other in silence. It was getting awkward. Before I said something, the other student said, "Is the artifact in the room fully cleared?"

    Should I lie to her and waste her time, or should I be truthful? But if I tell the truth, the chances of her attacking me would be high.

    Choices, choices, which one should I pick? Man, I''m not good at these kinds of things.

 Chapter 133 Scavenger Hunt (Part II)

    Why pick any of those choices? When have I ever been afraid of fistfights?

    "Who knows?" I gave her the most oundish answer ever.

    The student didn''t like the answer that I gave her. Well, the answer that I gave was unpleasant for anyone to hear.

    "Aren''t you afraid I will try and rob you?" Without wasting any more time, she started to threaten me.

    "Aren''t you afraid your reputation will be ruined for robbing your junior?" The student must have been a senior to be that confident.

    "And besides, even if you did rob me. You won''t get it unscathed." I couldn''t back down. Otherwise, she would have used my emotions against me.

    "Just tell me whether you looted everything here or not." She was getting impatient, and the both of us were wasting time going back and forth.

    "I looted something. I don''t know if it''s everything." I had told her a half-lie and half-truth answer.

    She began to grumble at my answer and started to search around the room. Now that door wasn''t blocked, I hurriedly left her behind.

    I didn''t want to see her again, and the next room was another hallway with three doors. I couldn''t tell which one the senior student took, but I picked the door on the right.

    Entering the room on the right, I looked around and saw no one there. That was a great sign since there was a chance that some artifacts could still be here.

    Currently, I am in a bedroom. There wasn''t much space here, but my scanner had already scanned an artifact.

    There was a desk beside the bed, and I could see it filled with pieces of jewelry. Even if they were artifacts, I would still take them. They were free money, after all.

    Under the desk, there was a drawer. I opened the drawer and found a ne, and my scanner pointed toward it.

    I felt like a house robber, even if I knew this was an event. Just from this setting alone, it makes me think I''m stealing something.

    There wasn''t much in this room. The bedroom was made for a female guest or some sort. My scanner hasn''t picked anything up since I took the ne.

    Looking around, like before, a door appeared out of nowhere. Is this door another door for a rare artifact?

    Maybe a special door would open once all the artifacts are cleared in a room. This time I went in without any hesitation.

    Like before, a hallway was behind the door. At the end of the hallway, unlike the sword I had found earlier, it was a dummy holding a whip.

    The dummy started using its whish on me when I least expected it to. Using my arms to block the attack, I felt pain jolting in my body.

    "Fuck!" I cursed as the hit stung like hell. I prepared to fight the dummy, taking out the sword artifact I had obtained.

    Using its whip again, I moved left to its attack. After dodging thest attack, I dashed forward, attempting to attack.<sub> </sub>

    The range of the whip was annoying, but if I dodged this final attack, I could easily make a counterattack.

    Making its final attack, I rolled forward, grabbed the dummy by its leg, and dragged it to the ground. Using my sword, I cut the dummy''s legs and arms.

    The match was quick. I then held the whip and put the artifact into my ring. This whip hurts like a motherfucker.

    I wouldn''t be surprised if the whip enhanced the pain whenshing it at someone. This could be used as a torture tool.

    It was a shame that no one I knew could use a whip. I could have used that to trade it in for something just as good.

    And I sure won''t sell this, seeing how useful it would be in the future. Nothing was left in the hall, so I returned to the bedroom.

    I wonder how many artifacts were left? It had been a while since all the contestants had entered.

    Judging by the number of students, it wouldn''t be surprising if most rooms were already looted.

    Leaving the bedroom, I had two doors that I could enter from. I would be surprised if any of these doors were looted.

    Just as I was about to open the door, I could hear some sounding from the other side. By the looks of it, there was more than one person in each room.

    I didn''t want to risk being robbed by a group, so I went back to the bedroom and locked the door. I was surprised that the room had a lock.

    I''m not scared. It''s just a tactical retreat. Besides, I''m giving everyone a chance to get an artifact. I''m already satisfied with the amount I have gained. I then sat on the bed and waited for the remaining time to end.

    Ten minutester, I could hear knockinging out from the door. "Anyone in this door?"

    A voice could be heard outside my door. I wouldn''t reply. What kind of idiot do they think I''m? I continued to sit on the bed, making myselffortable.

    After waiting a while, the girl who knocked on my door left. She probably didn''t want to waste time opening a door that wouldn''t open.

    And after an hour had passed, the event had ended. Everyone inside the castle had teleported out of the castle, looking surprised. It was sudden teleportation, after all.

    Reba, who was on screen, had looked at us. "I want to thank you all for participating in this event. Many highlights were spectacr and enjoyable to watch!"

    "Many people had fought, and many tricks were seen!" Rebaplimented the students for their effort to obtain any artifacts in the castle.

    "Now that the hunt is over, I want to thank everyone and our sponsor Barney''s Antic, for watching the event!"

    "I hope that all of you will have a wonderful day!" With that, the broadcast for Reba had disappeared.

 Chapter 134 Post Scavenger Hunt

    With the event over, I searched for Livie, Ruby, and Gold. Ruby and I still had a bet that needed to be taken care of.

    Looking around, the first person I found was Gold. "Gold, do you see Olivia and Ruby around?"

    I had called out to Gold, but she had jumped upon hearing my voice. Was Gold that scared of me? Or was she not expecting someone to call her out?

    Gold then shook her head and said, "I haven''t seen them. We should be able to see them if we keep searching."

    I nodded, understanding what needed to be done. "Olivia, Ruby!"

    With many students around, I shouted Livie''s and Ruby''s names out in the crowd.

    It didn''t take long for both Gold and I to find Livie and Ruby. Having the four of us grouped, we left the crowd and went to a ce less crowded.

    "How did the event go for the three of you?" I had directly asked, genuinely wondering how well they did.

    Looking at everyone''s reaction, I could tell that everyone except Ruby did well in this scavenger hunt.

    "Ruby, do you want to surrender now? You ain''t looking too hot right now." I smirked at her, making her pissed.

    "Just because I didn''t get anything good doesn''t mean you win!" What I liked about Ruby was her honest personality. She made it easy to read her.

    "What a poor sore loser." I made her even angrier with my words.

    "Charlie, stop egging her." Livie tried to intervene, stopping me from pissing Ruby off. Since it was Livie, I wouldn''t mind giving Ruby a little breather.

    "Fine, Fine. Gold, Olivia seeing how the both of you are rxed, how did it go for the both of you?" Unlike Ruby, who thinks she did it severely, Livie and Gold seem to do pretty well.

    "I didn''t think I would do so well." Livie had started being confident in herself. It was rare for her to do so, which is good for her to keep doing.

    "I think I did decently..." Gold then looked at Ruby when saying that. Gold didn''t want Ruby to feel bad.

    The four of us then went to the adventure guild to check our artifacts. Since thest time Livie and I came.

    "Would the four of you like an artifact appraisal check?" Some students had alreadye in and checked before us, so what the receptionist said wasn''t too rming.

    "Yes, but how did you know?" Ruby, you''re a special kind of being.

    "Some other students had already arrived checking their artifacts." The receptionist answered Ruby.

    Ruby noticed our stare and wondered why we were. I could see Gold was a bit embarrassed by this interaction.

    "Please follow me to get your artifact checked." The receptionist had us follow her to a room to check our artifacts.

    "Ruby, want to go first? You probably don''t have much anyways." While I didn''t try to mean on purpose this time, Ruby had grumbled angrily, hearing me say that.<sub> </sub>

    Ruby had only taken out three artifacts from her pouch. I knew she did poorly, but I didn''t think she would do that badly.

    The red dragonewt found three artifacts��a pair of gloves and two gemstones. There wasn''t anything rareing from the three of them.

    "Ruby, your luck is even worse than mine." While my luck this time was good, my usual luck was shitty.

    Appraising Ruby''s three artifacts, I was surprised at what she got. The pair of gloves strengthened the user''s attack and speed.

    What was terrifying was the two gemstones that Ruby had found. Both gems were bombs that could kill rank three magicians and hurt rank fours.

    When you insert arge amount of mana, they are insanely destructive. I wish I hadn''t pissed Ruby too much for her to use it on me.

    Seeing what the two gemstones could do, Ruby was instantly happy with what she had obtained from the event.

    Now that Ruby had finished appraising her artifacts, it was now Livie, Gold, and I left. I looked at both of them to see who would go next.

    Gold, who said nothing, decided to go next. She had taken out eight artifacts from her storage bag.

    I don''t know the average number of artifacts one could get, but getting eight was pretty good for the number of students that had entered.

    Gold had found three weapons, two armor, two rings, and a misceneous artifact. From the eight artifacts that she saw, one of them should be rare, right?

    The first artifact is a steel te starting from the armor that Gold had obtained. While it didn''t look good to wear, the effects of the steel armor te were terrific.

    It could block physical damage considerably, and while it was terrible on magic defense, most students in Avaris used physical attack.

    Since Gold had already appraised an armor, she then picked the other armor for appraisal. Unlike heavy steel armor, this one was a ck suit used for men.

    The most notable effect of the suit was the ability to raise the charm of the user. At the same time, the rest of them didn''t do much at all.

    Next was the ring. The first ring was fragile-looking, made from some string. Getting to appraise the ring could trap a user depending on the amount of mana used.

    Anybody could use something like this. The ring was almost like second magic. Once used correctly, it would change the oue of a duel.

    The next ring wasn''t as good as thest. It only had the power to boost the speed of one magic by a few.

    Half of the artifacts were already appraised, and the things Gold had obtained were far more remarkable than Ruby''s share.

    Next was the weapons, and Gold had two spears and one axe. I wondered if any of these weapons would be rare.

    It would be a shame if the axe were the best one found. An axe is generally the most disliked weapon due to its slowness.

 Chapter 135 Post Scavenger Hunt (Part II)

    Going with the axe first, the design was pretty cool. I am not going to lie. If I hadn''t practiced with a sword, I probably would have asked for this weapon if the power was good.

    Appraising the axe allowed one to double one''s physical ability for five minutes. The drawback was insane and pretty scary.

    Once five minutes are up, you lose every stamina in your body, and if you can''t beat your opponent in that time, you will automatically lose. The axe also had the power to boost one''s ability to jump, which could be good in a dire situation.

    Now that the axe was finished, the following were the two spears. One of the spears was a lightning-shaped spear.

    Gold''s magic was lightning. I wondered if Gold was going to use the spear. It would be a good fit for her even if she had never used a spear.

    Gold appraised the other spear, which wasckingpared to the lightning spear. The spear was made from some purple alloy, and reading its abilities scared me.

    It could sap some magic from hitting the target, and not only that, but it would poison them also��what a deadlybo.

    Skipping the lightning spear, Gold went ahead and put the misceneous item first. The artifact thing was a ck sphere of some sort. Just by the shape, no one could tell what it was

    Scanning the ck ball, Gold had indeed found a rare item. For two minutes, the ck ball could seal anyone''s magic under the fifth rank. It was a shame that it also affected the users, but it was still perfect.

    Everyone gasps, seeing what this ball could do. "Gold, you''re pretty lucky. You wouldn''t mind selling this to me?"

    Ruby had given Gold an offer for the ball. Dragonewts were strong physically and magically. This would help them if they magically fought an opponent stronger than them.

    Gold then nodded, not minding selling it. As long as Ruby didn''t take advantage of her, then it was fine and all.

    Finally, the spear was next. The spear boosted the user''s speed by 1.5x and enhanced lightning magic by 1.7x. What Gold found was big. No doubt she would be more potent when using this spear.

    Now that Gold was finished, Livie decided to go next. I would feel stupid if my stuff was much worse than Gold and Livie''s.

    Livie then took out six artifacts. It was suitable for someone who didn''t have much physical strength. I''m d that no one robbed Livie while I was away.

    Out of the six artifacts she gained, four were some pieces of jewelry. One was a fancy shoe, and thest was a crown.

    The first piece of jewelry was an emerald ne. The effects of the chain weren''t anything impressive, but it would still be worth the money to sell it.

    The following piece was a ss-looking earring. Like the emerald ne, the ss-looking earring had simr effects to the chain.

    Next was a ring that was made of gold. With how shiny it was, I would say the price of it was pretty high just from the price.

    It had the power to increase one''s luck and to improve one''smand. I don''t know how that works. Does it hypnotize people, or does it convince them? I needed Livie to try it to see how it worked.<sub> </sub>

    And the final piece of jewelry is a bracelet made out of silver or something simr to silver. Seeing what it had, was even more disappointing than the other three artifacts.

    Livie then chose the shoe, which increased the charm of the wearers. The girls were particrly interested in the shoe.

    Thest piece of the artifact is the crown. Like the ring, it couldmand anyone weaker than you and increase one presence.

    Her find was good, but Gold''s artifacts were much better. Now that everyone had finished, it was my turn to check my artifacts.

    I took out six swords, two bows, two spears, a set of armor, a whip, one ne, and four gems. My haul was as much as everyonebined in this room.

    Ruby looked kind of pissed, seeing that I had too many artifacts. I didn''t want to waste any more time, so I went ahead to get my artifacts scanned.

    I started with the five swords that I found in the armory. There wasn''t much hope for them to be good since the weapons there weremon.

    From what the scanner had told us, I was right on the mark when I said that the weapons were pretty ordinary. Ruby smiled, seeing not everything that I had was good, but that didn''t bother me.

    As for the two bows, one of them was pretty valuable for someonepetent enough to use it. The good one could track anything that the arrownds on. It would be easy to hunt someone with it.

    Next was the two spears and the set of armor. The two spears were as shitty as the five swords. Maybe that''s why they were kept in an armory for a reason.

    The armor I got from the armory was simr to that of Gold. The only difference was that my armor gave more magic defense while the physical defense was lowered.

    ? My ne also wasn''t perfect, coupled with the gemstones I had obtained. My luck with the artifacts themselves was terrible.

    Now I had two rare artifacts left. I hope that they did well. I went with the whip first because I felt that the sword I got would probably be my primary weapon.

    Wow! I was surprised by what my whip could do. My whip increased the pain of the attacker by three times. Not only that, it hurt even more for each session of attacks. How fearsome it truly is for a torture weapon.

    "You won''t use that, right?" Ruby looked at me, and I shrugged my shoulders.

    Finally, I got my bright red sword. My expectations for this sword were at their peak. I hope that this appraisal won''t ruin it.

    Scanning the red sword, I sped my hand together, hoping for an ideal effect. With the power shown, I was relieved that the weapon I found could rece my old one.

    My sword increases my magic by fifty percent and would increase fire damage by another fifty. I was ecstatic to find out the sword would increase my magic by double.

    "Ruby, pay up!" With my victory, I rubbed it on Ruby''s face. Heh, I truly am a sore winner.

 Chapter 136 Second Commission

    Another week and a few days passed, and it was the first day of the eight-month. There wasn''t any ss today since students mustplete amission for this month.

    After selling our artifacts Livie and I gained seven tinum coins. We could have earned more but kept the valuable artifacts to ourselves cause why not.

    Nothing much had happened, and the days flew by. Livie and I were in bed waking up. "Livie, I''m going to pick amission."

    "Hmm." She nodded tiredly, not waking up. I didn''t need her to go, so I cleaned myself and got dressed.

    With everything ready, I went to the school premises to find amission that Livie and I could do.

    The ce was already filled with people from different grades. It was loud and crowded, something that I hated.

    I looked for the perfect request to get close enough to see what was requested on the board. There were manymissions that I would like, but they were taken when I found them.

    Without hesitating, I grabbed the next best thing. Taking the paper, I went to the receptionist handling themission.

    "Gathering ten third-rank monster cores? May I have your ID?" Themission I chose was something we couldplete much faster than thest.

    Handing my ID, the receptionist asked, "Do you have a partner? First-year students would sometimes overestimate themselves."

    I get that the receptionist tried to warn me, but I had someone with me. "I have a ssmate named Olivia, and she would be my partner. Unfortunately, she couldn''t make it."

    Seeing that I wasn''t doing thismission alone, the receptionist had nothing else to say. Signing the procedure, she took the request.

    "Yourmission is now in progress. You will have one month toplete it, or it bes null." And with that, Livie and I had our secondmission.

    Ourmission had no penalties except for the part where we didn''t finish amission within a month.

    The reward was about a hundred gold, and there were many ways for us to get a monster core from a third-rank monster.

    I then bid the receptionist farewell and proceeded to leave the area. It took me a while to go, and too many students came in and out of the building.

    Making my way back home, I saw a ssmate of mine. Sonya, the elf, made her way toward me. Even though we talked a bit at the start of the exchange year, we haven''t spoken much.

    "Do you need something from me?" My voice didn''t have much concern when she walked over.

    "I was making my way to themission room. Did you already pick a request?"

    "Yes, you''re kind ofte. The whole ce is already packed." Seeing how many people were already there, most requests were already gone.

    "Is it true?" Even if it were early in the morning, everyone would wake up early. No one wanted to get a bad request.

    I nodded, suggesting what I said was true. "Did you already pick amission?"

    "Yes." I nodded again, confirming that I had already got amission.<sub> </sub>

    ? "That''s a shame. It would be nice to have you as a partner."

    "I have to go now. I don''t want to lose more time. See youter!" Sonya left immediately, making her way to the school.

    Without any more interruption, I went back home. Going to my room Livie was still asleep. I sighed, "What am I going to do with you."

    I don''t mind letting her sleep more, but Livie had more than enough energy to do anything. How should I get her up this time?

    As a caring man, I gave Livie a firm hug. Squeezing harder, Livie woke up feeling squeezed. "Livie, good morning!"

    "Char, did you have to hug me that hard?" My eyes twitched hearing that name.

    "You''re too much of a sloth. We''re going to try andplete ourmission early." Since we both have nothing to do, we might as well do it now.

    "Could you give me a morning kiss to make it up~?" Livie held my arms, getting close. There wasn''t a reason for me to decline. It would brighten her day.

    Kissing her on the lips, we started breakfast to begin our day. Our meal was a scrambled egg with some bacon and mashed potatoes.

    "Livie, we''re going to the dungeon today." I have decided to pick the dungeon for our third-rank monster cores.

    Livie and I would need to reach the twentieth floor for us to see third-rank monsters that weremon.

    "What request did you take for us to go to the dungeon?" Livie wondered what we needed to go to the dungeon for.

    "The both of us need to get ten monster cores at the third rank." We would need at least two days to get ten monster cores. If it was like anything on the eleventh floor, they were then fighting another swarm would be a pain in the ass.

    "But why?"

    "We could get artifacts and items along the way, and the both of us don''t need to travel to other ces." Not only would we earn more money, but it doesn''t take long to get there.

    "If you''re nervous, don''t be. I upgraded a lot from our previous exploration." I had gained a sword that doubled my attack, and I''m now at the third rank.

    Unable to deny what I had said, we began preparing for the dungeon. Livie and I had just finished breakfast, and the both of us prepared to head outside.

    Avaris Greater Labyrinth, it has been more than a month since Livie and I came. Entering together with Livie, we had arrived.

    Our progress was saved on the eleventh floor with the boss dead. We immediately headed toward the twelfth floor.

    "Livie, you ready?" Now that I was much stronger, most monsters here wouldn''t even be allowed to touch me.

    Livie then stuck on me, nodding her head. With her ready, we began to explore the twelfth floor.

 Chapter 137 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part V)

    The twelfth floor was somewhat like a graveyard. The atmosphere surrounding Livie and me is gloomy.

    We haven''t encountered any monsters, but if there were any monsters, they would probably be undead types.

    Looking at the clouds above, we couldn''t see the sky or the sun. I was weakened in a ce like this, but what could I do about it?

    "Livie, stop." I heard a sounding from a different direction other than us. Looking to my right, where the noise came from the ground.

    A hand made of bones had appeared above ground. A skeleton? The skeleton was a humanoid creature with a monster core between its ribs.

    Livie was scared of the monster''s sight, but to me, it was only a low second-rank creature. Ending its miserable life, I shot a bolt of fire toward it. Well, it was already dead, so I ended its miserable afterlife.

    "Most of the monsters might be underground. As long as you''re within touching distances within me, I will be able to keep you safe." I don''t want an undead grabbing Livie''s leg. That would traumatize her.

    Walking around, the further I went in, the more undead popped up from the ground. With the amount of undeading up, the boss should appear soon.

    "Livie, increase my strength. I sense the boss." I felt another anomaly happening on this floor. The mana of this monster was in the middle of a third rank.

    That wasn''t bad itself, but if more anomalies were to happen, would I be able to keep Livie safe? Livie then feeds me one of her magic, strengthening my magic.

    What had appeared before us was a lich or magical skeleton. I couldn''t tell the difference. It was a skeleton wearing many artifacts��what a rich bastard.

    ? Wait, if we kill it, could we loot everything? Since the skeleton was flexing how much magical artifact it was wearing, couldn''t I just beat it up and take it all?

    It was already dead, and it might as well make itself useful by giving us its artifact. Starting a preemptive attack, Iunched a beam right at its face.

    If I took the skull off, the artifacts wouldn''t be harmed. At most, they would fall to the ground.

    My attack was already at the fourth rank, and the skull broke with my beam driving through the skeleton''s head.

    Honestly, it was easier than I thought. "Is it supposed to be this easy?"

    Livie, like me, doubted if the fight was over. I knew that my power wasn''t standard, so I couldn''t get a feel of how strong I was.

    Looking at the skeletal mage, I saw the artifacts had disappeared along with the mage. My imaginary tears started to leak.

    "Char, are you alright?" My money and my heart. I was not too fond of that nickname. I had explicitly wanted Livie not to call me that.

    "Can you not call me that? And no, the skeleton didn''t drop its artifact!" How can this dungeon be so stingy?

    "It''s too embarrassing to call you by those." Her face had reddened, imaging the scene of her doing so.<sub> </sub>

    "You don''t need to give me a nickname if you''re not ready." I was still thinking about the artifacts. My mood has dampened from the disappointment I had received.

    With the boss gone, the door to the next floor was open. The only thing that the boss dropped was a rank three mana core. Having it in my hand, I needed nine more to go.

    Walking to the next floor, I muttered, "Cheapskate." And clicked my tongue, entering the next floor.

    We were now on the thirteenth floor, and fuck! It was freezing. The thirteenth floor was an ice biome of some sort.

    Livie, who was on my right, was shivering. Trying to get some body heat, she clung to me. I had adjusted my body heat to oneparable to a heat pack.

    "Ehehe," Livie had exceptionally rxed once she clung to me. It was good that there was no snow falling. If that had happened, it would be a pain to move in.

    "Do you need me to be warmer?" I didn''t know if my heat was enough for Livie, so I asked.

    "Please do." Adjusting the warmth of my body, I could see Livie in bliss.

    "Will this do?" Livie nodded, meaning the heat I was producing should be fine.

    Now that Livie and I were in no danger from the cold, we proceeded to explore these icy ins.

    I hated walking on ice. These slippery floors make it hard to move with the addition of Livie being on me.

    Our speed wasn''t great, but we were making steady progress. Ice golems and arctic creatures were our main enemies.

    While this biome wasn''t, at the very least, good for me, the monsters were something I could efficiently finish in a hit.

    It had been two hours since we arrived on this floor. I could feel the mana of a stronger monster, and the boss was nearby.

    The boss had a high second-rank mana signature, much weaker than the skeletal mage. Coming in close, Livie and I saw the boss.

    I didn''t expect the monster to be frosty, the fucking snowman. Without wasting any more time, I finished it with a fireball to the face.

    Frosty the snowman had tried to create a barrier to reduce the damage done. But my fireball was too powerful for it to be blocked.

    With the boss dead, we could now go to the fourteenth floor. The snowman had dropped a ck tophat giving us an artifact. I still couldn''t believe that the skeleton didn''t drop anything.

    Picking up everything, we hurried to the next floor. Livie and I spent two hours in that frozen hell. Livie and I had slipped a few times, it didn''t bother me since my magic wouldn''t let me freeze, but for Livie, it was different.

    I wondered how much longer it would take for us toplete thismission.

 Chapter 138 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part VI)

    On the fourteenth floor, nothing exciting happened. The monsters and the area were quite in. No anomalies of some sort, and the boss was easy. It took us about thirty minutes toplete the floor.

    Livie and I found ourselves in an old tomb on the fifteenth floor. I had a series of thoughts when looking at the ce.

    Did the dungeon spawn a series of floors? Or were they already premade by something else? The monsters were undead creatures like the thirteenth floor.

    Since we were in a tomb, does that make us tomb raiders? I hope there were treasures around since the thirteenth floor owed us artifacts.

    Livie and I looked around the ce, the ce was dusty and dirty, and Livie and I hoped to leave early.

    There weren''t any treasures except for the monster that hade along. The tomb wasn''t big but had many monsters due to its small space.

    We had found ourselves in the boss room. The boss was as strong as a starting third rank. The rest of the remaining floor bosses would be third rank or higher.

    In front of us was a statue of some ruler. Made from gold, the boss has to give us an artifact rted to money!

    Before I wasted any more time, I blew up the golden statue before it could make any move. I had lost enough time from the arctic floor, and I would like to progress.

    My mini explosion had destroyed the boss. Nothing but the monster core had dropped. How unlucky I am! I sighed inward, taking the monster''s core. I went to the next floor with Livie.

    I had two cores and eight more to go before we finished ourmission. We had to beat the twentieth floor before we could finish ourmission.

    The sixteenth floor was an underground cave. I hoped the cave wouldn''t copse because of my overwhelming attack.

    Monsters on this floor were creepy crawlies. Disgusting was the first thing I saw when looking at these creatures.

    Not only do they have multiple legs, but they squirm a lot. Not to mention that their bodies were pretty hairy.

    Livie here would have countless nightmares thinking about these. I had wanted to eat lunch after finishing the boss of this floor, but I would rather beat the floor after to eat. I don''t want a centipede-looking thing crawling around my lunch.

    The boss in this cave was a poisonous-looking purple spider. Livie could heal poison, but I would rather not get hurt by its move.

    Fighting didn''t take long, as I only used a move against the boss. No artifacts again. Now that I think about it, didn''t Livie have an artifact that could increase one''s luck?

    "Livie, could I borrow your ring? My luck needs to be improved." Livie was wearing the ring, taking the ring off her finger. I had temporarily borrowed it.

    We stepped to the next floor arriving at a mountain top. Fortunately, there wasn''t any snow or any annoying weather.

    The mountain only had one path. We had to walk up the mountaintop to fight the boss. Walking on a slope upward was also a pain.

    If we fell, we would be rolling back down the mountain. And the chances of Livie being injured were high.<sub> </sub>

    Slowly walking up the mountain, a boulder came up, rolling down the mountain. Livie was frazzled, seeing a giant rock roll down toward us rapidly.

    Blowing up the boulder, a second one hade. The wind had caused the exploded boulder dust to hit us.

    How annoying. Where did the boulders evene from? Destroying the second boulder, I sensed a mana signature of a second-rank monster.

    Mountain trolls there was a mountain troll trying to lift another boulder. Before I allowed the mountain troll to throw it, I shot its brain with a beam.

    Dying to my attack, the monster''s body fell along with the boulder. I have to keep watch for more of them.

    After killing ten more of these trolls, Livie and I reached the top of the mountain. I didn''t expect the top of the mountain to be t.

    What awaited us on top of the mountain was a wyvern. It wasrge and gray, coupled with two legs and two wings.

    Greeting us with a battle roar, I felt my body bing heavier. I took a nce at Livie, checking on how she was doing.

    She was on the floor, unable to get up. This fucking wyvern could control gravity. Blocking the magic with my mana, I made a beam with my finger, slicing off a side of the wyvern''s wing.

    Howling in pain, the gravity magic had dissipated. Without a wing, the wyvern fell to the ground making a rumble within the mountain.

    Ending the wyvern''s misery, I decapitated the wyvern''s head in one swoop. Livie was recovering from the wyvern''s attack with her magic.

    Magic that could be instantly cast with just a significant area attack was so bull. If I didn''t have an absurd mana pool, this fight could have gotten Livie gravely injured.

    "Livie, let''s take a lunch break." Now that the battle was over, this was the best time to rest.

    Livie then prepared everything for lunch. With the wyvern dead, I began to loot its body. There was an artifact and another third-rank core.

    Going back to Livie, she had lunch set and ready. Sitting on the carpet, we began to eat our lunch and talk.

    "Sorry for keeping you worried." Livie was discouraged after being squashed like an ant.

    "Don''t think too hard about it. None of us would expect a wyvern to use gravity magic." Seeing how the boss had an auto-lock attack made me jealous.

    "Most students wouldn''t even be able to get out of the gravity, so don''t be too hard on yourself." I had consoled her to the best of my ability.

    "Let''s look at the bright side. You can do what most people can''t. Your ability to recover is one of the best." As I began to praise her, Livie''s expression softened.

    "Thank you..."

 Chapter 139 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part VII)

    Lunch was over, and we both made it to the eighteenth floor. I liked the typical ins of the eighteenth floor.

    There were no annoying environments that could make things worse. The monsters consist of mid or high-second-rank monsters.

    Any monster could appear, from beasts to insects to reptiles. We just needed to clear a few more floors, and our monthlymission would be over.

    After wearing the ring I borrowed from Livie, the drops from monsters became more frequent. I was d that I had asked Livie for the ring.

    Walking around the ins, a giant mole appeared. It was a good thing I could detect where it was digging. Otherwise, it would have kept hiding underground to harass us.

    Killing the mole, Livie and I continued our exploration. After a while, Livie and I could feel the boss''s mana.

    Making our way to the boss, it was there eating a monster it had just killed. Its power had risen after finishing the monster''s core.

    Well, that was a discovery that I had never noticed. I would have never thought dungeon monsters would use other monsters as a power-up.

    With its strength rising, it stood up and looked at us, ready to attack��the enemy in front of us, a giant orc.

    Prepared to attack, it had to do a battle cry before it would attack. Rushing us with its axe, I went in with my sword.

    This was the perfect chance to test my weapon. With both of our weapons shed, I was winning due to my mana added to my weapon.

    In terms of physical strength, I would lose in that aspect. But this world was mana-focused, pushing the orc''s axe back. I went in for another sh.

    Without having any power to defend my attack, my sh cut through the orc''s chest. It was a shame that my attack couldn''t finish instantly, but it had great results.

    Having to connect my attack, the orc growled in pain. I didn''t stop and stab the heart of the orc. Plunging my sword inside, the orc boss had died.

    I didn''t win in skill but in raw power and with my decisiveness. Killing the orc had given it an axe as an artifact.

    We got our second artifact in a row. Looking at the ring, I felt that my luck had finally changed. I wouldn''t be able to use the axe, so Livie and I would sell it after leaving thebyrinth.

    "Livie, could I keep your ring?" It was pretty selfish of me to say this, but this ring is helping us gain cash.

    "I have been getting lucky with the dropsing with the monsters using this."

    "You can keep the ring if you do something for me." Livie didn''t seem to mind me having it.

    "What do I have to do?" As long as it was not something too outrageous, I didn''t mind doing it.

    "I will tell you when we get back." Livie has been getting cheekier by the day, but I didn''t mind.

    With the boss beat, the neenth floor was our next destination. Heading into the next floor, we got lucky with where we were ced.

    The neenth floor was a small ind. We spawned by the beach and could somewhat see the outline of the ce.<sub> </sub>

    No monsters had appeared when Livie and I began our exploration. Reaching the middle of the ind, we found a chest and the door to the next floor.

    Now that I think about it, there was a slight chance to go to a treasure floor where only prizes could be found.

    "Livie, we found a treasure floor!" Ever since I got this ring, my luck had increased significantly, which was pretty scary in its own right.

    "Treasure floor?" Just saying the name itself was self-exnatory, Livie was shocked to know that a treasure floor had existed.

    "See this chest? I heard that these chests are valued about ten times the worth of an artifact on their floor." Meaning our prizes would be worth ten times the value of what the boss would drop.

    "Could I open it?" Livie looked at me with her puppy eyes.

    I took the golden ring and gave it to Livie, "Wear this first before you open it."

    I didn''t mind letting Livie open the chest. Her initial luck value was much higher than mine. And if I got something terrible, I would feel regretful.

    I only needed the golden ring because the drop would depend on mine and not Livie''s when I killed the monster. Drops of the monster would depend on which person would kill the boss.

    With Livie equipping the ring, she opened the chest. With such an opportunity, I prayed for something good.

    Too scared to look, I asked Livie what we got. "Did you get something good?"

    "I don''t know." Did she not know what the artifact we got was used for?

    Taking a peek, I saw what was inside the chest. Is that what I think it is? Grabbing what was inside, I couldn''t help but marvel at what Livie had opened.

    In my hand was a mana dispenser. This item we found was truly priceless, something that would need to be hidden from the eyes of others.

    "Charlie, what is it?" Poor uneducated Livie, you would''ve been wiped if I wasn''t here.

    "This is a mana dispenser, something precious."

    "What does it do?"

    "Depending on its power, it would provide pure mana, letting us absorb mana at a faster pace."

    "The one at my family manor would help us increase our speed by five times the amount." That is how my "mother" and any of the three families in our country could grow so fast.

    "Five times???" Livie didn''t know what to say to this. She was too shocked even to think.

    "Let this be a secret only for you and me to know, ok?" Livie nodded her head rapidly, understanding the consequence.

    With this, our speed in powering up would increase.

 Chapter 140 Avaris Greater Labyrinth (Part IX)

    After a great find, the two of us took some time to calm ourselves. We tested the mana dispenser, which increased our mana absorption speed by 2.5x.

    While it was much worse than the one at my family''s ce, it was still beneficial. Livie had no advantage over others in mana absorption, which would help her pass other students.

    I would have asked Livie to hold the artifact, but we had to continue our exploration. I didn''t want any idents happening to our priceless artifact.

    Putting the artifact back, we began to explore our final floor. Starting at the twentieth floor, monsters at the third rank would start to spawn.

    Meaning the next floor should mark our finishes in this dungeon dive. Well rested, Livie and I make our way to the twentieth floor.

    Ugh! That was my first reaction to this floor. Livie and I were in dark crevices that had extremely narrow walls. I hope no creepy crawly creatures get to us.

    "Livie, stay close to me no matter what." I couldn''t afford to let my guard down in a ce like this.

    It was frightening that I had to walk into this small crevice without knowing whaty ahead. After ten minutes, the ce began to widen.

    I was lucky not to have encountered any monsters in a ce like that. Arge number of monsters had appeared. Ten phantoms were waiting to ambush us.

    Attacking on sight, I fire a beamed diagonally, wiping four of the phantoms. These ghost-looking monsters stood no chance, even at the bottom of the third rank.

    I want to make an explosion to blow all of them simultaneously, but in a close-end space like this, I want to avoid causing this ce to copse if that could happen.

    Making more beams, the rest of the phantoms were dead. Collecting the mana core, ourmission was now over.

    It didn''t take long for us to find the boss''s entrance. Livie and I made our way in. What had appeared were ten more phantoms and a ghoul as the boss.

    Sensing the power level of the ghoul, the boss had reached the beginning of a fourth-rank monster.

    "Livie, power me up." Listening to my words, Livie immediately feeds me a pill.

    The boss room was muchrger than the tunnel that Livie and I were in. Now I could fight without any restrictions.

    It was a shame that there was no sun in a ce like this, but my magic should be highly effective against undead monsters.

    Creating a sun, Iunched my attack on the ghoul. The monsters around my attack had weakened just by seeing the light of my attack.

    Even though my attack had weakened the ghoul, it had dodged my attack. The explosion caused by my sun had hit most of the monsters in the room.

    The ghoul was damaged but still alive with the addition of three weakened phantoms. My attack had scared the monsters, making them wary of my move.

    I didn''t think undead monsters had any intelligence. It was good that the monsters in front were wary of me.

    Without any hesitation, Iunched multiple beams at the remaining monsters. The remaining phantoms had all died without any chance to fight back.<sub> </sub>

    As for the ghoul, it was in pain. I was surprised to see the ghoul survive the barrages of attacks.

    Generally, undead monsters are weak to light attack and fire. My attack containing both elements should be four times more effective against the ghoul.

    "Stay dead!" I made a ray st attack, trying to finish off the ghoul.

    With my final attacknding, the ghoul that had appeared was no more. I had used more mana than I thought I would.

    Well, it was not like it mattered since this would be myst battle for the day. I had an emotional roller coaster. I was mentally exhausted from this ce.

    "Livie, we''re going back to the surface." Now that we have collected all the monster''s core, ourmission is finished.

    "How much do you think we earned?" Livie had high expectations for the amount we were going to earn.

    "Don''t know, but some amount of tinum coins. We could get more from the mana dispenser, but we''re not going to sell that."

    It was a shame that the ghoul had no artifact to drop, but from what I got on the neenth floor, I couldn''tin.

    "You look tired. Need me to do something?" Livie had tried her best to offer me some help.

    "Give me your undying love." I had told that as a joke.

    Livie smiled and gave me a tight hug. It was supposed to be a joke, but Livie had taken it seriously. I felt some of my energying back.

    I would like this to continue, but doing this in a dark cave wasn''t the best setting. After a brief moment of warmth, we both decided to leave thebyrinth.

    Arriving at the surface, Livie and I began to make our way back home. We could hand in our monster''s core, but I didn''t want to deal with anyone else right now.

    Without any distractions, Livie and I arrived at our house. Making my way to my bed, Iy down, plumped on my bed.

    When was thest time I was this tired? Even my exercise with Livie doesn''t exhaust me this much. Before I forget, I took out the mana dispenser and put it on the table next to my bed.

    I felt mana rushing towards me at an insane rate. I was absorbing mana fifty times faster than an average person.

    Livie, who was close to me, stared at me in disbelief. Anyone would think I was a monster if they saw me in this condition.

    "Livie, we''re going to be doing some training for the entire month!" What is the point of ss if I could power level in rank?

    If I could keep up this progress, it wouldn''t be a surprise if I could get the fourth rank by the end of my first year.

 Chapter 141 Mana Aphrodisiac (R-18)

    As I was gathering mana at an enormous pace, Livie walked up to me with her facepletely flushed.

    "Livie?" Calling her name, she pushed me down with my back on the bed.

    Without giving me any time to respond, she pushed her tongue inside my mouth. So experienced in this y, my tongue had moved ideally in sync with her.

    While Livie had done something simr to what we were doing now, Livie had more of a wild auraing from her.

    In an instant, Livie had stripped both of our clothes in seconds. Wow, she was getting too good at doing this.

    How long has it been since the both of us kissed? Livie didn''t seem like she would let me go any time soon.

    With her on top of me, she started to grind her body against mine. I had never seen Livie get this excited before. It was a sight to behold.

    "Hmmph!" Livie smacked her lips against mine before letting go.

    "Darling~ I want you~!" Her lust for me was apparent from Livie''s usual way of talking. Her way of talking turned into a horny animal.

    "Ahhh~!" Without waiting any longer, Livie and I started to connect physically.

    "Darling~ Your cock is the best~!" Saying those words, her body began to move.

    Moving her hips up and down, pleasure started to build up. Her loving and lustful gaze stared me down without letting anything else in her view.

    "Ahhh~!" Her moans vibrated around the room as we continued to make our love.

    "Darling~! I want more~!" I began to thrust my hips as her inside walls were tightened.

    With how often we had sex, Livie''s inside was perfectly molded for me. Our desire for one another was already at its peak.

    The close-up view of her body moving up and down was pretty intriguing. Livie''s breast was moving in a circr spiral.

    With my two arms free, I started ying with Livie''s breast. As usual, they are pretty soft andfortable to feel. Livie''s voice started to roughen as I pinched her nipples.

    "Darling~! I am going to cumming~!" Then, having to stimte her more, Livie''s body was nearing climax.

    Climaxing, Livie''s body started to give out momentarily. Her body, which was on top of me, shook violently as her body fell onto me.

    Like Livie, my cock couldn''t hold it out any longer, letting me release my white body fluids inside her.

    Livie''s bright red face kissed me as we faced together. My dick stood tall after cumming, and Livie looked ready for a second round.

    Getting off of me, Livie turned her back toward me. Then, having her ass in front of me, Livie shook it wildly.

    "Darling~! Please have your way with me~!" Her words enticed me to y with her body even more.<sub> </sub>

    Pushing her down with her back on me, I began to prate Livie from behind. "Ahhh~!" All Livie could do was moan when my cock reached deep inside her.

    My hips, which were moving, kept hitting Livie''s bubbly ass. I had yed with her roughly as my dick was going all the way in and out.

    "More~! Darling~ More~!" Livie was at my mercy. Her face had distorted into a woman who could only think about sex.

    I would have never imagined someone like Olivia would one day act like this. If someone had told me that she could make a face like this when I first met her, I would have never believed it.

    "Ahhh~! Ahhh~! Ahhh~!" Livie''s ass was bing red with my constant ramming. I was getting too into this.

    With her inside sucking me dry, I was about to bust. "Darling~! I''m about to cum~!"

    Increasing my pace, Livie''s body started to melt. She hade from my violent onught. I hadn''t finished sending my second load, so I continued to move without giving Livie a break.

    "Wait~! I''m still sensitive~!" Foolish Livie, saying that wouldn''t help. It would only make me want to continue.

    All Livie could do was moan like a woman in heat. Livie, who had juste, was about to have her third one.

    Livie''s vaginal wall gripped me to the fullest, with my sperm built up and her walls tightened to the max. We released everything to our fullest.

    Even with my second ejaction, I wasn''t satisfied. Livie, like me, wanted it to keep going. Turning her around, I kissed her on the lips.

    Moving down to her body, I bit her nipples. "Ahhh~!" Livie hadn''t spoken in a while. All the lust she had umted had gotten to her.

    Dragging her body, I put the top half of her body on the bed with her ass sticking out. Then, grabbing her by the arms, I began to pierce her again, going all the way in.

    "Ahhh~! Ahhh~!" With her arms used as a handler, I moved my hips rapidly.

    Our meaty flesh bounced back and forth as I yed with her. Having my way with her in a doggy style was the best.

    Livie''s control over her pussy was exceptional. She was doing her best to please me, keeping my excitement up.

    Keeping up with my movement, I gave her my baby batter for the third time. Livie''s body began to twitch after that.

    After all that, I continued to fuck her in all kinds of positions. Our lust for one another wouldn''t stop. Hours quickly passed, but our love session continued like it was nothing.

    How long has it been since we started having sex? It was already night, and the two of us wouldn''t stop.

    A few more hours passed, and Livie began to get tired. The sun had already risen, and all I could hear from Livie were lewd words that she couldn''t even speak properly.

    Fuck, I had messed her up pretty badly. This was undoubtedly the longest session the both of us had. We had almost fucked for twenty hours straight.

    What had caused us to go so wild?

 Chapter 142 A Sports Competition

    How many days has it been since Livie and I left our house? I had lost count of the "nightly activities" Livie and I had done.

    I had found out why Livie had acted a bit strange since the day we finished our dungeon. Livie turns extremely horny from the mana gathered around me.

    It would have been ideal if Livie could use the mana dispenser without any distractions. But from our coption, Livie had gained a lot of mana from me. In the end, it might even be faster than her absorbing mana on her own.

    At the rate that Livie was going, she should be at the third rank in another month or so. I had wanted to use this month for power leveling, but it was ourst month before we returned.

    After this exchange, I would rarely see Reba and Ruby. Instead, Livie was sleeping beside me, snuggling up to me as much as possible.

    Her luscious skin and soft body had tried topel me to stay. Standing firm, I left the bed and got changed.

    Going to the schoolmission area, I handed in ten tier-three monster cores to the receptionist, with the receptionist giving me one hundred gold in return.

    Next was the adventurer''s guild. Livie and I still had materials and some artifacts that needed to be appraised. After selling everything, the receptionist gave me five tinum coins.

    The artifacts I gained with Livie didn''t have much value to Livie and me. Without any worth, I sold them along with the materials.

    We received much more than our first attempt at thebyrinth. But, of course, it was expected, considering the floor we were on was much further down than previously.

    With everything done, what do you think I should do? Of course, I could always go back home and absorb more mana, but I could do that every day.

    It was a rare opportunity for me to explore alone. I wasn''t sick of Livie or anything, but it is a nice change of pace to be alone for a while.

    Wandering around the streets, I began to check ces that interested me. There was a sportspetition near me. I usually wouldn''t be interested in sports, but anything could happen in a world with magic.

    The sportspetition was called spike. It was a sportbined with volleyball and dodgeball. Each side would have the same amount of yers coupled with a fixed mana level, making thepetition fair.

    The rules for spike were pretty simple. With a in the middle, a team would start with a ball spiking it with an overhead throw.

    Once hitting the ball, you must target the opposing team to get them out. To make the game more exciting, the ball would be super slippery and bouncy, making it hard to dodge.

    This game was hazardous. With enough strength, you can easily send someone to the hospital. The game would be yed in a room with a barrier.

    The barrier would amplify the effectiveness of the bounce of the ball. Going in, I bought a seat for myself.

    Like myself, many people could be seen watching this sport to be entertained. The field was the size of a school gym court, giving them a chance to dodge.<sub> </sub>

    Waiting for a match to start, I looked at the people participating. What kind of nut job chooses to y a sport like this for a living? Is fame or money that attractive of an offer? Or are they simply masochists?

    There were ten yers on each side, making twenty in total. All of them were in the third rank. They had gym shorts and short sleeve shirts, having no protection against the damage that could be done to them.

    With a little wait, the match began. The girl in the front held the ball, throwing it in the air. She whacked the ball with both physical strengths along with some mana.

    Having to hit the ball, it flew at a horrific speed. Then, with perfect aim, the ball hit the target right in the face. To be hit by the ball was painful to watch.

    The ball had driven itself right into the opponent''s face, and after being hit, the ball kept moving at a fast pace. Finally, dodging everything, the ball stopped.

    One person was down for the count. Her face was pretty messed up after being hit right in the face. Many people weren''t fazed as this kind of ident would happen in a sport like this.

    Losing a member made it nine to ten. With them having the ball, they began their attack. It would be a massive disadvantage if they missed this hit.

    She was getting revenge. The girl smashed the ball, hitting the opposing opponent right in the stomach in the back.

    With the ball hitting the girl in the stomach, the ball bounced back, hitting a second person on the leg. Fortunately, that hit was less painful from the first person cushioning the attack.

    In that one turn, two people were out. The audience was hyped up by the oue that had been shown. I felt terrible for the peoplepeting.

    As the game progressed, more and more people fell. Injuries were made left and right, and four people were now in the court.

    What amazed me was none of them had hit the ball. The four of them were currently the best in their team.

    Beginning her serve, she spiked the battle. The power of the ball had tripled. Even I would be wary of this attack.

    I became sorry for the one taking this move just from that attack. This could have easily killed the opposing yer if they were any weaker.

    The match ended in three more turns, with the same person finishing off thest remaining yer. Unfortunately, this game was too brutal for its good.

    After the game had finished, I quickly left the sportspetition. I had enough action just by watching the disy of the game.

    With nothing left to do, I made my way back home.

