Be my girl

Claire held the skill in her hand, and absorbed it immediately. 

After that, she meditated, entering her spirit world. Mana was still flowing into her spirit world from the awakening stone. At the same time, with every pulse, the mana core absorbed the mana from the elemental moons circling it. 

Soon, the elemental cores were almost reduced to two dimensional symbols as the main core absorbed energy back from them. 

Claire frowned, then, actively charged all her elemental cores with mana, till they were all filled to the brim. It's only then she focused on the mana entering her spirit world. She concentrated on the trickle, and tried to pull more mana from it to her spirit core. 

It was like pulling a garden pipe where the flow is too strong for her little body to hold. It was a very laborious process. Yet, Claire kept at it, till one more strand of mana was added to her pulsating mana core. 

Then, one more. She did three more before she remembered she had to pick up Zayne. She can't dilly dally like this. 

Claire returned to the real world. 

It seems that she has passed more than an hour inside the realm. 

Then, Claire held the marbles in her hand, tried to absorb them. This time, it was all too easy to absorb the skills. 

Now she understood why people did not go for Mana Core , but went for the core elimination surgery. If you have a mana core, you have to actively maintain mana flow so as to not starve your elemental passives. This would be an extra step in casting, one more link to connect. No wonder people did not like mana core. 

' I need to practice like my life depends on it ! ' Claire thought. 

⫘

Ifrit's altar did not have any directions. As such, when she visited last time, Claire set the four bubbles in four cardinal directions in different postures so that she could keep track of relative direction. 

She teleported to a place facing Zayne. This way, she could see how the mana flow was right away, and determine if she needs to wait for fifteen more minutes. 

This time though, Zayne seemed to have finished absorbing the mana. 

He was facing the other direction, releasing fire with his hands, completely unaware Claire has entered the dungeon. 

' Claire ! Let's go out. ' 

… snuffed out. 

' Claire. Be my girlfriend ! ' 

Snuffed. 

' Woman ! You are mine … ??? ' 

Exploded. 

' You .. take responsibility ? ' … 

' Yeah ! Take responsibility ! ' 

Flickered out. 

' Please be my girlfriend, Claire. ' 

..

… 

Ebbed away. 

' I like you, Claire Basset. Please be my girlfriend. " 

....

' I like you, Claire Basset. Would please be my girlfriend ? ' 

Zayne edited the sentence. 

" Why ? " Claire blurted out unknowingly. 

Zayne whirled around, the sentence exploding into fireworks upon their eyes meeting each other. 

He blushed like a tomato. 

" Why.. Wha.. What do you mean, Why ? " Zayne stammered out. 

" Why do you want to date me ? I am neither beautiful, nor smart. Not particularly affectionate either. Why me ? " Claire mused. 

She was not acting. She really did not understand. 

In her previous life, she also had few crushes … labored under the feeling that someone liked her. 

But she realized she was the kind of girl guys just do not like. She is pretty, but not so much she will turn heads. She is uncommonly sharp, and she had no cutesy side whatsoever. Sure, she was a great girl to be a colleague, but not one to be a wife. She did not have that sort of emotional connection with any one, nor did she feel the need to make one. 

Zayne had no idea what to say. 

After some thought, Claire realized. It's probably something similar to Stockholm syndrome. 

His parents abandoned him, and his brother, who was his primary caretaker died. His life had an upheaval, and she, who had similar conditions, probably looked like a stable figure to admire and love during these troubled times. 

Knowing his future potential, Claire did not want to turn her face. Moreover, at this point, Zayne knows her secret. So, she must keep him on her side till she becomes strong enough. 

" I don't believe in things like love and like. " Claire told him. 

Zayne's expression faltered. 

" If you don't mind, we can be partners first. We will collaborate in our work, and be friends with benefits… " Claire answered. 

Zayne frowned. To put it one way, he was a teen, so something like friends with benefits is something he is happy to hear. But … It felt like there was a catch, and he can not grasp what the catch is at this time. ' No matter what, I have to tie her with me at this time. ' Zayne thought. 

" Alright. Partners it is. " He answered. 

" Okay, then. " Claire nodded her head. 

" Shall we go now ? " She asked. 

Zayne agreed. 

Once again, she held him by the waist. This time, Zayne took the initiative to hug her. 

' She feels just right in my arms. ' he thought. 

Time felt like a second, the next moment, both of them were waking up on the rooftop. 

They walked down in silence, each immersed in their own thoughts. 

Claire wondered if Zayne of previous life also liked her. If he did, he has shown no indication of it. So, she can not be sure that this relationship will work out fine. It seems Zayne had not spoken with anyone about how she was able to flit between dungeons, but there was no guarantee that he would not do such a thing in future. 

She needs to write a sealing contract as soon as possible, and plug any leaks. 

" Ah ! Brea is sleeping here for the night. I will send her tomorrow morning. " Claire told him. 

Zayne nodded his head. 

" Actually, can you wait for a few minutes ? There is something we need to do. " Claire added. 

Since she was going to do this anyway, like pulling a plaster, she just better do it fast. 

In a few seconds, she wrote up a non-disclosure agreement. Then she placed a liplocking curse on it, following the guide she has seen on the internet. 

The color of paper flashed purple for a moment, then became normal. 

" Read it, put your fingerprint in blood, then burn the paper. " Claire told him. 

This is a test.

If this guy says something as cliche as ' Don't you trust me ?' - Claire will mark him as a definite traitor, and will keep her secrets to herself from now on. 

Otherwise, she will take him to the dungeon everyday, so that they can earn some cash together. 

Zayne simply took the paper, put his bloody fingerprint on it, then crumpled it and tossed it in the air. The paper burst into flames, showering them with ashes. 

His anger could be felt in the action. 

" Hey ! I am just being cautious. You don't want to say it outloud accidentally, do you ? " Claire mumbled. 

Zayne just squinted at her meanly. 

" Since you signed the NDA, let me show you something. " Claire said, as she neared the living room wall. 

She placed her hand on it, cast. 

The entire wall slowly crumbled away into sand and sawdust in no time at all. 

" How is it ? It's one of the skills you gave me. " 

Zayne's anger cooled down. 

He looked at the suddenly double sized living room in quiet satisfaction. 

He just asked her to be his girlfriend, but Claire's taking it a step further with living together. 

" Quite handy. " he answered truthfully. 

He swept the dust clean, then bid her good night. 

Claire turned in for the night, quite relieved. She had no idea what to do with the sudden confession, but it seems like things are alright at the moment. 

The classes continued like they did before. Claire made an effort to learn, concentrating on the previously ignored math and science. If nothing else, they proved to be the most practical skills when it came to working in the field. 

Especially when it came to electricity, kinetic laws and the geometry, for these directly involved improvement of her power. 

While mana had invalidated the origin principles, it did not invalidate the working principles of science. Thus, despite magic circles replacing a lot of machines, science did not entirely become useless. 

Given she can gather all sorts of rare materials now, her best bet is to do business using these materials. However, before these materials could be sent out, they absolutely needed some processing. She could trust the internet to help in many things, but after first reading through her textbooks, she realized she still needed this basic knowledge to know where to look at all. 

When it was time to go home, Zayne stopped her at the door. 

" Go home directly. I will bring all of them together from the school, " he told her. 

Claire nodded, leaving straight to home, while Zayne went to the elementary school to pick up the children, who will then go to middle school to pick up Brea. 

Claire walked home alone. 

As she crossed the street which is usually empty, a person walked in front of her.