 Chapter 143 Final Class Competition (Part I)

    A week had passed by since I went to the spikepetition. It was the final week of our stay as exchange students.

    We would have to leave by the end of the week, and many talented student mages would be extremely busy.

    Starting next month, students from every school would have to prepare to earn a spot to fight in the school tournament.

    I would have avoided this tournament to stay safe but considering my family''s circumstances, it was impossible.

    While the rules still need to be out. Everyone was still excited by the prospect of being the best. Earning a top spot would help you earn resources by being talented. But it''s also dangerous for people who don''t want you to grow.

    The ss was in session, and Ms. Colorful would make an announcement. I hoped it was nothing too concerning.

    "As a teacher, it was wonderful teaching all of you." So why does it sound like it was herst day doing so?

    "Today will be thest ss I will teach for you exchange students." Oh, it was thest ss she would be teaching.

    "For our final ss, we would be doing a ss battle. Like our first day, we will check how well you fare against your peers." So, Ms. Colorful here would examine us before we leave.

    How cunning, collecting onest piece of information before we leave. It didn''t matter to me. I don''t n on trying in this battle.

    From what I had observed from ranking alone, I would be at the top. From there on, would be Ruby and Rebaing second.

    After Ruby and Reba would be Gold, Sonya, and Jane, other than those five, no one else was worth taking.

    Unless someone like me hid their true power, which was unlikely, I would be surprised by this event.

    "Charlie, are you going to try?" Livie had whispered only for me to hear.

    I shook my head in denial, telling Livie I wouldn''t try. There was simply no reason to do so. If I did, I definitely would have a big target on my back.

    Going to the school gym, our final ss had officially begun. From what I could tell, everyone here was going to try their best.

    Before everyone fought, our teacher had to exin the sspetition''s rules. Unlike before, I don''t think I could use the excuse of being an odd number of students to avoid the battle. If Livie had to fight, she could easily surrender.

    "To determine who you will be fighting. Everyone would be picked randomly." How random is random?

    "This would be a tournament rule, and the winner would keep fighting while the loser would be out." The rules were simple to understand. It didn''t take much thought to know how this was going.

    "To motivate all of you, I will personally give the top three winners a prize." I wasn''t tempted to try before, but now a prize would be added to the mix.<sub> </sub>

    I needed to know what our teacher would give before considering what I would do in this sspetition.

    "For third ce, I will give you three rank two pure mana crystals." Was she serious? If I obtain this, Livie could be the third rank by the end of the week. Every student was mentally drooling at the prize, and there were two more.

    "Second ce would be given an artifact. The artifact is a shoe that could teleport you 100km once every week." This was something a person must have if they needed to escape from a pursuer.

    Not to mention, it would take a lot of work to get to our current level. Therefore, while this prize was appealing, I prefer the third-ce prize.

    "And finally, for the winner, you will be given a phoenix pill." I had heard that a phoenix pill was costly. Everyone who knew what it was, was shocked beyond belief.

    A phoenix pill would heal any person that was close to dying. It could also regrow any missing limbs regardless of any condition.

    What was the teacher thinking when she decided this would be a prize? Was Ms. Colorful extremely influential?

    I wanted to win the prize, but it wasn''t something I could have. Winning would be enough to paint a target in my back, but the prize would get anyone killed. Reba was the only person who could be safe from winning.

    Fuck, I had figured out Ms. Colorful n. How ruthless of her. If any of us somehow won, we would be killed without questions.

    Ms. Colorful was here to get rid of someone who could beat Reba. Avaris'' rtionship with the country will worsen even if we die at most.

    Third ce was my goal for thispetition. If I had to, I would purposely have to get myself injured.

    I was not too fond of the prospect of it, but some sacrifices have to be made. Livie would heal me if the worst oue happened.

    With everything done, everyone went to the side of the gym. Thepetition was about to start, and everyone was going to do their best to win.

    Two ssmates of mine had been picked to fight. Livie was one of them, and the other was Reba. This was totally "random," by the way.

    "Give up, please." I didn''t want Reba to beat Livie up just because she couldn''t fight.

    "How lucky." Some of my ssmates murmured when Livie was chosen as an opponent. Everyone here knew that Livie couldn''t fight, so everyone wanted Livie as their first person to fight.

    A countdown appeared when both of them went to the center of the gym. "I surrender!" Livie had shouted immediately when the battle started.

    It was no surprise when Livie did so. No one wanted to get hurt for no apparent reason. Reba had already predicted the results, but all she could do was sigh and go back to the side, waiting for her next battle.

 Chapter 144 Final Class Competition (Part II)

    With the first battle over, another two students had entered the fray. One of them was part of the four dog sisters. In contrast, the other person wasn''t worth mentioning.

    My grudge against them had been long gone seeing how pitiful they were over these two months. Could they snag a victory in today''s ss?

    They were rtively weakpared to the other students in my ss. Once their names were called, they both made their way to the arena.

    "Olivia, who do you think would win?" I wonder if Livie had any grudges against the four of them. They would have picked on her constantly if it wasn''t for me.

    "I think Katrina would win." Who? I know it wasn''t suitable for me not to know what my ssmates'' names were, but it was not like I would see most of them again.

    "It''s the beastmen with the dog features." Livie, who saw my face, had exined who she was. Oh, her name was Katrina. I don''t think I will be able to remember her.

    Wait, why does Livie think that one of the doggies would win? They were the lowest-performing students for battle. Did they get some power-up that I didn''t know about?

    With all my irrational thinking, the match had already started. "Katrina," like her siblings, can create metal.

    Katrina, who made her first move, hurled many metal spikes toward her opponent''s feet. My ssmate had to be wary of where she stepped. Otherwise, she would be in a lot of pain and lose the match if this move couldn''t be taken care of.

    The other fighter could create swamp water. Honestly, it was revolting to look at. I couldn''t imagine the disgust I would feel after being touched by such magic.

    She washed them all up using magic to clear the metal spike trap. In addition, she made a wave of swamp water to counterattack.

    After making a metal wall, Katrina stopped the swamp water from getting over to her. In their few exchanges, no one had a clear advantage.

    In the next few moves, the stalemate had been broken. The swampdy had been overusing her mana, Katrina, who had realized this attack in the offensive.

    With theck of mana, the swampdy had. The fight had already been decided. Katrina had won like Livie predicted.

    But her next battle wasn''t looking too hot. She had used too much mana for her first fight. If her opponent were someone who had more mana, then she would lose.

    After the match had ended, the third match was going to begin. It was another of one of the four sisters fighting another random ssmate.

    While the dog sisters had be more crafty in how they used their magic, it also made it easier to analyze their weaknesses from how their siblings would perform.

    "Do you think Katrina''s sister would win?" I don''t remember who the other side was, so all I could do was ask for Livie''s opinion.

    "Unfortunately, no." That was a quick decision. The other side must be much stronger if Livie could deny it immediately.

    "Emily here was a student of ss 1-A. She had beaten an exchange student for her spot. Not only that, her magic was lightning, making her extra hard to deal with." Livie, are you an NPC or what? Her exnation is one of a helper in a game.<sub> </sub>

    Just from Livie''s description, Emily would be the clear winner. Would one of the four dog sisters be able to pull through?

    This was only the third match, and there were seventeen to go. I wonder if, other than those five I had mentioned, any other people would be worthy of being remembered.

    The third match had already begun, even if the victor was decided. They would duke it out for their pride.

    Emily was the first person to make her move. Using her lightning, she increased her movement speed.

    Running to her opponent, the dog sister tried her best to repel Emily. Insane enough, the dog sister went to fight Emily in hand-and-handbat.

    Their fists on one another ended their sh in the dog sister''s favor. I noticed that the dog sister had used her ability to harden herself.

    To beat the pup, Emily would have to find a way to break her defense. After their first encounter, Emily used a different move up her sleeves.

    Summoning some electro magic, Emily used them as spears,unching them as quickly as possible. The speed was something of a third-rank magician, how fearsome their magic is.

    I remembered my fight with Serena during the start of my magician career. Knowing from first-hand experience, it wasn''t pleasant fighting someone with lightning magic.

    With the lightning bolt charging at the pup, she tried her best to block any of the attacks made by Emily.

    Zapped by Emily''s magic, the pup screamed in pain. The match had already been decided by this moment. Emily began her lighting barrage ending this fight as soon as possible.

    Sending in waves of attack, the pup fainted from the pain. Her three sisters looked at Emily with anger.

    Emily, who saw this, smirked, hoping that she would encounter another of the three pups. She must have enjoyed the shrieks of others, seeing how she tortured one of them, and smiled doing so.

    Livie, beside me, was a bit scared looking at Emily. She didn''t need to fear her. I doubt that both of them would cross. And if they did, then it would only be due to Emily making the problem.

    If that happened, I would crush her. I pat Livie on the shoulder, making her rx. Giving her a bright smile calmed her down.

    The fourth round was about to start. It was two ssmates of mine that I didn''t know. I didn''t need to ask Livie for their information because they were weakpared to the average person in our ss.

    With the fight beginning, the two of them began to fight. From start to end, I found nothing impressive about the fight.

    Both had lost most of their mana, and the battle came very close. Whoever fought them in the next round would surely win.

 Chapter 145 Final Class Competition (Part III)

    The fourth, fifth, and sixth matches had no one important. All of them disyed mediocre or below-average skills.

    For the seventh match, it was finally my turn. I wondered which unlucky person I was fighting. I didn''t recognize the name of my opponent.

    Going to the court, my opponent was pretty nervous. While I may not recognize her name, I have seen her face plenty of times.

    "Please surrender. My attacks are pretty cruel." I had no intention of harming my opponent, but if it were needed, I would do so regardless of what happened.

    "Sorry, but I can''t give up!" She was sweating a bit, hearing me say my words. Even if she knew what I was saying was true, she didn''t want to give up.

    What I was going to do was cruel. I had to minimize the damage of my moves. I had to adjust it to someone simr to Ruby and Reba.

    With the round starting, I immediately fired a beam, hitting my target in the leg. She screamed in pain, my beams could have prated, but I had held back enough not to do so. I also tried my best to avoid any vital parts.

    "Do you give up? If not, you would have to taste more of those attacks." She had tears in her eyes, but even so, she didn''t surrender.

    Frowning at her inability to give up, I fired two more beams rapidly. I had won, and my opponent had fainted from the pain. I had to do it for her if she wouldn''t give up.

    Leaving the battle, I could see most ssmates looking at me in fear. It wasn''t fun being hit by a highly condensed energy beam. It would hurt like hell from all that burning.

    "Charlie, did you have to do that?" Livie questioned me whether what I did was the right choice.

    "My opponent was too stubborn for her good." I could think of beating her up physically, but that would have humiliated her in more than one way. I don''t need endless grudges from random people with whom I don''t interact.

    "Even so..."

    "Olivia, I had also done this so my next few opponents would give up." Before Livie could continue, I interrupted her and exined my thought process.

    Livie could only sigh in eptance. Livie was naive. I could only hope nothing terrible would happen to her because of her nature.

    Since the seventh match had finished, it was now the eighth. The eighth, ninth, and tenth battles had no one interesting.

    Then came the eleventh. In the eleventh battle was Reece, Reba''s right-hand woman. And Reece''s opponent was the third sibling of the pup.

    This battle would be more of an interesting one. Reece''s specialty lies in support, and it would be hard for her to defeat opponents considered equal to her in mana.

    Starting the battle, Reece had already started to y on the defensive side. Creating an armor of cotton, the pup metal rod had been deflected.

    After a while, the battle became boring. Reece''s defensive y was almost imprable. In this stalemate, the loser would be the one who uses the most mana.<sub> </sub>

    Ten minutester, the pup looked dead tired while Reece was sweating a bit. The winner was decided, with the pup surrendering.

    Some of our ssmates were silentlyining about how long the battle was. Even Livie, who was pretty docile, found this tiring.

    The twelfth battle would be much more exciting than thest battle. Gold, like Emily''s magic, was lightning.

    Their magic was the same, but their way of using it differed. Emily is a fox variant of a beastmen, and Gold is a dragonewt.

    Gold preferred to fight head-on with brute force, and Emily was someone who likes to fight with her opponent''s weakness.

    I pitied Gold''s opponentst month. She had gotten much more powerful due to her weapon. Even Ruby might not be able to defeat her due to her weapon.

    On the other side of the court was a student looking bat-shit scared. Everyone had seen how Gold fought, and it was pretty brutal.

    Despite her quiet attitude, she was someone extremely deadly. While she wasn''t a match for me, I wouldn''t take her lightly.

    When the match started, Gold''s opponent gave up immediately. No one could me her. Most people would have done the same.

    After that, the thirteenth battle was another random and Sonya. It had taken me a while to figure out what Sonya''s magic was.

    Sonya could empower any artifact she used, which was pretty rare. Everything that she was wearing was an artifact. I only realized it once I reached the third rank.

    Her family must have been loaded for her to use aplete set of artifacts for her rank. Who knows how far she could teleport with those boots if she gets second ce?

    Using the bow artifact in her hand, Sonya fired an arrow at her opponent. Given how strong her artifacts were, if appropriately used, they could potentially kill someone if she wasn''t too careful.

    Sonya''s arrows were already at the peak of a second-rank magician. Unable to do anything but dodge, the arrow scraped the opponent''s knee.

    "I surrender." Sonya''s opponent had given up, seeing that it was too dangerous to fight her. It wasn''t worth the fight.

    The next battle was Jane, someone from Etheal, she had two ck horns on top of her head, and her face was very pale. She looked like a thug in the streets with long ck hair, sharp eyes, and sharp teeth.

    Jane''s magic was deadly. She could make poison. If you didn''t have any way to block her poison, you might as well give up. It wasn''t worth getting poisoned in a tournament-styled battle.

    "I give up!" The student who was facing Jane surrendered in a hurry. She was relieved that she wouldn''t have to fight.

    There are five more battles before the next round starts. I hope the fight can end quickly.

 Chapter 146 Final Class Competition (Part IV)

    Skipping to thest first round was Ruby and the final four sis pup. They were pretty unlucky to fight every top contender for the top spot.

    Ruby magic had two properties, one of the few rare magic worldwide. She calls her magic destruction mes, which have the power of fire and destruction.

    While Ruby''s magic was strong, in the end, her mes would be her weakness against me. But, just by guessing, Ruby would probably be the best student in her country.

    I wonder why she was transferred here but sending her to Avaris was risky. It would be a pity if she was assassinated before I could fight her on the big stage.

    With the final battle about tomence, people stared at Ruby closely. Some of our ssmates believed Ruby was someone more powerful than Reba.

    This tournament would tell which of the two was more powerful. Thest pup of the four was shaking needlessly.

    Even if she gave up, no one here would me her. So, starting, Ruby summoned her purplish ck mes to the pup.

    The pup then tried her best to create a metal wall. But, with Ruby''s magding, the wall was decimated.

    "I give!" The final pup shrieked in terror. It wouldn''t be good to be hit by Ruby''s mes.

    The other three siblings were d that she wasn''t harmed. Finishing the fight, the first round was officially over.

    There were now twenty people left over the forty that were eliminated. So most of the fights here would be much more challenging.

    Before starting the next round, everyone who was going topete was given ten minutes of extra rest.

    In those ten minutes, I talked to Livie while observing the condition of thepetitors. Most of the people who had fought had recovered, while almost half were still tired.

    The matches couldn''t be dyed, so our teacher started the round. The second in the first match would be Gold against a dead tired ssmate.

    The energy level the two gave out had already determined who would win this fight alone. So even if they were both perfectly inplete form, Gold''s opponent''s chances were already slim.

    Starting the match, Gold had already started a sh as the battle began. Her opponent was already in a tough spot, making each sh harder for her to win.

    Gold here had no reason to prolong the fight. Instead, using her magic, she amplified her speed, giving herpetitor more pressure.

    Unable to stop Gold''s consistent attack, she eventually got hit and went down for the count. And with that, the first match of the second round was over.

    Gold was looking in good condition. However, she spent little energy on her first two fights. If this keeps up, I wouldn''t be surprised if she wins.

    With the next match on the way, I was up against Reece. It was a shame that I was up against someonepetent.

    Reece probably would have made it higher in the ranks if she hadn''t fought me. But I could use this battle as a chance to act weaker.<sub> </sub>

    If I use enough mana, I act like I didn''t have enough mana for my match in the semi-finals. As long as I got third, that was all it mattered.

    "Good luck." Livie had said as I went to the battle court.

    Looking at Reece, I could tell that she was serious. Reece, always on Reba''s side, had a stoic face. Whenever I saw her, I could never tell what she was thinking.

    Facing each other, none of us exchanged any words. The battle had started, and Reece had set up a defensive barrier made of cotton.

    Limiting my attack to a second-rank mage, I fired a beam testing the defense mechanism of Reece''s cotton barrier.

    Upon contact, my beam caused a small hole in the barrier. Seeing that my magic could destroy Reece''s guard, I prepared a second attack.

    Reece, who had seen her magic destroyed, quickly frowned in frustration. Was she only going to stall for making me waste my mana? She had already used enough mana from herst battle.

    There wasn''t a need to rush. Instead, I decided to y with Reece a bit. Seeing me smile, Reece felt something terrible wasing.

    Firing a beam, Reece tried her best to block my move. Without stopping, I kept on shooting a beam at the same spot.

    I had already shot ten attacks toward the exact location. Reece was already pale from the amount of mana drained from her move. It wasn''t long before she ran out of mana. I wondered how much longer she could hold out.

    "It ismendable for you to make me waste my mana, but I''m going to finish this battle with my next move. Surrender now, or face the pain." I had warned her.

    Looking at Reece, it didn''t seem like she intended to give up. "I see, so that''s your decision."

    Charging my attack, Reece felt the amount of mana I would use. After I finished charging, Iunched my attack. Reece used all of her mana to block my attack. Gritting her teeth, blood came out of her mouth.

    My charged beam had broken her defense before my attack couldnd. Our teacher interfered with my attack.

    Narrowing her eyes, our teacher looked at me funny, weirdly. Since the teacher had blocked my move, it meant that I had already won.

    Checking out Reba, I could see her a bit worried for Reece. But, even if Reba "liked" me, Reece was someone Reba had known for ages.

    After this battle, I could use an excuse for giving up in the semi-finals. If the other semi-final fighters decided to fight, that would be even better.

    With my battle over, I went back to Livie. "Do you need help with recovery?"

    I shook my head, telling her I didn''t. She doesn''t know the plot that our teacher had set up. I could only tell her after thispetition was over.

    Now that two battles were finished, there were eight more to go.

 Chapter 147 Final Class Competition (Part V)

    After my fight, more battles proceeded. Emily, who was in the fifth match, had faced the final pup siblings, Katrina.

    Knowing how to face them, Emily had a huge advantage. Emily, who saw who she was fighting, was on cloud nine.

    She was pretty fucked up in the head to have that expression when facing someone she knew would lose against her.

    Katrina was still pretty mana drained from her fight from the first round. If Katrina doesn''t want to get hurt, it would be better for her to leave the court.

    By the looks of it, Katrina had no intention of giving up. Does she want to avenge her sister? That was pretty foolish of her because her chances of winning were low.

    Unless she was petty enough to waste Emily''s mana, then there was no point in this battle. In the end, it was all spection. I couldn''t tell what Katrina was thinking.

    "Disgraceful dog, make sure you don''t give up too early." Emily taunted Katrina before they fought.

    Emily was a seductive beauty, but it was a shame her personality was the worst. I wouldn''t like to deal with her sadistic nature and sharp tongue.

    Katrina had her hands clenched tightly. She took it personally when Emily insulted her. Not only was she angry, but her sisters were also angry with her.

    Without wasting any more time, the duel had started. Katrina, who had somewhat learned how to fight Emily, began to rush her right from the start.

    Hardening her body, Katrina tried her best to get as close to Emily as possible. Emily, who knew from experience, tried to stop Katrina.

    Summoning her magic, Emily had created a dozen worth of lightning bolts. Then, with her magic materialized, she sent them forward, slowing Katrina down.

    Katrina had put more mana into her metal defense, taking some hits from Emily''s bolt. Nevertheless, it was admirable how she could continue running.

    Before Emily couldunch more lightning bolts, Katarina was already a few steps away from getting her.

    Emily knew that fighting hand-to-hand wouldn''t work. So, trying to create some distance, she made an electro spark, trying to make a feint.

    Katrina, whose balls were massive, charged in without any hesitation. Emily was shocked by her courage, even I, who had to give her some respect for doing so.

    Katrina, feeling zapped from the electro spark, continued. Then, with her hardened body, she smacked Emily on the face.

    Landing a hit, Emily flew back to the ground with her face red. The development of this fight was a shocker. No one had expected Katrina to have this much fight within her.

    Before Emily could get up from her shock, Katrina had made her way to Emily. Strengthening her legs, Katrina stepped on Emily in the abdomen.

    Feeling the pain, Emily coughed up some saliva. Before the fight could continue, Ms. Colorful stepped in to finish the fight.

    The results were already in, and Katrina had won. If this were live on tv, this battle would have been an enormous upset.<sub> </sub>

    Katrina''s siblings were happy that one of their sisters was avenged. Emily, on the other hand, wasn''t looking too pretty.

    Anyone could tell that she was pissed just from her expression alone. The people beside her had taken a step back, not wanting to make her angrier.

    Even if Katrina won, it was a shame that her chances of winning were pretty low. Katrina had gone past her limit. Katrina fell to the ground and fainted. Her sister, who had already lost, took her away to fix her up.

    The next round would have nine people. After that, someone would take a bye for the next battle. I wondered if Reba would get it.

    If so, I wondered how everyone would act. Some might notin because they were from Avaris, but the exchange students wouldin.

    Starting up the next match, Ruby was up against a tired exchange student. Unfortunately, before they could fight, the exchange student had already surrendered.

    Next would be Reba against a ssmate who did well in her fight. Unfortunately, like Ruby''s opponent, our ssmate had also surrendered.

    The next match was with Sonya against another schoolmate. With the current trend, it wasn''t surprising that her schoolmate surrendered.

    Three matches had already finished in a minute. The next match was between two unimportant people, and the fightsted only a short time since one was already low in mana.

    The final match of this set was Jane against another unimportant ssmate I don''t remember. While I have seen Jane''s magic, I couldn''t tell how strong she was.

    Poison magic is troublesome. Unless Jane had tested her magic on me, I couldn''t tell if I could resist it.

    Now that the final match was underway, Jane''s opponent didn''t seem to have any fear of Jane''s poison. Does she have something that could prevent the poison from getting into her?

    Starting the match, Jane created a poison cloud instantly before the poison could get to the rest of us students. Ms. Colorful did something to interfere.

    Jane''s opponent had tried her best to hold her breath. Then, summoning a bubble on her head, the poison around her was rendered useless.

    That''s right. I remembered that her magic was bubbles. I don''t know how her family had produced such magic, but it was unique, to say the very least.

    Jane, seeing her opponent''s trick, didn''t seem too worried. Throwing a poison needle, the needlended on the legs and caused immense pain to the other fighter.

    It wasn''t surprising that Jane had something like that up her sleeve. There would be situations where her magic would be rendered useless if the poison couldn''tnd.

    The match ended, and Jane erased our ssmate''s poison. The battles from now on are going to be more challenging, I wasn''t worried, but I could see that the other contestants were.

    Now that the quarter-finals were on the way, I needed to win this match, and I would be closer to my goal.

 Chapter 148 Final Class Competition (Part VI)

    Eight people would fight for the spot to go to the semi-finals, and one would get a bye. The numbers were already too uneven.

    "Ms. Colorful, I would like to forfeit my right to fight." A ssmate of mine has said, voicing her opinion.

    "Are you sure?" Ms. Colorful said, confirming whether this was true or not.

    "Yes, I''m sure." Now that she had forfeited, eight people were fighting in an even bracket.

    "Very well." Ms. Colorful didn''t say anything else after that.

    Without any more distractions, the next match started without any break. For the first match, Reba would be fighting Jane.

    Oh, this was a match that I would never have thought of. If Reba got too close to Jane, then Reba would win.

    But if Reba couldn''t, then Jane would win. So, returning to her old strategy, Jane made a poison cloud as fast as possible as the match started.

    Reba, like Jane, had maximized her time by getting to Jane. Teleporting a few steps forward, Reba was already near Jane.

    Was Reba''s magic limited to small distances teleporting? No, that couldn''t be it. Otherwise, why would everyone here call her the strongest?

    There were many ways to ovee the short distances of a teleport. Observing Reba''s movement, I finally knew what Reba''s magic was.

    Reba could either stop time or skip time. I wouldn''t be able to tell unless Reba told me what her magic was herself, and I doubt she would do so.

    Now I know her magic. How far could she stop time? Or how far could she skip time? And what was her cooldown for her magic?

    So many questions were asked, but none of them I have answers to. Focusing back on the battle, Reba was already inches away from Jane.

    Reba had held her breath pretty nicely. There wasn''t any poison affecting her currently.

    Jane needed a way to deal with Reba pretty quickly. Otherwise, she would lose horribly. Spraying some gas toward Reba''s eyes, Reba dodged it cleanly.

    With her time magic, Reba had already won. The match was decided by pointing her dagger at the back of Jane''s head. Reba had wlessly won.

    The first match ended pretty quickly. Everyone could now see why Reba could be dubbed the strongest in our ss.

    I wasn''t worried about her. Her matchup against me would be the worst unless she could prate my almost impossible mana barrier. After that, she would have no way of beating me, even if she could use her magic.

    Reba had beaten Emily reasonably easily. Most people that weren''t convinced about her strength hade in terms of herbat power.

    There are now three battles and six people, including me. So Ruby, Gold, Me, Sonya, and two randos were left.

    At least one group would be paired withpetent people. I didn''t mind fighting anyone, but I would prefer two of the three to be unscathed for my next match.

    Deciding the next match, Ruby was paired up with one of the randos. Fighting, the battle ended pretty quickly when Ruby brute-forced her way to victory.<sub> </sub>

    The next pair would be Gold and me. Just by looking at my matchup, they wanted me to fight these right-hand women.

    Gold was silently serious when she stared at me. I would have done the same if I faced someone of my caliber.

    I had to act a bit serious. Taking out my sword, Gold took out her spear. We both had an artifact from our scavenger hunt a month ago.

    Our weapon''s strength was simr. With both of us taking our weapons in our hands, both of us were ready.

    Right as the battle began, Gold charged in like a maniac. Pointing my sword at Gold, I spammed my sword beam at Gold.

    Just from my sword alone, my attack had doubled from myst battle. Not only that, but the speed of my beam also increased.

    Gold had a hard time dodging my attack. While she had dodged them all, she couldn''t get toward me.

    I had positioned all my attacks to stop her movement. Now that Gold was starting to get mentally exhausted, I began stage two.

    The number of beams that I had fired almost tripled. I couldn''t help but enjoy the struggle that Gold was facing.

    Gold was already having trouble dodging my attack. Now that my attack had tripled, my beams were beginning tond.

    Being shot by me, Gold grunted in pain, unable to resist more of my beams. I had stopped shooting just in case I overdid it.

    From the looks of it, Gold had fainted from the pain she had received. Winning my match, I could see Ruby ring at me.

    "Charlie, do you need help to recover your mana?" Livie asked out of concern.

    "No." I shook my head and denied it. She didn''t know my n, I wish I could tell her now, but that would warrant too much trouble.

    With me finishing my match, it was the final match for the quarter-final. Sonya had it pretty easy from the opponents she had fought.

    The match against her opponent wasn''t even close. Sonya had overpowered the random with her artifact magic.

    Having me, Ruby, Reba, and Sonya win meant the four of us wouldpete for the first spot. I mean three since I only wanted third ce.

    If I fought Reba or Sonya right away, I would immediately surrender. However, if I fought with Ruby, I would use a bit more mana before surrendering.

    Ruby and I are friends. It would suck if she were assassinated just because she won this sspetition.

    And besides, I wanted to flex on her in the world tournament. I wanted to beat her in front of everyone on the big stage.

    Sonya could get assassinated for all I care. We weren''t that close, to begin with. But if she fought Reba, even with her artifacts hitting her was almost impossible. Sonya had no chance against Reba, just from their magic alone.

 Chapter 149 Final Class Competition (Part VII)

    After our teacher let us rest for a few minutes, the semi-final was on the entire course. I had a 33% chance of facing either Ruby, Reba, or Sonya.

    With the pairings picked, I would fight Reba, and Ruby would fight Sonya. Ruby''s and Sonya''s match would go first.

    This matchup was good. Either Ruby or Sonya would give up fighting for first ce. If one of them gets injured, it wouldn''t be surprising if I get third ce. All I could do was hope that the loser would get too tired from their fight.

    Getting both of them in the battle court, they faced each other. Ruby and Sonya were in top condition. Whoever lost here would lose a lot.

    Ruby and Sonya both were very prideful in their own right. Losing here would significantly damage their pride and the prize they won''t receive.

    Starting strong, Sonya made the first move. Moving as far away from Ruby as possible, she held her bow and did her best to distract Ruby.

    Ruby, who was having none of that, chased Sonya. Sonya, who saw that she was being chased, deployed a run-and-hit tactic.

    asionally, when Sonya had reached the point where Ruby was far enough, Sonya would release an arrow at Ruby, hurting her.

    Sonya, who was neatly kiting her opponent, was doing an excellent job. Sonya was currently in the lead by ying what Ruby was weak against.

    It was a shame that Sonya had faced a dragonewt such as Ruby. But, observing Ruby''s expression, I could tell she was pissed.

    Ruby was a massive muscle head. However, she is the type of person who fights using her instincts and emotions.

    Sonya picked the worst person who she should have pissed. Ruby, who is frustrated, yelled out to Sonya in anger.

    Feeling the spike of power in Ruby, both her physical and magical abilities had risen. Her dark mes had manifested, and she began her charge on Sonya.

    With this, Sonya could no longer run. Instead, Sonya had to adapt to a new strategy, or it would be the end for her.

    Ruby, who was rushing Sonya, was already at arm''s length away from Sonya. At point nk, Sonya used her bow right into Ruby''s face.

    Was Sonya trying to kill Ruby? If the arrow hadnded, I wouldn''t know what to say. But fortunately, the dark mes around Ruby had destroyed the arrow.

    Ruby, who had now closed the distance, was in range to attack. With nothing stopping her, she punched Sonya in the face using her fistbined with her strong magic.

    Landing her punch, Sonya was sent flying. Ouch! That was what I thought. If you were sent flying by a punch, that got to hurt.

    Sonya was on the ground, unable to stand up. She had fainted from the power that Ruby had disyed.

    I pitied Sonya. Her face looked pretty unnatural from the hit that Ruby caused. Even blood was spurring out of Sonya''s mouth.

    "Charlie, should I heal her?" Even if you wanted to, I don''t think you could.

    "Livie, her jaws are damaged. I don''t think your magic would work on her." It would be hazardous if Sonya choked on Livie''s food.<sub> </sub>

    I don''t think she can participate in the next match with an injury like that, which was pretty lucky for me. After my match with Reba, I won''t need to fight another match.

    After the match, Sonya was taken to the school''s medical area. Now Reba and I would have to fight.

    "Charlie." Reba calmly said, with the two of us faced.

    "This is our first time fighting, if I recall." That was correct. Reba and I never had a chance to fight. In any circumstance.

    "Sorry, but I''m going to beat you up for Reece." Reba had stated what she wanted.

    With the battle beginning, I said, "I surrender!" I had crushed what Reba had wanted me to do. Livie, who was spectating, was confused by what I said.

    Ruby, on the other hand, didn''t look too happy. She, who was pissed earlier, became angry again.

    "Why?" Reba was pretty displeased by my announcement.

    "Fighting both Gold and Reece had my mana severely drained. There is no point in fighting a losing battle." I had lied without any hesitation.

    Saying what I needed, everyone who heard what I said couldn''t deny that I had fought two people considered strong.

    While what I said was true, it was disappointing that my battle with Reba ended within seconds.

    "Ms. Colorful, how is third ce decided?" Since Sonya wasn''t here, I had to ensure I got my prize.

    "Student Sonya cannot fight, so the prize will naturally go to you." I nodded, knowing that the three pure mana crystals were mine. Happy that I got my prize, I went to Livie and smiled at her.

    ? "Why did you surrender?" Whispering, Livie, who naturally knew me best, couldn''t believe what I said to Reba was true.

    "I will tell you after ss if that is alright with you." I didn''t want to risk the chance of me being heard, so I had to dismiss this topic immediately.

    Livie could do nothing but sigh in eptance. Having to push back on what needed to be said, this topic was over until we were alone.

    I would have left with Livie if this battle was someone else fighting. Both Ruby and Reba were up next.

    Ruby, who was still injured, is at a pretty significant disadvantage. The students of Avaris cheered on Reba while the exchange students cheered for Ruby.

    If Reba lost this fight, she might as wellmit suicide. I had heard that Reba was the strongest in her year. But, on the other hand, if she happens to lose to Ruby, who was injured, then the country of Avaris would look like a joke in the eyes of many.

    The fight was about to start, and everyone who was spectating the fight was nervous.

 Chapter 150 Final Class Competition (Part IX)

    [POV Third Person]

    In the left corner, a female with short dark red hair with two spiral horns on the top of her head. With sharp teeth and a stern face, one would think the girl was a street delinquent.

    In the right corner, opposite the girl on the left. She was a female one with more of a charm of beauty. Her long white hair and bright red eyes would easily be the center of attention.

    Two opposites were now face-to-face in a match that would determine their standings. The female on the left was Ruby. Despite being at a disadvantage from the injuries she had received, from her expression alone, it didn''t seem like it bothered her.

    Ms. Colorful, the teacher of the ss, had watched the both of them closely, studying their every move.

    "Reba, I always had a tooth to pick with you. People im you are the strongest, and today I will tear that image apart." Before the battle started, Ruby had said a few words before fighting.

    "Do you think you could beat me with your injuries? Even if you weren''t harmed, I would''ve still beat you." Reba had countered back, just in case the excuses Ruby would have made if she lost.

    The two of them had nothing else to say, Ms. Colorful seeing that began the match. Both Ruby''s and Reba''s fighting styles were hand-to-hand. With the two rushing at each other, they began their first sh.

    Ruby''s, whose fist was covered in dark mes, made the first move. Trying to punch Reba, she teleported to Ruby''s side.

    Reba, who held two daggers, tried to stab Ruby in her chest. Ruby, seeing that red her magic around her body, protecting herself from Reba''s attack. Feeling danger, Reba, who used her magic, went back in an instant.

    Clicking her tongue, Reba found Ruby a troublesome opponent. Like Charlie, Ruby had both offensive and defensive powers, making it hard to break through.

    With Reba taking a step back, Ruby went on a rampage. Ruby knew that Reba''s magic was something she couldn''t afford to take lightly.

    Having taken some damage from her previous fight, she needed to find a way to stop Reba from teleporting. Otherwise, Reba would win in terms of stamina.

    Being reckless, Ruby red her magic, randomly flinging all kinds of projectiles around Reba, making it hard for the bunny girl to dodge.

    At the rate Ruby used a massive amount of mana, it wouldn''t take long for her to lose all of her mana.

    During this time, Ruby went on an extreme offensive without caring for her surroundings. Reba was dodging everything she could and gritting her teeth in frustration.

    <o>,m Reba couldn''t even breathe appropriately without Ruby being there to attack. Using her ability to skip through everything had Reba''s mana drained.</o>

    Ruby was running out of gas in herst ditch effort. Ruby created arge explosion making it impossible for Reba to run away.

    With the explosion hitting, Ms. Colorful went to interfere with the battle. Ruby was down for the count, suffering from the loss of mana. She went down without any consciousness left.

    "Ruby, you mad women!" Reba had shouted, clearly frustrated by the battle. She gripped her hands firmly on her dagger.

    Suppose Ms. Colorful hadn''t stopped the damage from Ruby. Reba would have been injured from the explosion that Ruby had caused.

    The match was close. No one knew the results if Ruby were in prime condition. The only reason why Ruby went to the extreme was because of her stamina disadvantage.

    Concluding the match, the rankings were over. In third ce was Charlie, who earned three second-rank pure mana crystals. The second was Ruby, who got an artifact with a teleport function. Finally, first ce was Reba, who won a phoenix pill.<sub> </sub>

    With those three prizes given, the final ss in Avaris was finally over. Some people stayed and chatted with their ssmates while others left.

    [Charlie''s POV]

    Having to earn the prize I got from thepetition, Livie and I went home immediately after the ss.

    Taking out my prize, I handed it out to Livie. I did not need these crystals since they had no use for me.

    "Could you tell me why you surrendered?" Livie, who had this question in her mind, had asked.

    "There is a simple reason for that. Winning that fight was a trap." I said what I had thought.

    "Trap?" Livie had wondered what I meant by that.

    "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk," I had shaken my head, and Livie was confused.

    "Do you think our teacher Ms. Colorful would simply give a phoenix pill to a winner?" There was no chance for Ms. Colorful to do that. I found that unreasonable.

    "How much do you think a phoenix pill is worth?" I asked Livie this question.

    "I don''t know... A lot?" What she said was correct but.

    "Yes, a lot. So much that it could buy a small city." People around the world would want this. Not only could the pill recover one physical state but also any illness that one would have.

    "Aaaa city!??" Livie had stuttered, hearing how much money could be given from selling such a thing.

    "Tell me, Olivia, do you think our teacher is that nice to give us such an item? To someone not from this country?" My words had spoken to her. No one in the right mind would give such an item.

    "Then why would she put it up as a prize?" Livie had asked, questioning why.

    "To assassinate the winners." I was confident that this was the case.

    "Assassination!??" Livie was scared shitless hearing that.

    "Wasn''t that going too far?" I shook my head at Livie''s naivety.

    "They want to win the uing tournament and would do anything to achieve this." I had given Livie the reason why this was the case.

    "Do you understand now why I surrendered?" Livie nodded, fully understanding the situation.

    "Good, use those three crystals to get to the third rank."

 Chapter 151 Goodbye Avaris!

    A week had passed by since our final sspetition. We leave this country today, and I may miss this ce because of the house. I certainly won''te back.

    I had already taken everything we needed into my storage ring. So Livie and I were in our house saying goodbye to this ce.

    It has been three months since we arrived, and many memories have been made��especially the ones we made physically.

    Yesterday we had already said farewell to both our friends and acquaintances. Ruby, who was pretty hurt badly, was doing well. Checking in on her, she was pretty pissed at the results. But I could see her drive to improve.

    Gold, who was usually quiet, had a few words with me. Even though she lost to me in a battle, her opinion of me had risen.

    On the other hand, Reba offered to let Livie and me stay. It was unfortunate that I had to reject such an offer. But the both of us ended on a high note.

    Livie had reached the third rank thanks to the mana dispenser and crystal I gave her. I had to smack her away from me to have her train seriously.

    "Dear~ ready to set off?" Livie had snapped me out of my thoughts.

    "Let''s leave." It was already time, and Livie and I made our meeting point.

    It was already 2 PM, and Livie and I were supposed to meet up with six of our senior students.

    Having arrived at our destination, everyone was already there. It had been months since I had seen them. Unfortunately, our location was far from the others, making it hard for us to meet.

    "You sure took a long time toe." Audrey, who had gained her confidence, sure had a big mouth.

    "We weren''tte." I looked at her while she clicked her and looked away.

    "Since we are all here, our instructor should be arriving any minute." Then, finally, a senior student spoke, clearing any bad atmosphere that Audrey had created.

    "Miss Sris, how was your three-month stay here?" A senior that goes by the name of Ashley Bronwyn had asked out of curiosity. It was sad how I was getting used to getting called a girl because I dressed like one.

    "I have gained many resources from this school. Not to mention I had observed all the worthy first years going on this year''s student''s world tournament."

    "The princess of this country, who is the strongest of her year, won''t be able to defeat me." I had spoken the truth. Just watching everyone battle, no one held a candle close to me.

    "As expected of you, Miss Sris." Ashley, someone from a noble family, is kissing my ass. Audrey, who heard this, clicked her tongue in disgust. Inparison, Livie would give a wry smile. And for the rest, they found this natural.

    Before Ashley could continue, our instructor arrived. "I would assume that the academy from the school treated you all well."

    "We will be teleporting back immediately, and after that, you will all be going to the headmaster''s office." She was right in saying that we had directly teleported back to our school ground in Star State.<sub> </sub>

    Following the instructor, the six of us made our way to the headmaster''s office. It was pretty nostalgic seeing everything. Even when we left for three months, it had seemed like years.

    "Headmaster, instructor Raven, report in!" Arriving outside the headmaster''s office. Our instructor knocked on the door.

    With the door opening, the seven of us went in. Looking at the headmaster, she was the same as usual. But, this time, I was sure she was here physically.

    Even though I hid my rank as a magician, I could tell that the headmaster knew how strong I was. She had gazed into me as if looking at something interesting. Then, she nodded like she was satisfied with something.

    "I would like to wee you back to our academy." The headmaster calmly said.

    "How was your stay at Avaris? Did they mistreat you all?" Asking the questions, the headmaster wanted to know the details of our stay in Avaris.

    "Other than the principal of Avaris Royal Academy, who seems to despise us, nothing major concerning had happened." Ashley immediately replied after the headmaster asked.

    "Is it true for the rest of you?" The rest of us nodded, agreeing with what Ashley had said. So while the students werepetitive, they didn''t harm us in any way except for some idiots, and I taught them a lesson.

    "Is that so? Then that is all. Take a week''s break from school. You will need it for your next lesson." It was pretty ominous when the headmaster said that.

    With that, all said, everyone began to exit the headmaster''s room. But, before I could leave, the headmaster said, "Charlie Sris, I would like some words with you."

    I looked at Livie and told her to go first, staying in the room. After that, it was just the headmaster and me. "Before you leave, I want to talk about the World''s Youth Tournament." Is that what they''re going to call it?

    "In the World Youth Tournament, I want you to be the first year''s captain." That was a rtively quick decision.

    "Don''t I need to fight for a spot in this year''s tournament?" Saying that the headmaster looked at me as if I had a brain rot.

    "Do you think you need to do that with your current strength?" Well, she wasn''t wrong. I can sweep anyone my age.

    "But shouldn''t Serena Celeste be the captain? I doubt the Celeste family would allow me to do so." With me saying that, the headmaster shook her head.

    "As long as you produce results, no one could object." Results, huh? If I won, no one couldin.

    "Is the role captain that important?" You only need strength as the captain if the tournament puts a team''s captain on a pedestal.

    Hearing my question, the headmaster smiled. "Now the matter is settled. I hope you enjoy your week full of rest."

    Having nothing else to say, I left the room.

 Chapter 152 Compensating (Part I) (R-18)

    After finishing my talk with the headmaster, I went to my house immediately. It has been three months since I went in.

    Livie was in my room waiting for me toe back. Looking around my house, I had missed this ce so much.

    Putting everything we got from Avaris, our room was even more lively than before. Also, the mana dispenser we have was refreshing to have.

    Being filled with mana gives us a sense of satisfaction like no other. It was like sitting in a hot tube and hitting the right spot where it should feel.

    Hourster, Livie and I, absorbing some mana, felt a presenceing in. With her walking in, it had been three months since Ist saw her.

    "It''s been a while, hasn''t it?" I said to Serena while looking at her.

    "A while, it has." Serena looked at me and smiled.

    Walking up to me, she kissed me on the lips. Livie, who saw this, was taken aback. Three months ago, she wouldn''t have had this reaction, but with the time we spent with one another, she wouldn''t want to share.

    "I didn''t expect you to get a mana dispenser." Serena then looked at Livie and was shocked by her rank.

    "You reached the third rank. How?" Serena couldn''t believe someone like Livie had reached the third rank before her.

    "My love gave me pure mana crystals." So Livie found an opportunity to show my love for her by rubbing it on Serena''s face.

    "That''s unfair." Even with resources, pure mana crystals would be hard to find. Unless Serena had ordered her entire family, they would have needed months to find one.

    Now that I think about it, how did the school of Avaris obtain so many? And if they had more, would the rest be used in a higher rank? That is certainly concerning.

    "After leaving for a week, it''s unfair how you two had to leave for three months and have a honeymoon phase." Serena was pissed that Livie had me for three months without anyone to interfere with the rtionship.

    "I need somepensation." Serena hugged me and rubbed her body against mine. Then, before Livie could step in, she created a barrier around Livie, stopping her.

    Serena''s womanly features were simr to Livie''s. But, except for her personality and color palette, almost everything about them was the same.

    "Serena, you''re going too far!" Livie was banging on the barrier that Serena had made.

    Without listening to Livie, she used her magic and stripped us both. Sitting on myp with her chest on mine had gotten me pretty hard.

    Taking my lips, Serena started grinding our lower region together. Livie, still banging on the barrier, had stopped from exhaustion. All she could do was watch.

    "Mhm~! Mhm~!" Serena''s moans, suppressed by my mouth, had made her sound pretty cute.

    With her bottom pretty wet and my crotch fully awakened from the grinding she had done, I stuck my little brother inside her.

    "Hmmph~!" With a surprise pration, Serena''s kissing had stopped.<sub> </sub>

    It had been a long while since Serena and I had sex. How long has it been since then? Four to five months top?

    Anyways Serena was surprised by my decision and stopped moving her body. She was adjusting to the feeling of my dick inside of her.

    "Haa~, Haa~," Serena was breathing roughly to me inside her.

    "I''m going to take the lead." Since Serena was unresponsive, I moved her to the bed with me on the top.

    "Ahh! Charlie~..." Moving my hips, Serena couldn''t help but moan. Compared to Livie, Serena''s tightness of her inside''s was on a different level.

    "Mhm~!" On the other side of the room, I could hear the moans of another person. Livie, watching us, started ying with the lower part of her body.

    The barrier Serena had created was already gone, but Livie was too invested in watching us notice. Her fetish was showing just from our act.

    Serena, who was frozen earlier, began to move. Then, she held me down tightly, using her arms and legs.

    Thanks to her body positioning, I, who was mounting her, made my thrusting movement much more effortless.

    "Charlie~... I''m going... To mark you." Her eyes, filled with lust, made her adorable on her right. Then, moving her head to my neck, she began to y with it yfully.

    My hips, which were still moving, were being juiced. Fuck! Her insides were moving on their own, squeezing me to the max.

    "Ahhh~! My magic feels good, right~?!" Judging by my reaction, Serena, who held changed the shape of her insides, saw that I was in euphoria.

    This sensation was something I had never felt before. Being milked by Serena, I blew my first load inside of her.

    Serena, surprised by my cummies, also released some of her juice. Serena, tired from her first cum in a while, had tried to rx her body. But being the guy, I''m, I went in for our second round.

    "Charlie, wait~!" I couldn''t. While I never lost in stamina, after Serena, I felt Livie would join in right after she was finished. I didn''t want to lose.

    "Ahhh~!" Without minding what Serena had said earlier, I went ahead and yed with her body mindlessly.

    Livie and Serena were moaning endlessly. I had poked every right spot within Serena. At this point, Serena would only think about my dick.

    Serena, who was using both her body and magic, had instinctually made her insides pleasurable to the point that I thought she was a subus.

    Turning her around, I had roughened up my thrust a bit. Finally, my crotch started to hit the entrance of her womb, and all Serena could do was cry in pleasure.

    From what I was doing, the words that came out of Serena''s mouth were iprehensible. Livie, who was on the side, couldn''t help but be turned on by our disy of affection.

    Venting all my lust on Serena, I sent my second load inside her for the second time.

 Chapter 153 Compensating (Part II) (R-18)

    Serena, feeling all my lust, had an ahego on her face. She was down for the count. I was a tad bit too rough on her. The pleasure Serena felt made her dazed.

    Livie, who had only been spectating till now, had rushed over. Seeing how Serena couldn''t continue, Livie wanted it to be her turn.

    "Livie..." Before I could speak, she gave me a smooch on the lips.

    I was surprised at what Livie had done. Getting on top of Serena''s unconscious body, there were now two sets of ass right in front of me.

    "Livie, you genius." I couldn''t help but blurted that out, seeing what Livie had done.

    "Ehehe..." Livie wasughing like an idiot when Iplimented her. I couldn''t help but stare at her cute face.

    "Reward me~!" Livie shook her bottom, trying her best to attract me.

    "Ahhh~!" Livie, who deserves the reward, had her lower hole plugged by me entirely.

    Hearing the moan, Serena, who was on the bottom of Livie, had woken up. Looking at what was happening, Serena couldn''t help but get angry.

    "Olivia, get off me." Trying to shake Livie off. Her attempt to do so failed.

    "Ol... Charlie~! Wait for...~!" Before Serena could do something, I exited Livie''s hole and went inside Serena.

    "Babe~ Do me next~!" Livie had prompted me to do her next. So, after thrusting Serena once, I went back to Livie.

    "Babe? What do you... Ah~!" Before Serena couldin more, I went back to her.

    Doing both of them alternatively was the best option currently. While it wasn''t efficient, it would stop the both of them from fighting.

    Fucking two different holes is an experience most people won''t have the pleasure of doing. Even if both of them looked alike, their insides were entirely different.

    It has been about ten minutes since I was rotating in between. Finally, I was at my limit, and I could only choose one of them to have my seed.

    Since Livie hadn''t been filled by me yet, it was her turn to get my seed. Feeling something warm being poured inside her had left her satisfied.

    "Charlie, you''re supposed to spoil me today." Serena looked at me and begged me to y with her.

    Gathering enough strength, Serena managed to get Livie off of her. Then, free from Livie''s grasp, Serena pounced on me.

    Ending on top of me, we began starting where we first started. Even though Serena was weak earlier, using her magic, her stamina had miraculously increased.

    "Your penis belongs to me~!" Without hesitation, Serena''s lower body had swallowed mepletely.

    Looking at Livie, who was spectating, I was surprised to see how docile she had be. Doing Livie once wasn''t enough for her, but she was letting Serena have her turn for some reason.

    Well, it doesn''t matter if no one wasining. Serena, who was still on top, was moving her hips wildly.<sub> </sub>

    Hugging her body, I began to move my hips along with her. Trying to suppress her, she began to kiss me violently.

    I was distracted by what was in front of me. Livie, who was watching, touched me from behind. Using her body, her warmth spread through my back.

    Her breast along her body had rubbed against mine. Moving along with her head, she opened her mouth and went for my neck.

    Being assaulted from both the front and back was a new experience. Even though I was always warm due to my magic, the love I felt from these two energized me incredibly.

    "I''m going to cumming~!" Serena screamed as she moved her lower body rapidly. Her cunt had significantly tightened doing so.

    "It''s my turn~!" Livie, who was behind me, seductively whispered into my ears.

    At this rate, how long would I have to continue this? I realized both Serena and Livie were double-teaming me. Both had enough stamina to take turns once the other was down.

    If I continue this, it might take forever to finish. Once I finish with Livie, I will try my best to stop this.

    Hours passed, and I was still having sex. As I had predicted, Livie and Serena hadpeted on how long one wouldst.

    I didn''t dare to stop. Making both of them angry would be a pain. Another few hours had passed, and it was somewhere during the night. While I could keep going, I was mentally exhausted. I had been on autopilot for thest few hours.

    "Stop!" Once Serena had finished her turn. I had stopped Livie from doing more. It wasn''t fair that both of them could infinitely revive from exhaustion.

    "Did you get tired of my body?" Wait, what? How did shee up with that conclusion? Tears were about to leak from her eyes. Trying to stop it, she pounced on me.

    Doing me, I realized I had been got. Fuck! The old me wouldn''t have yielded to anyone. Curse my goodwill.

    More time had passed, and I could see the sun rising. I had to stop this once and for all. Otherwise, this would get out of hand.

    After finishing Olivia, I stopped Serena froming to me. "I''m spent. No more." I stared at Serena, telling her I won''t budge to my answer.

    Seeing how I was, Serena could only give up and sigh. I was mentally boomed. Livie seemed like she was having the time of her life being unconscious.

    I needed some rest. Serena, who was still awake, gave my body a tight squeeze. With her body on me, I quickly drifted to sleep.

    [Some Time Later]

    Waking up, I felt something wet down my crotch. No, not again. I cried inwardly. Both Serena and Livie were licking me clean.

    Waking up again, was what I saw earlier a dream? This time I felt both of my arms held down by two different people.

    .Livie and Serena were sound asleep right next to me. What time is it? Checking the window, I saw it was still somewhere during the day.

    Looking at the two girls, I had a sudden thought.

 Chapter 154 Farming Ranks (Part III)

    My sudden thought didn''t work as I had nned. I was going to let both of them stay in bed, but even my little movement had woken them up.

    During our nightly activity, Serena used my body fluids to reach the third rank. Is my thick milk that potent for someone to gain so much power?

    "Goodmorning?" I didn''t even know the time. I greeted both of them as they began to wake up.

    Both Serena and Livie were still exhausted fromst night. While they were awake, they were still half asleep.

    "Livie, could you make me something?" I know it wasn''t polite to ask, but I wanted to eat something.

    Even though she was tired, she listened to my request. Kissing her, I went to the dining table alone and ate my food.

    Since both Livie and Serena were out ofmission, I could do whatever I wanted. Figuring out what I wanted, I had a ce in mind.

    Going to the ranking arena, I searched for someone I could fight. If I remember, our ranking here would also be added to our grade for our test.

    Having to leave for Avaris, I have yet to have the chance to raise my rank. Looking at my rank, I was ced at the 1753 spot. My rank had dropped since I was pretty inactive.

    With my opponent found, I made my way into the arena where I should fight. My first challenger was someone a few ranks below me.

    Locking my eyes on my opponent, I saw that she was surprised to be matched against me. "I didn''t know you would be back. I surrender. There isn''t a chance I would win."

    I pitied the other person. When I returned, the person in front got me as a challenger, not to mention her drive to fight against me was almost nonexistent.

    My first fight ended with the opponent forfeiting. I had preferred it that way since I would be able to rank up faster.

    After that, another challenger appears. Like before, my opponent was surprised to see me. But the difference between the two was their drive.

    "I had always wanted to fight you, Charlie Sris." The girl who I was matched against said with conviction. She was somewhere at the 1500 rank, much higher than mine.

    I nodded, acknowledging her will to fight. While she was much weaker than me, her guts to stand against me weren''t something to scoff at.

    Beginning to fight, my opponent went in and dashed. My opponent had some magic that allowed her to boost her speed.

    Before she could reach me with her speed, I went for the ssic AOE attack. As I had mentioned before, speed-type enemies were my biggest weakness. But if I made a move wide enough in this ring, it would be impossible for her to dodge.

    Facing my waves of burning hot sma, my opponent could only try her best to defend against my attack. While I had suppressed my magic to a high second-rank magician, my opponent fell to my attack.

    My powers had already far surpassed my peers. I was confident I would win any battle against them if I didn''t do something stupid.<sub> </sub>

    After defeating my opponent, I left the arena. My rank has increased substantially because of the level gap in rank that I was in.

    In two battles, I had gone from 1753 to 1594. My opponents were now going to be top first-year students or bottom second-year students.

    When I reached the third rank, my confidence in fighting the second year had risen. It wasn''t that they were weak, but my growth rate was insane, coupled with my magic.

    None of the second-year students should have a fourth-rank magician. In terms of the fighting experience, that was the only thing they could beat me in.

    Enough of my arrogance. My next match was already decided. This time, it was a second-year student. Her rank was pretty low for her year. Since she was at the 1543 rank, 43 first years had surpassed her.

    Looking at my opponent, she did not react to my name. Did she not know or don''t have a genuine care for my name? Either way, it was pretty rare for any of these to happen.

    My interest in the girl would have been much higher if her ranking on the board had been much higher.

    With our battle starting, none of us had spoken. Eyeing one another, my opponent had made the first move.

    Summoning some pink petal flowers, she sent them toward me as if they were shards of des waiting to cut me up.

    Given her magic, there wasn''t any reason why she was ranked this low. Judging by her strength, it wouldn''t be surprising if she was one of the top students of her year.

    While I had underestimated her, my advantage in terms of magic was far better than hers. Not only did I have more mana, but I also had a magic advantage. Didn''t you know fire beats grass?

    The pink petals that approached me were burnt into pieces. Creating an armor of sma, the magic my opponent made was destroyed.

    My opponent had never changed her expression, and once she saw that her attack was useless, there was a change to her calm face.

    "Why is your rank so low? With your strength, it could easily be higher?" Out of curiosity, I asked for an answer.

    Looking for an answer, nothing had popped out. The person in front of me didn''t reply. "Are you mute?"

    Seeing nothing had happened, she probably refused tomunicate. Since that was the case, I might end this battle now.

    Sending a giant beam, my attack sent my opponent flying. My attack had rendered it useless, even with a shield made of petals that she had created.

    It was a shame that she wouldn''t talk. I wanted to talk to her because I found her a bit interesting. I couldn''t help but sigh. Well, not everything will go my way.

 Chapter 155 NPC Tess Reporting In

    After five more battles, my ranking in the arena was at 1350, significantly improving from my previous rank.

    I was tired from fighting since I was done fighting for the day. So I went out of the arena and walked around the ce.

    "Charlie!" I heard a cute yet childish familiar voice calling me from a distance.

    Looking at who it was, it was my tiny fairy friend Tess. Checking her out, during the three months I had been away, nothing about her physically had changed.

    "It''s been a while, Tess." I greeted her, surprised by her sudden call out.

    "How have you been?" It has been three months. I asked how she did in the three months.

    "Great! After a month before you left, I earned my privilege of being an S ss student again." That was good news. I couldn''t be happier for her. We would see each other more during ss.

    "Congrats!" I gave her genuine praise.

    "I heard that you already got selected for the World Youth Tournament! Is that true?" How did that get leaked?

    "Yes, I did. How did you know?" I haven''t heard anything about it, but that was probably me not going out enough to hear about it.

    "Two slots for our year have already been taken. It would only be reasonable for you and Serena to get a spot." That made a lot of sense, but I didn''t think it woulde out of Tess''s mouth.

    "This year seems pretty hectic. I heard many that the first years were pretty talented. We had two exceptional exchange students." Tess sighed, mentioning them. At this point, I couldn''t help but think of Tess as an NPC.

    All the information she gave me was helpful. But, while I could have learned themter, it was better to learn all these things now.

    I was going to ask Serena about the exchange students, but she was out. I would ask her for the additional news that Tess would miss.

    "How were they? Seeing how you ssify them as exceptional, they must be pretty good." So what was this, some golden-era bs of some sort?

    Well, it wouldn''t have mattered. As time passed, my strength would continue to leave everyone in my generation further and further.

    The only person that was remotely scary in terms of talent would be my newborn sister. My family didn''t uncover my talent for absorbing more mana, so I couldn''t tell precisely how talented my sister was.

    "One from Grandelle, her name is Bianca, and she was pretty arrogant." Tess sounded a bit angry, saying her name.

    Grandelle was a country home to winged humans. But, even if they had wings, they couldn''t fly unless they were in the fourth rank.

    Winged humans are physically weak humans that can fly. I pity a winged human who gained the magic to fly, making their functions pretty useless.

    "Did she do something to make you angry?" She had an evident distaste when mentioning the name Bianca.<sub> </sub>

    "Most of our ssmates hated her. She didn''t stop running her mouth and kept insulting everyone she had beaten. Even if she is a bad person, she was a bit weaker than Serena." Even if she had an apparent distaste for her, she still spoke of her strength.

    "Then there was Nelly from Everest." Unlike Bianca, the name Nelly didn''t have any negative emotions toward her. I could sense a positive response.

    "Were the both of you friends?" I asked, making her surprised.

    "How did you know?" Her expression made it easy to tell.

    ? "You seem to like her just from mentioning her."

    "Unlike Bianca, Nelly got along with everyone in our ss." Even if Nelly was considered an enemy, Nelly could get people to like her. She would seem like a charismatic character if that were the case.

    "She would try her best to stop Bianca when she goes too far. Nelly and Bianca are pretty close in terms of strength." So both of them were weaker than Serena individually.

    "What magic did they use?" I asked Tess as I was curious. It would not be polite to ask others, but Tess didn''t seem to mind.

    "Bianca, like me, had the power to make wind. I don''t like to admit it, but because of her, I learned a few things from her." I see.

    "Nelly''s magic is tough to beat. She could create diamonds that would block most people''s attack." That would be tough to deal with if your magic were at a simr level as hers.

    Going back and forth, I would talk about my experience in Avaris. Both me and Tess had been talking for an hour.

    "It was nice having to talk to you again. I have something I need to do. See youter." And just like that, Tess had left like the wind.

    Having to talk to her was refreshing in a way. Now that I was alone again, I should check up on Livie and Serena. I hope my presence wouldn''t cause any lustful idents.

    On my way to my house, before I went back. There was a snack store that I have yet to try out. Both Livie and Serena could be visited any timeter.

    Going in, there were some chocte bars that the store sold. I hadn''t seen a chocte bar in ages. They were my favorite kind of snack.

    Their sweetness and texture couldn''t be beaten. Their creamy and aftertaste were also the best. I bought a couple of them for my friends and me.

    Since I had already bought a chocte bar, I might as well have a taste. Ripping the wrapper, I took a bite of the chocte.

    It was pretty damn good. While I had a fewints, I couldn''t be too mad at the bar. Most of the probleming from the chocte bar was that it was too hard.

    After finishing my small shopping spree, I returned home to check on both Livie and Serena.

 Chapter 156 First Year Top Ten Ranking! (Part I)

    A few days have passed by since I met Tess. Livie, Serena, and I were wandering about in the streets.

    "Did you hear? Each division has a top ten ranking for this year''s youth tournament." Overhearing the conversation of a passerby student, what she discussed was a fascinating topic.

    "It was posted everywhere around the town. Many people are interested in news like this." Eavesdropping, the three of us immediately searched for these rankings.

    "Babe~! I bet you would be first in the ranking." Livie had confidently said proudly of my power.

    "Charlie, it''s not fair that both of you are lovey dovey." Serena had grumbled hearing Livie call me that out in public.

    "I doubt I would be at the top rank. I haven''t shown all my strength during these three months." Not to mention, my performance in Avaris could have been better.

    "Serena''s results would be even better than mine since she was still at the top after the exchange students had appeared." Serena had blushed from thepliment that I had given her.

    "And besides, the ranking is only on paper. The ranking in the list isn''t that credible." Hearing my response, they nodded, agreeing to what I had said.

    "But it''s still nice to see who you should look out for first." Even though Livie had agreed with my statement, the people on the list still had to be someone at least capable.

    Finding that a ranking poster was on a bulletin board near a cafe, the three of us looked at the rankings.

    Four posters were for each division, with the names and the face with information. Most of what was needed about them was in this poster.

    Both Serena and I were on this ranking. That was to be expected. Otherwise, the poster here wouldn''t have any value.

    Tenth ce was Bianca, a winged human that Tess had mentioned. She had blond hair and bright white golden wings on her back. Despite having bright colors on her body, she looked pretty mean-spirited.

    "Serena, what''s your opinion on Bianca? I heard from Tess that she was an exchange student at our school." Serena here had the most information, and asking for her thoughts was the better choice.

    "Bianca? Hated that bitch. She couldn''t stop yapping for a second. While she was good, no one in our ss was exceptional. I could overwhelm her easily." Serena was confident when saying that. If Serena was confident, then she wasn''t a problem.

    Ninth ce was me. I could see my golden hair and blue eyes. There wasn''t any mention of me being part of the Sris family. And it ims that my magic is fire rted.

    "Ninth ce?" Livie was shocked by the results. Even Serena thought my ranking was a bit low.

    "Seeing that my family name wasn''t on the information list means that this ranking is only gathered around the time we went to another school."

    "I got ninth despite showing less than twenty percent of my power." My results were pretty damn good, with me barely doing anything.

    "Only twenty percent? Did you even try during your time in Avaris?" Serena was surprised that I barely used any power. She sighed, unable to say anything else.<sub> </sub>

    "The only time I tried was when I was only alone with Livie or by myself." Serena had clenched her hands when I called "Olivia" Livie.

    Eighth ce wasn''t someone either of us had recognized. Seele Bluet was the person who upied the spot. Seele was a girling from the fairy race, living in the country of Evergreen.

    She had bright blue hair that made her stand out. Her eyes were also bright blue which could attract the gaze of many. Despite her short height, her asset as a woman was pretty good.

    Looking at her, you could tell what magic she could use. Seele could create water, something that could be deadly if used correctly.

    "What are your thoughts on Seele?" I asked them to see if they could give their insight on her.

    "We don''t have much. People that live in Evergreen are mostly isted from the rest of the world." Serena, who was knowledgeable, knew what she was talking about. There was no point in specting what we thought.

    The following two were surprised. Seventh and sixths were Ruby and Reba. They were somewhere in the top five but to think that they didn''t make it.

    "To think Ruby and Reba were that low." Livie was surprised by the results shown. She saw firsthand how they fought and quickly recognized that they were powerful.

    "You know both of them?" Serena had asked.

    "The four of us were in the same school," I replied before Livie could answer.

    "Ruby has a rare magic that has two different properties. Both fire and destruction make it extra strong." I had told her the basics of what her power was.

    "Not only that, she is emotional. The angrier she gets, the more powerful she is. If you want to beat her, finish her quickly."

    "As for Reba, she is kind of simr to you." Serena''s eyes widened hearing me say that.

    "What makes us so simr?" She asked, wondering what made me think that.

    "Personality." Livie had replied without any hesitation.

    Before Serena could talk, I continued with my exnation. "Her magic is tricky. Even after knowing her for three months, I am still figuring out what her magic exactly is. She could either freeze time or skip into it."

    "Reba''s offensive power is her weakness. Suppose you could make a shield that could block everywhere in your body. Then her attacks would be rendered useless."

    Reba''s weakness was something she needed to work on. Otherwise, if she fought someone she couldn''t hurt, it would be all over for her.

    Telling what needed to be said, the three of us got to the top five of the list. Looking at the other four, I couldn''t tell who they were.

 Chapter 157 First Year Top Ten Ranking! (Part II)

    Going up on the list was fifth ce. Fifth ce was a dwarf that went by the name Amy. For a short girl, she was pretty talented.

    With a height of 4''2, her offensive skills were pretty scary. Amy''s magic was an explosion of some sort. Dealing with her unprepared was pretty risky. If you don''t know where her explosion will go, you''re fucked.

    Amy was the definition of don''t judge by the book''s cover. With a petite body, medium-length brown hair, and green eyes so looked precisely like a doll.

    I would hate to fight her if she was some assassin. Imagine Amy pretending to be a child, and boom! You turned into chunks of meat scattered around. That would be terrifying.

    "Amy''s magic seems a bit too dangerous to deal with," I told Serena and Livie my first thoughts when looking at her information. Even Livie was frightened by the aspect of fighting her.

    "That would depend on how she could use her magic. Judging by what it said, she could only make materials she had touched explode." I still needed to read the full exnation of her magic. Her magic was limited then.

    "So to beat her, we should stay as far away from her as possible. And if she throws something at us, block the iing attack." With Amy being a midget, how could she possibly run that fast?

    My unwanted thought was unnecessary. You should be ok if you know what type of opponent you''re dealing with and have enough preparation.

    After Amy was in fourth ce, fourth ce was someone going by the name of Camile. Opposite to Amy, her body proportionate was whacked. While she was the same as us, I didn''t know bodies could be like that.

    "Charlie, stop staring." I could feel Serena''s and Livie''s gaze tearing through me when I looked at her picture.

    "Punishment must be applied every time you get caught staring at her." Serena had added in something unnecessary. In the end, she feels jealous.

    "What kind of punishment should we add?" Livie had joined the fun discussing this with Serena.

    Looking at Camile''s other information, she was a subus demon that could control one emotion. Hearing the description of Camile''s magic seems a bit too op.

    "Serena, how would you deal with Camile''s magic?" Serena had done something simr to me. She would have the best idea of how to deal with magic like this.

    Interrupting her and Livie''s "serious" discussion, Serena had read the information about what Camile could do with her magic.

    "Dealing with her type is tricky. If you could surround yourself in mana and ignore slutty bitches like these. Than dealing with her isn''t a problem." Serena had just bashed her from Camile''s figure alone.

    "Babe, you wouldn''t be seduced by her magic, right?" Livie had asked that out of nowhere.

    "Of course, I won''t." I looked away from her, saying I didn''t know how strong her magic was, so I wasn''t sure.

    Livie and Serena red at me silently but didn''t say anything afterward after Camile was a girl named Lisa.<sub> </sub>

    Lisa, who was ranked third, is an elf. Not only is her name hot, but her figure is as well. Lisa''s magic was just as outrageous as thest.

    The elf Lisa could manipte air. It was a good thing my magic wasn''t just fire. Otherwise, my magic would have been ineffective against her.

    "Livie, Serena, all these participants'' magic is getting more outrageous." I would be afraid if she could suck the air out of someone.

    "Charlie, it''s not as dangerous as you think it is. She would need to raise her rank higher if she wanted to choke someone to death." I see. Good thing I was overthinking it.

    "Babe, don''t you think you''re thinking at the extreme level?" Livie couldn''t help being scared of my way of thinking.

    What I thought was natural. If I could manipte air, I would choke my enemies to death without a second thought.

    "If anything, Serena should think like me. If she could imagine the most destructive force, she could use that as her strongest attack." Serena began to ponder while hearing what I had said.

    After Lisa would be Serena, to think someone would be more potent than her. Serena''s magic was already absurd. The only thing shecks is mana.

    I couldn''t believe that Serena, who had bs magic, would be of lower rank than someone else. Serena, who was ced second, had me interested in the first ce.

    "Serena, don''t you think they exaggerated your personality description? How did you get people to think you''re prim and proper?" Livie had thrown a jab at Serena.

    "At least I''m on the ranking list, unlike someone." Ignoring them, I looked at the person currently in first.

    Chelsa is a human with the ability to control the void. Due to her being a rank three mage, she is currently ranked first.

    That was pretty fast. Livie, Serena, and I are in the third rank because of exceptional circumstances. Serena got to third rank due to her family''s money, Livie became a third-rank magician due to me and lucky resources, and I got to the third rank due to sheer talent.

    Since Chelsa was a third-rank magician, I would have a bit of a challenge when facing her. I hope her ranking was thoroughly deserved. But I shouldn''t bank much expectationing from her.

    "So she is already in the third rank? Now that I''m also in the third rank, I could beat her in a hitch." Serena had made a shadowboxing pose while imagining her beating Chelsa up.

    "Let''s hope she doesn''t disappoint us." Before leaving, I looked at her picture one more time, along with Serena and Livie.

    The tournament already wasn''t fair. Just me and Serena alone could curb-stomp the rest of the participants.

    I didn''t want to waste my time in the tournament just making a beam attack and doing a one-hit KO on all of them.

 Chapter 158 Battle Royale

    A day had passed since we saw the ranking poster. Today was also a particr day for Serena and me.

    Today the first years would have their team decided. Serena, Livie, and I were in front-row seats in a battle stadium.

    It was decided that every country would send in six students from every division for this year''spetition.

    What made this much more interesting was that other schools from the country could participate. Students that we haven''t seen before wouldpete in front of our eyes. While I expect little from them, I hope someone here will shine.

    "Do we even need to watch? I prefer having you bed me for the rest of the day." Serena was in a bad mood. Was it that time for her? But I wonder if she would be in the mood to do that if it was. Women were sometimes hard to understand.

    "We should at least check our future members. It wouldn''t hurt to know them early." I tried to reason with the moody Serena.

    "What got you so grumpy? Is it that time of the month for you?" Livie had said without any restraint. Sometimes I envy her bluntness when she does it out of stupidity.

    Serena red at Livie when she made thatment. I ignored them as I didn''t want to get involved in their fight.

    About five thousand first-year students participated in thispetition. The battle was a hundred-person battle royale, leaving five students out of the hundred wins.

    From the math, out of five thousand, only two hundred and fifty people would advance to the next round. If you could team up with someone for the first match, that would make this fight easier.

    There wasn''t any rule in teams. It will be considered a win if you stay on top as one of the five people.

    The matches were now undergoing. Students in the arena were now beginning to fight. There were many people with different ns.

    Some choose to fight and eliminate as many people as possible. Some people stayed on the sideline and waited until the bitter end. Many possibilities could be seen in a battle like this.

    To win in a battle royale, one would need both strength and brains with a tint of luck. It wasn''t even long before the battle started, and more than half of the contestants had already dropped.

    Two battle royals were starting at the same time. With fifty rounds doing them one by one would take forever to finish.

    "This is even more exciting than I thought it would be." Serena, who was a bit moody, replied, looking at the battle with interest.

    diators did this kind of thing in the old days. This was also some entertainment matched with a serious matter. Our school is making banks from the spectator that paid to watch.

    "Livie, make me some popcorn and drinks!" Since we would be here for a while, I needed some junk food to pass the time.

    "Make me some as well." Serena had chimed in with the idea of wanting something to munch on.

    Livie, who was ordered to make some snacks, couldn''t help but sigh, but she had done so and made some for her.<sub> </sub>

    Eating and watching were enjoyable in their own right. Two of the battle arenas had finished nearly at the same time. With both of them done, 48 battles were left.

    Despite having a hundred people in the arena, the size is small. You would have to look at all angles at all times to avoid any danger.

    "Charlie, look at that girl." Serena had pointed at someone in the arena.

    "She had a high chance of making it to our team." Serena pointed at a human female with pink hair and was confident she would make it.

    From the way she fought, she seems pretty experienced in fighting itself. I couldn''t help but be impressed that she was dominating thepetition.

    It only took a few minutes, and the round was over. The pink-haired girl had taken out at least half of the people in the arena. Even the crowds couldn''t help but be impressed by her disy of skill.

    "Livie, you got anyone you''re cheering for in the other arena." Since the pink-haired girl had swept the first arena, another match in the same arena had begun.

    "There are too many people for me to pick." From the number of people, Livie couldn''t decide who to cheer for.

    "Is there a need to cheer for anyone? It doesn''t matter who our teammates are. The two of us would be enough for the tournament." Serena''s moodiness returned.

    "Cheering on the person you want to win will help you immerse yourself in the battle." That was the point of this anyways.

    As time passed, more and more battles passed. Some exceptional fighters down the ring had shown strength, wits, and skill.

    I wonder how they will transfer those skills for the battle they will take in the next round. Hours had passed, and the qualifier had finished.

    Before the day ended, everyone would do a one-on-one fight. Out of 250 people, only half of them would be making it for the next day.

    I would have liked to watch the remaining battle, but Livie and Serena had already fallen asleep in thisrge crowd.

    The battle alone had taken most of the day and was still ongoing. Before the exit was going to crowd the spectator, I had lifted both Livie and Serena in my arms.

    Just from my actions alone, it was pretty nerve-racking that I had gained the attention of everyone nearby. If I weren''t dressed as a girl, I would have been stopped and arrested by the guards for kidnapping.

    Arriving back home, I had both Serena and Livie on the bed. Before joining them, I went out and took a stroll.

    Ever sinceing to this world, I have enjoyed taking a stroll at night. Even as a Sris, I couldn''t help but enjoy the night.

 Chapter 159 Fragment Of The Past/Nightmare

    [Warning: [Please don''t read this chapter for someone with a faint heart]]

    Waking up, I felt my head numb. "Serena, Livie?" I called both of them and am still waiting to hear back.

    Without any reply, I look around the room. It had been a while since I had been here. Seven months was it? I had gone to my room before I had transmigrated.

    What was I doing here? I pondered the thought of me being in this room. Looking around, nothing seems to have changed over my disappearance. Was I in a dream? This was the only logical conclusion that I coulde up with.

    My room was a small six-by-eight room. With only my bed,puter, and closet. I had always loved my room, never leaving it.

    Back then, my interactions with anyone were at the bare minimum. I had always preferred being alone on theputer, waiting for myself to rot away.

    Now that I was here, what was I supposed to do? How do I wake up from this dream? Checking on myputer, and it didn''t turn on.

    Leaving my room, the kitchen and living room were still the same. The fridge was empty, and not much was in the room.

    Going out of my apartment, I wandered around the streets, checking if something was amiss. Outside, the people were only ck silhouettes. It was creepy, like one of a horror game.

    Walking around, I could see two people that weren''t in silhouette. Following them, I had a clear view of them.

    Those were my parents... But how were they here? They weren''t supposed to be here. That was impossible. Following them, a car swooped in and crashed into both of them.

    Blood had sttered, leaving them down on the ground. I froze at the sight of this, unable to stop what was in front of my eyes.

    "Mom! Dad!" Coming to a realization, I screamed, running over to them. Just as I approached their bodies, they had disappeared into the ground.

    That was right. My parents had a car ident when I was a child. Why was I having this dream? I had always wanted this memory of mine to disappear.

    "How cruel." I looked into the sky, trying to clear my thoughts. The driver of the incident was a drunk man. And from what I heard, there wasn''t any punishment given.

    Gazing over in the distance, a white portal appeared near my parents'' death spot. Was it telling me to go to the portal? Should I go? My body couldn''t help but shake, but I went in in the end.

    The portal took me to a school building. It has been three years since I went into this ssroom. On the side, I could see a few people punching a kid to the ground. This happened during my first year in high school.

    That''s right. They were bullying a kid in my ss. No one in the ss spoke up, and no one bothered to help the kid.

    The next thing that happened was the kid diving out the window and dying because he fell on his head.

    Because of this, our school''s reputation dipped down, and the students involved were expelled, and the teacher of the student and principal wereid off.

    Looking at the dead body, I felt nothing. That was how I mostly felt. Ever since my parents died, I had shunned everyone around me.

    The bullies that tried to pick on me couldn''t because I was highly petty. Just because I was alone didn''t mean I could be picked on.<sub> </sub>

    I couldn''t understand why I was having these dreams with everything happening. All of them involved the death of someone. I''m pretty sure I wasn''t homicidal or got anything off doing so.

    After the kid''s death, another portal appeared right before me. My unease that I felt earlier had returned.

    Going back in, it was the scene of my parents again. With me unable to stop their death, this time, something had changed.

    Olivia''s face had appeared on the bodies of both my parents. What kind of sickening nightmare was this?

    Olivia''s face was filled with hatred. She looked at me like I was to be med for everything. My heart, which was usually stone cold, cracked at this sight.

    My breathing became moreplicated, and my heart tightened, beating fast. Returning to the school, the dead child''s face morphs into Olivia''s face again.

    "It''s all your fault!" Olivia had spoken with pure hatred.

    "Fuck off!" I screamed as I kicked the head away, then hyperventting at what just transpired.

    What kind of sick joke was this? Was it telling me something? What did I do to deserve this? Fuck!

    After kicking the head, the ce where I was had changed again. This time, all I could see was red. The feeling of hate-filled the room that I was in.

    Olivia, whose face was twisted, was staring at me, muttering the exact words repeatedly. How do I stop this? That was my only thought seeing this scene.

    "It''s all your fault."

    "It''s all your fault."

    "It''s all your fault."

    Finally, Olivia, muttering all those, had stabbed me in the chest. If it got me away from here, I would be happy to get stabbed to death.

    With me getting repetitively stabbed, the scene had changed again. Olivia, who was with me, was running away from something. We were in a forest, escaping from something.

    Suddenly I could see someone''s magic piercing Olivia by her chest. Looking at me onest time before she died, "It''s all your fault."

    Why was this happening? Why couldn''t I wake up? The scene in front of me was happening over and over again. Was Olivia going to die?

    If so, why? She didn''t deserve to die. My parents and the kid back from school also didn''t deserve to die.

    I couldn''t help but think, how do I save her? I would do my best to save her if this were the case.

 Chapter 160 Opening Act!

    Waking up from the terrible nightmare, I moved my body up. Livie and Serena were already awake due to the fact they slept early.

    "Babe, did you have a nightmare?" I haven''t had a nightmare in ages. I remembered everything in that dream. My body was drenched in a cold sweat. Erasing them with my magic, I felt much morefortable.

    "Yes, I did," I told the truth.

    "Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head, saying that I didn''t want to. How could I talk about her death right in front of her?

    "Then let mefort you." Livie had her hands on my head. She was dragging my face toward her breast. If it were any other day, I would have resisted.

    But as my mood plummeted, I stayed between her breasts, letting the soft temptation take me away. Serena, who wasn''t in the room earlier, had just returned.

    "Let me have a try." With Serena in the mix, I was surrounded by two pairs of their breasts.

    ~

    We got ready and checked in at the battle stadium a few hourster. Today would be the day when four of our team members would be assembled.

    The stadium we were in was already filled out before the main event started. And the event was even more organized.

    I couldn''t think that yesterday''s event had almost no effortpared to today''s. The only thing yesterday''s event was the guards controlling the unruly crowd.

    Not only would we have an announcer, but the production was much better. The money they made yesterday had gone somewhere.

    "Hello! Voice Check!" A loud voice vibrated among the crowd. Looking at where the voice hade from, we could see a woman in her private area talking with a voice amplifier.

    "Ahem!" Clearing her throat, she began to talk.

    "Wee, everyone! To today''s Youth Qualifiers. Today we will choose the four winners of today''s match to be our country''s representative!" The audience was cheering loudly when the announcer said that.

    "Before I talk too much! I want to wee our contestants!" With this weing act, a hundred students my age walked in.

    Did they eliminate more people than I thought they would? Taking Livie and Serena back home made me miss some additional events, but it doesn''t matter with them gone.

    Looking at the one hundred students, many different reactions could be seen within them. The apparent reactions were nervous ones. Everyone could see they were scared, even if they tried to hide it.

    Next would be the attention seekers. I couldn''t help but despise people like these. If they mess our team up because they want to do something cool, I might not hold back and kill them.

    Then the minorities were the expressionless people. They''re the ones you look out for. Of course, they could be pretentious, but it doesn''t matter if they win.

    "Out of these hundred young adults! Only four of them would be our winners!" The announcer had said, which riled out the crowd.

    "Right before we begin our battle! I want to exin the rules for the next battle!"

    "These hundred participants will be grouped into groups of ten!"<sub> </sub>

    "Once paired with one another, you will fight everyone in that group!"

    "After fighting nine people from your group! Only two people per group would advance to the next round! So, everyone! If you want to advance, win all your matches!"

    Only twenty people would make it to the next round. Cutting off the rest and the twenty people would be the main event. That''s cruel if you think about it, but that is also howpetition works.

    "That''s a lot of elimination." Livie was surprised that so many people would be out.

    "That''s howpetition is." Serena, like me, thought the same.

    With the rules exined by the announcer, a hundred students were randomly grouped into groups of ten.

    I liked this rule set. This battle would allow you to fight many different opponents, making you disy the skill sets that you will have.

    "Who do you think would win?" Livie had asked.

    "There are too many people to choose from." I wasn''t an expert at knowing who was strong. So I couldn''t tell.

    Ten arenas wereing out at the same time. Sometimes, I couldn''t help but be amazed by their technologies.

    From what I saw, there were ten arenas, judging by how the arena''s design is ced. Ten battles would happen at the same time.

    These eighty people who will be eliminated are the opening act of today''s show. They''re just stepping stones for the other twenty.

    "With everything ready! I would like to start this event!" Having everything in ce, there wasn''t any need to stall.

    Everyone spectating couldn''t wait any longer. If anyone else was to make the event on hold, I could tell that they would riot.

    Beginning the event, twenty participants began stepping into the ring. Having to look at the ten arenas, it would be to watch all of them at the same time.

    "Olivia, Charlie, look at that girl." Serena wasughing while pointing at her.

    Livie and I saw where Serena was pointing. I couldn''t help but give a wry smile seeing what the girl was doing.

    Serena pointed at the girl, who was shaking like a vibrator. Her actions had garnered the action of many. But I don''t think she was ipetent. From how she made it this far, there wasn''t any way for her to win if she was weak.

    "Let the battle begin!" The announcer had been talking this whole time and had just started the battle. The twenty people in the ring were now beginning to fight.

    There were three types of fights happening in the ring. The first type was people dominating their opponent. Some of the participants were destroying the others.

    Next were people that were evenly matched. Battles like these would take longer to finish. And finally, people were fighting slowly, testing out the waters.

    I couldn''t wait to see how the matches would turn out.

 Chapter 161 Potential Memebers

    We were checking out the battle with the girl who was shaking up like a storm. The three of us were curious about what the girl would do.

    The girl who was shaking began to fight. Her opponent, staring at her, wouldn''t put her guard down. It was expected from someone who made it this far.

    I couldn''t help but wonder what she would do. Using her magic consecutively, the magic of different variants started to appear.

    The timid girl''s magic was odd. She had used magic with different elements to them. Does she have some rare magic? If so, what gives her personality?

    "Serena, doesn''t her magic look simr to yours?" Livie said without any meaning toward her. From what I saw, only Serena could use magic like the timid girl.

    "Maybe she is from a branch family of yours." I had added on the thought of what Livie had said.

    Serena still had yet to reply to what we had said. But she had closely observed the girl who was fighting.

    The announcer,menting on the fight, only explored two fighters. With how far apart the others were, it was hard to watch them all simultaneously.

    <o>,m I was still watching the girl who had magic simr to Serena. The way she uses her magic is inefficient.</o>

    While her opponent had a hard time countering what the timid girl was doing. Her magic would run out at the rate she was using them.

    "She can''t control her magic." Serena hadmented on what she was seeing.

    "Can''t control her magic?" Livie had no idea what Serena meant by that.

    "All of her magic was randomly made. She has no control over what magic she had made." Serena went into deeper details of what she had said earlier.

    Looking at it, I could see why Serena had made that observation. Now that I was looking at what the timid girl was doing, I knew why she was shooting whatever she could.

    She was trying her luck in whatever she could muster. While it was the best way for her to use her magic, it was also the worst. If her magic healed her opponent, she might as well forfeit the match.

    The girl in front had to rely solely on luck to beat whoever she faced. I don''t know what to think if she was on our team and had to pray for luck to win.

    Using enough mana, the timid girl had finally won, with minimal mana to spare. The organizers had spent a lot of money on mana potions. Everyone here would be required to do their best with the resources given.

    "It''s that girl from yesterday." Livie had spoken, pointing at the girl with pink hair.

    Seeing how she would do in the fight, she finished her fight within seconds. While she had used magic, I couldn''t tell what her magic exactly was.

    But seeing how her opponent was confused and unprepared for her strike, her magic must have something to do with the minds of others.<sub> </sub>

    "She''s good." Serena had rarely given other praises. But seeing how she did, she was definitely on our watch list.

    "Serena, do you know her magic?" As part of Celeste''s family, this was more of her alley.

    "Did you see a pink glow in her katana?" I remembered but couldn''t tell what it did just from that alone.

    "Yes, but what does it do?" Livie was curious about what that glow did.

    "The katana was covered in mana, and anyone looking closely at it would fall into an illusion." That wasn''t stupidly strong. I had thought to myself.

    "Is there any way to deal with it?" Livie couldn''t help but ask, seeing how hard fighting her would be.

    "The only way you would realistically beat her was to look away from her weapon. Or you could overpower her." That wasn''t helpful at all.

    If I fought her, I would blow her up before she could get me into the illusion. Well, that would be the ideal situation.

    After everyone had fought, the audience noted the promising participants'' names. There were now fan favoritesing from the crowd.

    Even though I had told them that cheering was part of fun events like these. It was hypocritical of me not to do it. I couldn''t cheer for someone I didn''t know well enough.

    With the battle finished, twenty people made it to the next round. Out of these twenty, only five of them stood out to me.

    You might have guessed it, but the first person was the pink-haired girl named Noelle, who uses an illusion. Her way of handling her opponents with magic and weapon makes her one of the bestpetitors in thispetition.

    Next was Caren, the girl who couldn''t control her magic. Despite being unable to control her magic, she somehow made it to the top twenty, beating all her opponents. Her luck for today''s event was insane.

    For the third girl, it would be a girl that goes by the name Maddison. What made her interesting was her magic. Her magic gives her a physical boost at the cost of her sanity.

    While it was a double edge sword, the boost of her strength was insanely significant, and even Ruby, who liked to fight close, would have trouble against her. She was the definition of what you call a berserker.

    The fourth member was pretty cool. Going by the name Teresa, her magic was shadow maniption. Her abilities were pretty versatile with her magic. She could not only attack but also lock her opponent in ce. Magic like that is pretty hard toe by.

    And for the final person goes by the name Lime. Her magic was unique, to say the very least. If used correctly, she would be a fearsome opponent.

    Lime magic allows me to cancel any magic just from thinking about it. While I don''t know how much mana it would take to use, if she could use it on people like me, I would have to be wary of her.

    Out of these five people, I hope four of them will be on our team.

 Chapter 162 Team Assemble!

    Two days have passed since the day of the event. Today our winner, Serena, and I would make it to the headmaster''s office.

    Serena and I have already been informed beforehand to pack our stuff. This month we will be doing a team training exercise for the month before the tournament starts.

    I had already made it up with Livie and spent the whole night with her, I had asked the headmaster if she could join, but my request was denied.

    Parting with Livie was hard, but something I had to do. Serena said this was our chance to bond, but the chances would be low considering the people going with us.

    Making our way to the headmaster''s office, our four teammates were already there. It was the first time that we had met.

    On the right was Noelle. Staring at us, I could see that she was trying to observe our every movement. Sheesh, what a cold yet calcted gaze, I knew her winning was high, but I had never ounted for her personality to be hard to deal with.

    Next to Noel was Maddison. While Noelle wasn''t considered hostile, Maddison red at Serena and me, but her re was focused on me. I don''t know what I did to her, but that would be resolved within the training montage.

    For our third member, it was Teresa. Unlike the other two, she wasn''t looking at us with much intention. Other than the fact she was curious about us, there were no negative thoughts. I could get along with her.

    And for our final member, it was somehow Caren. Even if her magic was based on luck, it was unreal how she made it this far. Caren had a rtionship with Serena. Caren has been staring at Serena since we got in.

    "Now that you are here, I want to make this quick." Disrupting the tension, the headmaster spoke.

    "Cynthia here will be your trainer for the uing month. I would like you all to be on your best behavior listening to her." Looking at our trainer Cynthia, I could say she was a hot TILF.

    "If you can''t do that, you will be reced." She meant it when she said that. But seeing that her honor was at stake in the tournament, this training would be severe.

    "For this month, I will provide you with a training facility. Cynthia here will be training you and keeping your progress. Use your time wisely. Opportunities like these are hard toe by."

    "That is all, Cynthia. These students will now be in your care." And with that, the headmaster had nothing else to say.

    "I will put your trust in me to use." Cynthia bowed and signaled us to follow her.

    After leaving the headmaster''s office, the six of us followed Cynthia. Going into a restricted area within the school premise, Cynthia led us to a building and entered it. We went into a long hallway.

    By the end of the hallway, Cynthia had opened the door with a magic lock. Entering the door, the six of us saw a ce with many pieces of equipment. Everyone there couldn''t help but be amazed by what we saw.

    "Magic dispenser?" This is what I have said, feeling the mana here, which was much more than what we usually felt.<sub> </sub>

    Everyone except for Cynthia had reacted to my words. Judging by their reactions, they knew what a magic dispenser was.

    "That right, this training facility has a magic dispenser that would multiply the mana amount by four times. The headmaster instructed me to make you perform your best at the Youth''s tournament."

    "I expect all of you to do your best during our time here." Cynthia was a serious person. That was why the headmaster picked her as our instructor.

    "I could see some of you displeased with one another since today is the first day. I will allow you to settle them now." Getting right to the point, our instructor wanted to get rid of this mess right away.

    Maddison is a girl with short brown hair and brown eyes. She was slightly tan and had the figure of a model woman. Despite her freakishly strong power, it was surprising that she wasn''t all muscles and covered in scars.

    "You''re the captain. Charlie, am I correct?" I now know why Maddison was looking at me with a hostile gaze. She was unconvinced of my strength.

    "I''m, but from the looks of it, you''re unconvinced, right?" That was the only reason why I could see Maddison hostile toward me. Besides, I should use this chance to show them I''m above them.

    "All four of you, if you''re unconvinced about me being the leader, I will allow the four of you to fight me simultaneously." Inparison, I may seem cocky in the eyes of others.

    But confidence wasn''t unfounded, my magic was superior to theirs, and my mana pool was much higher. Even if there were ten of them, the thought of me being defeated was impossible.

    "Arrogant! I will put you down at your ce." Maddison did not like my attitude.

    "Anyone unconvinced could fight with this brute." I looked at the other three to see if they would join.

    Cynthia, who was spectating, couldn''t help but be amused. Her strict-looking personality was nowhere to be seen.

    Serena was also surprised by my change of attitude. Honestly, showing this attitude would help the dispute between our other members.

    Using this chance, I could show my dominance. I couldn''t afford to lose because my team was an idiot and not listening to mymand.

    From the look of it, only two people were unconvinced. Maddison and Noelle. Noelle, who had pink hair, tied her hair in a ponytail. Holding a katana, I could see some blisters on her hand.

    Noelle, an illusionist, was also skilled with a weapon. Teresa and Caren probably didn''t care about the role of being the captain, so they decided to sit out on this fight.

    With Maddison and Noelle against me, I would show them who not to mess with.

 Chapter 163 The Powers Of A Captain

    With the three of us battling, Cynthia, our training instructor, had us go to the ring to stop us from causing any destruction to the surrounding.

    Standing on the opposite end of Maddison and Noelle, our fight was about to begin. Should I finish this fast or painfully slow?

    "I will wipe your arrogance off that face of yours!" Maddison said onest word before we began our fight. On the other hand, Noelle had said nothing and stared at me.

    Cynthia, the judge of the fight, began the signal. Maddison, who loudly yelled, charged toward me with her fist. Noelle used Maddison as a cover and ran behind her, aiming for a coordinated strike.

    Letting them do as they pleased, I made a sma barrier around me. Any attack that is below the third rank remains ineffective.

    With the two of them attacking me, Maddison, whose strength increased a bit, had her hand burnt. On the other hand, Noelle tried to sh my body, but the katana hit my barrier and was reflected.

    Theirbined attack had already failed, and to make it worse, Maddison was already damaged from self-harm.

    "Is that all the strength the both of you could muster?" Taunting the both of them, they began to get serious.

    Maddison began to use her magic, and I could feel her power level rising. Her intelligence was lowered but letting Maddison me again.

    Her fist was still unable to damage me. I couldn''t let them get away unpunished. Maddison, who just so happens to be my target, would have a taste of my fist first.

    Coating my fist with my magic, I let her have a taste of her own medicine. Launching a punch into her face, Maddison used her arms as a cushion.

    Even if she tried her best to block my attack, my magic was vastly superior to hers, hurting her arms significantly.

    Unable to do anything else, I drilled my other arm into her face sending her flying back. After my attacknded, Maddison was out for the count. My punch had knocked her out.

    Seeing that Maddison was down, I went to see where Noelle was. Noelle, who was behind me, tried to hit me from behind.

    Swinging my arms behind pping her, Noelle''s figure had disappeared. I realized that I was already in Noelle''s illusion.

    There was only one way to beat her quickly. Erupting the mana inside my body, Cynthia stopped my move.

    "That''s enough. You have already won the battle." Cynthia had said, stopping the battle. The illusion cast by Noelle disappeared after the battle had already finished.

    "Now, let me give you an assessment of the fight." Shemented, giving her thoughts.

    "Maddison, Noelle, do you know why you lost?" Our instructor questioned both of them, with Cynthia asking the question. Both Maddison and Noelle went quiet at that question.

    "The both of you had greatly underestimated your opponent. That move that Charlie had down could have injured a fourth-rank magician." Seeing how Cynthia had told me my strength, everyone, including Serena, was shocked to see how strong I was.<sub> </sub>

    "If by chance you have fought someone like her in the wild, you would have been killed without a thought." Cynthia continued to lecture both Maddison and Noelle on the battle.

    "Charlie, next is you." Me? I don''t think I did anything wrong.

    "You''re too careless, judging by how you fight. You had rarely fought anyone near your level." I nodded at the observation that our instructor made.

    "Because of this, you don''t keep track of your surroundings. You could have easily avoided the illusion that Noelle made, but you let it get to you instead."

    "Do you know what is the weakness of a mage?" Cynthia looked at me and asked.

    "Mages are vulnerable to any attack regardless of their rank." Cynthia nodded at my answer.

    "With how much mana you hold, I want you to invest your mana into an extrayer of your skin. I want you to keep that extrayer without breaking it for the rest of your life." Was that even possible? I had never thought of doing it.

    Keeping in mind what Cynthia had said, I coated myself in mana. "Instructor, is there a way for me to practice in the sun?"

    "That''s right. You''re a Sris." Remembering my family name, Cynthia had opened the top of the building letting out the sunshine. I didn''t know how to think the building could do something like this.

    Going into my corner, I began to absorb mana with my body coated in mana. My time in doing so was lower than most. Since I could automatically do it, I took it for granted. Concentrating my time, I began to train.

    ~

    Hours had passed, and I had finished absorbing some mana. Looking at my other teammates, I could see Cynthia instructing Teresa and Caren.

    In training, I could see Caren having a hard time. Her magic was random, so she had a more challenging time doing what she needed.

    If our team had a weak spot, then it would be Caren. Caren was a variable to our team. You would never know what she could do with her magic.

    Even if she had luckily won her matches for a team slot, her luck could change anytime. Thinking of this solution, I had a thought.

    Looking at Serena, I could tell she was focusing on absorbing mana. After she was finished, I would speak with her.

    Checking up on the other two, Maddison and Noelle were also absorbing mana. With the mana dispenser, it would be foolish not to use this chance.

    After Cynthia had finished teaching Caren and Teresa, our instructor called everyone up. I don''t know what she was nning, but I hope we all learn something from this.

    "Before I begin my lesson. I would like to see your limits. The six of you would test yourselves against the machines used in this facility."

 Chapter 164 Power Gauge (Part I)

    With the instructions of the TILF. All six of us lined up in a straight line. Starting in the front was Caren, followed by Teresa. After Teresa would be Noelle and Maddison, then would be Serena, and finally me.

    Our first test was the usual dummy target test. Attacking the dummy would show you how strong your magic is.

    Caren was first and used a lot of mana. She managed to fire a giant ice ball. She was pretty lucky and got something good.

    Hitting the dummy, her magic did 70% of a second-rank magician. She was almost three-fourths of a second-rank magician. She might make it to the third rank this month if lucky. [A/N: Changing how the damage works and writing numbers will be ridiculous. 0% Means being at the start of a magician''s rank, while 99% means the peak power of a rank.]

    Caren, who made her magic work, puffs out a relieved sigh after Caren would be Teresa''s turn. Looking closely at Teresa, I was interested in how Teresa''s magic would work.

    It was my first time knowing someone with the ability to manipte the shadow. Teresa, using her magic, used the shadowing from her and created sharp objectsing to the dummy.

    Teresa''s magic did 60% of a second-rank magician. It was a bit weaker than Caren, but I don''t think Teresa''s magic is solely focused on high-damage attacks.

    I could feel that Teresa looked unsatisfied with her results. Seeing how she did lower than Caren must have lowered her morale.

    After Teresa was Noelle, Noelle used a weapon, so she would need to use her mana within her katana to do some damage.

    Noelle covered herself with mana, and the katana shed toward the dummy. It was 50% of a second-rank magician. Her results were even more pitiful than Teresa''s.

    Noelle, who was always stoic or cold looking, lost her cool for a bit��being the lowest in terms of power was a massive blow to her.

    Looking at Maddison, her results shouldn''t be low. Her damage here should at least be the third best among us.

    Maddison, injured earlier, was excited to vent all her anger at the dummy. Her hostility against me had disappeared, seeing how strong I was. Her attitude befitted one of a savage, not like there was anything wrong with it.

    Losing some of her sanity, I felt a spike in her power level. Punching the dummy with all her force, she did 95% of a second ranker. Her power was almost at the rank of a third ranker, which was pretty damn good.

    If she doesn''t ck off, she could easily break through the limits and fight people of a higher rank. Gaining her sanity, she saw her results. Seeing how it was the current highest, she couldn''t help but grin.

    After the berserker was Serena, Serena, unlike the others, is a rank three magician. Her power scale should be much superior to what the four had shown.

    Serena''s magic was absurdly strong if I had to say. Celeste''s magic could easily be the best in the world.<sub> </sub>

    Serenabined the six elements into one. Fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness. With all these elements fusing, all we could see was a ckish-red ballnding on the dummy.

    Doing what she did, Serena had expected her to do this much. She must have practiced a lot to know how strong she was.

    I could see the other four wary of Serena. The difference between them was a rank-up. Despite being the same age, the power they have is wide apart. Serena did 65% of a third-rank magician.

    Just imagining her with my mana pool scared the shit out of me. Now that everyone was finished, it was finally my turn.

    Using my mana, I made a sun the size of a lollipop. Condensing all of my mana into it with me using the sun.

    I had always thought that the "sun" that I make was alwayscking. While it was intense, it wasn''t as strong as I would like it to be.

    With enough mana, I sent the small sun into the dummy. Upon impact, my small move made a massive explosion. It was a shame I didn''t have enough mana to make my sun create a ck hole. I was still far away from that level.

    With my attack hitting the dummy. 56% of a fourth rank magician. Everyone here was terrified by my results. Even Cynthia, my instructor, thought I was a monster.

    I had already filled a quarter in as a third-rank magician. Staying here for a month would at least give me more than half of the mana I needed to be fourth-rank

    My strength alone made me almost invincible within my age group. With Cynthia''s instruction of me to create a magic barrier around me at all times, the chance of me being assassinated was lowered.

    "Charlie Sris, I will be honest with you. You don''t need any training from me, but it would still be best to use your time to strengthen yourself even more." Cynthia said while looking at me. She would instead focus on the team that was stillcking in power.

    That means my time here would only be sitting here for a month. While it was boring, I should do my best to use everything possible.

    Continuing testing our abilities, our next test was our defensive test. This test requires you to dodge or block all iing magic bullets. The longer onests, the better the results will be. Until you''re fatally hit, the test would end.

    When was thest time I did this test? Was it the start of the school year? It was when Serena and I werepeting. Six months have flown by in a blink of an eye.

    From my predictions alone, Maddison and Caren would do the worst. Followed by Noelle would be Teresa. After that would be Serena and, finally me.

    And with that, we went to the defense training area.

 Chapter 165 Power Gauge (Part II)

    The order of who was going first was the same. Caren, who was a bit scared, went first. It was called defensive training for a reason.

    Doing a test like this would require one to be injured. Otherwise, there was no point in calling this defense training.

    Starting the test, Caren dodged every uing attack. The first-rank attacks were pretty slow. Dodging all of them, Caren made her way to the second rank.

    Caren felt the power, speed, and attacks had all increased. As a result, the pressure on Caren widened. Unable to dodge any more attacks, Caren tried her best to use random magic to protect herself.

    With her luck of the draw, she cast a bubble that surrounded her��trying to maintain her shield, her bubble burst along with her finishing the test.

    Caren''s defense test results were 80% of a second-rank magician''s. Her results were a bit better than her attack test. Was all the magic Caren has been casting all in luck?

    There was no way for someone to be that lucky. From looking at her, she had straight long white hair and yellow eyes. She had no artifact on her, so her luck wasn''t increased from what I saw.

    Or was there something more to Caren than what I''m looking at? Maybe I''m just overlooking it. But the chances of her doing what she was doing was extremely low.

    Having seen her results, Caren was happy with what she had got. Sometimes her timidness reminds me of the old Livie.

    Next up was Teresa. I would think she was shady if I didn''t know who Teresa was. Her outfit matched her magic.

    She was dressed in ck, wearing an oversized hoodie that covered most of her features. Her hair color was ck, but that was all I knew about her. One would think they''re suspicious of how they look.

    Starting her defense test, Teresa had no problem dodging all the bulletsing toward her. She made it look easy with her movement.

    Breezing through the first stage, the second stage had begun. Like before, she was dodging them with ease.

    Later the firing speed of the bullet increased. And Teresa was beginning to feel the pressure and seeing how the next few shots were impossible to dodge.

    Teresa had made a barrier out of a shadow. But with the shadow blocking her vision, the next few shots go to her.

    Her results were in, and she got 95% of a second-rank magician, which was much better than her power test.

    The confidence that she had lost earlier was regained. I could feel that she was brimming with energy after this test.

    Next was Noelle. Noelle had no advantage in tests like these. Her magic was ineffective in a defensive test.

    Seeing how well she would do on a test like this would be interesting��beginning the test, as everyone did. Noelle had passed the first part of the defensive test with ease.

    The second level was where the challenge truly began. No one had passed the second stage. With the power and speed ramping up, I could see sweating out from Noelle.<sub> </sub>

    Due to her fighting style, she had to be nimble. She was sort of like an assassin-type character. She was an agility and skill type. With each round of magic getting harder and harder, Noelle would fall sooner orter.

    After dodging the bullet in mid-air, the following few bullets came down raining, making it impossible for Noelle to dodge.

    Ending the test with that, Noelle scored 98% of a rank two magician. She had almost gone to the third level. Noelle''s power was weak, but she had the intuition and speed to make up for her shoring.

    Noelle, on that note, it was Maddison''s turn. I felt Maddison''s results would be the worst in a test like this.

    I could imagine her using her magic to tank all the hits. And that wouldn''t look so pretty. I hope she won''t do that.

    With the berserker in front, the examination had begun. Maddison, unlike the others, had broken through all the magic bullets with her fist.

    There was no reason for her to do that. She could dodge and waste less energy. She was beating the first stage by punching all the bullets.

    After finishing came the second stage. The bullets here were much more potent and faster. Maddison, who quickly punched them, started to feel pain from her fist.

    Unable to take it, she upped her magic and started going mad. I didn''t think she would do this, but it was somehow working.

    Fainting from the pain, Maddison scored 80% of a second-rank magician. It wasn''t that bad. Caren, who was picked to take Maddison out, did so for Serena.

    Serena, who went, had it easy for the first-stage bullets. The second stage came, and the bullets still couldn''t affect her.

    Serena had just stood there and had already beaten all four easily. Now that the third stage has started, trouble wille her way.

    I had never seen what the third stage was. But looking at it, the pacing became much faster. Serena, who was at ease, was now struggling to keep up.

    Having no chance to dodge Serena then created a barrier making herst a bit longer. Having to take more bullets, the barrier broke, and Serena''s test ended.

    Serena had gotten 55% of a third rank, which was much better than her rank. Now that Serena had finished, the test was finished. Cynthia didn''t need my results, but I would do itter.

    Cynthia nodded at the results and had expected what they had gotten. And seeing what they could do, Cynthia would make a training guide.

    "Charlie, are you going to do the defensive test?" Serena asked curiously about what I would get. I didn''t mind, so I did.

    Doing the test, my results ended at 3% of a fourth-rank magician. It was much lower than my attack, but my magic was better.

 Chapter 166 Training Montage.

    For these few weeks, all I had been doing was absorbing mana. My week has been extraordinarily dull, but the efficiency was perfect.

    Besides that, I could now cover my body in mana, even in my sleep. Now I can defend against an attack from an unsuspecting person that could attack.

    I was now halfway on my way to being the fourth rank. And by the end of this training, my progress would increased even more.

    When I wasn''t absorbing mana, I got to fight Cynthia. While she said she wasn''t going to train me, she had changed her mind and wanted me to win, just in case.

    This was my first time fighting someone that could outss me in anything. Cynthia didn''t use any fancy tricks like magic. After every thirty minutes, I would end up with a few bruises.

    My adaptability was quite good. All these small mistakes that I had been making were now gone. My instinct had also sharpened while fighting Cynthia.

    Serena has been doing imaginary training. With her magic, she needed to be more open-minded. She needed to use what she could as a disposal efficiently.

    Other than that, Serena asionally spars against the other four in usually a two on one or more. While her fighting style hasn''t improved much, she was still growing at a steady pace. Serena''s only problem is mana, which most people have problems with.

    Next was Caren. She and Serena had gotten considerably close. Due to their simr magic, Cynthia had made them train together.

    Like me was doing a lot of mana absorbing. But after a week of training, Caren had a significant magic upgrade.

    By precisely controlling her mana and having a motive, she could only control the function of her magic. By doing so, random defensive magic will be activated if she thinks of defending an attack. And if she wanted to attack, she would have to think of attacking.

    While it was still random, it was still a vast improvementpared to her from a week ago. Besides that, she would practice her magic until she used it all.

    As for Noelle, she had opened up to all of us. While she was quiet and expressionless, she was less cold toward all of us.

    Cynthia had Noelle create a finisher for her most decisive attack. If Noellecked something, then it would be her firepower.

    After finishing her practice, Noelle usually battles with Caren, Teresa, and Maddison. Fighting them, Noelle would usually win against Caren and Teresa but fighting Maddison was out of the question. If I was honest, Noelle had the least power-uppared to the rest.

    Then we got Teresa, who was an excellent listener. Now that I think about it, aren''t our group members pretty anti-social?

    First, we got Caren, who is pretty timid and tries her best to say the right words. Then we got Noelle, who is pretty cold and won''t get close to someone unless needed, so getting along with her was hard at first.

    Teresa was also someone who never talked. She was the type that preferred to listen to the speaker instead of speaking. She might as well be mute at this point.

    Then we got Maddison. She had anger issues from the side effects of her magic. Maybe it was her default personality. I couldn''t tell. But her anger needs to be dealt with.

    As for Serena, she is too high ss. She could quickly turn people off with her high expectations. Not to mention she isn''t afraid of much, and she could be overbearing.<sub> </sub>

    And finally, you got me��someone, who tries their best to avoid people that aren''t important.

    I got sidetracked. Where were we? That''s right next was Teresa, who had improved the speed of her shadows. Now that she could move her shadow faster, it would be much more versatile.

    She was making steady progress and would practice controlling the shape of her shadow. She would usually train with Caren and Maddison.

    Looking at how Maddison trains, I would say that she was crazy. Instead of trying to control her magic, she lets it take over her.

    Maddison believes that the more she loses it, the stronger she will get. It was urate but also hazardous. She would be putting herself in harm, along with the others.

    Cynthia, the instructor, had tried to dissuade her a couple of times, but Maddison was too stubborn to follow. Cynthia had threatened Maddison aboutpeting but still wouldn''t listen.

    Seeing that happen to be the case, Cynthia gave up and let her do her thing. It was already toote to change the teams, so that all Cynthia could do was guide her.

    "Charlie, we will begin our sparring session." Cynthia had said, with me ready.

    Me starting my first move. I shot beams of sma toward Cynthia. My uracy had improved and, along with any hesitation, had disappeared.

    My moves were more ruthless and more calcted. I had aimed every part of Cynthia''s limbs to slow her down.

    Cynthia had always adjusted her strength to be one up of mine, making the fight much harder for me.

    Knowing what I would do, Cynthia would dodge all my attacks. But knowing that Cynthia would do this, I would predict where she would go next.

    Cynthia was much more experienced in battle and would evade my attacks. It was frustrating fighting someone who was always one-upping you.

    Since Cynthia was only enchanting her strength with mana, I was getting a beating with her fist. She would prate even my sma armor.

    I didn''t want to take any more beating. Since Cynthia wasn''t staying away from me, I would gather mana, creating a colossal attack.

    Creating an explosion, Cynthia could only raise her mana to a higher level to defend my attack.

    "That was the first time younded an attack. You''re getting better with each spar." And with that, I went back to absorbing mana.

    This was what my life has been for this month.

 Chapter 167 ???????

    [Third POV]

    Inside the building, there was arge round table. Ten people were sitting at a table with an aide right behind them.

    "How long has it been since the ten of us have been altogether?" A woman with a ck robe and ck hair said.

    "Restia, stop this nonsense. We met three months ago." A cat woman had said, stopping her bullshitting.

    "Ann is right. We don''t have all time here." A woman with bright golden wings had said. Siding with the catwoman, she asked the woman in ck to stop.

    "Always so serious," She sarcastically chuckled and then sneered at them.

    "Why don''t we make a bet?" The nine others didn''t expect the woman named Restia to make a bet suddenly.

    "What nonsense are you going on about?" A dwarf in the mix was starting to get annoyed by Restia''s antics.

    "All of us are having our studentspete in a month. Why don''t we all bet on our first-year students to win? The winner would gain the favor of everyone here." Restia had felt confident making a bet.

    "Is that all? I heard that a child from your side had already reached the third rank. You shouldn''t be too overconfident because of that." An elfdy had interjected by opinion when saying that.

    "Maria, I will take it that you ept this bet?" Seeing that someone had taken the bait, Restia couldn''t help but smile.

    "Then does anyone else want to ept?" Restia said, trying to rope more people in.

    Everyone else became silent. Restia, who had to propose this bet, was a craft witch. Even if she was yful, everyone knew that she wasn''t stupid.

    "I will join." A confident voice joined in the bet knowing her chances were pretty high.

    "Lorey, you''re usually cold. I didn''t think you would join a smallpetition like this." While no one would think Lorey would join, it wasn''t surprising that her team would win.

    "I heard someone from Celeste and Sris would join your team. It would be a pity if they were crushed." With these two lined up, her chances of winning were pretty high.

    "Is it the only three of us? All of you are boring." Restia couldn''t help but click her tongue, seeing that only three had joined.

    "I will join!" Ann, the cat girl, decided to join in the fray.

    "I will also be joining!" A dragonewt had said, interested in this bout.

    "This generation is impressive. Everyone''s potential is much higher than the previous years. Don''t you think this is a sign?" The dragonewt had continued.

    Because of the dragonewt joining in the bet, half of the people here were already in. The other half was still undecided.

    "That''s right. This generation is one of the best. Imagine being not confident in a generation like this. How disgraceful." Using the dragonewt''s words, Restia egged them on.

    Hearing what Restia had said, some of them couldn''t help but grit their teeth. Losing this bet was a big deal. Whoever wins would gain too much.

    "Then I will also join." Convinced by Restia, another demon that goes by the name Patricia had joined the bet.<sub> </sub>

    "Tsk, I have no choice but to join." The smallest in the group, a fairy, had also clicked her tongue.

    "You all can''t be serious." The woman with wings couldn''t help but sigh, seven had already joined, and the other two seemed like they were also going to join.

    The two remaining people couldn''t help but look at one another. Seeing that almost everyone but the winged women joined, they both agreed.

    "We would also like to join this bet." The remaining two were another demon and another dragonewt.

    "I guess I would have no choice but to join." Seeing everyone in this bet, the winged woman had no choice but to join. She couldn''t back away now. She would look weak if she did.

    "Isn''t this great? Who would have thought that everyone would ept my proposal?" Restia couldn''t help but giggle, seeing how they all joined.

    "Let''s get back on what we are here for." The winged woman couldn''t handle it anymore. She needed everyone to get back on the right track.

    "Still serious as always, Karen." Restia couldn''t help but say anything else afterward.

    "The monster king revival is in a few months. All of us should get ready and prepare for the uing wave." The winged woman named Karen had said.

    "I had already gotten prepared months ago." Restia couldn''t help but retort.

    "The Sris family is wiping every monster in our country." Lorey also joined in.

    "We dragonewts of Mt. Igarde is also wiping every monster off."

    "Us dwarfs..." Before the dwarf could say anything else.

    "I get it. Most of you are already prepared." The winged woman couldn''t help but grit her teeth.

    "For a loudmouth, you sure are ipetent." Restia snickered while looking at Karen.

    "Restia, do you want to fight? You have been nothing but a nuisance in this meeting." Karen was almost flipped. Any more would have angered her to fire her magic at Restia.

    "Since most of us here had already prepared. We also would need to send a team against the monster king."

    "With the monster king at its weakest, taking it out early is our best chance," Karen told her n, trying to beat it as fast as possible.

    "And where do you suppose we find the monster king?" Restia was pretty mean-spirited toward Karen.

    "The Lunaris family got that covered." Lorey had already prepared for this and saved Karen''s ass from being roasted.

    "The monster king will appear to be in the country of Estia." Hearing this, the fairy representing the meeting for Ech couldn''t help but pale.

    There would be a lot of damage to the country of Estia. The fairy could now try its best to minimize the damage.

    "Then let''s begin our distribution of each troop." Now that everything was ready, they needed to send capable people.

 Chapter 168 Grandelle

    And like that, our training was finished. A month had passed since we entered. While it was nice to have a lot of mana in this ce, it was also torturing.

    All our hard work and sweat now paid off. Everyone was now more ready than they could ever be. With our work, everyone''s motivation to win was now at an all-time high.

    Before we left the training area, Cynthia had a few words. "Before you leave, let me give you somest-minute advice."

    "Even if your opponent is weak, never let your guard down. The strongestpetitor who is stronger would mostly lose because of this." Cynthia tried to warn us that our arrogance would be our downfall.

    "You will all be representing this country. All your mistakes would go toward the country, so do not mess up." She was pretty intimidating when she said that, but it was natural for us to be on our best behavior.

    And with that, our time here was now over. We would leave, and we would be teleported to the ce where the tournament would start.

    I had already told Livie that we wouldn''t being back. So, I told her to watch it at home if the ce was too far.

    "It was a pleasure teaching you all, and best of luck to all of you." Cynthia, for the first time, smiled.

    Everyone who saw this couldn''t help but be shocked. The drastic change around her was one-eighty.

    After Cynthia said that we had teleported away, we arrived with Cynthia as our guide. She should have some information about where we were.

    We were inside a dark building. The guards were around the area, keeping an eye out for everyone. We arrived, and a guard had walked out on us.

    "Wee to Grandelle, country of the sky." Grandelle? The country where only winged humans reside.

    Grandelle was a unique country. Unlike the other countries, Grandelle was a floating indrge enough to be a country on its own.

    "May we know which country you''re from?" The guard, a winged person, asked, curious where we were from.

    "We''re from Star State," Cynthia replied without us needing to.

    "Star State?" She eyed us, observing every one of us.

    "The tournament will start tomorrow. Make sure you know the location of the tournament area. You wouldn''t want to bete for an event like this."

    "All of your lodgings had been prepared. Go out, and there will be a guide arriving." Doing what the guard had said, we went out of the building.

    Exiting the building, we could see the country. The air around me felt different, the ce was windy, and the buildings were small.

    "Teach, you haven''t told us anything about the tournament. What time would it start?" Maddison asked Cynthia when the tournament would start.

    "It would start early in the morning, and it would be best to rest early." She answered Maddison in the easiest way possible.

    Looking around, I could see someone flying toward us. "Wee to Grandelle. I, Shia, will be your guide."

    Shia who could fly must be a magician over the fourth rank. Her being a guide must mean that she wasn''t someone we should take lightly.<sub> </sub>

    "Follow me, and I will give you a quick tour around our city." Shia hurried along with her speed. She looked like she wanted to get this over with.

    Observing our surroundings, there were many mixed-race that could be found anywhere. Due to the tournament, many foreigners worldwide are in this city.

    Shia then led us to the tournament stadium. The stadium was an enormous building that I had never seen. It was impossible to miss the size of this thing.

    The stadium could fill millions of people. Just being here was intimidating. Imagine being on the main stage where everyone here would watch your every action.

    Just performing here would make anyone famous, and I imagine myself fighting mypetitors and me stomping them.

    "Is this stadium brand new?" I had to ask out of curiosity.

    "This was built in a matter of minutes by a dwarf expert." Magic sure is impressive. Everyone except for Cynthia looked shocked by what Shia had said.

    "That was built in minutes..." Maddison muttered silently, but everyone could hear what she said.

    "With your talent, you would see much more impressive magic." Cynthia had said, telling us to get used to it.

    Moving along the stadium, Shia then introduced the high-ss restaurant and entertainment center. It was a shame that we wouldn''t have much time to visit ces like these.

    After the tournament, we would leave right away. Cynthia said we would be crowded if we didn''t leave, so it was better to do so early.

    Shia, who had guided us, ended our tour by going to a hotel where we would lodge. Shia wanted to ensure we were well rested and left us to our own ord.

    Our hotel lodge had four rooms. We would be paired in two with Cynthia on her own. Serena, who was someone I was veryfortable with, was my partner.

    The room we were given wasn''t big, but the ce we were in was very functional. Entering the bed, Serena, who was with me, immediately stripped.

    "Someone is in a hurry," I said while looking at her.

    "Even if we were together for a month, we haven''t had any action." Serena looked frustrated when saying that.

    "We weren''t given any privacy during the month." What I said was true, and I wasn''t wild enough to test it out with our instructor nearby.

    Before Serena could do anything, someone entered our room. Caren, who was rooming with Maddison, had entered our room.

    "Am I interrupting something?" Caren didn''t expect Serena to be naked.

    "No, Serena likes being clothless. It makes herfortable." I made a lie, hoping that Caren would believe it.

    Serena, who heard me say that, couldn''t help but admit that she was an exhibitionist. In the end, we solved this misunderstanding.

 Chapter 169 Olivia Is Lonely

    [Olivia''s POV]

    Hubby... How long has it been since we separated? A week? But for me, it felt like years. I''m feeling the drawback of not being with my hubby. This loneliness pains my heart greatly.

    Laying on the bed, my Hubby''s scent was still strong. Hubby''s scent was the only thing keeping me from going mad.

    My days at the academy were pretty monotone. Onepared to my life as an orphan. I would try to pass my time with my friends at the academy.

    While it had lessened the empty feeling of being alone, I never knew that something like this would hurt me so badly. Maybe I should have tried to join the team even if I held them back.

    It was selfish to wish for this, but my heart felt like it was touching the void. Rolling around the bed, I continued to bathe in his scent.

    As long as I had remembered, ever since we first met, we had never been this long away from one another. We were like two peas in a pod. Wherever he went was me.

    Now that he wasn''t here, I felt like I would lose my mind at this rate. There were still three more weeks, coupled with the fact that he was leaving for the tournament.

    I had wanted to go there in person to cheer for my hubby. But with the tournament hosted in Grandelle, the chances of me going there was close to none.

    A long queue of people lined up to get there, and the cost of being teleported was ramped up to a ridiculous price.

    It was getting ridiculous. I needed a way to relieve this pain. Using the 3DA, I tried to forget this lingering pain of loneliness. The 3DA had helped distract me, but this loneliness wouldn''t disappear.

    I missed his touch, breath, and even his adorable face. In my spare time, I would look at him deeply when he was asleep.

    His sleeping face never gets old. The expressions he makes give me a tingling warmth, one filled with happiness. Remembering that, I missed him even more.

    After hees back, I never let him leave. I will stick to him like a child wanting more of his attention.

    "Mhmm!" I couldn''t help but grumble at my frustration.

    Serena, that selfish witch, will be spending time with my hubby for a month straight. What if he gets tired of me because of her? I couldn''t do anything but let my anger out.

    Hubby, pleasee back quickly. I feel like dying at this rate! All this thinking made me less energized.

    I then grabbed a stuffed animal in my room and hugged it. My hubby bought a model cat for me during our stay in Avaris.

    ying with the stuffed animal distracted me from overthinking. I never knew ying with dolls could help me pass the time.

    I had never yed with dolls before because I was isted in the orphanage that I was at. I felt restricted.

    Grabbing more stuffed animals from my room, I started giving them names. Kitty is the name I gave to the cat. I know it wasn''t pretty unoriginal, but I thought it was a cute name. Then I named the stuffed animal roon, Loony.

    With these two stuffed animals, I started my game. Kitty, the supposed female cat, yed the role of a lonely wife. And Loony yed the role of a husband that was always working.

    "Looney, are you going to stay at work again?"

    ying on the bed, I voiced Kitty''s role, making my voice higher-pitched. Kitty was making a sad noise when asking her husband that.

    "Honey, you know how work is."

    Using Looney''s voice, I made it much deeper than my own. Making the roon animal leave, the kitten was now alone.

    ying around with these two, I realized that I might be crazy. But I was having a bit of enjoyment caring about that.<sub> </sub>

    "Looney..."

    I imagined tearsing out of the kitten''s eyes. The kitten was now depressed, sitting on the sofa and staring at the roof aimlessly.

    "Where is our love?"

    The kitten muttered to herself. Kitty thought that their love for one another was falling apart.

    "Kitty, bring him lunch, and you''ll see something interesting."

    I yed the role of a god, suggesting Kitty go to Looney''s workce.

    "Mrs. Voice, if I bring lunch to my husband, will this all work out?"

    "Yes."

    Picking up Kitty, I brought her to an imaginary kitchen. Making some pancakes that I would eatter, Kitty brought them out and went to Looney''s workce.

    Realizing I had no more dolls, I made two more with hard rock candy. They weren''t messy, so that they could be used as a ything.

    I made a white wolf and another pink roon. Knowing these two roles, I set to where they would be.

    "Mr. Jaykins! Do you know where Looney is?"

    Using the wolf as Mr. Jaykins, I proceeded to continue.

    "Looney is at his office. Are those pancakes? Looney sure is lucky."

    I then gave Mr. Jaykins the manliest voice I could ever give. Then Kitty, going to her husband''s office, saw something she shouldn''t have.

    "Looney, harder~!"

    Looney was mounting the rock candy roon, enjoying their intimate rtionship.

    "Looney! What are you doing??!"

    Kitty screamed, ring at her husband.

    "Kitty, what are you doing here?"

    Looney looks nervous, trying to find a way out. Before he coulde up with an excuse, Kitty lunged at him and pushed him off the window resulting in his death.

    "Mrs. Voice, you said this will all work out!"

    Tears were dripping out of the cat. She was saddened by the decision she had made.

    "It all did. You don''t need a husband like that."

    And with that, the small y was over, now that I think about it. Isn''t something simr like this happening to me?

    Hubby is spending quality time with Serena, and I''m not there. Hubby, pleasee back as soon as possible!

 Chapter 170 The Day Of The Event

    Serena, who was naked yesterday, got her what she wished for. Both of us had already vented our sexual frustration.

    Who knew that one month of not having sex would have such an effect? Serena had canceled any noise leaking from the walls, making it easy for us to be unrestricted.

    We hadn''t rested, and the day was almost up. It was good that we could be awake for three days without sleep.

    Serena, who was still naked, wastching on to me. Her soft and warm body and her breasts made me hard.

    It was a good thing I could keep myself under control. We had agreed to finish our sexual activities for the day.

    Times like these are what made Serena cute. She was usually hard-headed and highly stubborn for her good. When she acts at times like these is what makes it remarkable.

    Looking at the time, there were still a few more hours left before we headed out to the main show. I was as ready as I could ever be. Losing this battle wasn''t an option.

    "Serena, we should get changed. Anyone coulde in any time."

    Anyone of our teammates coulde in at any time. There were some early risers in our group, such as Cynthia, and it wouldn''t be good for either of us to be seen.

    "Could we stay like this for a few more minutes?"

    Serena, who was currently docile, was adorable from her usual self. I couldn''t reject such cuteness. A few more minutes wouldn''t be so bad.

    Seeing that I couldn''t reject her, Serena had a bright smile, one you usually wouldn''t see. She kissed me on the lips and proceeded to keep doing it.

    "Let''s get changed."

    I had vaporized every scenting from my body, and Serena had cleansed every part of her body with her magic. With that, no one should suspect a thing.

    ~

    Hours had passed, and Cynthia had arrived at our door. Without needing to tell us what to do, we followed her.

    "Did you girls get a good rest?"

    Cynthia had asked, checking up on us. There was no way that she knew what we did. Thinking this was bad for my heart.

    "I had a good rest and am ready to win today''s fight."

    "I rested well enough."

    Serena and I tried our best to keep our best poker faces. We didn''t want to make Cynthia suspicious of what we did.

    "That''s good."

    Cynthia nodded and looked like she hadn''t noticed anything. Going to the next room, Cynthia knocked on the other two doors.

    Noelle and Teresa were the first ones to arrive. They were already awake and ready. Waiting a few minutester, Caren and Maddison weren''ting out.

    "One of us should go in."<sub> </sub>

    There wasn''t any point in waiting any longer. Serena opened the doors and decided to get Caren and Maddison out. Serena, who was inside, came out with Maddison and Caren.

    "Did something happen?"

    I saw Maddison looking pretty pale. This was already starting badly. One of our team looked sick. It was only the start of the day.

    "Maddison got food poisoning. I healed her, so she should be fine in a few hours."

    That was good. Maddison would be able topete. But hearing that she was poisoned wasn''t a good look. Did someone set her up?

    "What did you eat yesterday?"

    I questioned Maddison, who was sick. It wasn''t right for me to do so, but I couldn''t let this happen for the second time.

    "I had a midnight snacking from this hotel."

    Everyone here who had heard this frowned. If Maddison got sabotaged, then this wasn''t funny. Anyone else could be harmed during our stay.

    "Any food and drinks you eat should be bought pre-made."

    It was unreliable for us to eat the food here, not only for us but for the otherpetitors. If news got out that the country of Grandelle was sabotaging the contestant, their reputation would hit an all-time low.

    Seeing how Maddison was poisoned, everyone couldn''t help but agree with my decision. No one here would want to be a liability.

    I wish Livie were here. There was no chance of us being poisoned if we ate her food. It has been a month since Ist saw her, and I already miss her.

    Without wasting any more time, all of us left the hotel. Arriving at the stadium, we could see the line filled.

    It was fortunate that there was a clear path for VIPs. Since we werepetitors, we would automatically get a priority to enter the stadium.

    After all, no one wanted thepetitors to bete. Walking straight right in, the crowd around us was staring at us.

    Seeing that the six of us had the same uniform, they could only assume that we would bepeting.

    Going into the stadium, some teams were already in. Not only our first year were here, but the rest of the three were also in.

    Everyone was observing one another, searching for every piece of information. Serena and I were most gazed at by the other teams, mostly Serena.

    I would assume that everyone here had looked at the rankings. And Serena and I were on that list. Of course, it was unreliable, but one should be very wary of someone on that list.

    Caren and Teresa looked like they were going to have a heart attack. At the same time, Maddison, who had recovered well, was grinning at this challenge.

    With ten teams from each country, we had our resting ce. Going to that room, our group found two other groups from our school.

    The third and fourth-year students were in the room. They weren''t bothered by using in, but I could see they were tense.

    I don''t know how they would perform, but their performance would also affect us. But I didn''t care about that. It would be considered our victory if we did well in our division.

 Chapter 171 The Start Of The Youth Tournament

    The start of Youth Tournament was going to begin. The screen in our lounge was opened, and the announcer for this event was on screen.

    "Before we begin, let''s start with the tournament schedule and the format."

    How do we not know the format of the tournament? We needed to know what the format was before we did it. Otherwise, how else would we know when topete?

    "The tournament wouldst for five days."

    "During the first day, we will be doing an open ceremony. The opening ceremony will show the representative of each team."

    This will be annoying, so we wouldn''t be allowed to sit in the lounge and watch. We will be outside being watched by others.

    "After the opening ceremony, we will officially begin the tournament."

    Changing the screen, a list of events was shown to the audience andpetitors. The first day would have all four yearspeting.

    Day 1 event: Opening ceremony, Maze Runner, Hide And Hit, Random 1v1 Battle.

    Day 2 event: Monster Hunt, Power Test, Elimination Team Battle.

    Day 3 event: 6v6 Battle, And three teams of 2v2, Two teams of 3v3.

    Day 4 event: All Team 1v1 Battle, Captain Battle.

    Day 5 event: Steal Game, All Division Battle Royale.

    These were what the games were going to be. Some of these events were self-exnatory, but the others were unclear.

    Games like Steal Game and Hide And Hit were unclear to know. We would have to wait for the challenge to begin to know what they are. Now everything was clear. The opening ceremony would begin.

    The second-year students that hadn''t arrived were now here. All we need is someone to call us, and all twenty-four of us will go.

    While waiting for someone to call us out, a winged human appeared out our door and told everyone in our room to get ready.

    We left our lounge without wasting time and followed the winged human. There were twenty-four of us, and having us walk together was ufortable.

    I didn''t have much information about the other years. I heard that our second and fourth-year students did decently, while our third-year students did terribly. The only second year I know was Audrey. I can''t believe how much I see her at this time.

    To arrive at the main stage, each team''s stadium was split into ten teams with their side of the stadium. Having a front-row seat, each student had six seats every year. Sitting on the left side with my team, and the other years choose their own.

    Since the stadium was massive, I couldn''t directly look at our opponents. One would need supervision to check the other side of the stadium.

    "Wee, Ladies and Gentlemen!"

    Before I knew it, the announcer had made her call. With this, the tournament could officially start.

    "Today is our twentieth annual Youth Tournament!"<sub> </sub>

    So, this was the twentieth tournament. People who had never been to a ce like this couldn''t help but be curious about the experience earned by participating. In contrast, the veterans are enjoying what''s toe.

    "Let''s give a warm wee to our 240 contestants!"

    All of us were now shown on screen. The countries and four divisions were shown. I had even seen familiar faces looking at the screen.

    "Starting from the worst performing country, we have Estia!"

    That was ruthless. Estia, thebination of Winged Humans and Fairies, mostly lived in that country. I didn''t think the people of Grandelle would humiliate someone of their race. Showing the faces of the Estians, everyone could tell they were embarrassed.

    "Followed by Estia, we have Uthua!"

    Uthua was a country mixed with Dragonewts and Winged Humans. Due to its tallndscape, these two races preferred to live in ces like these.

    "Then we have Everest!"

    Everest was the country of dwarfs. Dwarfs who lived under the mountains had tons of materials rting to ores. They''re pretty exclusive and prefer to stay in their own country. It could be said that they provide every country with materials rting to ores.

    "After Everest, we got Evergreen!"

    Evergreen is a country mostly covered in trees. Both Elves and Fairies upied thisnd and formed a great rtionship. Both have affinities with nature, and because of this, they get along very well.

    "Give it up for Grandelle, our home country!"

    Everyone was cheering when they were called. The country we are currently on is a floating ind big enough to rival a country. Usually, it is almost impossible to enter a country like this, but due to an event this big. It was pretty much opened up to everyone.

    "Then we have Star State, who has a strong lineup this year!"

    It is my home country, famous for its unique scenery. Our rank from the previous year wasn''t bad at all. And with us here, getting our rank higher would be easy. Seeing my face was showing, I tried to keep calm.

    "Mt. Igarde, who had a fabulous performancest year, got fourth!"

    A mountain top reserved for the race of dragonewts. Like the dwarfs, they are pretty reclusive and rarely go out of the country. Since they''re part dragons, they are also pretty greedy regarding treasure.

    "Etheal was neck and neck with Avaris, but after losing in thest event, they had gotten third!"

    Etheal is a hot desert. Demons are the races most resistant to magic and heat. Despite their dark magic type, they aren''t inherently evil. If I went to Etheal, I would thrive there due to the sunlight.

    "Avaris, our runner-up fromst year''s tournament!"

    Even if they are considered the strongest country, thergest country in the continent got second ce inst year''s tournament. Like Avaris being thergest country, they also have thergest poption. Avaris was a beast-man-exclusive country.

    "Ech, who wasst year''s winner!"

    Ech was a reasonably normal countrypared to the rest. They are mixed with humans and demons, which is unusual. They seem like they all get along.

 Chapter 172 Starting Interview

    With every country introduced, the interview was going to begin. I couldn''t help but be a bit antsy at the thought of us being called.

    We saw that the interview had already started. Evergreen was the first country to be interviewed, and seeing that only the captains of each would be interviewed would mean that I would be the one to talk.

    I hope the Celeste family wouldn''t be pissed if I had taken the lead. Our headmaster said they didn''t mind as long as I brought results, but I don''t know what they''re like.

    Lisa, the girl we saw on the poster who was ranked third, was now live on air with her other three seniors.

    "Lisa, you''re on the list of being the third strongest. Do you think you will fare well against second and first ce?"

    Asking Lisa the straight hitter, Lisa closed her eyes and thought about how to answer. Just from this, I could tell that she was the calm and collected type.

    "While Serena and Chelsa are strong, I will do my best as a captain."

    As I expected from her, her answer was someone calm and collected. Coupled with her serious nature as a captain, she would be one of our biggestpetitors. Seele, who was also ranked eight, was with them.

    After asking a couple of questions, they changed the screen and went to Uthua. Uthua was ranked secondst inst year''s tournament. They had no one that I recognized.

    "Crystal, it was predicted that your country would be cedst. How do you feel about it."

    That was a nasty question to ask. Crystal wasn''t someone I had recognized, but seeing how she was a dragonewt and a captain of her team. She should be worth something.

    Crystal had shoulder-length aqua-colored hair and bright blue eyes. With how she looked, one would think she was a calm person. But when asked such a question, one could see her agitated.

    "The question is simple. I will prove that I''m the best."

    Everyone who heard that had different reactions. All thepetitors of our year had stared directly at her. Most of us wanted to crush her when she said that.

    The crowd was also mixed about this. Some cheered for her, hoping that an underdog like her would win. And the others were booing her for her arrogance.

    I, on the other hand, couldn''t care because someone like her wouldn''t be able to put a dent in me.

    The caster recording this and announcing couldn''t help but smile, seeing that everyone here was sopetitive. An event like this would be sessful for them.

    "She sure is full of herself."

    Serena couldn''t help but sneer at Crystal. Crystal had ignited the spark within our team. It was good that they were ready.

    "It''s fine. It''s not like we will lose."

    I was confident that Crystal had no chance against us. So what I said wasn''t arrogant but is the truth.

    They finished with Crystal and Crystal''s three senior interviews. Another team was up, and they changed the camera to team Estia.

    "Mabel, like the country of Uthua. Your country is also ranked pretty low. Do you have any ns to ovee these expectations?"

    "We do, but we have no ns to share that n."

    Mabel, who was representing Estia''s first division, looked strict. Her sses and sharp eyes make her look like an office worker.

    "Then who do you think will be your biggestpetitor?"<sub> </sub>

    Seeing that Mabel wouldn''t answer what she was asked, the interviewer asked a different and interesting question.

    "If I had to pick a team, I would be most wary of Ech. But if it is our biggestpetitor, then it would be Star State."

    Ech had wonst year, but what made her wary of them? Chelsa was first on the rank, but since Serena and I were also the third rank, it wasn''t like she was much of a threat.

    After asking many questions, they went to Ech. Everyone was now staring at Chelsa. Getting the third rank at our age is almost impossible. But in our year, there should be more than Chelsa.

    "Chelsa, as the strongest, how good are your chances of winning?"

    "One hundred percent."

    Chelsa spoke in absolute confidence. One would think she was too arrogant, but she is ranked first. I can''t wait to crush that confidence in her.

    I was not listening to the broadcast anymore. Some time had passed. Finally, the interviewer got to us.

    "Miss Sris, I didn''t expect you to be the captain."

    The interviewer was a bit surprised to see that I was the captain. She looked at Serena, and Serena said nothing.

    "We''re going live in ten seconds, be on your best behavior ~!"

    Seeing that the interviewer was yful, I knew she would ask nasty questions. Seeing the camera on me, I saw the interviewing was about to begin. I had to move together with my three other seniors.

    "Live on team Star State. We have our four captains!"

    "Charlie Sris, I have a question for you. Many people thought Serena Celeste would be the captain. So why was it decided that you will be captain?"

    "Who knows?"

    I wasn''t going to tell them that I was stronger to her than the world. That may cause me some bacsh.

    "Then what do you think of Chelsa''s words?"

    "Which one? I stopped listening to her after the first question."

    "The first one, where she thinks she would win."

    "I would say she is overconfident, even if she is a rank three magician. That is all she is. Getting the third rank isn''t hard."

    My interviewer smiled at my words, liking what I had said. Serena couldn''t help but smile. She knew my words were valid.

    "Then could I assume that your power is at that rank?"

    Scouting how strong I was, I stayed silent. Thinking about what I needed to say, I spoke.

    "You will have to see it when I fight."

 Chapter 173 Maze Runner

    After the interview, the games would begin. Maze runner would be our first event, but I wasn''t exactly sure what it was.

    The order for every event was the first division to the fourth for every event. That would mean all of our events would be yed first.

    "Now that all of you''re tired of waiting let us start our first event!"

    Everyone who heard that was now fully attentive. No one wanted to miss any detail for the first event.

    "Let''s begin our first event! Maze Runner!"

    The organizers then summoned our first event. A giant maze made of some metal formed. Everyone who saw this was amazed by what had transpired.

    "Our first event, Maze Runner, is a giant maze. All ten teams will be teleported to a random area within the maze. The first one to escape the maze wins!"

    "But be careful. There are monsters and traps along the way stopping you in your tracks to escape."

    "This is how the point system works!"

    First: 10 Points

    Second: 9 Points

    Third: 8 Points

    Etc...

    Tenth: 1 Point

    Even if I could see the maze, I couldn''t tell the size. But it wouldn''t be surprising if it took hours for one to escape.

    "Let''s go."

    With the event starting, everyone in the first division would have to stand in the teleporter. The event organizers had ced a teleporter on us, and the six teleported inside the maze.

    The event had already started, and we were looking at our surroundings. There were already two paths being made. We would have to pick either the right or the left.

    "Serena, do you have any magic that would allow you to show us the way? Or predict the fastest route?"

    Out of everyone here, Serena''s magic could almost do everything. Her magic was the best for events like these.

    "I have the perfect magic for that."

    Serena, who had magic that would allow us to escape the fastest, had led the way. Taking the path to the left, we started running.

    It wasn''t long before our first obstacle stopped us. I don''t know if we were unlucky but right in front of us was a third-rank monster that was a spider.

    I don''t know the standard of what we will be facing, but if the others fight this, they will be injured.

    "Let''s finish it right away. We have no time to waste."

    Noel, who cast an illusion on the spider, had stopped the spider on its track. Serena, Teresa, Caren, and Iunched an attack capable of hurting the monster. Maddison stayed behind because she preferred not to be in the crossfire of our attack.

    Making a beam with my fingers, I pointed it at the spider''s neck. Moving my finger to the side, I had fully decapitated the monster killing it.

    It had only taken ten seconds to kill it, and our confidence rose, seeing how easy it was to defeat them.

    With the monster killed, it had disappeared into nothingness. We proceeded to follow Serena, continuing on our path.<sub> </sub>

    Serena''s magic in this game was essential. Without her magic, we would have been lost a couple of times. She had confidently crossed paths that led to more than two entrances.

    Traps like fall pits and slimes that attempted to slow us down were futile. We were like an unstoppable force, forcing our way out of this maze.

    ? Suddenly, we found a team of six. I had never expected to see anyone in this maze so early.

    Looking at them, I know what team they were. They are from the country of Uthua, which was said to be the worst-performing.

    They were ready to fire their magic straight at us because we were on their radar and had their guard up. Knowing that they were predicted to be the worst, an idea came to me.

    "Let me talk to them. Stay back."

    Going right to them, I could see that they were going to attack. One of them had shot some mercury at me. But with my defense made of sma, the attacks were ineffective.

    "Calm down. I''m here to make a deal."

    Seeing that I wasn''t attacking had them less wary, but their guard wasn''t entirely down. Crystal stared at me, unable toprehend what I wanted.

    "What deal are you nning on making?"

    Since I made the deal, Crystal, their leader, wanted to know what the deal was.

    "We will help you get second ce."

    "And what will we do?"

    "Nothing, all you need to do is get second ce."

    Crystal couldn''t help but clench her hands. I could even see her wrinkles from that frown. To her, my words were humiliating. She couldn''t ept a freebie from someone like me.

    "Are you looking down on us??!"

    Crystal and her team couldn''t help but get angry at what I had said. Not only would it shame them, but they would have to see us as superiors if they did.

    "Yes, I''m. You don''t have a choice. Otherwise, we will have to drag your bodies to the exit."

    "You don''t have a third-rank mage. In this fight, you would lose."

    Crystal, who couldn''t hold back her anger, decided to attack. Her magic which was crystal ore, was beingunched toward me.

    Breaking the crystal ore with my bare hands, I sent a beam on crystal arms and legs, crippling her. Reaping her consciousness, I sent her body to her team.

    "Carry her body, and follow us. If any of you dares take the lead on us, be prepared to lose this tournament."

    Seeing what I could do, they could only nod their head. They weren''t delusional to think that they could defeat us.

    Ten minutester, our team and Uthua had cleared the maze. With us, we were first, and team Uthua was second.

    "Captain, why did you let them get second?"

    Maddison, who had already epted me as captain, wondered why I did that.

    "It is because they are not a threat to us. So giving them second was better than anyone else getting second."

 Chapter 174 Maze Runner Spectating

    Getting back to our area, the seniors couldn''t help but be amazed at us. They had been watching us from the start and couldn''t believe how easily we handled the maze.

    For our first actual event, we showed dominance. Not only that, we had easily destroyed a team in this tournament, showing our superiority.

    We had cleared the maze within 18 minutes, and team Uthua had cleared it a few seconds behind. The event was still going, and the eight other teams were still searching for an exit.

    "Excellent work, as expected from you."

    Cynthia, our instructor, was here. I didn''t know that she was allowed here. She praised us for how well we did in our event.

    "Instructor, are you allowed to be here?"

    I had asked, making sure it wasn''t illegal for her to be around. After all, no one wants to get penalized for breaking the rules.

    "I was selected to be Star State team advisor. I will be helping everyone during the duration of the event."

    Seeing that Cynthia would be our team advisor was good. During our month of training, she had shown that she waspetent for the headmaster''s trust and work habits. Not to mention the six of us were familiar with her.

    Looking at the screen, one team was close to finishing. It was the other team that was ced pretty low.

    Team Estia, led by Mabel, was hugging the left-side wall strategy. Since this was a maze, it would be impossible for them to get lost.

    Before I could keep spectating, the interviewer who had interviewed me walked over and asked for a few words.

    "Congrattions on your victory! The crowd was amazed by your quick victory! Now tell us how you feel about your victory."

    The question asked by the interviewer was pretty standard. Since there was no harm, I will say what I thought.

    "Our victory was to be expected. Due to Serena''s magic, finding a way out was a matter of time. It was almost impossible for us to lose unless the other team was lucky enough to escape or have the same magic as Serena."

    Answering what I had said, Serena, who had listened to what I said, couldn''t help but smile. Her ego had risen, and she felt good about herself.

    "Then let me ask why you let team Uthua get second. You could have eliminated them and prevented them from getting any points."

    "It''s pretty simple. I don''t see them as a threat. Giving them more points than the otherpetitor would make it harder for the rest."

    The crowd couldn''t help but gasp at my answer. I was pretty bold in dering that team Uthua was pretty much useless.

    "You are bold, I would like to ask more, but the audience wants to hear team Uthua''s stance on this."

    And with that, the interviewer left, and team Estia who was close to finishing had finished third. They were eight minutes behind, but they finished pretty quickly.<sub> </sub>

    Team Estia couldn''t believe that they finished third. Mabel thought they did very well and would have gotten higher.

    Looking at the screen, two teams confronted one another in a battle. Team Etheal and Team Grandelle were fighting.

    Seeing how the battle went, Team Etheal was stronger. Camile, the captain of Team Etheal, had already snared Team Grandelle. Only Bianca, the captain of Grandelle, was the only one free from Camile''s magic.

    Jane, who I knew from Avaris, made the battle harder for team Grandelle. Her poison with the snareing from Camile was a deadlybo.

    And with the four other Team Etheal joining in, Bianca could not ovee this situation. Before Bianca could fall, she had eliminated one of Camile''s team members, making her exit the maze.

    Team Etheal had defeated Grandelle, making them lose any chance of gaining any points. The country of Grandelle couldn''t help but be angry at Team Etheal. They would have a hard time going out after this event.

    It wasn''t like team Etheal had gained anything from this battle. They had lost one member, making it harder for the team to survive the trap.

    After the battle, five more minutes had passed, and the fourth team had escaped the maze. Team Ech,st year''s crown champion, had escaped.

    Finding out they had lost by arge margin against the three other teams couldn''t be more of a bitter taste toward their captain. As the supposed strongest, it was useless if she couldn''t back it up with her abilities.

    Next to finish the maze was Team Avaris, with Reba leading the charge. Being fifth was average, but Reba, who had high standards, couldn''t help but be disappointed by the results.

    It was long before team Evergreen finished. They had ced sixth. I had realized something, every captain here was a bit too prideful. Lisa, like every captain, couldn''t help but be disappointed by her results.

    Seventh ce was Mt. Igarde, which was led by someone who was called Emerald. I was surprised Ruby wasn''t their captain. Team Igarde was going to be a more formidable team than I thought.

    Gold, Ruby, and Emerald were all who I was wary of, but they weren''t strong enough to pose a problem for me. But they could trouble my team immensely.

    After Team Igarde was Etheal, getting eighth was terrible. Primarily when they had eliminated a team.

    Camile couldn''t help but snarl at the results that she was given. Her charm didn''t stop her from looking good with that anger. Serena had nudged me silently when she saw me staring at Camile.

    And finally, we have team Everest who got ninth,pleting the maze in an hour and 24 minutes.

    Amy, the leader, couldn''t help but cry at their results. Like her stature, she also acted like a child.

    With Team Everest finishing, the results were out. Currently, we were first, and the second was Uthua. The third was Estia, and the fourth was Ech.

    Avaris got fifth, and Evergreen got sixth. Then we have Igarde in seventh and Etheal in eighth. Followed by Everest getting ninth and Grandelle getting no points for not beating the maze.

 Chapter 175 Maze Runner Second To Fourth Divison

    After our event, it would be the second to a fourth year to do theirs. Now that our team was in the first the second year of our division couldn''t help but be nervous.

    The expectations for the second year to do good were higher, seeing that we could win this year. I had recognized two of the second year, while I didn''t know the other four.

    Audrey is the one who I run into a lot, and Isabelle, who I met in the survival exam. The second-year captain was someone who goes by the name Lavander.

    Our team should do well, seeing that at least three people here could perform well. Audrey was someone strong in terms of power, and Isabelle was someone who excelled in defense. They had good team chemistry.

    With the event starting, the second year would begin their maze. I had heard that Avaris and Mt. Igarde, and Ech were the strongest in the second-year section.

    But this event relies on intuition, speed, and carefulness. One big mistake could end your whole run in this maze.

    With the event starting, every team ran immediately. The second year already knew what to expect from watching us.

    Spectating what the other teams were doing, they were doing what Mabel had done. There wasn''t anyone in the second year having magic that would show the direction of the maze.

    The maze that the second year was ced in was moreplex. The monsters were ranked higher, while the traps were more tricky.

    There wasn''t anything too spectacr, but after a while, there were two team fighting. The two teams that fought were Avaris and Ech.

    Two teams that were pretty high up in power were fighting. With the two of them having a minor skirmish, a third team arrived.

    The third team was Team Igarde. Now that the three had arrived, all of the strongest second year were now face to face.

    Surprisingly, Team Igarde had an agreement to team up with Avaris. Now that Igarde had joined the battle, it was now a 12v6.

    Team Ech, who was being ganged up, is losing. By the end of it, all of Ech''s members had been eliminated.

    Igarde had four yers left, while Avaris had three. Ech had done pretty well despite being ganged up by the other two teams. By the look of it, Avaris and Igarde would team up for the remainder of this event.

    Team Everestpleted the event first. They had finished the event twenty minutes behind us. The following few teams were Grandelle and Evergreen.

    Our second-year students had made it fourth, which was pretty good in its own right. Fifth was Avaris, followed by Igarde. Team Avaris sneaked in first before Igarde could follow. I could see Igarde pretty pissed from this.

    Seventh would be Estia, and Eight was Uthua. Finishingst would be Etheal. They were pretty unlucky and had found the exitst.

    Just from this, the standings changed. We were still in first, with Etheal beingst. Etheal only had five points, while we got seventeen.

    The difference was already big from these two rounds. They would need a miracle from the other two years to catch up.

    Next was the third year doing it. I couldn''t help but look at our third-year students. I heard that their results forst year''s tournament were horrible. They had scored ninth, making our average extremely low.

    Since this was a maze, it wasn''t all about fighting. I hope they would at least get average in an event like this.

    With the event starting for the third year, I couldn''t help but pray that god would help them in an event like this.

    The teams that were eliminated for the third year were Evergreen and Mt. Igarde. Two people were eliminated this time around. The top three went to Etheal, who got first, while Ech was second and followed by Estia.

    I can''t believe our team had gotten eighth. Despite having a freebie of having two teams dropped, they had technically gottenst. Our team got unlucky with their score.<sub> </sub>

    Looking at them, I could see they were ashamed of what they had gotten. Now that they are finished. It was the fourth year''s turn. Bidding them good luck, I hoped the fourth year could do much better than the third year.

    The fourth year was more brutal than the rest. Four teams were eliminated, with the other four teams hurt.

    Eight teams had confronted one another, and all were fighting to eliminate the other. Our team fought with Everest, with our teampletely wiping them. Our team had two survivors, with the captain wiped.

    Avaris fought with Etheal, losing the fight, causing them to all lose. Etheal had survived with one person that was their captain.

    Grandelle fought Uthua, having to kick out all their members. Grandelle had three members, not including their captain.

    Ech and Estia fought, with Ech winning. Ech, like Etheal, had one more surviving member, not including the captain.

    Evergreen, who hasn''t fought, had gotten first ce. They had a member in their team that specialized in stealth. They had dodged every trap and monster, making it easy for them to clear the maze.

    Mt. Igarde was the team that also hadn''t fought the other teams. They had gotten second ce by rushing everything. Team Igarde had run past everything destroying everything on its way.

    I can''t believe that our team had gottenst again. With four teams eliminated, they had finishedst, ending the game.

    Looking at the score and the results were shown on the board.

    [Score:

    Star State: 10 + 7 + 3 + 4 = 24 Points

    Etheal: 3 + 2 + 10 + 5 = 20 Points

    Avaris: 6 + 6 + 7 + 0 = 19 Points

    Everest: 2 + 10 + 6 + 0 = 18 Points

    Evergreen: 5 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 23 Points

    Mt. Igarde: 4 + 5 + 0 + 9 = 18 Points

    Grandelle: 0 + 9 + 5 + 7 = 21 Points

    Ech: 7 + 0 + 9 + 6 = 22 Points

    Uthua: 9 + 3 + 4 + 0 = 16 Points

    Estia: 8 + 4 + 8 + 0 = 20 Points]

    The overall score was all close. We were in the lead by a point, but any mistake could cost us that lead.

    Everest was behind us at one point, and Ech, who was third, was behind at two points. The next game should now be underway.

 Chapter 176 Hide And Hit (Part I)

    "That was an amazing first event! Who would have known that many tournament teams have already fought!?"

    The event maze runner was an event that should be prioritized in escape. Many teams that fought have regretted doing so.

    The teams that had been eliminated had gotten no points, while the survivors had gotten less due to the time that they had lost.

    "Star State! Who had shown excellent performance had gotten first! Their first division is something amazing!"

    "Despite being first, anyone in the tournament could easily catch up! Next up, we have the event Hide And Hit."

    Hide And Hit, our second event. While I had gotten some clue from the name, I wouldn''t know how the event would work.

    "Hide And Hit, is an event where a town will be randomly generated. During the event, one team sent one person to hide."

    The first part was pretty simple.

    "Clones of that team member would appear scattered around the map! Your objective would be to hide from otherpetitors while trying to eliminate them!"

    "Once hit, you would be gone from the game! Each division will have one round, so make the best use of your turn! That is all you need to know for this event!"

    The scores were the same from the maze runner, but eliminating someone would give two points each.

    "Noelle, you will be going. Use your illusion immediately. Losing early isn''t an option."

    I told Noelle what to do. I could have picked Serena, but if I had done that and kept sending Serena in, it wouldn''t look good for our country.

    Teresa also worked well with shadows, but the map was extremely bright. Her magic was ineffective on this map.

    And besides, Noelle should be perfect for this event. As long as she made an illusion that could catch anyone without notice, there was no way for her to lose.

    Seeing that a small town had generated meant that the event was going to start. The maze here had now disappeared and was reced by a town.

    Noelle, who was chosen to go, had entered the map along with the nine otherpetitors. Looking at the nine other teams, I could see two captains enter this match.

    Reba from Avaris and Camile from Etheal both had joined the fray. Reba, who could use her time magic, could avoid most hits. In contrast, Camile could control the emotions of others.

    This match would be interesting. Mt. Igarde, who I found a threat, had picked someone by Amethyst. I couldn''t believe that most of their names were made of rocks.

    Starting the match, every team had already entered the arena. I saw that we could spectate everyone individually. I looked at Noelle, Camile, and Reba.

    "Charlie, what ce do you think Noelle will get?"

    Serena, who was beside me, asked. Everyone on our team had listened to what I thought��even Cynthia, our instructor.

    "Noelle could at most get second."<sub> </sub>

    "Second? Why not first?"

    Being interrupted by Maddison, she couldn''t help but frown that I didn''t think Noelle could get first.

    "Team Etheal, Camile, can control emotions. Her magic is simr to Noelle, but Camile is stronger and has much more control over her magic. Not to mention Camile is a third-rank mage."

    While watching Camile and Reba in the maze, I could confidently say they were now third-ranked magicians.

    Cynthia, our instructor, nodded at what I said was true. Maddison, who heard what I said, looked at Camile.

    With the round starting, everyone was now focused. Everyone had teleported the furthest from one another.

    Many copies of the ten participants were formed around the town. They were all images of one another. One thing about them was they were unable to move, which means that they were still.

    You could blend in as one of the images or hunt. If you get hit, it would be counted as your loss. I wondered if my sma armor was hit would it count as me being hit in an event like this?

    Noelle, who found herself in the middle of the town, had found many copies of images of others. She first studied the bodies and hit them, testing them out.

    Seeing that none of them moved and all of them were like an illusion. Noelle began to change the area where she was. It was too risky being in the middle of the map, where anyone could attack.

    Camile, who was there confident, was walking around without any care. There was apetitor near her, and she was going to use this chance to sneak up on her.

    Thepetitor from Team Evergreen suddenly started crying. Camile, who heard that, whipped the elf from Team Evergreen.

    My eyes couldn''t help but twitch from the disy of that. Camile''s magic could affect people by a long radius.

    With the whip pping the face of the elf. The elf left the arena, making her inst ce. Not only was she hot, but she was kinky.

    Camile had already gained two points from elimination. With the first person down, only nine were left.

    Other than Camile, Amethyst from Team Igarde had encountered someone from Uthua. The person in Uthua had fired bones at Amethyst.

    Amethyst magic had deflected the bone back toward Tracey, who was in Team Uthua. Their battle sparked the notice of people nearby.

    Two people had noticed this battle, and one of them was Noelle. The other one was from Team Estia.

    Team Estia had made it first to the battle. She was trying to make a sneak attack. But before she could attack Noelle, who was behind, she shed her in the back and earned us two points.

    Amethyst, who had Tracey panicked, got hit by a punch to the face. Now that two people were eliminated, only Amethyst and Noelle would fight.

    Three people had been out, and seven remained. Since Amethyst and Noelle were looking at one another, everyone who saw this knew they would fight.

    This match had just started, and it was already intense.

 Chapter 177 Hide And Hit (Part II)

    Now that Amethyst and Noelle were fighting, I would say Noelle had a considerable advantage. Noelle''s illusion couldn''t be reflected if Amethyst didn''t know what Noelle''s magic was.

    Amethyst, who had looked at Noelle''s katana, should have already fallen into Noelle''s illusion. If that had happened, then Noelle would have already won this fight.

    When Amethyst randomly turned around, Noelle ran her fastest and shed Amethyst on her wrist. Caught in Noelle''s magic, Amethyst had lost.

    We were now on the lead, but the event hadn''t ended yet. Reba, who has been quietly searching for someone, had met an opponent from Team Ech.

    Confident in her abilities in closebat, Reba charged right at her opponent. She could dodge anyone''s attack as long as she could react to the opponent''s attack.

    Team Ech was insulted by Reba''s gesture. Attacking with a mana st, Reba had already teleported right on Ech''s member.

    Finishing her off instantly, I could tell that Reba had be much more robust. Her ability to stop time or skip through it had improved. She could cover more distances and dodge much faster, making her a force to be reckoned with.

    Camile was the next person to finish off her opponent. With her emotional control, anyone near her would have an emotional outburst.

    Not only would it affect their battle performance, but it would also affect their ability to hide. Camile had perfect control over the event.

    Team Everest and Team Grandelle had fought. While their fight wasn''t that spectacr, Team Everest had pulled a quick attack getting Team Grandelle out.

    Reba, a nearby Team Estia member, had made a sneak attack. Sessfully, she gained another two points.

    There were now three people left, Reba, who was in Team Avaris. Camile from Team Etheal and Noelle from Team Star State.

    Noelle from our team was at a considerable disadvantage. The two otherpetitors left were at the third rank, while Noelle was still at the second rank.

    The arena had started to close. Was this a rule? If so, with this many people left, it would be better if they could find each other now.

    Noelle, closest to the middle of the map, had found a ce to hide. Using the images of the otherpetitor, Noelle stood still with an expressionless face.

    Camile, who had also arrived in the middle, would confront Noelle sooner orter. The battle was inevitable. Both Camile and Noelle would use their magic to spot each other.

    Noelle, who was usually stale, was acting jumpy. Camile''s magic had already affected her. Camile, who had noticed a movementing from Noelle, had already started to attack.

    Like Noelle, Camile was also caught in Noelle''s illusion. She was using her whip to hit ces that shouldn''t even be hit.

    Noelle, who found a chance to attack, had rushed in. But Reba, the third party, threw her dagger and got Noelle out because she was too caught up in the attack.

    Serena, who was near me, couldn''t help but be angry. Noelle had gotten third because of a sneak attack. Camile, who was in an illusion, had snapped out of it.

    Camile tried her best to disrupt Reba''s emotions. But with them being in the same rank, it was hardly adequate.

    Reba had the advantage in closebat. Reba won the round by using her magic to close the gap between them.

    With Camile defeated, Team Avaris won the match. Reba had taken the lead and got ten points.

    Camile, who was eliminatedst, had gotten second with two kills. At the same time, Noelle got third with two kills.

    Now that the first division, Hide and Hit, is over. First ce was Reba, who had gotten eighteen points giving her ten points in thepetition.

    Camile gained thirteen points over the event, giving her nine points for being second. Noelle, who was third, got twelve points and got eight points.

    The team Everest had eliminated a team, making them fourth, and Estia, one of thest four to be eliminated, had gotten fifth.<sub> </sub>

    Sixth ce was Team Igarde, tied with Grandelle in points. But due to the fact they had eliminated someone, they had gotten the lead on them, making Grandelle seventh.

    Ech got eighth, followed by Uthua, who got ninth. And the pitiful Evergreen, behind us in a point, had gottenst.

    Next was the senior''s turn and what I could say was pitiful. Isabelle used her gold shield in the second year to make it up to fourth ce, but our third and fourth years went below average.

    The score was now in, and everyone had looked at the rank.

    [Score

    Star State: 8 + 7 + 3 + 4 = 22 + 24 = 46

    Etheal: 9 + 4 + 2 + 7 = 22 + 20 = 42

    Avaris: 10 + 3 + 4 + 8 = 25 + 19 = 44

    Everest: 7 + 10 + 1 + 9 = 27 + 18 = 45

    Evergreen: 1 + 5 + 8 + 3 = 17 + 23 = 40

    Mt. Igarde: 5 + 6 + 5 +10 = 26 + 18 = 44

    Grandelle: 4 + 2 + 10 + 1 = 17 + 21 = 38

    Ech: 3 + 1 + 6 + 6 = 16 + 22 = 38

    Uthua: 2 + 8 + 7 + 6 = 23 + 16 = 39

    Estia: 6 + 9 + 9 + 2 = 26 + 20 = 46]

    We were still first tied with Team Estia, who was predicted to be very low in the ranks. All of our scores were still within a team point difference, meaning anyone could still end first at the end of the day.

    Before we start our next event, there will be a thirty-minute break. It would be a one-on-one battle, and one of us would be randomly chosen.

    I would have liked to discuss our ns for the next event, but that will be pointless. We would only be battling a random opponent, with one of us randomly chosen.

    "Want some juice and a snack?"

    Serena had grabbed a drink and some snacks from somewhere.

    "Where did you get these?"

    "They were in our lounge. The workers are pretty friendly with their hospitality."

    "Are these safe?"

    Maddison got poisoned earlier. I didn''t want to risk getting harmed right before an event.

    "Should be. Otherwise, the reputation of Grandelle will be ruined."

 Chapter 178 One On One Battle (Part I)

    Taking a short snack break, I felt a little refreshed. Everyone on my team was one hundred percent ready.

    As long as we don''t get unlucky and have one of our team members match up with a strong opponent, then we should be fine.

    "We''re back! With our final event! This was the first day, and we saw what many teams could do!"

    The crowd was riled up from the previous two events. Many actions had boiled the blood of others. In contrast, many close calls happened to make the fans worried. This was like a drama movie. Anything could happen.

    "Our final event is a one-on-one battle!"

    Everyone in the crowd was most excited by this event. After all, this fight had no gimmicks. This was a straightforward, one-on-one battle, and the winner would be the strongest.

    "One of the ten teams will have a member of their team randomly selected!"

    "Once the random person is selected, they will be randomly paired up with another team that also had a person randomly picked, and the both of them will have to fight!"

    "The fight''s winner will receive five points while the loser will gain none!"

    "Now, without further ado. Let''s begin the event!"

    With the exnation, the event started. From the looks of it, they will be doing the selection one by one.

    The first team that will be fighting will be someone from Team Uthua. And the girl that was picked goes by the name Amanda.

    And Amanda''s opponent will be someone from Team Grandelle. The people from Grandelle couldn''t help but cheer for their side.

    Then, someone by the name of Nilly was picked. I have no idea how strong these two people were, as I haven''t seen enough of their team''s strength.

    Going on the stage, the two began to re at one another. The round hadn''t started yet, but they were already on edge.

    "Who do you think will win?"

    Serena, who was bored, asked my opinion on who would win.

    "I don''t know and don''t care."

    Grandelle and Uthua posed no threat. I had made it clear that Team Uthua was pretty weak when I had beaten them in the maze. Like Uthua, I also had Grandelle on the list of not being much of a threat.

    "Really? Then I will say Nilly will win."

    Without saying anything else, we watched the fight. The battle was about to begin, the judge counted down, and both were prepared to fight.

    "Go!"

    Nilly, who is a Winged Human, had spread her wings. And Amanda, who was also a Winged Human, was battling.

    Amanda, whose magic was paper, had sent a paper knife toward Nilly. I wondered how strong these papers were. Could they cut metal? Or would it be as strong as a paper cut?

    Nilly''s, whose magic was some barrier, had blocked every attack from Amanda. Nilly held a long sword.

    As someone who uses a close-range weapon, Nilly had to get to Amanda as close as possible. Inparison, Amanda would have to go as far away as possible.<sub> </sub>

    Two of these people were total opposites in terms of fighting. Nilly''s barrier magic was overpowering Amanda''s paper.

    All of Amanda''s attacks were rendered useless. Amanda could only try to make Nilly waste her mana or make a sneak attack.

    Amanda''s chances weren''t looking good. Both Nilly and Amanda were tired, but Nilly, who had been efficient in her movement and mana, was in a better condition.

    There was only one thing Amanda could do. And she did just that. She was using all of her mana to make her powerful attack.

    Amanda then made thousands of pieces of paper and shaped them as needles. sting them to Nilly, Nilly, like Amanda, created a square barrier using most of her mana.

    The needles made of paper tried their best to break the barrier��everyone on our team except Serena and me would have lost to this technique.

    Nilly''s barrier was about to break. Both of them were trying their best to hold out. If Nilly could block everything, she would win, and if she didn''t, she would lose.

    With everything hitting, the barrier had broken. But the attack wasn''t enough to hurt Nilly. Seeing what had happened, Nilly had won. Amanda had fainted from overusing her mana.

    "Nilly from Team Grandelle has won!"

    The people of Grandelle couldn''t help but be proud of Nilly. After all, she was someone who was representing their country. There were four more battles from our division. Any of us eight teams could be fighting.

    "That was an amazing first round. I couldn''t help but be excited for the next!"

    "Next up, we have Team Star State!"

    With us being picked for the next round, we would have to see who would be picked. Looking at who was picked, I couldn''t help but sigh.

    "Caren from Team Star State!"

    I didn''t hate Caren. I liked her as a friend, but her magic was unreliable. Since she was on my team, I hoped she would have an opponent she could ovee easily.

    "And the team that Star State will be against will be Team Igarde."

    I couldn''t help but frown, hearing that. Half of their members could decimate her. I sighed, frustrated about who we were up against.

    "The one who will be facing Caren will be Gold!"

    This had turned out bad. Gold was at the peak of the second rank magician. Her speed and power were something to watch out for.

    "Caren, Gold is strong. Her magic is lightning, and her weapon of choice is a spear. Don''t fight her in close-quarterbat. You will lose if you do."

    Being the team leader, I''m. I told Caren how Gold fights. I hope she can do her best to ovee this challenge by giving her the information she needs.

    "Is Gold strong?"

    Serena, who had listened in, asked, wondering how strong she was.

    "Yes, Gold is strong. Even Maddison would have trouble against her."

 Chapter 179 One On One Battle (Part II)

    [Caren''s Pov]

    I''m a failure. That was what I had been called all my life. My life and my upbringing weren''t the greatest.

    Born from the Celeste family, I had my name stripped. My mother and I were born within the main branch of the Celeste family.

    During my mother''s pregnancy, she suffered an injury that caused her to lose her mana. Thus, she became an average human.

    But because of that, there was an issue with my birth. My mother had died during my birth, and an elder of the family took me in.

    My mother had a fallout with the prominent family, and that was the cause of her mana disappearance.

    The only reason I was taken in was because of my potential use of being a tool to the family, but once it was discovered that I wouldn''t be able to control my magic, I was kicked out of the family.

    At first, I loathed them. That all became useless, seeing that I wasn''t strong enough. Growing up in an orphanage, my life had turned for the better.

    While I was timid and quiet due to how the prominent family treated me, my friends in the orphanage were lovely.

    But as we grew older, we had to make choices. Initially, I wasn''t nning on bing a mage due to my upbringing.

    Seeing that I had talent in absorbing mana gave me hope. One day, I wished I could get an apology from the central family that had wronged me.

    I wanted to break free from my past, leaving nothing behind. My first step was to make it to the Youth tournament.

    Here, I would gain momentum and fame for the resources of my journey in strength. Many ups and downs had happened on the way, but I had made it happen.

    But now I''m going to fight the most formidable opponent I have ever fought. And this was a battle I couldn''t lose.

    I''m scared. Charlie, our team captain, had warned me about my opponent. Looking at my opponent, I could see her staring at me, analyzing everything about me.

    Charlie, our team captain, was someone whom I deeply respected. She is prideful and unwavering, just like the sun.

    Even if she was a bit disconnected from the rest of us, she still tried her best to look out for the rest of us.

    Gold, who was my opponent, should be strong. Otherwise, Charlie wouldn''t have warned me about her.

    Thinking about it, I couldn''t help but be nervous about fighting against someone strong. My magic is considered defective by my family and friends.

    Looking at my teammates, I could see Teresa trying her best to support me. Noelle was the same as usual, but I could see her wanting to cheer for me.

    Maddison was there cheering me on while shouting. Despite her quick temper, she was someone easy to talk to.

    Serena was looking at me, waiting for the results. Sometimes I couldn''t handle her. She was from the Celeste family and was simr to them in many ways.

    Then I looked at Charlie. Charlie was unexpressive, and sometimes I couldn''t even tell her thoughts.<sub> </sub>

    "Let the match begin!"

    Ahh... I wasn''t ready. I was lost in my thoughts. Gold, my opponent, was already using her magic to enchant her physical abilities running toward me as fast as she could.

    Doing my best, I tried to slow Gold down, making her back away from me. What I had summoned was a sticky fluid capable of melting the ground.

    Gold had stopped her track when confronting the venom around me. With what was given to me, I had a few shots before she could get near me.

    I wanted something substantial, imagining what I wanted. I wanted something powerful and fast. Shooting what I could do, I sent a razor wind.

    Gold had made armor lightning simr to Charlie. And because of it, she ran past the venom around her and dashed toward me.

    It was nerve-racking knowing she wasfortable fighting me in close-quartersbat. Her lightning armor and weapon were charging at me at a ridiculous speed, one faster than Noelle.

    I had to deploy a defensive maneuver before she could attack. Gold was already near me with her spear, ready to strike.

    My shield, made of ice, was prepared to block an attack. Having defensive magic, I prepared a second spell.

    Sometimes I wished I could control the magic I could choose. But right now, I am trying my best to do my best to win.

    Doing what I could, Iunched a heavy strike made out of a diamond hammer. The attack hadunched and made Gold take a few steps back.

    My magic had little effect, but it wasn''t enough to take her down. I couldn''t help but be nervous. I needed to win. Otherwise, my past will continue to haunt me.

    In a normal situation, there was no chance for me to beat her. Gold, who was pushed back, charged at me again.

    I decided to put everything into this one move using everything I got. I then used all my mana in this one move. Summoning my magic, I nked out.

    [Charlie''s POV]

    "What a shocker! The match was only for a minute, but it was a tie!"

    "Each team will get two points for being a tie!"

    I couldn''t believe it. Caren made a suicide bomb and knocked herself and Gold out. How will this work out?

    Caren, who had fainted, was on the ground. Maddison, who was closest to Caren, ran toward her grabbing her.

    "Serena, heal her. We need to make sure she is okay for tomorrow''s match."

    While the results weren''t the worst, it was still bad. We had managed to get some points, but at the anger of team Igarde, we were uncertain of Caren''s situation.

    Team Igarde looked pissed. What Caren did was extreme, some would say unnecessary. Her uneasiness was easy to tell, but I couldn''t help but wonder what her goal was to go this far.

 Chapter 180 Intermission: Never Do Girls Cloth Shopping

    A few hours had passed since Caren had fought. The tournament was done for the day, and the five of us were doing our best to help Caren recover.

    We had Caren go to a doctor to check on her condition. Our team was relieved, only to see Caren faint from having her mana drained.

    She had overdone it with the mana she put out in thest attack. I had heard Gold from Igarde had fully recovered from a rank seven healer. That was good.

    Maddison had taken Caren to her room, and the four of us were left.

    "Want to check out what Grandelle has to offer?"

    There wasn''t much else we could do, so I suggested sightseeing. Serena had agreed, but Teresa and Noelle had decided to do something together.

    I had told them toe back early just in case something happened. I may sound like a caretaker, but I can''t have anything terrible happen to them.

    It was just Serena and me walking around. Some people were staring at us. We had already attracted some attention from today''s performance.

    "Serena, could you please make our presence lower?"

    It wasn''t enjoyable to be looked at from every corner. Serena, who had also felt the stares, agreed with what I had said.

    After a while, the staresing from the crowd had disappeared. Without any more distractions, Serena and I had now rxed.

    "Let''s go on a date."

    Serena, out of nowhere, had sprung this upon me. Although thinking about it, I don''t mind. We were only going around to rx.

    "Sure."

    I agreed with what she said.

    "Then let go~."

    Serena, who had heard my reply, smiled and grabbed my hands happily, dragging me around. The streets were crowded due to the number of people watching the tournament.

    After seeing what we saw first, Serena took me to a clothing shop. I wasn''t a massive fan of girls'' shopping, but Serena looked excited. I didn''t want to ruin her mood.

    "Charlie, do you mind if I do some shopping? Coming to Grandelle is a rare opportunity."

    "Sure."

    "Don''t worry. I will show you all the sweet dresses I will be wearing~."

    Whispering to my ears, I flinched a little. Serena was a bit flustered but carried on walking into the store.

    I already had enough clothes and found no point in buying more. So most of the time, I would usually stay at home. And if I didn''t, it wasn''t like I interacted with different people daily.

    Sitting on a bench near a dressing room, I discovered what it was like to be a boyfriend. It was a shame that I was wearing girl clothing.

    People in the store would stare at me, wondering what I was doing. After all, most girls don''t watch their friends buy clothes while they sit down and wait.

    Serena was slow in picking clothes. It was a good thing I was good at procrastinating. Almost an hour had passed, and Serena had a pile of clothing on her.

    She is rich, and our store was on the high end. The price of each piece of clothing could go for one tinum coin each. That was capable of feeding a family for a year.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m going to change. Give me your opinion on them."

    Serena began trying out the clothes she had bought in the changing room.

    "How is it?"

    Twirling around, Serena showed off a ck dress. One was befitting a princess. However, her blond hair and gold eyes were a different contrast to her dress. And with that, it made her shine more.

    "That suits you well."

    Serena, who heard that, smiled and nodded. Seeing me giving her praise, she would probably buy it. She then went back into the changing room for a second dress.

    Opening the curtains, the next one was a casual dress. While it looked good, I felt it was nd. Serena could look good with anything, to be honest.

    "It looks nd."

    "I feel the same way."

    Next was sexy sleepwear. Serena had gotten three different colors, trying one each. The sleepwear came in ck, white, and blue.

    "The ck and white one is good, but not so much the color blue."

    How much longer will I have to do this? We weren''t even halfway done and had already lost so much time.

    By the end of this shopping trip, Serena had bought a few diamonds worth of clothing. I couldn''t help but gasp seeing how much money was spent on clothes. Girls are a different breed from men.

    "Let''s have dinner."

    With all the clothing going to Serena''s storage, everything she bought was now in her bag. Her storage bag was massive, from what I could tell.

    "Didn''t we agree not to eat from ces that could sabotage us?"

    "It wouldn''t be aplete date if we don''t go on a romantic dinner. Besides, I will cure us if anything happens."

    Finding a good restaurant Serena and I sat down and talked. We discussed which team we should go for if we had the chance to do so.

    And we came up with three options. Team Ech, Team Igarde, and Team Evergreen. These three teams had the most potential within the first years.

    We would shut them down if we got the chance to do so. The meal here was great. I was satisfied with what we ordered.

    After our dinner, Serena dragged me to a hotel room. She had put a disguise on both of us. Seeing where we were, I knew what she was going to do.

    "Won''t we bete by the time we get back?"

    "Don''t worry. We will only be doing it for a few rounds."

    She licked her lips. Ready for what was about to be. She had her ck sleepwear on from what she had bought earlier.

    I couldn''t look away. My male instincts didn''t allow me to. And with that, we made love in the hotel.

 Chapter 181 ?????

    [??? POV]

    I, the owner of the organization known as Ascension, was a group that people won''t know. This organization I created was already ten years in the making.

    Our group takes jobs that would lessen the value of each leading family of every country. Due to my magic, I would hide any information regarding what we did.

    These past years our organization has been growing at a rapid rate. There were already two ranked seven mages that had joined us. And many within the sixth.

    I could see my dreams being achieved, all we needed to do was acquire that piece, and everything would be set.

    "Ufufufu~"

    I couldn''t help but giggle at the thought of my husband being mine. The time was near, and a massive shift would determine the world''s future.

    "Master, you''re letting out a weirdugh again."

    Distracting me of my thoughts, my underling had spoken out. I needed to punish her for breaking my thoughts.

    "Lilianna, for your next concert, don''t wear undergarments."

    My adorable pink hair girl was flustered at the thought of it. And that was what I loved about her. No matter how long I tease her, she never learns from it.

    "Master, I''m sorry!"

    "Ufufufu~ I was kidding~."

    "Besides, the time is near. Our n of fruition will seed if this one step is made."

    The sweet pink-haired girl looked at the moon with me. Our dreams, which would change this world, must seed at all costs.

    "How is the recruitment going?"

    Lilianna and her band of girls would conduct a concert around the world. Using her band''s charm, they would usually attract some people who would be helpful to us.

    "The best we could do was acquire a fifth-rank magician in Avaris."

    My sweet underling couldn''t help but sigh when mentioning the country Avaris.

    "Does that ce bother you?"

    I haven''t heard any reportsing from her. But seeing that she didn''t want to talk about it meant something horrible had happened.

    "I don''t like that ce. They''re so biased. Our group was humiliated and rankedst, even when we yed better than their country''s band."

    Lilianna was frustrated. It was customary to do so. Avaris, after all, is a nationalist to the extreme.

    "Don''t worry. It will be thest time you will go there to perform. They don''t appreciate foreigners, so it was natural you would lose."

    What I said was true. Even so, Lilianna was still frustrated by what she had experienced. And not only her but her band members as well.

    "Your subsequent recruitment will be at Grandelle. You had heard of the uing youth tournament."

    Lilianna, who heard that, couldn''t help but be earnest. After all, this was a chance to redeem herself for her past failures.

    "I have some connections in the country of Grandelle. They won''t mind us putting on a show for the group."<sub> </sub>

    "Not only that, the recruitment there would be much more sessful."

    With that said, Lilianna had left, preparing for another role in recruitment. Looking at the moon onest time, my heart couldn''t help but shake from excitement. Every day my dream bes closer.

    [Olivia''s POV]

    Today was the day. I hadn''t seen Charlie in a month and was now on air. A month passed, and it felt like years. I couldn''t believe that I had survived this long. There were a few more days before he came back.

    Looking at what was happening, the interview had already started. The interviewer had already asked Charlie about the position of captain.

    Of course, someone like Charlie would take the role of the captain. Even if Serena was talented, no one could match up to Charlie.

    Charlie''s talent was the best I had ever seen. It was hard to imagine anyone else as talented or even more so.

    "Then what do you think of Chelsa''s words?"

    "Which one? I stopped listening to her after the first question."

    "The first one, where she thinks she would win."

    "I would say she is overconfident, even if she is a rank three magician. That is all she is. Getting the third rank isn''t hard."

    As expected from Charlie. He wasn''t being arrogant. What she said was the truth. Even I, who wasn''t talented, got to the third rank thanks to Charlie.

    After the interview, the match began. It was a maze. With the maze starting, Charlie and his team began to follow Serena.

    She must have used her magic to guide the team. They had fought a third-rank spider and had easily killed it.

    Then they fought more monsters and activated some traps but easily avoided or killed them all.

    A whileter, they had surprisingly found a team. I thought Charlie and his team would have wiped them out.

    Their conversation was recorded so everyone could hear what they had said.

    "Are you looking down on us??!"

    "Yes, I''m. You don''t have a choice. Otherwise, we will have to drag your bodies to the exit."

    "You don''t have a third-rank mage. In this fight, you would lose."

    The fight had ended in an instant. Charlie had easily overwhelmed the enemy''s captain, and she had fainted.

    I couldn''t help but give a wary smile. Charlie would do what he wanted once he decided what to do.

    He then pushed the body of Uthua''s captain to their team and led the way. A whileter, Charlie and his team finished first, with Team Uthua second.

    After the maze, there wasn''t any match that featured Charlie. And by the end of the day, their team was tied with Ech.

    I couldn''t help but root for Charlie. I hugged my pillow and was lost in thought. I missed him so much. There was still less than a week left before he returned.

    I hope that nothing else will happen after the tournament. I wouldn''t be able to handle it if he stayed any longer.

    My obsession with Charlie is immense. At this rate, I don''t know if I could live without him.

 Chapter 182 Tournament Second Day

    My date with Serena was considered a sess. We had done what we needed to and returned to our hotel immediately.

    Fortunately, we had arrived at our hotel, and no one had questioned why we werete. So I slept in my room after we went back to our hotel.

    Waking up from my bed, I could hear Serena waking me up. I was sweating a lot for some reason. Did something happen?

    "Charlie, are you alright!?"

    "What happened?"

    I was confused by what had happened, and by the looks of it, Serena seemed worried about what had transpired.

    "You were shouting in your sleep."

    So I had a nightmare? I couldn''t remember what I had dreamt of. No wonder why Serena was worried.

    "Is that so? I couldn''t remember. Did I say something strange?"

    I then asked Serena what I said.

    "You were screaming and cursing at something, but you haven''t been specific about it."

    I see. I let out a sigh. This dream had happened more than twice. If this dream keeps happening, then I should prepare for the worst.

    "Serena, could you do me a favor after the tournament?"

    "After the tournament, could you apany me to the artifact store?"

    "Ok."

    I couldn''t help but smile at Serena. Even if it was a minor deal to her, it was something I needed. Showing my appreciation, I kissed her on her lips. Again, Serena couldn''t help but smile.

    "We should head out. It is almost time for the tournament."

    Heading out of the hotel room, we were the first to go out. However, it was easier for us to wait in the hotel lobby, so we went there.

    While it wasn''t unexpected, we met another team in the lobby. Two other teams were waiting for their teammates.

    Team Ech and Team Igarde were here. All three of us were currently top three on the list. We are all rivals of some sort. The captain of the first division of Ech had walked up to us.

    "Chelsa, do you want anything?"

    Serena asked, unsure of what Chelsa wanted. And judging by Chelsa''s unfazed expression, she had at least known that Serena would be hostile.

    "Charlie Sris, I will crush your arrogance. Just watch your back."

    Chelsa ignored Serena and talked down to me. With that said, she left. I couldn''t help but sneer inwardly.

    After all, someone without a doubt weaker than me had told me they would crush me. Serena, who was beside me, was shaking.

    She was shaking from anger and had felt disrespected by what Chelsa had done. Team Igarde, who was there, had heard what had happened but was interested in the development.

    "Cool down. You will get your chances with them in the tournament. You can release your anger onto them."

    I tried to calm Serena down, but her anger won''t stop. So finally, a little whileter, the rest of our team came.

    "What got her so mad?"

    Maddison, who wasn''t emotionally gifted, had asked me the question right before her. Someone got to teach her someone about that, or she would get beaten to death.<sub> </sub>

    "The captain of Team Ech had told me that she would crush me. And to top it off, she ignored her and left arrogantly."

    "Are you going to let that go?"

    "Her confidence was good, but I don''t think she could beat me."

    That was my opinion. There was no doubt in my mind that I would win in a battle.

    "I will break that confidence in her after our battle."

    There will be a point where we will confront one another. And in that time, I will destroy her and crush her into millions of pieces.

    "We should go now."

    Both Team Ech and Team Igarde had already left. So we would bete if we left anyter. So with that said, we went out to the stadium.

    We arrived at the stadium with a few minutes to spare. Our other members were a bit worried that we would bete. Cynthia had left with the other years, so she had considered scolding us if that did happen.

    If I remember from yesterday, there would be three events. One of them would include us all in battle.

    Team Ech better hope that they don''t match with us. Otherwise, I would whoop their asses. I could imagine her pride squished after her defeat.

    "Hello, everybody!"

    It was early, and the announcer was loud and energetic. I can''t wait for the next game. After being talked down like that, I needed to release some energy. Serena, who was beside me, also felt the same.

    "Before we start the main event, let''s see the ranking for each team!"

    "Tied in first, we have Team Ech and Team Star State with 58 points!"

    For all three events for today, the first division would easily take first for all events, but I''m not sure how our seniors would do.

    "Then we have Team Igarde in third! With 56 points!"

    "Coming in fourth is Team Everest! And they have 55 points!"

    "Fifth, we have Team Avaris with 54 points!"

    "A surprising sixth ce is Team Estia with 51 points!"

    "Team Everest is at seventh with 50 points!"

    "Then we have Grandelle in eighth! With 48 points!"

    Even when Grandelle was ranked low, the people in the Grandelle were trying their best to cheer for them. I wished this ce was hosted in our home country.

    "Team Etheal is at ninth with 47 points!"

    "Finally, we have Uthua inst ce with 44 points!"

    I can''t believe Uthua has the least amount of points. Even when I got them second ce, they were still useless.

    Their team was weak, and it was inevitable that they would keep losing. It wasn''t surprising that they werest.

    "With enough that said, it''s time for the first round of Monster Hunter!"

    The first round was now underway. I will enjoy destroying everything on my way.

 Chapter 183 Monster Hunt (Part I)

    "Monster Hunt! All ten teams will be given an hour to hunt monsters in this event!"

    "The more monsters you defeat, the more points you earn!"

    "The monsters you could face will be the second to the fifth rank!"

    "Defeating a monster in the second rank will give you one point!"

    "Defeating a monster in the third rank will give you ten points!"

    "Defeating a monster in the fourth rank will give you fifty points!"

    "And by beating the fifth-rank monsters, you will win!"

    From how the event will be, every team will be sent in simultaneously. The strongest monster should be at the fifth rank.

    Even the highest-rankpetitor is at most fourth grade. So no one here should be able to defeat the fifth-rank monster.

    What happens if we encounter a different team? Could we eliminate them? The announcer didn''t say that was against the rules.

    "Knowing the rules are out of the way, the Monster Hunt is about to begin!"

    With that said, the six of us were going in. Cynthia and our seniors bid us good luck, and I felt ready to win.

    Being teleported to an unknown forest, the six of us started exploring. We had already begun to see monsters at the second rank. Unfortunately, they were easy to kill.

    "I''m going to split up with the group. Serena, could you lead them? We would earn more points if I went alone."

    I have decided to split up with the group. No one could beat me, and I could easily escape danger. The only problem for me would be the fifth-rank monster.

    "Are you sure? Isn''t it better for us to fight the fourth-rank monsters together?"

    "I could defeat a fourth-rank monster on my own. With all five of you, you could easily do the same."

    "But that can''t be said for the fifth-rank monster if we encounter it. We would be wiped out. So I would prefer it if I split up."

    The team couldn''t say anything because I wouldn''t budge from what I said. Finally, Serena sighed, and I split apart from the group.

    I then began walking in a different direction. Monsters within the second and third ranks were everywhere.

    To me, they were not a threat. While I couldn''t kill some monsters within the third rank instantly, they would still be injured immensely.

    In the forest, monsterse in various forms, from animal types to insects to nts. Many of them could be found.

    After ten minutes of fighting, I found my first fourth-rank monster. Unfortunately, the fourth-rank monster is an eagle.

    With its wings, it would make it harder for me to hit it down. Monsters that could fly were much faster than those that couldn''t fly.

    The eagle, like me, had noticed one another. So we began to stare at each other, waiting for one to move.

    I wasn''t a patient man. I shot a beam toward the eagle, and it barely dodged my attack. Soaring in the sky, the eagle was up in the air, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

    Should I run? I don''t know how long it will take for me to kill this eagle. However, the eagle was cautious and intelligent enough not to strike immediately.

    Seeing that I couldn''t kill it, I tried to leave. But from the looks of it, the eagle was here to harass me.

    Every time I get distracted from something else. The eagle would use the opportunity to attack. And to make it worse, there was nothing I could do to stop it.

    I was thinking of a way to get rid of this fucker! Thinking of a way to get rid of it. An idea had popped into my head.

    With a n in motion, I went to find a third-rank monster that I could fight without killing instantly.

    After finding a giant cow at the third rank, I angered it. Then, with the cow rushing toward me, I did a sidestep and dodged the mad cow.

    I knew that the eagle would eventually attack. I used this chance to prepare for a counterattack. The cow I had dodged had turned around and charged toward me again.

    With my body turned away from the eagle. It used this chance to make a sneak attack. I had already locked its mana and remembered its presence.

    Dodging the cow, I then drew a surge of mana within me. The eagle who was attacking me was already in front.

    I then created an explosion around me and hit the fourth-rank monster. The cow that was used as bait was now burnt to death.

    Looking at the eagle, I could see it lying on the ground. It wasn''t dead, but its ability to fly was gone. In addition, the wings of the eagle were severely damaged.

    "How the tables have turned."

    I couldn''t help but smirk cruelly, seeing the sight of the eagle damaged in pain. I shot a beam at both wings to ensure the monster wouldn''t escape.

    It was screeching in pain. Now that it was down, I decided to finish this fucking bird. Walking up to the eagle, I grabbed my sword and decapitated it.

    This eagle had chased me for ten minutes. One-third of the time was used, and only two-thirds were left.

    I don''t know how much I have killed, but the amount I had done must have been worth more than a lower rank team.

    Taking a five-minute break, I went ahead and began my hunt again. I wondered if there was a chance to meet a different team.

    I couldn''t see my team since I had gone in a different direction apart from them. The distance between us is far.

    Continuing on my path to find more monsters, I felt something dangerous. It wasn''t anything like a fourth-rank monster that I had fought earlier.

    Was it the fifth-rank monster? I had my mana under control, so it wouldn''t be able to sense me. Unless the monster''s senses were great, it was impossible to spot me.

 Chapter 184 Monster Hunt (Part II)

    Having to be near the fifth-rank monster was intimidating. I was lucky enough to escape the monster without it hurting me.

    It was too bad that I couldn''t see what kind of monster it was. I could have used it to see what a fifth rank could do.

    After I escaped from the fifth-rank monster, I ran for ten minutes. I was trying to get that thing as far away from me as possible.

    Before I hunted the monsters nearby, I felt something near me, and they weren''t monsters. Hiding for the second time, I tried my best to find what was close.

    I then found my target. Looking at who they were, I saw a team from the tournament. Team Uthua, wow, they really couldn''t catch a break. Seeing that I didn''t need to be wary, I went to them.

    "Hey!"

    I shouted to Team Uthua. They were on guard, hearing the voices of a different person. I couldn''t help but smile, seeing that it was them.

    I''m not going to lie. It was fun messing with them, seeing that they were not a threat to me.

    "What do you want?"

    Crystal, who had tasted what I could do, asked in worry. The arrogance that she had shown early was now nowhere to be seen.

    "Don''t be like that. I''m not here to fight."

    They rxed a bit, knowing I wasn''t here to fight. Their worries about being beaten were gone, but they still couldn''t help but be scared, knowing they could be gone.

    "Did you see any otherpetitors?"

    "No, all we fought were monsters."

    That was a shame. I could have eliminated a team in this event. But seeing that there wasn''t anyone else nearby, then it might be impossible.

    Even if I found er, it would be pointless. There was no point in me fighting thatte in the event. I sighed and couldn''t think it was a pity that no strong team was nearby.

    Without saying anything to them, I left.

    [Third Person POV]

    "What a weirdo."

    Crystal''s team couldn''t help but nod. Finding that Charlie had left, they couldn''t help but sigh in relief. They couldn''t waste any more time. After all, time is of the essence.

    [Charlie''s POV]

    Now that I think about it can''t I burn down the whole forest? This ce was made from magic alone. And no one was going to die from it.

    With the fire in my hand, I lit the whole ce up. There was no need for me to run. The mes around me couldn''t hurt me.

    The mes that I had made began to spread. Monsters at the second rank were being killed, while the third rank would try their best to escape.

    My forest fire wasn''t practical. Almost every monster would outrun the fire. So I would have to injure the monster''s leg for my fire to burn them down.

    Time had passed, and the monster hunt was almost over. I wondered if my team did well enough to get good results.

    But it was Serena who was leading. She should be fine. Serena wasn''t stupid to fight someone at a disadvantage.

    There were five more minutes before the event ended. So I should do my best and hunt as many monsters as possible within the time limit.

    Speeding up to defeat any monsters within my sight, they were burnt to death. In one minute, I killed about seven monsters at the second rank. And two of them were the third rank.

    After two more minutes, I found a team. Team Ech was in front of me, and I immediately attacked.

    My attack had wiped out two of their members. While my attack wasn''t strong, they were unprepared for my attack.

    "I didn''t think you would stoop so low to attack us in the dark."

    Chelsa''s face had darkened, seeing how I instantly got rid of two of their teams. And I couldn''t help butugh seeing how her face turned ugly.

    "They were in the way, so it was natural that I got rid of them. Besides, they''re not worth my time if they couldn''t survive an attack like that."

    Their team and I were at a standstill. There was still a minute left before the event could end. So I stood there wasting their time.

    Before they could attack, I made a storm of burning sma. It wasn''t a strong attack, so Chelsa could easily block it.

    But as for her team, they had a hard time doing so. So one by one, their team dropped. And by the end of my storm, only Chelsa and a friend of hers were still holding firm.

    "It''s a shame. Time is up. I would have liked to y with you more, but there wasn''t enough time."

    Since we could only meet for two minutes, I would use these two minutes to mess with her. Chelsa had no chance to attack while her team was crushed.

    Chelsa, who wanted to say a few words, was unable to. We had all teleported back to the stadium, and our first year''s event was now over.

    "Did you guys have any problem?"

    I asked out of concern. Serena and our team were now with me.

    "No, we had an encounter with Team Estia. But we parted ways seeing how it would be a waste of time to fight."

    Team Estia wasn''t that strong, so Serena could have gotten rid of them if she wanted to. But since she didn''t want to waste time, she let them go.

    "That was an exciting first round! An interesting tactic had been deployed, and unexpected fights had urred! Who knows what can happen next!"

    "Now, for what you are all waiting for, here is the score!"

    Looking at the scoreboard, the results were shown.

    Star State: 832 Points

    Etheal: 663 Points

    Avaris: 719 Points

    Everest: 582 Points

    Evergreen: 624 Points

    Mt. Igarde: 785 Points

    Grandelle: 654 Points

    Ech: 704 Points

    Uthua: 632 Points

    Estia: 694 Points

    With us being in first, I couldn''t help but be satisfied with our results.

 Chapter 185 Power Test (Part I)

    I was satisfied with our results. We were the only team with eight hundred points, showing that we could hunt.

    The event was pretty stale, with the next three hours being somewhat the same. The monsters were all at the same level, and there were fights between each contestant. However, there was no major fight.

    Our second year had gotten second. They were doing well in the tournament. While they weren''t doing as well as us, they were still producing results.

    As for our third year, they were disappointing, to say the very least. They were part of the weaker years, barely getting eight, almost losing to Team Estia and Team Everest.

    And finally, our fourth-year students. Again, they were performing below average than what they had previously done fromst year''s event.

    Luckily they did average for this event. Landing fifth ce, they had earned us a decent amount of points.

    "Let''s begin the nextpetition!"

    "Power Test! A fairly simple event!"

    "Each team would send a person topete in this event!"

    "There will be a dummy to test our one''s magic strength!"

    "The winner will be the one who does the most damage!"

    It was simple, as the announcer had said. There was only one way to win apetition like this. And that was to be stronger than the rest.

    "I will be going."

    I said, deciding that it would be me to go in. No one from my team could object. While we were at the lead in points, they knew I would take first ce in a test like this.

    "Are you sure?"

    "We need the momentum of being first."

    Since we are at the lead, I would like to stay there. But, while we were still first, any mistake would make us lose our lead.

    I then picked myself to be at the event. I was going up as the representative of my team. Nine other teams had chosen their team.

    Most of them were captains since this was the power test. The atmosphere was tense since everyone was ring at one another.

    Team Everest had a midget named Amy. She was the girl who used explosions for her magic. But, unlike the others, she was cowering in fear, scared of this tension.

    While Team Igarde had Ruby, she wasn''t a captain. But her strength was strong enough to be one. Like most of us, she had a re.

    Team Uthua had Crystal. She has the most strength, so it wasn''t surprising that she was here. While she tried her best to look tough, she looked funny.

    For Team Evergreen, they got Lisa. Lisa is an elf and the captain of Team Evergreen. She was interested in the reactions of everyone and couldn''t help but smile.

    And Team Grandelle had Bianca, their leader. Bianca was looking at everyone but was especially ring at Ruby.

    Finally, we got Team Ech, Chelsa. Chelsa, who was here, was ring at me. Sheesh, she needs to get off me.

    These were the only people that I knewing in here. With me included, half of the captains were here. The rest were here to throw away points.

    Since I was here, I went up to Ruby. I couldn''t help but be interested in how it has been. It''s been a month since Ist saw her.

    "It''s been a while. How are you doing?"

    Ruby couldn''t help but click her tongue when she saw me. She looked pretty pissed when she saw me.

    "Did you let that Rabbit bitch win our final fight?"

    "Reba? Yeah, I let her win."

    After all, appearing too strong in a foreign was troublesome. And I preferred not to take the risk of being troubled by it.

    Ruby couldn''t help but grit her teeth, hearing me confirm what she thought was true. But she had to ept it.

    We were silent, with nothing to say. Before this could be awkward, the announcer had begun to talk.

    "First up, we have Team Etheal!"

    Camile wasn''t in, so I had no interest in this person from her team. Furthermore, Camile didn''t have magic rting to strength, so hering here would be wrong.

    The members of Team Etheal had to go up the target. The target was a much more realistic doll than the one in our training area.

    With her magic prepared to hit the doll, she sent in most of her mana. Her magic was darkness��amon attribute for a demon.

    Making the darkness the shape of a dragon, she sent it in and did 3% of a third-rank mage. That was honestly decent.

    "We have the power of a third-rank magician to start it off. Will our next contestant be able to ovee it?"

    We could hear the voice of the announcer. It looked like the voiceing from her wouldn''t be muted. This event didn''t need much concentration.

    "After Team Etheal, we have Team Estia."

    From the looks of it, the announcer would probably send in the least significant people to do their test first.

    By doing this, they could eliminate the weaker people first and have the highest-scoring gost. This was used so they could create a much more dramatic end.

    Team Estia, who was chosen, had someone named Patty. With her being called up, she went in to do her best.

    They were sending stronger mana than the previous constant. The person from Estia had sent in a ball made of sharp vines.

    It was much stronger than I had imagined. Doing 10 percent of a third ranker was higher than the one from Etheal.

    "Another amazing performance! Will the power keep rising, or will it lower!"

    That would cause pressure on the person called next. And next would be someone from Avaris. Reba didn''t have powerful magic, so she didn''t want to go in.

    I didn''t know who was representing Avaris. From the looks of it, the one who went had been an exchange student, so the chances of the meeting were impossible.

 Chapter 186 Power Test (Part II)

    The Avaris participant was now in front. Her magic was a physical type. Holding a hammer, I could see the hammer enhanced with cial powers.

    Using the power of ice and her physical strength, the representative from Avaris did 15 percent of a third-rank magician. The numbers keep on rising.

    "Team Uthua, you''re up next!"

    Being called up, Crystal, who was leading her team, was up. It would be embarrassing if she were ranked lower than the other three.

    She was the strongest in her team. If she couldn''t beat the regr member of the other team, then she might as well quit.

    Now that I think about what was Crystal''s magic? I had beaten her too fast for her to use it. Well, I guess it doesn''t matter since she would use it.

    Going to face the doll, Crystal began to focus on her magic. Was she creating a giant ice rock? No, it was cold, but it wasn''t ice. Her giant cold crystal rock had fallen andnded on the doll.

    Crystal was better than I thought. Maybe I had dismissed her because I was too strong. I couldn''t me myself for beating her in a quick sec.

    With Crystal giant cold crystal boulder, she did 30 percent of a third rank. That was impressive for a peak second-rank magician. She could have reached the third rank before the tournament if she had more time.

    "Who would have thought that the captain of Team Uthua could be so capable!"

    From the looks of it, it wasn''t just me that thought Crystal

    "Team Igarde! You''re! Up!"

    Ruby was next. I do not doubt that Ruby was stronger than Crystal. I was looking back at a month ago when she fought Reba. Her explosion nearly did as much as Crystal''s.

    Since it has been a month since then, the power that Ruby could produce should be much higher than what it previously was.

    Seeing that Emerald didn''t join as a participant, was she weaker than Ruby in terms of power? Well, Ruby wasn''t the brightest of the bunch. Maybe that was why she wasn''t the captain.

    Ruby went to start her test. Her magic was one of the highest in terms of power, with elements of destruction and fire.

    It won''t be surprising if her power surpasses the other captains in terms of power alone. Ruby released all of her mana in her palm.

    She was forcing her mana on the doll, doing 75 percent of a third-rank mage. This was, without a doubt, the highest currently. It would be hard for anyone else but me to beat.

    "Woah, would you look at that! Who would have thought Ruby could be that ferocious? We knew she was strong but not that strong!"

    "Now we have our beloved Bianca from Grandelle!"

    She wasn''t even trying to hide her bias at this point. With that said, Bianca made her way up. Her magic was wind, from what Tess had told me.

    Bianca tried her best to create a tornado. While the tornado she created wascking, it did do its work. Doing 60% of a third rank was weaker than Ruby''s attack.

    "After that magnificent performance from Bianca, next we have someone from Team Everest!"

    Amy from Everest had her explosions. Her power should be more destructive than Bianca, while somewhere on the scale of Ruby''s.

    Holding an item, Amy threw it to the dummy. Was that even legal? Amy''s explosion did 72% of a third ranker, just a bit lower than Ruby''s damage.

    "Another high-power performance! The power keeps on increasing! Now Evergreen, you''re next!"

    Lisa is from Evergreen, her magic was air maniption, and I couldn''t tell how strong she was. What would she do with her magic?

    Air maniption wasn''t magic that would be used in terms of raw power. Lisa began topact the surrounding air together.

    With the air beingpressed and with the additional mana being added. Lisa made the air into a physical attack. Sending it, she did, 71 percent of a third rank. It was weak for all that mana. But in terms of power for Lisa, it would be the worst of Lisa''s abilities.

    "Next, we have Team Ech! Will she be able to perform as well as what she said!"

    Chelsa has the power of the void. It was something no one would expect. Her power here should be the strongest.

    I was confused why Chelsa decided to use explosion for her power. Che had caused an explosion to blow up the doll doing 10% of a fourth-rank magician.

    Did Chelsa not know how to use her magic? Or was I overthinking that her magic was powerful? Anyways I couldn''t help but be disappointed.

    While she has the right to be arrogant, she was still someone who wouldn''t pose a threat to me.

    "Finally, we have Team Star State. How they perform wouldn''t be surprising if they win this match."

    It was finally my turn. Even if I didn''t go all out, I would still win. Myst results were at 56% of a fourth-rank mage.

    Now that a month has passed, my strength has increased significantly. It wasn''t surprising if I could easily beat almost every contestant by one rank.

    In front of the doll, I made a giant sun. While Sris has the property of the sun, I was still too weak to create an actual sun.

    Doing my best to imitate one, with most of my mana, I sent my sun at the doll. When I made my sun, my sun had caused an impact.

    The sun that I created went and absorbed the doll. After a while, the sun exploded, causing a massive explosion.

    I was doing 92% of a fourth-rank magician. My strength could harm someone from the fifth rank.

    Everyone who saw this gasped in horror. This amount of power was unreal. It was unreal for someone at this age to be this strong.

    "What was that!?? Charlie from Star State is unstoppable!"

 Chapter 187 Team Elimination Match (Part I)

    My performance shocked everyone who watched what I did. Even the mages up in ranks couldn''t believe what had just happened.

    What I did was more than a miracle. To them, I was a monster. After all, what I did shouldn''t be allowed in this world.

    The only person possibly more talented than me would be my sister. But that is if she has a high absorption rate. Otherwise, it would be useless.

    My group wasn''t as impressed as the others since they knew I was strong. But the senior in my team couldn''t help but be even more polite toward me.

    I couldn''t help but sigh. I don''t need someone to be too stiff when talking to me. They were already polite toward me because of my status.

    After watching the second year''s performance, I dozed off. Skipping the test for my seniors, we got to the event Team Elimination.

    "For our final event for the day! We have Team Elimination!"

    "In this fight! Each team will fight against the other in a one-on-one fight! When one person on the team is eliminated! The next person on the team will go!"

    "Once eliminating all the other members! You will win the match!"

    "This will be a tournament bracket style, meaning you will have to face multiple teams to win."

    Having to announce the rules of the fight, my team couldn''t help but get excited. After all, this time, they will be fighting against the others directly.

    "Our first match will be our very own Team Grandelle!"

    "They will be matched against Team Uthua!"

    Team Grandelle and Team Uthua were ranked pretty low on the board. If either team loses this match, it will be terrible for them.

    The fight would depend on their captains. Momentster, each side''s members were eliminated, leaving their captain.

    Crystal was at a disadvantage. She had fought the fifth person of Grandelle, leaving her tired. Bianca, who was already more robust, should win.

    Crystal and Bianca''s match begins. The audience, who was from Grandelle, couldn''t help but cheer for Bianca.

    Bianca, who was way faster, shot a whirl of wind. Bianca''s wind was strong enough to blow away a second rankerpletely. She had reached the starting point of a third-rank mage and was much stronger than Crystal.

    With the whirlwinding, Crystal cloaks herself in her magic, trying her best to defend herself against the attack.

    The whirlwind had been blocked, but the move still hurt Crystal. Crystal''s chance wasn''t looking so good. After two consecutive battles, she was already tired.

    "Hahaha! Little lizard, don''t you think you should already give up?"

    Bianca began to taunt Crystal seeing that she wasn''t much of a threat to her. Crystal couldn''t help but be pissed.

    "Shut up! You''re lucky I was weakened before the fight! You stupid bird!"

    Crystal shot back an insult seeing that Bianca was talking trash. Bianca,ughing earlier, couldn''t help but make a cruel smirk.

    "Stupid bird? I will make sure a stupid dragon like you will be cut to death!"

    Her sadistic nature was showing. I couldn''t help but have my eyes twitch hearing her say that. The audience was split into three sides.

    Most were freaked out by her personality, while the others were excited. Then we have some people who didn''t care and continued to watch.

    Bianca looked like she was going to finish this fight. She made a wall of wind and surrounded Crystal in it.

    "Goodbye!"

    Saying those words, Bianca had shrunk the wall, and each side was hitting her. Crystal tried her best to resist the attack.

    But unfortunately, she couldn''t. All we could hear was screaming from Crystal. The wind must have hurt seeing them all hit Crystal consistently.

    Bianca stopped hurting Crystal more. She didn''t want to get in trouble for overdoing it. Giving Crystal onest stare, Bianca left the arena.

    "Would you look at that! Team Grandelle won their first match!"

    "Next up, we have Star State and Team Everest!"

    "Who wants to go first?"

    I didn''t care who went first. I will give everyone a chance if it gets too messy, and then I will enterst and finish the fight.

    "I will go first!"

    Maddison, who was hot-headed, wanted to fight. Everyone here didn''t mind, so she went on first. Being picked to fight, Maddison couldn''t help but smirk.

    The first opponent for Maddison wasn''t a hard fight. Maddison, whose magic was pretty outrageous and intimidating.

    Everest''s first person couldn''t escape Maddison''s barrage. Maddison was like a gori crushing everything below her.

    After the third person from Everest was sent, that was her loss. Maddison did well. She had eliminated two people.

    "Who wants to go next?"

    Teresa raised her hand, wanting to go next. And with that, it was decided that she would go. With her going, she had avenged Maddison.

    After the defeat of the third person, Everest captain Amy decided to go next. The fight didn''tst long. Amy''s broad attack had Teresa down. Teresa had managed to weaken Amy a bit.

    "Serena, do you want to go? I doubt any else could beat her."

    We had four people, while Everest had three. We could send Caren and Noelle, but I wanted Serena to overwhelm Amy.

    "If you want me to go, then I will."

    Serena knew what I wanted. Seeing that I wanted her to fight, sheplied. Now that Serena was in this fight should be a win.

    Amy, who is timid, was wary of Serena. After all, Serena was someone from the Celeste family. If it weren''t for me, she would be the captain.

    With Serena up, every team couldn''t help but observe. Serena''s magic was the most troublesome. As long as her imagination was great, she would be unstoppable within her rank without me being in the mix.

    The two of them were staring at one another. There were no words that needed to be said. They were enemies, after all.

    Amy, who made the first move, threw a bomb toward Serena.

 Chapter 188 Team Elimination Match (Part II)

    With Amy''s first move, Serena cast teleportation magic. No to be precise, she switched the position of herself and Amy.

    In the first exchange, Serena had already made Amy hit herself. However, looking at the smoke that Amy had caused, she seemed unaffected by her magic.

    Serena, who saw that Amy was still standing, had made a beam simr to mine. However, the beam was at a higher power level, with the sun at its peak.

    "That was my move."

    I couldn''t help but murmur to myself. Amy, who had felt somethinging, had dodged the attack immediately. She had a small stature but was pretty quick on her feet.

    After dodging Serena''s move, Amy threw a second bomb. However, before the bomb could hit Serena, she created a wall blocking the bomb from hitting.

    The wall was still standing. Serena used the wall and made it copse on top of Amy. Amy had no way to block this.

    Amy had managed to try to blow a hole in the middle of the hole. Some debris had hit her, but she had dodged the wall.

    Every move looked like it was in Serena''s favor, but Amy, the dwarf, had always escaped any dangering toward her.

    How much longer would it take for Amy to fall? Serena has momentum in the fight, but she should end this fight quickly. After all, she still has two more people to fight.

    "Serena, stop ying around!"

    I yelled out loud enough for Serena to hear. But, simultaneously, Serena wasn''t giving it her all. She was still trying to win.

    Without saying anything else, Serena created a giant cage surrounding Amy. Inside the cage, Amy was now trapped.

    Serena, who had made a cage, had changed the cage. She then shrunk the cage and changed the cage into something simr to an iron maiden.

    It was transparent, so everyone could see what had happened. Serena could have easily killed her with this move, but she refrained from doing so since that wasn''t allowed.

    Amy was traumatized by that. Her life had almost shed before her eyes. And it was done so, without her being able to resist.

    Before the next contender could join the fight, Team Everest had surrendered. They had no chance against Serena, so fighting them would only be a waste of time.

    Two battles were now finished. After the fight, Serena returned to her seat beside me.

    "Team Estia and Team Etheal!"

    The fight between Estia and Etheal was hard to watch. Etheal''s overall team was at a higher level. While they weren''t overpowering, Team Estia was too weak.

    Mabel didn''t have muchbat power. She was the brains of a weak team. Her results wouldn''t be as horrible if she were on a different team.

    "Team Igarde and Team Ech!"

    This was a battle where one strong team would lose. Team Igarde and Team Ech were top contenders. It was a shame that they had fought early.

    Team Igarde was at a significant advantage. While Ech was strong, only their captain was an exception.

    Before Chelsa fought, only three of their teams were eliminated. Chelsa had fought Gold and had overpowered her.

    Now it was Ruby''s turn. Ruby had a high attack power, but Chelsa''s powers were on a whole different level.

    "You think you''re hot shit? I''m going to crush you!"

    Chelsa didn''t say anything and proceeded to attack. From what I saw from her battle with Gold, she could use her void to teleport and cause an explosion. That was all she did.

    Her fighting style was ranged moves only. However, she wasn''t someone who would go out of her way to improve herbat during melee due to her ability to teleport.

    The fight had begun, and Ruby was already at a disadvantage. Chelsa was like Amy but stronger. She could do everything that Amy could at a higher level.

    Ruby had trouble defending any attacking from Chelsa. Chelsa''s explosion has no restrictionspared to Amy''s.

    Chelsa could use her explosion within any sight. And not to mention they were at a higher level of power.

    Before Ruby could get close to Chelsa, she caused an explosion right before her. And when she got too close, Chelsa would teleport.

    Ruby was exhausted. She knew that she couldn''t win at this rate. So instead of going close, she spent her time shooting her balls of ming destruction.

    Chelsa was wasting more of her mana by the second. More than half of her mana was spent. She had to finish Ruby off before Emerald took her down.

    "Fuck!"

    Chelsa had used her explosion at a higher level. Ruby, who saw this, cursed loudly. Then, with the explosion popping off, Ruby went down.

    Now that Ruby had gone down, our team could see what Emerald was physically capable of. Coming to the stage, everyone could see Emerald radiating with confidence.

    With how weak Chelsa is, Emerald''s chances were pretty high. Unless she was highly overconfident or stupid, there was almost no way to mess up.

    Chelsa saw that Emerald was brimming with confidence. But she wasn''t sure whether she could win or not.

    Compared to Chelsa, who believed that she was the best. Starting today, doubts began to form around her head.

    My performance in the power test had already shaken her core. Now that she was weakened, her confidence had weakened again for the second time.

    Emerald was observing the face of Chelsa and couldn''t help but grin. She, like me, had guessed what Chelsa was thinking.

    "Don''t you think this is funny?"

    Chelsa was confused about what Emerald was talking about. Some people who were listening also were confused.

    "What do you mean by that?"

    Chelsa frowned when she asked what Emerald was talking about.

    "Your attitude. Your overwhelming confidence."

    "Don''t you think it''s funny that you''re starting to doubt yourself?"

    Chelsa red at Emerald. What Emerald said was true. But looking at Chelsa''s current state, she refuses to believe so.

    "You overestimate yourself."

 Chapter 189 Team Elimination Match (Part III)

    Chelsa instantly attacked Emerald, who saw that. Emerald''s provocation had worked, and Chelsa was at the palms of Emerald''s hand.

    The explosion that Chelsa made was ineffective. Judging by what she did, Emerald had blocked the attack. I couldn''t see what she did, but this fight wasn''t looking so good for Chelsa.

    Chelsa was shocked to see Emerald unharmed. After that, she became wary of what Emerald could do.

    "Not going to continue attacking? It looks like that''s all you''re."

    Without saying anything else, Emerald started her attack. The acid began to fly out of Emerald, and the ground began to melt.

    They were dangerous, but it wasn''t strong enough to melt the current me. Emerald''s magic could cause a lot of pain to many people.

    Spraying a whole lot of acid, Chelsa did her best to teleport away. But Emerald didn''t just stop there. Instead, she continued to spread her acid to where Chelsa went.

    This wasn''t looking good for Chelsa. A drop of acid hadnded, and Chelsa had felt the pain of the single drop.

    Chelsa''s mana was too low. Most of them were gone from her explosion and teleportation.

    "You are pathetic. I''m going to finish you now!"

    Emerald looked bored. The battle wasn''t interesting with how weak Chelsa currently is. Chelsa couldn''t do much in this situation and refused to give up.

    She then created a wave of acid filling most of the arena. Chelsa couldn''t do anything but make an opening. But unable to do so, Chelsa took the full brunt of it.

    Chelsa had fainted from the pain. The match ended with Team Igarde''s victory. Emerald looked at Chelsa''s body before walking away in silence.

    "Team Evergreen and Team Avaris."

    This was the final match for the first round. However, team Evergreen was someone we also needed to watch out for.

    Reba was thest to remain, with Seele being the secondst. Lisa had yet to join the fight. Seele''s magic was rted to magic. Her specialty lies in defense.

    The chances of Reba beating team Evergreen were low. If Reba can''t break through Seele''s water shield, then Reba would be in a hell of a time.

    Having to start the fight, Seele made the first attack. But, unlike Seele, Reba had no way of attacking from a far range.

    Seele flooded the arena with water, making the floor slippery. Reba had to be careful with her steps. But as a beastmen, she should have much control over her body parts.

    Reba, with her daggers, went to Steele as close as possible. Steele used her water and tried to push Reba as far away as possible.

    Suddenly the water that Steele made had scattered. Reba''s magic had improved on some level. With nothing stopping Reba, she tried to sh Steele with her dagger.

    Steele had reacted and cast a shield blocking the hit. But when Steele removed her shield, Reba teleported and kicked Steele right on the top of her head.

    The blow had knocked her out. Now that Steele was out, it was Lisa''s turn to go. I wonder how this battle will turn out.

    Time Maniption versus Air Maniption. Both of their magic was strong in their own right. But the stronger one would win.

    "Don''t you think hurting Steele that hard on the head is cruel?"

    "This is a battle."

    Reba frowned when asked such a question. She found it pointless when Lisa said that.

    "She''s already tiny. You might have shrunk her with that kick."

    That was cruel if you think about it, but since she was a fairy, being tiny wasn''t the worst thing possible.

    Reba''s eyes twitch upon hearing that. She was ready to battle, but Lisa seemed to be taking this battle lightly.

    "Is that all you have to say?"

    "Yep~!"

    Annoyed by Lisa''s easy attitude, Reba went in for the kill. Lisa, who saw this, used the air to put pressure on her surroundings.

    Reba would have a massive disadvantage in a fight like this. Even if she skipped time, she could not get near Lisa.

    Lisa''s magic and mana levels were higher than Reba''s. The fight had just started, and Reba was already losing.

    Reba had no way of attacking. The pressure around Lisa was too intense. I could now see why Lisa was taking this fight while being rxed. Her magic had countered Reba.

    And Lisa knew the oue from watching her battle with Seele. Lisa was more cunning than I thought.

    I thought she was just a happy-going person, but from the looks of it, I needed to change my judgment of her.

    Anyways the battle continued, and Lisa was still unharmed. Reba was pushed to the ground, unable to stop her magic.

    "Don''t think too bad of me. I''m doing this to calm Steele''s anger."

    Even if Lisa was trying to be "nice." What Lisa did was disrespectful. Lisa used her full power and kicked Reba on the head.

    I hoped she wouldn''t have her brain damaged. Lisa''s kick on the head was much stronger than the kick that Reba had done.

    Caren had felt her head while looking at that. She must have imagined herself getting hit like that and got scared of the prospect of it.

    Reba was knocked out. Team Avaris had lost while Team Evergreen had won. Avaris, considered one of the top, wascking this year.

    Before we started our next fight, the second, third, and fourth years would have their first battle. This way, all thepetitors here would recover most of their strength.

    With the seniors fighting, it would be a while before we go again. I had already expected the results for our seniors.

    The second year had done well. I expected that they would win. They haven''t disappointed me.

    As for the third year, I had given up any hope in them. Their loss wasn''t unexpected, but they were depressed by their results.

    Then we got the fourth-year students. Again, their results were average, and they had won their fight by a close match.

 Chapter 190 Team Elimination Match (Part IV)

    Now that the second round had begun, five teams were ready to battle. Four teams would fight, with one team getting a bye.

    "We''re back for the fight between the first division!"

    "The second round will proceed!"

    "And the two teams will be picked to fight!"

    "The first team that is chosen to fight is Team Evergreen!"

    Everyone cheered, seeing that Evergreen would fight. They had garnered some attention from the previous round of beating Avaris.

    "And the team that will be facing Team Evergreen! Will be Team Igarde!"

    This was intense. Any of these teams could have made it to the final fight. It was a shame that they had to fight so early.

    With both teams sending out their weaker, the grunts began to eliminate each other teams one by one.

    Team Igarde was currently in the lead and was beating Team Evergreen by one person, but the lead wasn''t so far off.

    Gold was worn out on the stage with Steele, who had recovered from the kick. Gold had just defeated an opponent from Evergreen but was tired.

    Steele''s magic was weak against Gold''s lightning, but I don''t think it would make a big difference.

    The fight began with Steele attempting to drown Gold. Steele was pissed off about the fight with Reba.

    Gold, a second-rank mage, couldn''t do anything to a third-rank mage. So everyone could tell that the fight was over.

    Before Gold could drown, Steele had stopped. Gold knew she couldn''t win, so she stepped out of the arena sending in the next person on their team.

    After Gold was Ruby, this was going by the exact order from the previous round. With the two of them up, no one was talking.

    The match was now even. Gold hasn''t harmed Steele so Steele could fight Ruby at her capacity at its fullest.

    When the two of them were ready, the fight began immediately. With Steele being defensive and Ruby offensive, they will be fighting differently.

    Will Ruby''s magic be able to break Steele''s magic? Or will she drown just like Gold? That''s what makes the fight so intriguing.

    In terms of mana, these two were simr. The one who was more experienced in battle will win in today''s match.

    Ruby started to run in with the match starting. Steele was the same as usual, and she tried to push Ruby away from her.

    With the water in the arena, Ruby was now restricted from moving. The two of them thenunched range attacks at one another.

    Steele had a field advantage, and she could attack from any angle as long as the water was there.

    Both Ruby''s and Steele''s magic were ineffective against one another. Ruby had copied what Steele was doing and had also yed defensively.

    The only way one would win is when the other person''s mana level is depleted. Another ten minutes had passed, and both of their mana was close to zero.

    They had been firing their mage at one another nonstop. Finally, the battle ended in a draw, with both sides unable to fight.

    It was now Lisa and Emerald''s turn to fight. Both of them are one of the top best for the age. The winner of this fight would have a significant moment in the next few days.

    The fight had started, and Lisa made a barrier out of air. Emerald''s acid was being reflected. The moves that Emerald made were sent back.

    "Have you ever felt pain before?"

    Out of nowhere, Emerald asked a question.

    "Nope~ Why?"

    "Cause I''m gonna make you feel it."

    Emerald''s attitude matched very well with her magic. I doubt if Emerald and I were to talk, I wouldn''t be able to p her in the face. That was how punchable her face was.

    "Is that so~?"

    Lisa didn''t mind what Emerald said. After all, Lisa''s magic had made her almost invincible within her rank.

    Without holding anything back, Emerald mana usage surged. Covering her whole body in acid, she ran toward Lisa and tried to rip through Lisa''s air barrier.

    The traces of acid Emerald lift had melted some of the floors. Lisa, who saw this, began to get serious.

    "Fuck!"

    I identally blurted out. Everyone who heard me looked at me strangely.

    "What''s wrong, Charlie?"

    "Lisa''s magic isn''t Air Maniption. It''s Vector Maniption."

    A certain white-haired man had appeared in my head, and I had seen an anime about powers like that.

    "Vector Maniption?"

    Serena seemed confused by what I said. But looking at how Lisa used it, I could say she wasn''t proficient. A sigh could be seen me realizing how weak it was when she used it.

    "It''s hard to exin in a few words. I will tell you about itter. Watch the fight, and you will see why."

    Even when Emerald was fighting seriously, Lisa was unharmed by Emerald. Instead, Lisa was treating Emerald like a child.

    It wouldn''t be surprising if Lisa could beat Chelsa. Lisa created a de out of air. It was enough to cut through Emerald.

    "Sorry, I still haven''t experienced the pain you wanted me to feel."

    "This was fun. You made me try pretty hard."

    Lisa then controlled the gravity pushing Emerald down. This force was more potent than what she did to Reba.

    The fight was over, and I couldn''t see a way for Emerald to win. Emerald was crushed by the force that Lisa had made.

    It wouldn''t be hard to imagine some broken bones from what Lisa did. But, then, finishing Emerald off, Lisa sent Emerald flying with just a single touch.

    "Team Evergreen had won!"

    Everyone was excited to see how Lisa had crushed Emerald. Emerald''s bad mouth had caused some difort among the crowd.

    Looking at Lisa, she was now the number one person who our team should look out for. While she couldn''t use many of her abilities, her magic was still strong.

    "Next up, we have Team Star State! And Team Etheal!"

    That would mean Grandelle would get a bye. On the other hand, team Etheal wasn''t too hard to deal with.

 Chapter 191 Team Elimination Match (Part V)

    "Charlie, I want to go first."

    Caren, who was usually timid, volunteered to go first.

    "I want to redeem myself from yesterday''s match."

    "Then go."

    No one here cared about the order. Caren here wanted to go first. So no one stopped her.

    The first person from the other side wasn''t someone worth taking notes on. Caren should have no problems facing her.

    Caren and the other girl didn''t say anything. Caren was too preupied with thinking about how to win.

    Caren was doing what she did best. She spammed magical spells ranging in a variety of forms. The opponent had no idea what to do.

    She tried her best to dodge and block all the uing attacks. But with how much magic was deployed, Caren won her first match.

    This fightsted about twenty seconds. It was one of the shortest fights if you didn''t include any leadpetitors.

    Caren had won the first match with some mana to spare. The second opponent was Jane, the poisonous user.

    "Caren, use all of your mana against her!"

    I shouted at her, hoping that she would hear it. Caren needed to finish the fight fast. Fighting against someone who will whittle you down was painful to deal with.

    The fight had begun, and both sides were already trying their hardest. Caren was doused with poison and tried her best to hang on.

    After a while, she felt too weak and lost. On the bright side, Caren did considerable damage to Jane.

    Teresa went next and finished off Jane. Using Jane''s own shadow, Teresa had her tangled and knocked her out.

    After beating one more person, Teresa went out. There were three people on the other side, with one tired. And we had four people left.

    Next was Maddison, who was excited to fight. Maddison had easily eliminated two people. Her fighting powers are third within our team.

    When fighting Camile, Maddison lost without a fight. Camile''s emotional control countered Maddison''s ability.

    Maddison lost her ability to gather strength with Camile''s control. And with that, Camile whipped Maddison and got her out. There were now three of us left. One of us three had to go.

    "Noelle, do you want to go? You have a chance to beat her now."

    Reba robbed Noelle of yesterday''s event. The chance for Noelle to fight Camile on even terms was now here.

    "I will go."

    Without saying anything else, Noelle left. Noelle got on the ring and stared at Camile. She had already activated her illusion before the fight. That was pretty sneaky.

    The fight had started, and the two people were doing something weird. It was pretty hard to watch. I had to facepalm to stop myself from watching.

    The face was pretty embarrassing. Noelle was in the ring crying, acting like a baby. In contrast, Camile was there screaming in fear, like she had seen the worst thing in her life.

    And from the looks of it, these two were going to stop any time soon. So while some of the audience found it entertaining, they also found this sad.

    Ten minutester, the judge decided it was a draw. Our team had won at the cost of Noelle''s pride. But, it was a sacrifice that didn''t need to be made.

    Noelle got back and was embarrassed by what had just happened. She was usually nkly looking and had more expression than the nervous Caren.

    She was unable to look at anyone''s face. So she hid her face down and stayed down.

    "Noelle, use this opportunity to get stronger. Don''t like something like this get to you."

    I tried to motivate Noelle with this battle even if she had drawn against someone. It was the captain of an opposing team.

    Noelle, who had heard what I said, looked up. Her embarrassment had died, and I could see the fires in her eyes.

    With that, it was our senior''s turn. The second year''s students had a rough match. They had faced an opponent that had a simr strength to them.

    Lavender, the captain of the second year, had clutched up and dealt the victory blow. It helped them advance to the next round.

    Our third year had already lost, so we had to watch the third year of the other team.

    The fourth year also won. Like the second year, they also had a very close match. But other than that, I don''t see them advancing to the next stage.

    With the battle over, we had a thirty-minute break. Everyone here went back to our lounge and took a rest.

    Some people were still hurt and were low on mana, so they had to drink a mana potion while being healed by a healer.

    We were lucky that the food here was excellent andfortable. Even when the next match was starting soon, we weren''t preparing for it.

    I don''t know how the next round will be, but I wasn''t concerned about it unless they made this battle a three-team and the team gangs up on us.

    "Captain, try these tarts!"

    Maddison was demolishing all these snacks and seeing how good they looked on Maddison''s face. I took a bite.

    Tarts weren''t the snacks that I preferred to dine on, but they weren''t so bad once in a while. Everyone took one, seeing how I ate one.

    "Maddison, don''t overeat."

    "You''re going to get sick in the fight."

    While Maddison could use magic to digest the food, it would be best to take precautions.

    And as for the drinks, they had soft drinks filled with mana. I can''t believe it. Where did they get it? Maybe I should askter.

    Thirty minutester, the break was now over. Everyone had turned to the stage, and the next round was about to start.

    "Hello, everyone! Wee back to the final round of the team elimination match!"

    Did I hear what the announcer said correctly? The final round? How would that work with three teams in the mix? I couldn''t help but specte how the next few matches will be.

 Chapter 192 Team Elimination Match (Part VI)

    "Three teams will fight in a battle! And with these three teams, three people on each team would fight one team!"

    "An example would be Grandelle will have to send three different people against Star State and Evergreen. And they would all have to be different people."

    I see, so that was how it was. If that were the case, I would have to fight Evergreen while Serena should fight Grandelle.

    "First off, we have Grandelle and Star State!"

    "Serena, you will be thest person fighting them. I will fight Evergreen."

    I wasn''t one hundred percent confident that Serena could take on Lisa. And there was no point in taking that risk when I knew Serena was stronger than Bianca.

    Serena frowned at my decision. Did she want to fight Lisa?

    "You can fight Lisa at ater event."

    I had managed to control her dissatisfaction. The match was about to start, and one person needed to go.

    "I want to go first."

    This time it was Noelle who wanted to go. After thest fight, she had to fight someone and win. It would be sad to see her lose.

    Looking at the fight, was I mistaken about our team''s power ranking? Noelle was probably third, and not Maddison.

    Noelle herself had eliminated the rest of team Grandelle. Bianca didn''t join the battle, and I presume she would fight Team Evergreen.

    Team Grandelle had sent their weakest team. At least Noelle had gotten back her pride which she had lost in the previous match.

    With the battle over, Noelle came back looking proud. Even if her expression was stiff, everyone could feel the mood that she was radiating.

    "Next up, we have Team Grandelle and Evergreen!"

    Now, all that mattered was if Lisa would show up in this fight. Seele was the second person to show up.

    Does that mean Lisa would go if Seele were defeated? Seele had beaten the second person from Grandelle, and it was finally Bianca''s turn.

    Bianca was fighting with Seele on equal terms. With her wind, she managed to stop and counter every move that Seele made.

    This fight wasn''t looking so good for Grandelle. If Bianca had trouble defeating Seele, herst opponent would be even tougher to fight.

    Both sides had the mana drained. They had shed without anyone winning the fight. Bianca, who had enough of this stalemate, would end this in one fell swoop.

    Creating a ball of razor wind, Biancaunched it on Seele. With the water barrier broken. The razor wind hadnded on Seele, making Bianca win the fight.

    Now that Seele was out, the next person sent in would decide who we would fight. Bianca was still healthy, and while she had lost a considerable amount of mana, she wasn''t hurt.

    Sending in the next person, it was Lisa. I see, even with her strength, she wasn''t confident about beating us.

    They wanted to secure second ce. It was reasonable, but I couldn''t help but be disappointed. Serena, who was also watching, couldn''t help but be disappointed.

    "Don''t worry. We will get them next time."

    With the battle started, Bianca was already in a losing position. No one here expects Bianca to win. She had already done her best to eliminate a strongpetitor.

    But sometimes, doing your best wouldn''t help. Sometimes I don''t understand her. She doesn''t immediately wipe her opponent to the ground in every fight we have seen.

    Was she some sadistic demon who had the pleasure of seeing all of her opponent''s struggles? These things weren''t umon, but they still left a bad taste in some people.

    After a while, Bianca had lost all her mana. Lisa had won without hurting Bianca. It was like she was ying around with a child.

    "For our final battle, we have Star State against Evergreen!"

    "I will finish this fight immediately."

    I was the only person here who hadn''t fought in this event. I was tired of sitting down for hours and watching these fights.

    No one here objected, so I went on the stage. The crowd was excited to see me fight. And for my opponent, they weren''t looking so well.

    The first person I was going to fight was a fairy. When the battle started, I blew up the tiny girl and won in one move.

    "We surrender!"

    Lisa had made the shot and had her whole team surrender. They saw no point in me demolishing her friends in an instant.

    "We have our winner from Team Star State!"

    "Woooo!"

    "Yippie!"

    I couldn''t help but be sarcastic, seeing that I had won. I''m not going to lie. My motivation for this tournament had significantly dwindled. Now that we were finished, I went back to my seat.

    "Serena, want to go now? I have no interest in watching anymore."

    Since we were done, there was no point in us staying. I was tired of watching battles and battles over again.

    The results were already determined, and I wouldn''t be surprised if all of my seniors got third in this event.

    "How about we watch for morale support?"

    It would be disrespectful if I left immediately. I couldn''t help but sigh. I have grown too soft as a person over these few months.

    Our second year got second. They yed smart and focused their leading team on the weakest one. And for our fourth year, we had gotten third, unable to do anything against the other team.

    "We should go now."

    "I will follow where ever you go."

    I''m sure she meant that in a literal sense. It was a good thing the others didn''t find what Serena said strange.

    "You four could do whatever you want. I have something to do with Serena."

    And with that, the two of us went out on our shopping spree. I would use some of Serena''s money, but I must repay the favor, I don''t know what Serena wanted, but I hope it wouldn''t be too taxing.

    Sometimes having someone you know who is rich is the best feeling.

 Chapter 193 Celebration And Return

    The whole five days hade to an end. Our team had gotten first ce, and everyone was here celebrating for the after-party.

    Grandelle had hosted a party for every essential person attending. The ten teams would alsoe to enjoy the party. After today we will be leaving Grandelle.

    Everyone who was in the tournament was attending. I had a bad feeling about it. Not because it was dangerous but because it was annoying.

    I arrived at the party in casual clothing. I''ll never wear a dress, even if I''m cross-dressing. And no one will be able to force me to.

    Upon arriving at the party, I went to the corner to hide. I wasn''t someone that liked to be at the center of attention.

    "Congrattions on winning."

    Lisa, the elf from Evergreen, had walked up on me.

    "You did pretty well yourself."

    Team Evergreen had ced second in the tournament. We had battled on the third day, and I had her surrender. Before I could smash her face, she had surrendered.

    "I guess I did."

    Lisa smiled, which made my skin crawl. I don''t know what she wanted from me. Maybe she just wanted to talk to me.

    "You will be receiving more attention in the future."

    "Is that all you have to say?"

    "No need to be hostile. I find you interesting, that''s all."

    "I would like to talk more, but I have some people to meet."

    With that all said, Lisa left. I went outside and took a walk. The night was chill. Even in the cold climate, I felt refreshed.

    Ruby, like me, was also here. Thest time we spoke was during the power test. She must be feeling bitter about her results. They had gotten fourth after Ech, who miraculously beat them by one point.

    "Are you feeling alright?"

    Being the good guy I''m, I attempted to cheer her up. Ruby turned her head toward me, seeing that it was me.

    "Never felt better."

    She sarcastically said. But deep inside, I knew she was feeling bitter.

    "Really? You look like you''re about to cry."

    Ruby wasn''t, but I decided to tease her about it. Ruby then touched her eyes, and nothing came out. She then red at me.

    "I didn''t think you would be that much of an ass."

    "That''s your fault. Even though you believed that you were going to cry."

    Ruby grumbled silently, I couldn''t hear what she said, but I knew she was cursing me.

    "Next year, I''m going to kick your ass."

    Ruby had resolved herself from her slump. She gave me a sharp look and walked away.

    I was now alone again. A whileter, Serena, who was making connections to the people of Grandelle, found me.

    "How are the people of Grandelle?"

    I couldn''t help but ask what kind of people she met at the party. Serena gave a wry smile when I asked.

    "All of them were a bit too excited, and they had crowded me. I managed to escape, and here I''m."

    Serena sounded a bit exhausted, exining what had happened. I would have blown a fuse and attacked someone if it had been me.

    "Seems rough."

    "How about you? How are you doing?"

    "I''m here just to rx."

    "Seems nice."

    The small talk we were doing was rxing. We both stared at the moon, enjoying the view.

    "Let''s go back to the party."

    Serena held my hands and dragged me to the party without letting me reply. On our way in, we had attracted most of the attendees.

    With Serena and I here, we were swarmed by people from different countries. I knew this would happen. My personal space was being invaded.

    "Ms. Sris, are you interested..."

    "Ms. Sris, I have a son..."

    "Ms. Sris, want to visit..."

    Whoever tried getting me to their son made me clench my fist. I couldn''t even answer the crowd.

    Don''t hit them, don''t hit them. I held it in, and if I did, I would cause some trouble.

    For the remaining night, many influential people tried to get some connections with me. I met some people and had some connections with them.

    After that, I made my way out and got something to eat. Everyone from our country was here. We all were making a celebratory dinner with us alone.

    After eating with everyone, I started to miss Livie. It''s been months since Ist had her meals. With our dinner finished, we all went back to our room. Serena and I were too mentally exhausted to do anything, so we hit the bed and slept.

    ~

    I then woke up from my bed. Today was the day we went back. Serena was using me as a body pillow. Checking the time, we had an hour left before we went back.

    "Serena, wake up."

    Serena was rtively easy to wake up. While it was rare for her to wake upte, today was an exception. She had to talk to many people, and just speaking to some of them was draining to the mind.

    "Serena, we''re going to leave."

    I shook her a little, and she woke up. Serena rubbed her face against mine and squeezed me tightly.

    She was wide awake and stared at me, lying on the bed. I wanted to get her up, but I will let her stay here for a while.

    Letting her stay for five minutes, I got her to get up. She was being more spoiled than usual, but it was fine once in a while.

    We left the hotel, and some people were already out. With some time to spare, we sat down in the hotel lobby and waited for the remaining people.

    With everyone here, it was time to leave. Cynthia had a way for us to teleport to our school immediately.

    "Did you bring everything with you?"

    Cynthia made sure that everyone got what they needed. Everyone is doing thest-minute checking of their belongings before we leave.

    And with that done, we left Grandelle for good.

 Chapter 194 Scheming!

    Returning to Star State, we teleported back to the academy teleportation entrance. The guards protecting the area had let us through, knowing who we were.

    We then made our way to the headmaster''s office, reporting in. Before we got to the office, we were greeted by the students, teachers, and civilians.

    After the swarming mob was over, we arrived at the headmaster''s office. Cynthia knocked on the door and waited for a response.

    "Come in."

    The door had opened right when the headmaster said so.

    "I take it everyone here has enjoyed their experience in Grandelle?"

    We nodded, telling the headmaster that nothing terrible had happened during our time in Grandelle.

    "Then I would like to congratte you all for your wonderful performance."

    With us winning the whole thing, everyone here could see that the headmaster was happy about it. She was satisfied with our results.

    "Serena, you should know a banquet from the Celeste family will be hosted. Everyone here would be invited."

    The Celeste family is technically the ruler of this country. While they don''t directly rule it, the people under them do.

    And with us winning the tournament, we will be honored to attend the banquet.

    "The banquet will be hosted in three days."

    "And as for your reward for winning, the captain of each team would get a million while the others would get five hundred thousand credits added to their card."

    Everyone here was surprised by the amount of money they had just earned. That was a total of ten ck diamond coins. We brought honor to ournd, which someone would be proud of.

    "That is all. You''re free to do what you want."

    With that said, the headmaster set us free. Serena and I made it to our house. And what we saw was weird.

    Livie, who I missed, was ying with her dolls. She had bought a lot of stuffed animals and was doing an act.

    "Olivia, I knew you were weird, but I didn''t think you would be that weird."

    Serena was a bit freaked out by what Livie was disying, but looking at Livie''s expression, I could say that she was ignoring her. She was staring at me intensely.

    "Hubby!"

    Seeing that I was there, Livie tackled me to the ground. I was surprised that she had enough strength to do so.

    "Get off him!"

    I was on the ground with Livie and by the looks of it. It doesn''t seem like she will be letting go any time soon.

    Serena seeing our interaction urges Livie to get off of me. But with how Livie was acting, I don''t think she would do so any time soon.

    With Livie hugging me down. I found lying on the floor ufortable. I then held her up and sat on the bed.

    "How have you been?"

    Her reply was to kiss me. I also missed her, but to think she was starving in affection. Serena, who was still there, went behind me and hugged me from behind.

    I could see where this was going. The three of us were alone, and no one was here to disturb us. With my body being yed, we spent our whole day making love.

    ~

    "Are you still awake?"

    We had done it all night. Serena was on my left and had already passed out. Inparison, Livie was on my right and was tired.

    "Mhm!"

    Livie groaned in response, prompting me that she was still awake. Even though she was tired, she tried her best to entertain me.

    As a result, she climbed on top of me. Her warm body wasfortable. I saw that she was struggling to stay awake. I had my hands wrapped around her and let her rest.

    ~

    Serena was the first to be awake. But due to family issues, she had to leave early. Livie was still asleep and was still on top of me.

    Looking down from my angle, I can see her bare chest sandwiched between us. Great, I didn''t think I would be this horny.

    My lower body, which was hard and hot, was rubbing against Livie. The warm feeling had woken her up.

    Getting my morning kiss, we have done another round. And with that done, we went to take a bath and start the day.

    It had been a while since I had eaten Livie''s food. I can''t believe how much I miss it. The food from Grandelle and the training area weren''t bad, but they didn''t feel suitable to eat.

    "How have you been doing for the past month?"

    Since we had the time to talk, it was my first question. Livie looked pretty downcast when I asked such a question.

    "Charlie, if you have other business to attend to, take me with you."

    Livie sounded lonely. I could see why. It was like sending your lover to go to war. Only for them toe back one day.

    "Livie, I have to bear bad news."

    She looked shaken, hearing a harsh response. After all, no one likes to hear bad news. The nightmare I have been seeing.

    While it wasn''t every day, I have seen it more frequently. During the banquet at Celeste''s Mansion, I felt something terrible would happen.

    I told her my nightmares. If what I saw was true. Livie was going to die. I had debated whether or not to tell Livie about this.

    But in the end, I did. This concerns her greatly. I had already started nning during my stay at Grandelle. And now, I would need to do the final step.

    It had taken Livie a while to get a grip. She hade a long way. Even though she is weak, she will do her best to stay with me.

    "Livie, we''re going out now. For these three days, we will change your fate!"

    Doing what I could to cheer her up, I will not let her die like this. Maybe my nightmare was false, but I wouldn''t take any chances.

 Chapter 195 Goodbye!

    And just like that, three days passed. A servant from the Celeste family would pick us up for the banquet.

    Livie and I had done what we could to prepare. We were now ready to face any obstacle that would be on our way.

    "Good day to you, Ms. Sris."

    The servant from the Celeste family greeted me when she arrived. She then looked at Livie for a while and was in a state of shock.

    "Is there something wrong with my friend?"

    "Ahem... No, there is no problem."

    Dismissing what she was doing, we rode to the carriage with the servant arriving at our yard. Does the servant know Livie?

    Both Livie and I were quiet. We were preparing for the worst mentally. Two hours passed, and we reached a building from Celeste''s family.

    "Ms. Sris, we have arrived."

    "Lead the way."

    While walking in the estate, I could feel the servant observing every move from Livie. It was a good thing. Livie wasn''t aware. I don''t want her to be too nervous.

    With the servant leading the way, it was pretty easy to enter. There were people already at the banquet.

    My body froze when I saw someone familiar. My mother, Selene, was with the matriarch of the Celeste family.

    "Charlie, what''s wrong?"

    Livie saw me freeze and asked me what was wrong. Looking at my mother, I wanted to leave immediately.

    It looks like my body still fears her. Even with my current strength, it wasn''t enough for the head of the family.

    My mother, who felt my gaze, had turned her head to me. Fuck! I wish she didn''t notice me. Curse you, Charlie. His fear had gotten me stiff.

    "Charlie,e over. We need to talk."

    Selene''s voice was quiet but was audio for everyone to hear. I couldn''t help but sweat. I went to my "mother" without wasting time.

    "Follow me. We will talk somewhere more private."

    I then looked at Livie onest time before I walked away. What does my mother want with me? Was she someone who had to do with Livie''s death?

    ~

    [Olivia''s POV]

    Why was Hubby frozen in fear? I then looked at where he was looking at. What he was looking at was a beautiful woman.

    Did she do something to him? This was the first time I saw him scared of someone.

    "Charlie,e over. We need to talk."

    The woman''s voice was quiet butmanding. Was this his mother? I heard that she was intimidating. But I didn''t think she would be this scary.

    Charlie, without being able to do anything, silently walked over. I was worried that appearance would have caused a problem.

    I''m scared. Now that Charlie wasn''t here, I felt our n had derailed. He followed her and looked at me for onest time before disappearing.

    Remembering what he said, if any problem arises, I will use the item of what we nned. But deep inside, I''m still afraid.

    [Charlie''s POV]

    We sat down on a chair when we arrived at a private room. A servanting from my family side had served us some tea.

    "It''s been eight months."

    In eight months, I aplished many things. That was the day I left the Sris house. I wish I could escape right now.

    "Yes, it has."

    We were both stiff. Anyone who saw us talk could tell we weren''t on good terms even though we shared the same blood.

    "I would like to congratte you on your endeavor in the tournament."

    "Thank you."

    Our rtionship was strained. The servant here found this conversation hard to listen to. But that is just how it is.

    "After today, you won''t be attending the academy."

    I was shocked by what I heard. What does my mother want with me? I tried my best to stay calm. Getting agitated here wouldn''t do me any good.

    "May I ask why?"

    I then questioned her, which wasn''t unreasonable. After all, what would I be doing if I was going to drop out?

    "You''ll be our family breeder."

    My eyes couldn''t help but twitch. I''m surprised it was thiste for her to make this judgment. I didn''t like the people at my house, but I couldn''t say anything against her.

    "Could I bring my lover with me?"

    I would ept it if Livie were allowed to be with me. We would be guaranteed safety, and no problems would arise if I epted.

    There was a frown on my mother''s face. When I mentioned Livie, I wasn''t going to like this.

    "Is your lover the child with ck hair?"

    "Yes."

    "Then I''m afraid that''s not possible."

    Selene, my mother, had rejected the proposal. If I get back to Livie, we''re going to escape.

    "Could I know why?"

    "That child is under the care of the Celeste Family."

    The Celeste family? I see, but what do they want from her? Was her death from my escape, or did the Celeste family n it?

    "Could I leave after today''s banquet?"

    I did my best to stall for time. I have decided we''re leaving no matter what. If I don''t, I will be stuck at my family house as a breeding horse for the rest of my life.

    "You have today to say your goodbyes."

    And with that said, we left the private room. Going back to the main party, I went up to Livie. Livie was worried that something terrible had happened.

    "Livie, we''re going to leave right away."

    Finding a situation to whisper into her ear, I told her our n. She nodded, and the both of us went to the bathroom.

    With us alone in the bathroom, we began to change. I had Serena buy me an artifact to change our look.

    And with that, we were ready to leave. Grabbing a teleport scroll, we disappeared from the banquet.

    I should have told Serena this n. But it would be hard for her to choose between her family and me. So I will save her the trouble of doing so.

    Well, it doesn''t matter. Goodbye, everyone! Take care!

 Chapter 196 Missing!

    [Third Person POV]

    The mood of the banquet was quite happy, and everyone at the party was socializing. On a high floor, the Matriarch of the Celeste family looks down and observes everyone.

    "Beatrice, where is that disgraceful child of mine?"

    Realizing someone was missing from the party, the matriarch asked Beatrice, her right-hand servant.

    "Mistress, she wasst seen with Charlie Sris. From the direction they went, they''re in the bathroom."

    Hearing what the servant had said, the head of the family couldn''t help but frown.

    "How long have they been in there?"

    "Thirty minutes."

    "Strange... Beatrice, have someone check if they''re in the bathroom."

    "Yes."

    Beatrice then left and went down the stairs.

    ''They couldn''t have run...''

    ''Did Selene have anything to do with this?''

    ''But that can''t be possible.''

    ''Selene''s rtionship with her child is almost nonexistent.''

    "Skr, call for Selene."

    A shadowing from Celeste''s head had appeared. Skr, without saying anything, left her shadow and called for the Matriarch of the Sris family.

    Beatrice, who was checking up on the two, came back.

    "Mistress, no sign of them being in the bathroom."

    "Just like I expected."

    From the news alone, the matriarch couldn''t help but frown. She had nned to observe whether the child was worthy enough to regain her title.

    And if she were just a disappointment, the matriarch would get rid of her. But with how they had disappeared. The child she was trying to ess knew what she was doing.

    Momentster, Selene, the matriarch of the Sris family, arrived.

    "Christine, did you tell your child anything about my n?"

    Selene, who had just had a conversation with Christine, couldn''t help but frown. Leaving just to be called again would be annoying.

    "No, I had wanted that child to return to our estate. Is there anything wrong?"

    "Your child and that disgrace of mine is missing."

    Selene''s face had darkened, finding that his son was now missing. She had just met him not too long ago.

    Selene didn''t take the ountant of her child running away. After all, she knew that her child feared her. And because of that fear, he will always be obedient.

    "Beatrice, get everyone to search around the perimeter. If there are any clues to be found, report back immediately."

    Christine, who had ordered Beatrice, her maid, to do a search party. With that order, Beatrice listened and moved on right away.

    "They''re already gone. Doing a search party here would be pointless."

    Selene thought the actions that Christine made were useless. Selene tried her best to sense where Charlie was but found nothing.

    The Sris Matriarch had used a tracker on Charlie''s mana, but it was nowhere to be seen.

    "They had already nned to escape from the beginning. Someone from the Lunaris family might have interfered with our ns."

    Christine couldn''t help but be pissed. She had made the mistake of letting that child live because she thought she waspletely harmless.

    But with that child being with someone from Sris, significant issues could be foreseen in the future.

    "Skr, cancel the banquet. Make a wanted poster on both of them. And after that, call for the Lunaris family."

    "Yes, Mdy."

    Skr left in a hurry. Christine couldn''t help but be pissed when she looked at Selene.

    "Couldn''t you be more subtle about bringing your child back safely?"

    "It was pointless. From the looks of it, they had already prepared to leave this banquet quietly."

    What they had done was too fast. It was like they had prepared for this escape. So no matter what they did, they would have everything nned out.

    "Aren''t you worried?! Your child might get revenge!"

    "There is no way they could fully escape. We have Lucy. No one in this world could escape from her sight."

    Selene was confident that Lucy could find them.

    "You are losing your cool easily. Aren''t you overreacting?"

    "You have seen what your son could do. He''s a monster. If he desires revenge, it wouldn''t be hard for him."

    "If this goes badly, I hope you''re ready to take responsibility."

    "Like you could make me. In actual terms, the Sris family isn''t much weaker than the Celeste family."

    In Selene''s words, even though Celeste is considered the influential family. The Sris wasn''t to be trifled at also. Even if they fought, the Celeste would need to pay a considerable price to wipe them out.

    "You''re a pain to deal with, just as much as my mother."

    "And you''re too different from your mother."

    With the two of them bantering, the both of them split. Now that their children were missing and the banquet was canceled, they had important matters to deal with.

    Everyone inside the banquet was confused by themotion the Celeste family was causing. Seeing that all of them had to leave, some people inside were dissatisfied with the decision.

    Some people here weren''t from the capital and had stayed for the banquet. Now that they had wasted time, they wished they hadn''te.

    Then news of both Charlie Sris and his friend Olivia had disappeared from the banquet. With how Charlie Sris won thepetition in the Youth Tournament, not many people wouldn''t recognize him.

    Wanted posters of both of them were now being sent around the country. And the prize for finding them would be 100 ck Diamond Coins.

    Everyone who saw the prize couldn''t help but rub their eyes, checking if what they saw were real.

    The amount given wouldst someone for generations. Everyone who saw this was determined to find them at all costs.

    Adventures, hunters, and other upations of a simr sort couldn''t help but search all over the ce.

    Another big news of Charlie Sris being male was confirmed. Someone had leaked this information, and the news of a talented male magician was now born.

    No one thought it was possible. After all, no one in history had ever heard of a male magician. This news had caused a big way on the whole continent.

 Chapter 197 SS: The Blooming Of A New Love

    This event is during the first night with Olivia.

    [Olivia''s POV]

    I can''t believe I did such a thing. I had only known Charlie for a week, and we had done it! I couldn''t help but blush and hug the pillow, embarrassed to see his face.

    My decision to sleep with him was rash. But I didn''t mind it, to say the very least, even though we haven''t known each other for long. I could, at the least, say I liked him.

    I realized it when I saw him sleeping with Serena. Watching them do it affected my mind considerably.

    Watching them do it had pleasured me physically. But deep inside, it hurts so much. The thought of being separated from him was going to drive me crazy.

    Seeing that they were finished with their sexual activity, I locked my room. I couldn''t help but think of the possibility of them being lovers.

    I was so sad and cried myself to sleep. After waking up, I didn''t know how long I had slept. I could hear Charlieing in.

    What do I do, I wondered. I wasn''t prepared for this. Tears wereing out, and I was too embarrassed to see him.

    Unable to let me be prepared, Charlie opened my room. I had my nket covering me, trying to evade his gaze.

    "Olivia..."

    I could tell by the tone of his voice that Charlie felt sad. He had torn my nket away and had me nce over at him. With him doing that, I started to cry even more.

    He then held me gently, patting me on the back. It wasforting in its own right and something I would like more if possible.

    And after that, he began to console me. My heart has be warm because of him. I had never felt someone so caring toward me. I felt blessed to have him on my side.

    After he had consoled me, he gave me a bracelet. It was my first time receiving a gift. Charlie himself had put the bracelet on me.

    It fit perfectly well with my hand, and I couldn''t help but smile. I was tired from all my crying, and with the tirednessing down, I fell asleep on top of him.

    Waking up, I looked at his face. Looking at his face, I couldn''t help but find him gorgeous. Even as a girl, I couldn''t help but feel an inferiorityplex if Ipared him to myself.

    With his lips wide open, I couldn''t help but want to kiss them. He was defenseless, and I felt this was the perfect time to try it out.

    Out of curiosity, I leaned in closer and kissed him. It was warm, something that I could get used to.

    The first kiss wasn''t enough. I wanted more. And by doing so, I caused Charlie to wake up. I couldn''t help but blush as he stared at me.

    He said that he wouldn''t judge me for what I had done. But with his gaze intensely locked toward me, he smiled.

    "Do you want to do it?"

    Charlie had whispered into my ears and took his lips onto my ears. I couldn''t help but be surprised by such action.

    This is my chance, I thought to myself. I had confirmed my love for him when I locked myself in. An opportunity like this might not happen if I reject it.

    Nodding my head, Charlie began to strip me. With nothing left, he pushed me down, with him being on top. Even though it wasn''t my first time naked with him, I was still embarrassed.

    Then proceeding to kiss, but the kiss that I did was significantly different. The pleasure couldn''t bepared to when I kissed him asleep. I could see myself being addicted to this.

    After we finished kissing, we started the real thing. The pain was unbearable initially, but then I felt the pleasure beginning to take over.

    We had finally made love, then hourster, I passed out due to overworking my body. This was an experience that I wouldn''t forget.

    With me waking up, I saw Charlie right beside me. I didn''t know what had taken me to do such a thing.

    Looking at his face again, I couldn''t help but giggle. Charlie was asleep, and both of our bodies were glued together.

    His soft skin and warm body had a nice feel to them. With me enjoying the sensation of this, I saw the door open.

    Serena, the person that Charlie first slept with, opened the door.

    "What is the meaning of this!"

    She yelled out in anger, waking Charlie up.

    Charlie had panicked seeing what had just happened. Scared of being red at, I glued myself to Charlie. Serena, who saw this, yelled at me to get off of him.

    But in the end, Charlie did his best to stop her. Charlie had managed to calm her down, but I could still feel her hatred.

    And just like that, time passed. Serena and I would fight for Charlie''s affection. Both of us were sticking him like glue, unable to leave his sight.

    We would let him have his way with us day and night. Serena, who was angry at me at first, became more friendly.

    She knew she couldn''t handle Charlie''s lust alone, so we would have to share him. While she became more friendly, she would still do her best to take a jab at me.

    Honestly, I looked forward to the days toe. This was a brand new story to my book. The days of enjoying my time with Charlie and Serena were irreceable.

    I don''t regret losing my first time with Charlie. I don''t think I could fall in love with anyone else.

    So, Charlie, I want to thank you for being able toe into my life. Without you, I don''t think I would be this happy ever.

    Charlie, I don''t know how I will be able to repay you. But, all I could say is. I love you.

 Chapter 198 SS: Intenstive Training

    This event is after Serena''s first dungeon dive.

    [Serena''s POV]

    Expectations are all I have been given all my life. Born as the heir of the most prestigious family, everyone''s expectation for me was to the max.

    After our dungeon dive with Charlie and idiot Olivia, I felt frustrated. I had never felt so helpless in a situation like that.

    One wrong move, and we would''ve all died. We were lucky that Charlie was a monster in mana and magic.

    Watching him fight the serpent made me realize that I was weak. As someone who had always been the best, my pride alone wouldn''t allow me to be that much weaker than someone to my peers. Even against Charlie, whom I love.

    After finishing our dungeon, we all returned to sell what we got. I couldn''t help but think of the events happening in the dungeon.

    I was depressed and emotionally unstable, even if I tried my best not to show it. Charlie and Olivia could feel it. Out of consideration, they left me to my own ord.

    That was when I decided something. After mopping around, I had thought about what I wanted, and I decided to take action.

    Both Olivia and Charlie went home. But I, on the other hand, went somewhere else. I then made my way to Mary''s office.

    "Mary, I have something I would like to discuss."

    The door had opened, and Mary, who was in the room, was studying a book. Looking at Mary, she was displeased that I had distracted her from her time studying.

    "Young miss, is there anything you need?"

    Mary was a particr person. Her unemotional attitude was eerie��even our family members thought the same.

    "I''m going back to the main estate to train."

    "Is there a reason why you want to go back?"

    "I want to be stronger."

    After the fight with the serpent, I had never desired to be stronger. I had been sheltered all my life, unable to see the hidden dangers around me.

    The thought of me being killed without being able to struggle bothered me. That is why I need to do this, no matter what.

    "I see. Then I will tell the headmaster of your absence."

    "Thank you."

    With that, I left Mary''s office. After telling Mary I won''t be at school, I hurried to my room and grabbed a teleportation artifact back to my house.

    Arriving at my estate, all the servants moved out of their way to greet me. My mother, Christine, the current matriarch of the Celeste family, had heard the news of my arrival.

    "Serena, what are you doing here?"

    "I want to get stronger. I want to use a mana dispenser to improve my strength."

    "Very well. Do as you please."

    My mother doesn''t care what I do. She will allow me to do whatever I want if I do my role correctly and not shame our family.

    "Skr, you will be training my daughter."

    Skr was mom''s most trusted servant. With her shadow magic, she could gather information, assassinate anyone, and do the job quickly��a perfect person to be her right-hand woman.

    "Yes, Mdy."

    "Follow me."

    Skr, my trainer, would train me for a month. Going to Celeste''s training facility, one could say that this ce was the best in the world.

    The mana here was six times better than in an average ce. Meaning I could be six times faster in absorbing mana. While my speed wasn''t as fast as Charlie''s, it was better than most.

    "I will be instructing you on your every move. The first thing we will do is a simple spar."

    "Use everything you have at your disposal. I will instruct you afterward."

    Fighting Skr, it wouldn''t even be called a fight. Even if I did my best by using everything, they were ineffective.

    The fightsted until Skr herself thought it was over. Five minutester, I had exhausted my mana and fell to the ground gasping for air.

    "Absorb the mana, and we will begin."

    Days passed, and I felt like I was improving by bounds. Skr would point out my mistakes, and I would correct them.

    After fighting her until I exhausted my mana, I always tried my best to regain them. The fights kept happening until a week had passed.

    "Young Miss, we will now begin controlling your emotions."

    Did she say controlling my emotions? I don''t have any emotional problems. I frowned, thinking of what Skr wanted.

    "You get irritated too easily. You let that control how you fight."

    "It would be detrimental if you let it get to you."

    I was unable to say anything. Skr was my trainer, and seeing how capable she was. I will do what she thought was fitting.

    The training we had was rough. Every time I hesitated to do something, Skr would step on my toes.

    Doing this training was painful and annoying, but a weekter, I started to get the hang of it. I would get less nervous and feel like I could control my emotions more easily.

    There was still a week before the survival training exam, and I wanted to be the best. Skr said that was enough training and left me to my own ord.

    The only thing now was to absorb mana and try my best to be a third-rank mage. It would typically take a year to reach this height.

    But if I use this room, I will reach it much quicker than my peers. I can''t afford to waste any time, and with that, myst remaining week was here to absorb mana.

    Charlie, I know I will never be able to catch up to you, but I won''t hesitate to do my best. I will continue to be stronger and move on forward.

    This month''s training changed me considerably. My unstable emotions were now controble. I felt something had cleansed my mind, making me a new person.

    Charlie, I can''t wait to meet you. I miss you.

 Chapter 199 SS: Failure And Reignited Dreams

    This Start After The Concert.

    [Lillianna''s POV]

    I have never hated a crowd like this in my time as an idol. My friends and I were in tears at the results of the concert.

    The five of us performed at Avaris'' Royal Academy. It was the ce where every talented person from Avaris would be.

    Before we were performing, we were already demoralized. The ck Dragons are talented. Their music attracted the attention of everyone.

    Our loss against them was fair, but what I couldn''t forgive was given the joke of a band called the Wild whatever.

    Their win was undeserved, and anyone could see it. Their talent in music wasn''t good, and they weren''t even charismatic.

    These important critical factors of being an idol are essential. What angers me most was theycked them and still won.

    Yes, I''m venting to myself, but what I''m doing was justified. They had won because of their race, nothing else.

    I sighed to myself, going back to my depression spiral. Just remembering the crowd made me sick. Master would be disappointed in us.

    With the addition of us recruiting magicians of Avaris. Many of them had declined, and we had to get our guards to wipe them out. So our secret would remain.

    "Eir, are the other three doing well?"

    It had been a day since Ist saw them. I was busy recruiting, so I didn''t have time to check on them.

    "They''re doing better than yesterday."

    Eir, the mature one in our group, had done her best to cheer the three of them up.

    "Thank you for helping them. I''m sorry I couldn''t help."

    "There is no need to apologize. We''re all friends. You''re doing your best for our group."

    I smiled, feeling better from Eir''s words. She is like the mother of our group.

    "I will check up on them. You mind joining?"

    "I wish I could, but Master has a chore for me to do."

    "Then good luck!"

    "Thank you."

    After Eir left, I couldn''t help but sigh. Even Eir, the most mature, was still hurt by this concert, and she had no one to help her cheer up.

    Going to the meeting room, I could see all three of them slump. Usually, all of us would enjoy ourselves and talk.

    "Everyone!"

    I did my best to grab their attention. I wouldn''t usually shout, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

    "I know what had transpired had disheartened all of you, but we can''t just take this loss."

    If they were going to stay like this, nothing would happen. I can''t let them be depressed for days getting nothing done.

    "But isn''t it pointless?"

    Reina''s negativity could be felt from a mile away.

    "It is not pointless. Master has chosen us for a reason, and we will do whatever we need to fulfill it. Reina, how can you say that this is all pointless?"

    Renia had nothing else to say but was there in thought. I should try to cheer on nc. First is easily influenced and easiest to get to smile.

    "nc, you, of all people, should know that being sad won''t do anything. This isn''t ourst performance. We''re all getting started!"

    Creating a motivational speech, nc pondered on what I said. Her slump had lessened, and I could see her stand up.

    "No, you''re right. I''m not going to take this loss. Thank you, Lily."

    I had gotten nc out of her depressed state, and now there is only Reina and Emi. Next should be Emi, Reina was harder to convince, but if we had Emi, who was rational, we should get our point toward her.

    Next, both nc and I tried to console Emi.

    "Emi, you should know that this isn''t the end. For someone who wants to live her life with money, you won''t get anything from this."

    I may be cruel to poke fun at her dream, but it was for the better of my friend. Emi stared at me, ring, but I didn''t flinch.

    "Are you going to stop and give up that dream?"

    "No."

    Emi sighed and left it at that. While she was still sad, it stopped her from moping around. And now for the final Reina.

    Reina was the hardest to cheer up. She was the most negative of us. So, how would we cheer for someone like her? An idea had popped into my head, and I was thinking of what to do.

    "Everyone, let''s give Reina a hug."

    Reina couldn''t help but be bewildered by what I said. After all, what I said was random to her, and she wasn''t sure how to react.

    Doing what I said, I gently wrapped my arms around her. Next came nc, and that was enough to make her flustered.

    "Stop..."

    "Emi, join in!"

    ~

    Eir, who was out doing a chore, hade back. ��seeing the four of us hug hade as a surprise to her.

    "Eir, join in!''

    "Don''t mind if I do~."

    After a while, we stopped. The mood around the room had improved, and things were looking good.

    With the situation sorted, we all returned to our headquarters. From the looks of it, our master wasn''t in her room. She was probably out for ate-night walk.

    Suddenly, I heard footstepsing from behind me. Looking back, I could see it was Reina.

    "I''m sorry for being troublesome."

    Reina bowed down and apologized.

    "We''re friends. I will do anything to cheer you girls up. It wasn''t much of a hassle."

    Reina smiled and it was the warmest smile I had ever seen from her.

    "Thank you. I got you this for all your hard work."

    She handed me a present. I couldn''t help but be thankful for it. Reina said her goodbyes and left the room. I then looked at the moon and couldn''t help but think.

    This was only the start. With our dedication, we will do our best to improve. Something like this wouldn''t stop us, and I won''t allow it.

    As the leader of this group, I will do my best to make my friends happy. Not only that, my master, and even the world!

 Chapter 200 Bad End: Caught

    "Livie, let''s get started in the washroom."

    She nodded, seeing that I was desperate. We nned to hide in the bathroom. After changing our clothes and looks, we were designated to teleport to the country of Everest.

    Finding a bathroom that we could use, we started changing. After finishing, we took out the teleport artifact.

    "Are you ready?"

    Before she could nod, I felt my vision blur. What had happened? Like me, Livie was wobbling. I couldn''t think straight, and long before, I fell on the ground unconscious.

    ~

    What had happened? I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a jail cell with my hands tied around my back.

    Did our n fail? How was that possible? There was no way for our n to be leaked.

    Looking around, I couldn''t find Livie. Where is she? With me looking at everything, she wasn''t there.

    It was long before footsteps came down to my cell. Looking at the figure, I couldn''t help but re at her.

    "You''re awake.

    Hearing a familiar voice, I heard the voice of my mother. She looked at me without an ounce of emotion.

    "Mother."

    I red at her as we stared in silence.

    "Where is Olivia?"

    I demanded my mother to tell me where she was.

    "You won''t be seeing her again."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    My heart raced hearing what she said. My mother then took something out of her bag and ced it in her hand.

    It was the head of Olivia, she had been decapitated, and I could see despairing from her eyes. My eyes widened from being surprised. My heart had shattered into a million pieces.

    Why? I couldn''t hold the tears that wereing down from my eyes. What did she do to deserve this? She didn''t deserve to be killed like this.

    "Why??? she didn''t do shit to deserve any of this!"

    Even though I was crying, I couldn''t help but ask in rage.

    "I don''t know, the head of the Celeste family did this. I''m only here to show you that she is dead."

    The Celeste family? I knew that they wanted to kill her, but why did they? I stood there wailing in tears. If only I weren''t so stupid. This could have been all avoided.

    Negative thoughts were appearing in my head. Every anger I had was directed toward myself, my family, and the Celeste family.

    With me crying my eyeballs out, my mother stood there waiting for me to finish. It had been hours, and the tears from my eyes had stopped.

    "What do you want? You going to sell me off as a sex ve?"

    I couldn''t care anymore. I was tired of all of this. No matter who I cared for, everyone I knew died. This world should be burned. No one deserves to live.

    "I will give you a chance."

    A chance? What stupid bullshit was she going to speak?

    "With your talent, you alone could kill all the members of the Celeste family."

    "..."

    "Aren''t you friends with their current heir?"

    "There is no such thing as friends in the world of magic."

    No wonder why Charlie was so afraid of her. She never cared about anyone. She is a heartless bitch that only wants benefits.

    For someone holding that much power shouldn''te as a surprise. But looking at her deal, it was my chance.

    "I will do it."

    I will avenge her. That was the only way I could live with myself.

    "Very well, I won''t be lenient on you."

    ~

    Five yearster had passed by in an instant. Olivia had died to the Celeste family and today was the day I took revenge.

    My speed as a magician was unmatched. At the age of twenty-four, I had reached the peak of the eighth rank.

    No matter what I did, I couldn''t cross the path of being a ninth-rank magician. I felt something blocking my path toward it.

    Well, it doesn''t matter. I was now strong enough to wipe out the Celeste family.

    "Mother, I''m going to wage my war against the Celeste family. Do whatever you want."

    I don''t care about the aftermath. Everyone else doesn''t matter. As long as the Celeste bloodline was killed, that''s all it mattered.

    Flying over to the Celeste, it only took a few seconds before I was at the top of their estate. I have been waiting for this moment.

    I barely contained my rage. I used half of my mana to create a ck sun. After Olivia''s death, my magic changed.

    Creating a ck sun, Iunched it down on their estate. My sun had blown up and created a miniature ck hole. The power I just sent killed almost all the people in it.

    "What is the meaning of this!"

    Christine, the matriarch of the Celeste family, and Serena were beside her.

    "Charlie..."

    Serena looked surprised by what had developed.

    "Does the Sris want war?"

    Christine yelled in rage, seeing most of her family had died.

    "You don''t have the right to decide whether this is war. I''m going to massacre you all."

    "You will die of being a tribute to Olivia''s salvation."

    "To think that disgraceful child that had died long ago would be a thorn to me."

    Seeing how she disrespects Olivia, the beams I created could melt everything. With it touching Christine''s arms, the right side of the body had melted off.

    She yelled out in pain, seeing how her body was almost vaporized. I couldn''t help butugh, seeing how much pain she felt.

    It has been a long time since I have done so without having the power to resist. I then sliced her head off.

    I had finally avenged Olivia. My goal is now finished.

    "I''m sorry."

    Serena, who was still there, apologized in tears. I had felt nothing from her doing that. Before she realized what had happened, she smiled and epted it.

    I had killed her cold-blooded. After wiping the whole bloodline, I felt my body restricted.

    "Mother..."

    "You have done your job. Now you will be a breeding machine for our family for the rest of your life."

    I couldn''t feel any anger, sadness, or joy. I was tired. I''m so tired. All I could do was wait until death to meet with my love.

    Bad End: Caught.

 Chapter 201 A New Beginning.

    Four months have passed since our escape. Livie and I are currently working on a restaurant on our own. Yes, this restaurant is something that we own.

    A million credits that the headmaster of our old academy had given me had been turned into nine ck diamond coins. It was a shame we lost ten percent by trading them into money.

    "Charles, your wife''s meals are amazing as usual."

    That''s right. I had changed my name to Charles. It was identical to my name but wasn''t the same.

    And not only that, I''m wearing male clothes. I couldn''t help but think that escaping was the choice. My hair was now shorter, and I had changed my face to more masculine.

    Myst look was like a beautiful princess, and now I looked like Giga Chad. I missed wearing male clothing, and they''re so much morefortable to wear. I promise never to wear them again.

    "My wife is the best cook ever."

    Oh yeah, Livie and I got married. Right when we found a ce to settle, I proposed to her. My nightmare made me realize how much it would hurt to separate from her.

    At first, I was nervous, even though I knew she would ept my proposal. But what if there was a slight chance that she would reject it?

    We had been together for a year, and within that year, we had been through a lot. A year ago, the past me would have pped me for changing this much.

    Livie and I didn''t have a wedding celebration since neither of us didn''t care. We are just happy to be on each other''s side.

    We both got an artifact as a wedding ring. It allowed us to teleport to one another once per month.

    The ring was he expensive. But it was handy. If a situation had arrived, we could have one of us teleport to the safe one.

    Half our fortune was spent on that. While I also had to buy an artifact to hide my manapletely, Serena had gotten me it during our stay at Grandelle. I hadn''t seen her in a while. I wondered how she was doing.

    Currently, I am attending to my customer. My wife had taken the role of a cook while I was the server.

    Both elves and fairies were enjoying their meal. We were currently in the country of Evergreen. They weren''t lying when they said this ce was filled with forest.

    Luckily in the capital of Evergreen, the city here was one of a normal country. Our restaurant is fancy. Only middle-ss people and the rich would dine here.

    It was a miracle how Livie was the chef alone and me being the only waiter. With our restaurant closed, I went up to check on my wife.

    Like me, Livie had changed her look. We had wanted posters everywhere. Changing our looks was a must.

    Livie now had her hair changed to the color brown, along with her eyes. She had styled her hair into long wavy hair. Along with some minor adjustments, she shouldn''t be noticed by anyone.

    "How are you holding up?"

    "You worry too much, Hubby since I became a third-rank magician. Making this much food isn''t much of a hassle."

    "Livie, we should hire a new waiter. I don''t think I could handle all of them at once."

    "Then let''s put up a hiring notice."

    With my wife''s permission, we made a sign together for a hiring notice. We only needed a server since Livie was the only one who could make the menu.

    Our store has artifacts that clean everything. So a janitor was unnecessary. And we don''t need to pay for the tax. We own thisnd from my money.

    "The night is still young. Should we go somewhere?"

    My wife smiled brightly, wondering the same. The capital city of Evergreen was beautiful. No, beautiful wasn''t the right word. It was clean.

    The atmosphere here was good, and the air and mana felt good. Changing our clothes into casual ones, we both went out.

    "Good evening Charles, Lidia."

    As we were exiting our restaurant/home. Our friendly neighbor, who also owned a store, greeted us. My name is Charles, and Livie is Lidia.

    "Good evening Tiffany."

    Livie and I greeted Tiffany. Like most people in this country, she is an elf. She managed a cosmetic store that sold beauty products.

    "Are the both of you going somewhere?"

    "My husband and I are going on a date."

    "I''m so jealous. I don''t even have a lover. I don''t even have experience in dating."

    The elf looked like she was going to weep into tears. Tiffany was at the age of twenty-two. She and Livie are great friends. When they''re free, they talk to each other like best friends.

    "I''m sure you will find someone sooner orter."

    Tiffany couldn''t help but sigh at the prospect of it.

    "I don''t want to take your time. I''m going back to work."

    "Have a good day!"

    With Tiffany gone, Livie and I began to walk. We were in the capital right when we teleported. Our teleportation artifact teleported us to the capital of Evergreen.

    It was good that we got an identity card with our disguise during our final days at Star State. And since then, we have lived our life in peace.

    "This city sure is lovely."

    "That came out of nowhere."

    "I was thinking about the events four months ago."

    "Do you regreting here?"

    "No, we wouldn''t have married if I didn''t."

    "Hehehe... Hubby, you sure can make my heartbeat."

    We were only talking with one another and felt the joy of being close. Despite this being a date, we had only done a stroll. Things like these aren''t so bad once in a while.

    Aftering back from our stroll, we went to bed. Not because we needed the energy to wake up early.

    "Livie, I love you."

    "I love you too."

 Chapter 202 Interview

    A few dayster, we were doing interviews with the new waiters who wanted to work. We had decided to get one or two depending if the people who applied were qualified to take the task.

    It was already 8 PM. Our stores close after 7:30 PM. Some may say it is early, but Livie and I earn more than enough with the two of us. We prefer to spend the remaining time with ourselves.

    Right now, five people are standing in front of us being interviewed. Both Livie and I would judge whether they were worthy of joining us. We take pride in our store, so we aren''t letting someone ipetent get in our way.

    There were two guys and three girls. One of them was a male elf that looked severely underaged. I should have specified the age limit.

    "Does anyone want to go first?"

    While this isn''t a test, I would appreciate the person who volunteered first. The first one to volunteer was the youngling.

    "May I ask how old you are?"

    I tried my best to be gentle with the kid. What I said sounded weird, but I immediately dismissed the thought.

    "Eleven years old."

    "I''m sorry, but I think you''re too young to work in a ce like this."

    "There are other ces that could take you. Try your best."

    The elf looked sad as he left the building. I felt a bit of guilt making a child sad, but I don''t think he would be able to survive in a ce like this.

    Next was a female elf. She had gathered the courage to go next. The girl in front had a clean look, someone easy to look at.

    "What is your name and age?"

    "I''m Stacy, and I''m currently seventeen."

    "Do you have any working experience in serving customers?"

    "My mother works as a florist. There were times that I helped my mother with the customers.

    From looking at her, she wasn''t lying. If her answer to thest question is satisfactory, I will hire her.

    "Then what made you decide to work here?"

    Stacy stood there and was in thought. She looked pretty stumped when I asked this question.

    "I don''t have any talent in magic. So I thought that working somewhere else would be a nice change."

    "Why don''t you work with your mother as a florist?"

    "Lately, my mother has employed some workers. So I wasn''t needed."

    "I see if you want your results. Wait for the remaining three to finish."

    With Stacy''s interview done, there were now three more to go. After Stacey, another elf girl had gone up. Unlike Stacy, she looked like a delinquent.

    "Could I have your name and age?"

    "Katherine, age eighteen."

    Judging from her disinterested tone, she seemed disinterested in this interview.

    "Why did you sign up for this job?"

    "Money?"

    She was direct. I can''t tell if she was serious or not.

    "I''m going to be truthful to you. I don''t think this job would fit you."

    "Is that so?"

    I nodded, staring at her. She said nothing and left the store. What a weirdo. If she wanted the job, she could have been more interested.

    After that girl was a male fairy. As for age, it would be hard to tell, but he did have a bit of a mature aura.

    "Name and age?"

    I asked the same question three times in a row.

    "I''m David, and I''m twenty-five years old."

    David is a fairy with blue hair. He is a head and a half smaller than me. Because of his race, he is on the cute side.

    "What work have you done so far?"

    He should have some experience for his age. There was no way he could have been a NEET, right? If he were, then it would be hard to hire him.

    "I was previously a waiter for a restaurant nearby. But shutdown due to bankruptcy."

    That was tragic. He looked pretty qualified. And his small stature could attract some customers with special needs.

    "Your previous restaurant went to bankruptcy, right?"

    He nodded, confirming what he said was true.

    "What makes you think this restaurant won''t be the same? If that did happen, you would only be wasting your time."

    "My gut feeling is telling me to pick this ce."

    "I see. Like that girl over there you could wait for until the results are over."

    David bowed politely and made his way back, waiting for whether he was hired.

    And for the final person, she was shaking a bit too much. She is a female fairy a bit smaller than David.

    "What is your name and age?"

    "I''m Trixie, and I''m 15..."

    She was a bit too young, but I continued forward with the questioning.

    "Why choose a job like this?"

    I''m not going to ask the same question to everyone. They should answer genuinely instead of thinking of the right word to get this job.

    "I heard business is good here and wanted to try..."

    "How good are you at talking to others?"

    "Not well..."

    My words had pierced her, making my words hurt. It was a horrible thing to do, but I have standards to set.

    "Then do you think you''re qualified for this job?"

    "No..."

    She became meek, and I think tears would fall from her. Livie, who was here the whole time, red at me and pinched my side.

    "I see. Then you could wait for your results if you want."

    Knowing that she would fail her interview, she left, running away. The tears she had held in came out, and she left the store hurriedly.

    "Now that we have two, I think they''re qualified. Livie, what do you think."

    "I also think they''re fine. But I will have to have a word with you for making someone like her cry."

    I couldn''t escape it, so that I would let my future-self deal with it. With our decision finished, we went up to them.

    "Good news, both of you are hired. In two days, you will start working. But I would rmend youe in tomorrow for a practice test."

    "We open at noon during lunch. So be prepared toe thirty minutes earlier. And our restaurant closes at 7:30 PM. Meaning you will be working for seven hours and thirty minutes."

    "Lunch and dinner are free if you ever want, and you will be paid weekly. Your starting sry will be one gold coin and five giant silver coins. If you work well, your payment will be raised."

    "And remember one thing, this store''s customers are mostly people from the high end. Do not offend anyone."

    With all that said, they went home for the night.

 Chapter 203 New Recruit First Working Day

    Another two days passed and today was the first day they began their work. David and Stacy had shown up yesterday to practice their service.

    David, who had previously worked in a restaurant as a waiter, was already qualified. He didn''t need much improvement as he was already experienced in it.

    On the other hand, Stacy was a little muddy, but after hours of practice, she had started to get the hang of it. With these two, my workload lessened.

    After Stacy and David finished their lunch which had mind blown them, we got ready to work.

    "Charles! Over here!"

    A regr customer who I was familiar with had called out to me. Going over, I took his order.

    "Your new employees sure are handling their jobs well."

    "If they weren''t, I wouldn''t have hired them. Jordan, you''re still ordering the same old beef?"

    "The other food on the menu is just as good."

    "I don''t doubt it, but beef is the way to go. As a man, how can you not love beef?"

    Jordan was an odd person. Despite being rich, he seemed easygoing. He was a bodybuilder of some sort. I would have never thought that an elf would look that muscr.

    From what he just said, I could see what he meant. Since he was the customer, I would let him order his own thing.

    "Did you not bring your wife with you?"

    "She is busy with some work."

    Jordan''s wife is a strong mage. A fifth-rank mage was rarely seen. He is living his life to the fullest, and I can''t me him.

    "Man, this is good stuff. Your wife''s cooking is the best."

    "I know, right?"

    "Here is the cash. See you tomorrow."

    After his meal, I took the te and put it in an automatic te washer. After thirty seconds, I took the dish out and dried it.

    And with that, I continued on the day. So far there wasn''t any trouble that the customers were feeling.

    David was doing his job perfectly, while Stacy was a bit clumsy. No one here minded. The day passed by, and the three of us took shifting breaks.

    Stacy was the most warned out, so I let her have dinner. While attending to one of the customers, I saw a familiar face.

    "Hello, what could I get for you today?"

    "You seem familiar, I can''t point it out, but I feel like I know you."

    "Really? This is my first time meeting you."

    "Is that so?"

    "I would like a fruity sd and some spaghetti. Add in an orange juice if you may."

    "Your order will be ready in a few minutes."

    Leaving quickly, I was shaking a bit. The girl who was in front of me was Lisa. What was an eleven royalty doing here?

    Luckily we weren''t close enough for her to notice me. Grabbing an orange juice and giving an order to Livie, I returned to the dining hall.

    I asked David to give her the drinks while I attended to some other customers. After David finished giving Lisa her order, he went to take a break.

    David was sensible enough not to ask why we switched customers. I liked people like that. Maybe the raise should be given to David right away.

    Lisa, who had finished, asked me toe and take the receipt. Fuck, I was alone. So I had to go.

    "That would be 3 Silver."

    "If you don''t mind me asking, what is your name?"

    "Charles. Just Charles."

    "May I have a word with your chef?"

    Does she want to hire Livie? I wasn''t against it, but I don''t think Livie would ept it. Lisa shouldn''t be too unreasonable, right?

    "My wife is busy cooking. If you want to talk to her, could you do it after the restaurant closes?"

    "Oh, you''re married? I didn''t think someone so young like you would be married."

    "My wife and I are going back. We love each other''spany, so we easily got married."

    "I see."

    "Then I wille again at ater time."

    I mentally sighed to myself. I had survived this ordeal. Being caught would mean that our lives would be over.

    Stacy had returned, and it was my turn to take my break. Livie made my favorite food, and I went to eat with her.

    David and Stacy know Livie''s magic, so they weren''t surprised to see her sitting beside me to eat.

    "David, how is the first day going for you?"

    Since it is break time for the both of us, I might as well ask him. Whether he had any concerns or problems, we could help.

    "It went better than I expected. I was worried about these "high-ss customers." But I don''t think you''re that bad."

    Today wasn''t a crazy day. Multiple times, our shop was threatened with being shut down because of an unreasonable customer. But they won''t be doing that ever.

    I will let him think what he thinks. After all, I don''t want to put him under pressure.

    "Then that''s good. Just keep doing you."

    Smiling at him, he felt something was up. Since he had finished his dinner, he had dismissed the thought and gone back to work.

    After finishing my dinner, I returned to work, and Livie returned to do her own thing.

    The rest of the day wasn''t eventful. And the day ended with everyone satisfied.

    "Good job, everyone. I will be generous and pay you on your first day."

    "Boss, you didn''t have to."

    "This is a one-time thing, people your age like to spend."

    "Aren''t you only a few years older than me?"

    "Did I say that I don''t like to spend?"

    Ever since I arrived in this world, spending is something that I was good at. I gave David and Stacy five silver coins and left it at that.

    Our today''s earnings for our restaurant are about one diamond coin. You may be wondering what we were doing with this money, but that is a secret for another time

 Chapter 204 Four Months Ago

    A few days have passed since our new employees were hired. The store was still open, but I had business to attend to.

    "Lua, what do you want? My ce is pretty busy."

    "Charlie, my dear. I just wanted to talk."

    This woman, it''s been four months before we reunited. This person was the third person that had found out my identity.

    After leaving, I had forgotten about her. Let''s go back to the memory of where we reunited.

    [Four months ago]

    It had just been a few moments since we teleported to the country of Everest. The teleporter brought us to the capital of Everest.

    I had already changed my look and now looked somewhat like a male, but that was enough. We changed into the bathroom of Celeste''s house and teleported to this ce.

    Before we could fully enter, we would need to hand in some form of identification. I had already prepared, and the names on our cards were Charles and Lidia.

    Passing our id, we passed through the gate and entered. Everest was an underground country, meaning my magic here would be less effective.

    We were only staying here until it was safe. No one would think someone from the Sris family would stay underground.

    Livie and I had never visited this ce, so everything would be a new experience. What should we do now?

    "Livie should open a food stand?"

    Now that I''m dressed as an ordinary boy, I can''t go out and use magic willy-nilly. Even though we were rich, I still wanted to earn more.

    "A restaurant? Are we in urgent need of money?"

    "No, but I would still like to make money."

    Everywhere we went, there were dwarfs everywhere. It was funny looking at midgets everywhere.

    "But let''s find a ce to rest. I''m pretty tired. We haven''t had real rest during our busy days."

    "Please do. The only time I slept was when I was with you."

    It was rough for her. After all, no one wanted to be told dead. Telling her had ingrained a mass amount of fear.

    But it was better to tell her. If she knew how she died, her chances of surviving would be higher. I don''t regret it. I was grateful for having those dreams.

    It was already evening, but Livie and I had signed in at a hotel for the day and took a well-rested sleep.

    ~

    "Morning, Hubby~."

    I had just woken up, and Livie looked at me well rested. We were both cuddling, and it made it hard to leave.

    "Morning, Livie."

    When I greeted her, Livie kissed me on the lips. After kissing her back, we got out of bed. Doing our morning routine, we left the hotel.

    "Let''s start with our food stand idea."

    "Hmm."

    Now, what should we do to get started? Seeing what I needed, I went up to ask.

    "Hello, my wife and I are travelers, and we were wondering if there was a ce where we could put up a food stand."

    Going up to a guard, I asked her about opening a food stand. Looking at her, she looked friendly enough to help.

    "A food stand? Follow me. I can take you to the merchant guild."

    Merchant guild? The academy in Star State is isted. There was no need for a merchant guild within the country.

    "Thank you for your help."

    "No problem, I''m doing my job to help anyone I can."

    "What brings you two to the country of Everest? Not many races like to live in a country like this."

    The guard, out of curiosity, asked. I didn''t mind answering, even though my answer won''t be truthful.

    "My wife and I like to travel worldwide to taste various cuisines. Everest happened to be nearby, and that was our next destination."

    "Oh, you two are married? You both look pretty young."

    "My husband and I loved each other too much."

    Of course, we weren''t married yet, but our identity was that of a married couple. Livie was the one who wanted it. I couldn''t reject it, so I agreed.

    "That''s nice. I wish I could find someone like that."

    Livie and the guard went back and forth, talking about love. Before we knew it, we went to the merchant guild.

    "Here it is if you want to rent out a food stand, just on in."

    "Thank you."

    Both of us were grateful for the guard''s guide. Leaving her, we went inside the guild and talked to the receptionist.

    "Good morning. My wife and I would like to rent a food stand for a week."

    "A week? Do you have a location in mind?"

    "We''re new here, so could you tell us the cost of a famous location?"

    "If you want to be at the main za, it will be one gold a day."

    One gold isn''t a lot with Livie''s magic. With her talent, we could easily earn ten times the price.

    "Then we will take it."

    "Are you sure? You may lose money if your food isn''t popr."

    "My wife is talented in cooking. A week is enough."

    "That would be seven gold coins."

    Handing my gold coins, the receptionist gave us a lease for the location of our temporary store. With our avable lease, we went to check out the location.

    We then went to the za and checked our location. From the looks of it, we didn''t get scammed. It was a relief that they didn''t.

    Since we had an extra stand, we immediately set them up. Like us, other people were selling their food.

    "Livie, make your food smell good."

    "Ok!"

    To attract customers, the first thing we need to do is grab their sense of smell. Once we did what I said, the smelling from our stand stood out.

    Reeling all these people, our stand is now selling like hotcakes. I hope the number of people here won''t strain Livie.

    With peopleing, we made fifty times the amount of our lease.

 Chapter 205 Mrs. Kidnapper (R-18)

    Two days passed and wanted posters for both of us were printed. I was surprised that it had already spread that fast.

    For my wanted poster, it wanted me alive. And the prize was one hundred diamond coins. I can''t believe that they leaked my gender.

    "Hubby~! You look so beautiful!"

    Seeing my photo, I couldn''t help but sigh. Now that I somewhat like a guy, I don''t have to worry about the photo.

    "Livie, look at your wanted poster."

    Unlike mine, Livie was wanted only dead. The reward for her was only one ck diamond coin, much lower than mine.

    They also spun a story about Livie kidnapping me, making her the worst viin. I have no idea what the Sris'' family n was to reveal my gender.

    Their idea to do so made it more likely for me to be used as a bargaining chip. The wealthy family might kidnap me for breeding purposes instead of returning me to the Sris family.

    "Mrs. Kidnapper, what do you n to do with me?"

    I began to tease her as I whispered into her ears. Currently, we are on a bed finishing our business.

    My arms were on her bottom cheeks, rubbing them nicely. In our eight months of sexual activities, Livie and I had never done roley sex.

    Using this chance, I enticed her to y along. With my teasing, Livie had already be wet. Her body was so used to this that she could as long as shemanded herself to be horny.

    "Isn''t it obvious?"

    "From now on, you will be my sex ve~."

    Her words were sexy enough to get manhood hardened.

    Mrs. Kidnapper then grabbed my crotch and moved it up and down. Her movement, which was refined and skilled, was nothing short of her experience.

    I''m confident her skills for doing this got to be one of the best. Livie, bored of only using her hand, began to entirely swallow my cock.

    The only thing I could do for the next few minutes was breathing heavily, her head was bobbing up and down, and her tongue was licking all the right parts of my crotch.

    With her skill at wringing me out, it didn''t take long for me to release all my spunk inside her mouth.

    "Mrs. Kidnapper, you shouldn''t. My family will kill you if you don''t stop."

    "Don''t worry. You''ll be stuck with me forever~. This is just the beginning. I''m going to take all of your seeds~."

    "Wait, I can''t."

    Starting the next round, she began to mount me. Getting on top, she slid my male organ inside of her.

    "Ahh~!"

    Livie had moaned just as she instantly took everything in one go. Her insides, which I often used, weren''t even loose.

    You would think that her insides would be more essible, but she was trying to make it as tight as possible.

    "My sex ve~. Don''t think of anything~... Mrs. Kidnapper here would take all your needs~."

    Her voice is sexy. I couldn''t help but stare at her figure. Her breast bounced up and down as she continued to ride me.

    Livie then smiled, seeing my line of sight. She dragged my head toward her chest and plopped them onto me.

    "My ve~. Aren''t you a bit too easy~?"

    "Mrs. Kidnapper... I''m not supposed to like this, but it feels so good."

    I cringed saying this line, but it seemed to excite Livie even more. Her eyes, filled with love, were now filled with perverted thoughts.

    "That means we''repatible. You were born to be mine~."

    "I''m about to cum..."

    With her tight cunt draining me, I felt like I was about to cum. Livie hadn''t stopped her movement since I entered her. Not only was it rough, but also pleasurable.

    "Release it inside me~,e on. Knock me up~!"

    "But I don''t want a child~!"

    "Sorry, but that''s my decision~! From now on, I will force you to breed me as many babies as I can bear~!"

    As she said that, I poured my baby seeds inside her. Like me, I also felt that she had cummed. But even after, her movement around her hips didn''t stop.

    I wasn''t in the mood to act out anymore. Tired of being at the bottom, I reversed our position.

    "Master, you released my inner beast. I''m going to have you pay dearly for it."

    Surprised by the development, I got our position in a mating press.

    "Hubby~... Not this position."

    Livie was weak to this. Driving everyst inch of my dick inside, all she could do was moan. Before I let her speak, I started to fuck her hard.

    In this position, Livie was at my mercy. My cock was devouring her. With how good it felt, it didn''t take long before she came.

    "Hubby~ Awhhh~!"

    Continuing with my thrusting, my rod was scrapping all of her insides. Filled with my cock, her legs which were lifted in the air, were now wrapped behind my back.

    Even if she doesn''t want to do it in this position, her body doesn''t lie. Before long, Livie hade for a second time.

    And after Livie''s fifth time, I finally came. Livie looked like she was in a mess, but I wasn''t satisfied with this. And so, we began our day of debauchery.

    After a long time, I was finally satisfied. Livie looked like she was having a seizure. During the whole time, I had never changed position.

    She hade far too many for me to remember. This was a new record for her. I hade inside her at least a hundred times.

    I am a beast. At least two days had passed, her body was bloated from my seed, and she practically drowned in them. Currently, her body is super sensitive. Any movement from me would make her cum.

    My dick was still inside her, but I was afraid to move. I guess I will stay inside her for a while.

 Chapter 206 Mysterious Guest

    After that experience, Livie was in a trance. Her mind had shut down, and she would instinctively try to gain pleasure from me. I knew that having sex could break her one day, and today had to be the day.

    It hurts me to do this, but I had to. I smacked Livie on her ass enough to make anyone cry. Livie, feeling the pain, came back to reality and was in tears.

    "You back?"

    "What happened?"

    Wiping her tears, Livie couldn''t help but ask.

    "Don''t you remember the night we just had?"

    Staring at me, the memories that Livie had vividly remembered had jolted back. She was unable to express the feeling she had at the moment.

    No one should have ever felt the amount of pleasure we had during our time. Unable to express her feelings, she went up and punched me in my chest.

    "Ow..."

    "Are you feeling better?"

    Now that the feeling had sunk, her face was a blushing mess. Both anger and embarrassment had kicked in.

    She pouted when she stared at me. I thought she looked cute like that. Trying to appease that anger, I hugged her tightly.

    "I thought I was going to die yesterday!"

    "Can you fault me? Your body has seduced me, turning me into a wild beast."

    "You can''t me it on me."

    Going back and forth, I checked on her condition. From how she was acting, it was okay.

    "How are you feeling?"

    "I''m surprised that I''m not sore."

    "Oh, I fed you a recovery potion."

    "Isn''t that a waste? They''re pretty expensive."

    "We could always earn more. And we can do it again if you want."

    Livie looked flustered, and a bit scared from myst sentence. It was a joke, but she didn''t think so.

    "I''m joking. We can''t skip out on work. We still have our lease."

    "Oh... is that so?"

    Livie had forgotten we had work. Getting out of bed, Livie and I went to eat breakfast and left the hotel.

    It was a good thing I had a noise canceler, or it would be weird to have someone stare at us for the noise we made.

    After leaving the hotel, we set up the food stand. The people who noticed us had immediatelye over, waiting to order.

    Livie''s food is popr. Everything she made was top-ss. Every high-quality food was made from her mana, almost like an infinite food supply.

    With my expertise in managing the customer, the line was pretty smooth. The orders didn''t take long, and Livie was already used to her magic and pumping out food left and right.

    The food rush was something. I felt terrible for under-employed stores. They must have felt stressed from work overload.

    After the food rush was over, we took a break.

    "Livie, how is your mana holding up?"

    Despite constantly using her mana, she felt fine. I, on the other hand, was mentally exhausted. Dealing with hundreds of people for hours wasn''t good for anyone''s health.

    Before we returned to work, someone had barged into our resting room. That was strange. I hadn''t felt any movement or manaing from anywhere.

    "It''s been a while Charlie~!"

    The girl who sneaked into our room greeted me. She was wearing a ck cloak, blocking everything about her.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Hubby, who is she?"

    Livie sounded displeased when saying that.

    "I don''t know."

    "Don''t you remember me?"

    She took her cloak off, and I remembered who she was. Lua, how long has it been since Ist saw her?

    I had forgotten about her for months. But since she had written me that letter, it was hard to forget who she was entirely.

    "Lua..."

    "Oh~! You finally remembered me~. After the nights we spent forgetting about me, how tragic could I be?"

    I don''t know why she was doing this, but I could see Livie shaking. My mind was already drained from earlier. Now that Lua was here, I felt even more drained.

    "Stop trying to cause a misunderstanding. Livie, you might have remembered that someone had tried to ckmail me before, right?"

    Livie, who had calmed down a bit, knew that Lua was joking. She nodded, having to remember. She had probably guessed that Lua was the one who sent it.

    "That''s right~! It was me~!"

    "So, where have you been?"

    "Me~? I was traveling the world?"

    "Weren''t you a student?"

    "I never said I was~. Did I~?"

    Well, she got me there. Now that I think about it, how did she know who I was?

    "How did you know I was here? I never told anyone about this."

    "Let me reintroduce myself. I''m Lua Lunaris."

    Her childish personality and figure had changed dramatically. So, she was a milf this whole time?

    I prepared to fire a ball of sma toward her as she said that. Should I kill her? I can''t have her risking our lives.

    "Don''t be hasty. I''m not here to hurt you."

    Her childish ent had dropped and was now a little serious. Seeing how one could change so much creeped me out.

    Livie, who had seen the change, had her mouth wide open. But she also knew the dangers of her knowing who I am.

    "What do you want?"

    "I''m here to offer you a deal."

    A deal? That is pretty suspicious. She must have needed me for something if she hade here. Her magic to find people was annoying if we tried to run.

    "Join my organization, Ascension."

    "And why would I do that?"

    Being offered to join an organization I had never heard about was suspicious. I don''t even know anything about it.

    "Because your little friend here would die if you don''t."

    Is she serious? Not only did she threaten me once, but now Livie. What a piece of trash.

    "I think you''re mistaken about something. I''m not the one that is going to kill her."

    What was she talking about? What she said sounded like a threat. Livie couldn''t help but be afraid of what was toe.

 Chapter 207 A Sudden Surprise!!!

    "What do you mean by Livie was going to die?"

    "Are you stupid? The Lunaris family from Star State has already tracked your location. All they need to do is send someone here and catch you."

    She took a jab at me, but what she said was true. The Lunaris family has the power to foresee and predict. What annoying magic to have.

    "Join me, and I will cancel their magic, making it impossible for them to track you."

    "You''re a Lunaris. Why are you stopping them?"

    "That''s simple. We''re not from the same side."

    What does that mean? Did she have a falling out with her family? I guess it doesn''t matter. What I needed was protection from them.

    "Fine, we''ll join. As long as you don''t make us do something harmful, we will do as you say."

    "Good. My magic had stopped their tracking, but the three of us should leave. They should be here any minute.

    That was pretty soon. Any negativity that I had against Lua was now gratefulness. She saved our hide if what she said was true.

    Leaving the restroom, the three of us got the fuck out immediately. We don''t have any time to waste.

    Seeing that many people were floating in the air near the mountain ceiling, they were searching for something.

    Were they our pursuers? Going to a building that Lua knew, we quickly went there. Entering the building, it seems like your everyday ce.

    "Wee back, master."

    Master? I then looked at Lua, who didn''t seem to be bothered by it. So this ce was a base for their organization.

    To think that we weren''t far off from a ce like this. Before we continued moving, a voice could be heard.

    "Charlie Sris! We know you''re here! Show yourself! If not, we will kill everyone around!"

    A voice loud enough for everyone to hear had just tried to threaten me. Panic could be heard outside, but this threat didn''t affect me.

    I could care less if anyone here dies. As long as Livie and I survive, they can do whatever they want.

    Livie looked worried for a second. Even if it guilts her, I won''t let her go.

    "What will you do, Charlie?"

    Lua looked at me and asked. She was studying every action that I would take. It looks like she can''t see everything about the future.

    "We''re leaving if they do attack everyone. They would go to war with this country. I doubt they''re stupid enough to do that."

    They wouldn''t risk the chance of engaging in a war with a country that was precious in terms of resources. If they fought Everest, they would lose all material from this ce.

    Lua, who saw my judgment, couldn''t help but nod. The employee had opened a secret path for us to go underground.

    With the chances of the pursers attacking, the employee followed. No one here minded, so we continued onward.

    Ending on a blocked road, there seems to be a magical residual on the floor. Before we left, there seemed to be a battle above ground.

    "Let''s hurry. The residents of Everest are going to attack back."

    With all of us standing on the floor, we teleported away to a different location. The organization Ascension must be rich to have its teleporter.

    "Do I call you boss now?"

    I don''t know how to talk to "Lua." Her total change in attitude threw me off.

    "Call me Lua. You''re going to my husband anyways."

    "..."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "No, he is going to marry me!"

    Livie objected strongly when Lua said that. The employee who was still beside us was staring at them and me. Watching it like this was a drama show.

    Livie grabbed onto my arm and clung to them.

    "I''m not going to take him away. You could be the first wife, while I will be the second."

    I never expected anyone to say something like this. No sane woman likes to be the second fiddle.

    Hearing what Lua had said, Livie didn''t look convinced. Even though she was grateful to Lua for helping us, she was still suspicious.

    "What now? We''re here, so what do we do?"

    Changing the topic, I asked what we were supposed to do in this ce. We teleported into a base where no one was. Only the four of us were here.

    "Currently, you have nothing to do. I need you to get stronger. You have an important roleter on."

    Even though we joined the organization, we still don''t know what to do.

    "Livie, let''s just train."

    [Back to the present]

    Looking back, that was how we met. Right now, I was in front of Lua. She was sitting down, expecting me toe.

    "I reached the fourth rank. What do you want me to do?"

    "Don''t be so impatient."

    "From today, you''re going to be a manager for an idol group."

    "..."

    I looked at her to see if she was serious. It was random for her to tell me to do this.

    "Yes, I''m serious about this."

    From my expression alone, she could see what I was thinking. I didn''t know what to say to this nonsense.

    "You may think this is stupid, but they''re a key individual needed for our group."

    "And why do I have to be the manager?"

    "The future said you would bring in good results."

    "..."

    Stupid Lunaris magic. I can''t even tell if she was bullshitting or if what she said was true. With her protecting us, it is not like I could say no.

    "So, who will I be managing?"

    Seeing that I epted, she smiled.

    "You''ll be managing the group called Sweet Dreams."

    Oh them? How long has it been since Ist saw them? Four months ago? Livie and I saw them about Eight months ago. And she loved their music.

    "So how will I be managing them? I had never done anything like this."

    "You''ll see it soon enough."

    I couldn''t help but sigh. She keeps too many secrets, and it is annoying.

 Chapter 208 Bye Wife!

    With the details given, I had no choice but to agree. And what made it worse was that I couldn''t bring my wife. Coming back from my meeting, I went back to the restaurant.

    Both David and Stacy were doing their job. I greeted them and went to the back of the room.

    "Hubby! You''re back!"

    Livie was happy and hugged me right when I returned.

    "I have bad news."

    I sighed, not wanting to say this, but it was inevitable. I would be going out of the country to manage an idol group.

    "Bad news?"

    Hearing what I said, Livie became attentive. She became worried that something terrible had happened.

    "Lua gave me an assignment."

    "Is it that bad?"

    She wasn''t sure what I had gotten but seeing that I was depressed made her worry.

    "I will be leaving the country without you."

    "What!?? Why?"

    "Lua''s order."

    "Then how long will you be away?"

    "Don''t know. At the very least, it will be weeks. And at most, it would be months."

    "I could barely survive with you being away for a month..."

    Livie had despaired at the thought of me leaving, and the potential of me leaving for longer was possible.

    "Don''t worry. We have amunication device this time."

    "But still..."

    Even with amunication device, we will still be apart. It was sad, but we will somehow get through it.

    Stacy wasing in for an order and was wondering what we were talking about.

    "Lidia, a customer, has ordered some sweet honey ribs."

    Livie then used her magic and sent Stacy away.

    For the remainder of my time, I will spend time with Livie. It was unfortunate that we couldn''t close right away. I don''t want to cause any problems for the customers.

    And with that, the day ended, and I told my employees that I would be going on a business trip, so the two of them would have to do all the work.

    Livie and I spent the night together as best we could. Satisfying her, I left for our group''s base.

    "Lua, I''m here."

    Lua was here with five girls. From the looks of it, they seem to be the group that I will be managing.

    And from the looks of it, they didn''t seem to mind me being here. I thought they would be dissatisfied with me managing them.

    Did Lua tell them something about me? Or were they secretly dissatisfied? I couldn''t tell they were idols, so hiding their feelings was something they could do.

    "Lua, do they know anything about me?"

    "No, they know nothing."

    Then do they trust Lua that much? Considering how she is the leader of this group, that would probably be it.

    "Then I''m Charles. Nice to meet you all."

    Since I will work with them, I might as well do my best to get along with them. They didn''t seem like bad people, so it should work out.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "I''m Lillianna, the leader of this group. It''s nice to meet you."

    Pinky, here introduced herself. While her introduction wasn''t as shy as the one on stage, she looked easy to get along with.

    "I hope you''ll take care of us all. I"m Eir."

    Eir, who seemed straight-up friendly, greeted me.

    "Nice to meet you, Charles. I''m nc."

    nc sounded happy that I joined them. I don''t know how someone could be that cheerful when a random person joins them.

    "Emi."

    Emi didn''t care whether I joined or not. She introduced herself out of formality.

    "I''m Reina..."

    Reina was the only one who wasn''t thrilled to have me here. I don''t expect them all to like me at our first meeting.

    "That''s good. Now that you all know each other, I will tell you what you''ll all be doing."

    "You have heard what happened to the country of Uthua, right?"

    How could we not? The news of what happened in the country of Uthua had already spread. This news might even be remembered for centuries.

    A few months ago, every countryunched an early attack on the monster king somewhere in Uthua.

    With everyone fighting, 40% of the poption died. The monster king had emerged victorious, and half of Uthua was destroyed.

    It was a great cmity. Most of the people of Uthua now live in fear, only to be waiting to be ughtered by the monster nearby.

    Now that the monster king is injured, the ten countries will send another more potent force than the previous one.

    "Are you sending us there? Isn''t it too dangerous?"

    From what Lua was talking about, I could only assume we would be heading there. Like the country of Star State, I would like to avoid Uthua as much as possible.

    "You can''t be serious..."

    Reina, who heard me say that, couldn''t help but groan at the thought of going there. The rest of the members looked scared.

    "How clever of you, but you don''t need to be scared."

    "I used my magic and predicted that none of you would die."

    "That sounds reassuring."

    Yes, I was being sarcastic. While the Lunaris'' magic could predict thee out of each future, it is not like they''re always one hundred percent correct.

    "Anyways, you will be doing a live performance there to cheer up the people of Uthua."

    Ignoring what I said, Lua continued exining.

    "There will be strong people there waiting to be recruited."

    "We have a base there. I will teleport you now."

    "Wai..."

    Before I could speak, we were already in another room. Lua had teleported to Uthua. I had questions regarding my job as a manager.

    She said she would tell me today, but I didn''t think she would skip it. I felt like I got scammed into this deal.

    Looking at the other five, I could see they were used to this. I should note that anythinging from Lua wouldn''t be answered soon.

    Three people were waiting in front of us as we teleported into a different room.

 Chapter 209 New Job Manager

    Looking at the three, I could only tell the strength of the other two. Both people in front of us were in the fifth rank, while the one in the middle was presumably the sixth or higher.

    "We wee your arrival."

    The one in the middle spoke. I was right. She is the leader of the three.

    "Your concert will be held in five days. We have everything prepared. The sess of your concert will be on you."

    Five days? I looked at the idol group. Will they have enough time to practice? Five days is pretty short. We will have a tight schedule.

    "So you''re Charlie Sris."

    "..."

    I don''t think I ever met her. How did she know? She didn''t seem hostile in her voice. I then looked at her, wondering if we had ever met.

    Everyone who heard her words couldn''t help but be surprised. I''m a celebrity at this point. There wasn''t anyone who didn''t know who I was.

    My bounty and the fact that I''m the only male mage was something no one could overlook.

    "May I ask how you know?"

    There wasn''t a point in hiding it. She seemed confident in her answer. And hiding it seems like it would make the situation worse.

    "Boss seems to talk a lot about you, even if you''re using an artifact to hide your mana. A seventh-rank magician could feel it."

    So this artifact that I''m wearing isn''t all that perfect. I will take note of it for ater date. But to think that they have a seventh-rank magician.

    "Then could I ask what my task is? Boss told me to be their manager, but I have no idea where to start."

    Hearing what I said, some of the members gave me a worried expression knowing that I knew nothing.

    "I don''t know. Since the boss had asked you to be their manager, you will get there one day."

    "On an unrted note, why don''t you meet with my daughter."

    "..."

    Did I just get set up? Was there a way for me to reject such a request?

    "I''m married. I don''t think my wife would appreciate that."

    Seeing the ring on my hand, they could tell I wasn''t lying. Of course, that doesn''t stop her from trying.

    "You''re married? Aren''t you under the age of twenty? That''s pretty early."

    "I love my wife that much."

    What I said is urate, and that is a fact. Hearing what I said, the people watching couldn''t help but be amazed by what I said.

    "But with your ability, it would be a shame only to have one lover."

    Persistent. She isn''t letting me go.

    "Maybe, when I''m free."

    I tried to put it off, and the person in the middle shook her head disappointed. Observing the ce we were at, it didn''t seem like we could stay there for the night.

    "What should we call you?"

    She knew me, but I didn''t know what to call her. That was the problem with being too well known.

    "Oh, where were my manners? I''m Barbara, on my right is Leffy and on my left is Sistine."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Nice to meet you all. And thank you for setting everything up."

    Lillianna spoke when hearing the names of the three. The rest of them then thanked them after Lillianna.

    "It was our job to do so, don''t overthink it."

    "Now that you have arrived, any questions?"

    "Do you know any ce we could stay? We''re not well versed in this country."

    We didn''t have a ce to stay, so asking that was my priority.

    "Most high-ss hotels are open, with many people flocking away from this country and ce destroyed. The people that live here are mostly in hotels."

    Money wasn''t a current issue. So I didn''t care whether I spent it, and besides, I would ask Lua for the funds if it came to the worst-case scenario.

    "Where is the concert held, and what time do we have to be there?"

    "The concert will be held in the city''s main za, starting in the evening."

    "Just arrive somewhere near lunchtime, then you will be fine."

    "Then, is there a ce where the five of them could practice?"

    "You could practice here or find a quiet ce to do so."

    "How about recruitment? I had never done anything like this. So I have no idea what I will be doing."

    "You don''t have to worry about that. That will be the rest of our job to do so."

    With that said, we have everything we need. We had five days to prepare and get ready for the concert. But looking at them, they didn''t seem concerned, so I guess that was good.

    "I see. Then we will be on our way."

    "See youter."

    "Thank you. For your help."

    Everyone here bid farewell, leaving the room we had arrived at somewhere in a building. We were located somewhere in a library.

    "Are you girls ready? You don''t seem worried at all."

    It would be weird not to talk at all during our walk. Most of them are friendly people, so I didn''t want to ruin it for them.

    "We had been practicing for months, and we''re ready to go!"

    nc replied and was overflowing with excitement. They looked like they had wanted to perform.

    "Then we will get to practice after finding a ce to stay and somece to eat."

    With that n in mind, we first decided to find a ce. There was a hotel nearby, so we went there to check-in. Entering, we went to the receptionist.

    "Do you mind sharing a room? We could split the five of you into groups of two. And one for me."

    They looked at each other and nodded, not minding sharing a room. The five of them could decide who they wanted to share by themselves.

    "Could we get three rooms for a week?"

    "That will be one tinum coin and two gold coins."

    It wasn''t exactly cheap, but I handed the cash.

 Chapter 210 Casual Talk

    "Are you sure you don''t want us to pay?"

    "I will ask Lua back for the money. She should give us that much for doing work like this."

    The five of them could give a wary smile when I said that. With three keys given, we went up to our room.

    "Once you enter, we will reconvene in half an hour. You could do what you want during this time."

    Agreeing with what I said, I entered my room. Since I have thirty minutes to do what I want, I will use mymunication device to talk to Livie.

    ~

    [Lillianna''s POV]

    The five of us entered our room together, our manager gave us a half-hour break, and we all sat down and talked.

    "What do you think of our manager?"

    Reina, who was usually quiet, was the first to ask. Everyone here had wanted to ask but didn''t dare to do so.

    "He doesn''t look like a bad person. Despite his unwilling attitude, he is doing his best."

    That was my opinion. I don''t know much about him to give aplete conclusion. Everyone who listened nodded, and some of them drew the same conclusion.

    "I was surprised that he was that "Charlie Sris."

    "Master has her way. To think that she could recruit someone like him."

    We met him four months ago. While it was an indirect meeting, we saw her fight in the tournament four months ago.

    No one had expected him to be male. I mean, he looked gorgeous as a girl. Everyone who had seen him wouldn''t expect him to be male.

    "But to think that he was male..."

    Reina looked a bit distressed saying that. I remembered that Reina looked like she had been shot in the heart when she said that Charlie Sris was male.

    Charlie Sris could be said to be the most talented magician of this generation. Reina had a lot of admiration for him.

    Reina doesn''t hate boys. Just her confidence as a woman had dropped seeing that Charlie was that good-looking even as a male.

    Even I, who was confident, wouldn''t be a match against him. I sighed, thinking about it.

    "But to think he is already married."

    "Right? I wonder what being married is like."

    "We''re idols. It will be hard for us to get married."

    "I heard that Charlie was a lesbian, but I don''t think that matters now since he is male."

    There were rumors that Charlie was a lesbian, but seeing him married meant he was already in a rtionship.

    The five of us continued talking about our new manager, and the time passed instantly.

    ~

    [Charlie''s POV]

    After thirty minutes of talking to Livie, I left the room and saw all of them in front of my door. I had expected them to wait in their room.

    "Before we go, do you have an artifact to act as a disguise?"

    We were wearing inconspicuous clothing earlier. It blended in with our surroundings but wasn''t something one would want to wear.

    "We''re idols. This is an artifact we must have."

    Lillianna sounded proud when saying so, and with their looks changed, we went out of the hotel and searched for a ce to eat.

    "Do you five have any food you prefer to eat?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    With what I eat daily, I think most food tastes nd. So I decided to give them the decision of what to eat.

    "The country of Uthua''s special dishes are monsters with flying monsters. Let''s have a taste of those."

    Uthua was a country filled with mountains. I heard that the monster king had wings and could fly around the country of Uthua like it was a yground.

    Having to decide what we would eat, the six of us made our way to a reasonably popr restaurant.

    We were lucky that there was a single table for everyone to eat.

    "So, Charlie, right?"

    "Call me Charles."

    I had discarded my name. It may seem edgy, but my identity as Charlie is something I wanted to disappear.

    "Then Charles, is your wife, Olivia?"

    "It was said that she kidnapped you."

    The Celeste family did paint Livie in a bad light. The Matriarch of their family wanted to get rid of her.

    "That''s not true. Olivia was originally born into a Celeste family, but due to her faulty magic, they wanted to get rid of her."

    "As for my family, they wanted to use me as a breeding pig."

    I let out a sigh, exining the situation. They were immersed in my story and couldn''t help but keep silent.

    "Then we ran away together and found Lua."

    "We were offered to join Ascension for protection."

    "And here I''m."

    "Must be tough."

    Lillianna and her friends were trying to sympathize with me, which made me feel a little better.

    I then wanted to talk about their experience with Avaris, but I decided against it. It would be insensitive for me to ask since they had a sour expression during that time.

    While talking, the order that we had made had arrived. Meat from different flying monsters was served, and most meats came from the wings.

    I know some people like bones in their meat, but it is a hassle for me. Everyone here looked like they enjoyed their meal.

    Finishing it, I paid for the meal and the six left. It wasn''t expensive, but I was still going to get Lua to pay me back.

    "Do you want to rest a bit before you five practice?"

    "We would like that very much."

    "Please, do."

    "My stomach is full..."

    I didn''t expect them to be big eaters. Judging by how they''re, I don''t think they would want to practice now.

    "Then we will begin in thirty minutes."

    "Mhm!"

    The six of us sat down on a bench for half an hour. Despite the country being in bad shape, our city wasn''t as bad as I expected.

    While most people here are afraid of the monster king''s next attack, the town is as typical as possible.

    I hope Lua''s prediction is correct and nothing terrible will happen.

 Chapter 211 Pickpocketer

    "Are you girls ready?"

    "Yeah!"

    ? They screamed, ready for their practice. Since it would be a hassle to find a ce to perform, I decided to use our base for them to practice.

    Walking down the road, someone touched my legs and walked by. Touching my pocket, it seemed like I had been pickpocketed.

    "Hey, wait up!"

    I yelled at the person that had touched my legs. Even if the person had stealthily pickpocketed me, I was susceptible to being touched.

    The five girls were confused by what happened and looked at me, wondering what was happening.

    Seeing that the person who had pickpocketed me didn''t stop walking away, I ran toward them��the idol group who was supposed to practice followed me.

    Putting my hand on their shoulder, they stopped. Looking at who robbed me, it was a winged human male in his thirties.

    "Do you need anything?"

    Even though he asked calmly, I could see him shake from a bit of surprise. He was pretty jumpy for someone who didn''t want to act suspicious.

    "Could you return my storage bag that you stole?"

    "Storage bag? What storage bag?"

    Was he trying to y stupid? I''m being lenient and trying my best not to punch him in the face. If he is going to y that game, I might as well humiliate him.

    "You pickpocketed my storage bag, and if you don''t give it back, I will report it to the authorities. Pickpocketing is a serious crime."

    What I said wasn''t loud but audible for everyone around me to hear. I had already caused amotion and had people surrounding us, preventing him from leaving.

    "I don''t have your storage bag! It was mine!"

    Is this man for real? He started ying stupid and got angry at me for causing trouble. You know what? I don''t give a shit anymore. I''m going to beat the shit out of this man.

    "If you''re going to waste my time, prepare to get hurt."

    He didn''t expect me to resort to violence in a crowd like this. But as long as I have proof, beating the thief was within my rights.

    Punching him in the face, he fell to the ground. I had somehow managed to hold back. I might have sent his head flying if I wasn''t too careful.

    "Help! This man is crazy!"

    Trying to get help from the crowd, I kicked him on his crotch. His eyes and body shook heavily as I had broken his lower limb.

    The men who were spectating had their arms covering their crotch. They had imagined what if that had happened to them.

    But before I could continue, the guards showed up and stopped me from attacking.

    "What is the problem here?"

    "He pickpocketed me and wouldn''t return my storage bag."

    "If he weren''t stubborn in returning it, I wouldn''t have hit him."

    I exined my side of the story and told them what had happened.

    "He''s lying. The storage bag is mine."

    Despite being significantly harmed, he tried his best to fight it out. Being too stubborn was never too good for anyone.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "There is an easy way to tell who''s lying."

    "I have proof that the bag is mine. My identity card is in my bag."

    With what I said, the guard couldn''t help but nod. After all, if the bag was mine, it should have my identity card.

    "You''re right. Take out the storage bag."

    Seeing what I said was true, the guardmanded the thief to take out my bag. Knowing that the storage bag wasn''t his, he paled at the thought of being caught as a thief.

    "Take it out now."

    The guard then took it out and checked for my identity card, confirming what I said was true. He returned it to me.

    While I would prefer the guard not to look at what was inside my bag, there was nothing I could do about it. I had nothing illegal, so it was fine.

    "For causing public disruption and thievery, you will be in jail."

    "Wait! My family needs me! I can''t go to jail! Please!"

    The man who was caught was doing it for his family, or that is what he says. Honestly, I would have shown some sympathy, but for wasting my time and lying the whole time, I don''t believe it.

    Taking the man, the guard left. Now that everything was over, everyone returned to what they were doing.

    I couldn''t help but let out a big sigh. Lua said nothing terrible would happen, and I had already had problems within the first day.

    "Are you ok?"

    Looking at the voice, I saw it was Lillianna and her friends. I''m not going to lie. I had almost forgotten about them for a sec.

    "Yeah, I''m fine. Sorry for wasting your practice time."

    We would have already been in the base if it wasn''t for this incident. I couldn''t help but apologize to them.

    "No, it''s ok. You can''t be med for having your things robbed."

    "She''s right. Having things stolen from you is a serious issue you can''t control."

    "Yeah, getting robbed would suck."

    All five didn''t want me to feel bad for themotion. With the schedule tight, we will have to do our best within the time.

    "Then let''s go now. We shouldn''t waste any more time."

    "Hmm!"

    Agreeing with what I said, the six of us returned to where we all teleported. The ce was small, but it was enough for them to perform.

    There was no one here at the moment except for us. And with that, they began their practice.

    ~

    "How were we?"

    After finishing a few sounds or so, they asked for my opinion. While I was their manager, I didn''t have much knowledge about music and dance tips for them.

    The most I could do was help them with their shaky movement, and that was all. And after their practice, I told myself never to be an instructor.

 Chapter 212 A Mission

    The next day passed, and four more days were before the concert. Waking up, I heard a knockinging on the door.

    Opening the door, I found Barbara outside my door.

    "Barbara, is there something you need from me this early?"

    I didn''t expect to get awakened this early and was still asleep.

    "An unexpected situation has urred. Boss wants you to deal with it."

    "..."

    I''m going to rant to Lua and give her ear a piece of my mind. Fuck! I should have stayed home and lived my life freely with Livie.

    "Can''t you do it? You would do it much more efficiently than me."

    Barbara is a seventh-rank magician, so doing it shouldn''t be too much of a problem.

    "Sorry, but the boss said it would help you get used to your magic."

    "Your assignment would be to assassinate three important people of this nation."

    Did she say assassinate? What gave Lua the idea that I could do such a thing? I had never done assassination before.

    "What gave the boss the idea that I could assassinate people? I had never done anything like that."

    "Don''t know, but you should believe in the boss more. She is doing this for the better."

    I don''t know if she had brainwashed Barbara, but whatever she did work. Her trust in Lua is absolute. And by that, I don''t think I could get away by doing nothing.

    "Who are my targets?"

    Giving in to what I had to do, I asked Barbara who I needed to kill.

    "You can go in any order you want. The first target is Gabri Haines."

    "She is a fourth-rank magician that lives half an hour away from here. Here is the full description of her."

    Barbara then handed me a paper that I got, with all the necessary information about my target.

    Gabri is a dragonewt that uses light as her magic. Her blonde hair and gold eyes made her look extremely innocent.

    But then I read what she had done and took back my thoughts. Looks really could be deceiving to those that don''t know well.

    Anyways Gabri is a woman in her early mid twenties. She is also an assassin that works for the royal family. She specializes in killing men, so her sess rate for the men-rted mission is perfect.

    After reading Lua''s report on Gabri, we have Greg. I didn''t expect a male to obtain such power. He is the secret boss of an illegal underground boss. He has some ties with the ruler of Uthua, and due to this, their gang is the current ruler of the underground Uthua.

    With Lua''s magic, she can discern where Greg will be during that time. Greg is a human with ck hair and brown eyes. A scar on his chin made it easy to know who he was.

    And my final target was someone who I knew very well. Crystal, someone who I hadst seen. Crystal Morton is the only child that would take over her family''s name.

    Lua does want to weaken the power of every nation. Does she n to do a mass invasion or some sort soon?

    "Barbara, is there a deadline for assassinating them?"

    "You''ll be leaving in a week. So, the deadline will be the time before you leave."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    A week before I return? This will be a long week. I groaned, just thinking about it.

    "Tell the girls I will leave for a few days."

    "I will start on my mission right away."

    Barbara smiled as I left my room. Leaving the hotel, I picked the easiest target to start with.

    Due to her being an assassin, Gabri doesn''t have much protection. There is also extra information about her being a man-eater.

    After sucking her target dry, she would use the chance to get rid of them. I heard that because of mana, women''s sexual powers are much stronger than men''s by a long shot.

    Livie had struck gold getting me. The same could be said for me. And that is why we get along a bit too well.

    It''s still early in the morning. The first thing I should do is investigate the ces where my target would mostly go.

    But before I do that, I should get something to eat. Walking around the streets, I was still unfamiliar with where I was at.

    "Mister, do you need a guide?"

    Suddenly a male child came up walking toward me. From the looks of it, he seemed to be struggling with cash.

    "Sure, I will pay you a hefty amount if you satisfy me."

    It was rather convenient that someone approached me when I needed some directions. Hearing the word "hefty amount." The boy''s eyes started to glimmer.

    "Kid, take me to the best food stand."

    "Follow me!"

    With the kid leading the way, I eventually made it to a food stand where the line was packed. The child became nervous, seeing this line.

    "There is a different store if you like."

    Worried about my patience, I shook my head, not minding. It was still early in the morning, and my target probably wasn''t even awake.

    "What dishes do they serve?"

    Since we were waiting, I might as well ask the kid.

    "They sell grilled meat thates from monsters that are attacking the border. Their seasoning and grilling skills are different from the rest."

    The wait didn''t take too long. After five minutes of waiting, I was up. The one working on the grill was a man in his forties. He looked rough but did his job as a chef.

    "Give me five skewers of your best."

    "Two silver coins for five."

    I got the skewers and handed him the cash and two to the kid. The child was happy to receive the food and ate it right as he got it.

    "Do you know where these bars are?"

    There were five bars that Gabri would only go to. I should check them out first. Maybe my target could be there at the moment.

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