Success And Sleepover

Early in the afternoon, his research got temporarily put on halt because his subordinates and students were due to return from the dungeon. Once he had put a teleportation node next to their current position on the 19th floor and made his way there to fetch them, they reassembled in the private world.

As only three of them - Kalin, Mina and Quinn - had had the opportunity to grow significantly since last time, he only bothered to update their Status today. If he did so every handful of stat points that anyone gained, then it honestly would just be a waste of his time.

[ Name: Kalin Myre ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Familia) ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: 15 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: SSS-1,254 -> SSS-1,246 -> SSS-1,454 - > I-0 (2,181) ]

[ Endurance: SS-1,059 -> SS-1,051 -> SSS-1,269 -> I-0 (1,904) ]

[ Dexterity: SSS-1,295 -> SSS-1,287 -> SSS-1,496 -> I-0 (2,244) ]

[ Agility: SSS-1,203 -> SSS-1,195 -> SSS-1,401 -> I-0 (2,102) ]

[ Magic: D-521 -> D-513 -> A-886 -> I-0 (1,329) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Spearman: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

Finally, the young man had made it to Level 2! If his entire journey, ever since he had entered the dungeon for the first time, was counted, then his rank up-speed would be perceived to be about average. But considering that for the majority of that time, he hadn't even been able to make any progress due to not having a Falna, the close to 40 days since he had met Isaac had seen him soar to incredible heights. This speed even put Ais' old record to shame! But, well, compared to the less than six days that it had taken for Isaac to achieve the same, it felt like an extremely ordinary feat. This was also the main reason as to why all of the students didn't get drunk on their accomplishments. They constantly compared themselves to their unfathomable teacher, and felt very small in comparison - not dejected, but grounded.

[ Spearman (I): Improves comprehension speed of spear related skills and abilities by 10%. Increases all stats by 5% when equipped with a spear. ]

Just as expected, Kalin had chosen to focus on the Spearman Development Ability first. While Abnormal Resistance would indeed not have been a bad pick by any means, he could always add it to his repertoire later.

If there was one thing that stuck out at all, then it was that the speed at which Kalin lost his stat points had exactly doubled. Should he have truly wanted to, then Isaac would have been capable of taking the stone ring apart and studying it in detail, but he already had enough on his plate for now. Additionally, he felt like interfering with whatever was going on wouldn't be a good idea. It was just a gut feeling, but those usually tended to be extremely accurate in his case, so he settled on staying his hand and letting this phenomenon unfold fully. Well, he was also quite certain that he already knew what was transpiring, so he was expectantly looking forward to the final result.

[ Name: Mina Teagle ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Chienthrope ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: 16 ]

[ Loyalty: 100/100 ]

[ Devotion: 30/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: SS-1,083 -> SSS-1,436 -> I-0 (2,154) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

[ Endurance: S-947 -> SSS-1,252 -> I-0 (1,878) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

[ Dexterity: SSS-1,190 -> XXX-1,553 -> I-0 (2,250) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

[ Agility: SS-1,019 -> SSS-1,324 -> I-0 (1,986) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

[ Magic: C-677 -> SS-1,078 -> I-0 (1,617) (+ 67,601 x 0.003) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Reverential Resonance ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Swordsman: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

Like Kalin, Mina also more than qualified for an advancement to Level 2. While in the former's case, him losing eight of his stat points had managed to keep his Dexterity barely within the limits of what his vessel could contain, the faithful Chienthrope girl's Dexterity had shot way beyond the safety line! It took Isaac a slight amount of effort to extract the surplus excelia from her Falna and have it dissolve into the surroundings safely. Because he already had some experience with this back when he had first updated Averin's Status, it wasn't too difficult. If he hadn't been here and any other regular god had attempted to update her Status, then she would have died, there was no doubt about it. Luckily, her lord was quite special indeed.

To no one's surprise, the Development Ability that she chose was Swordsman. The number of monsters which were relatively dangerous to face without relying on Abnormal Resistance wasn't all that high, so the risk of improving her bladework first wasn't a huge one. It wasn't like they were lacking in valis, so they could always carry plenty of Elixirs with them, just in case.

Due to her Reverential Resonance Skill, Mina now surpassed Kalin in every single stat, and even without it, she more than rivalled him. This caused the fire of motivation to burn even brighter in the young man's chest, while his teacher just showed an amused smile from the sidelines. Isaac didn't say a word about what he speculated to soon be the case, as it would be great if Kalin could grow faster. Snuffing out his drive and making him become complacent would simply be counterproductive.

It wasn't the two of them who stood out the most, however. Rather, it was the unassuming cat boy who had joined their ranks a bit more recently. His excelia gain rate… it was simply astonishing. His broken Berserker Skill had enabled him to surpass both Kalin and Mina in a little more than four weeks.

[ Name: Quinn Graham ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Cat People ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: 14 ]

[ Loyalty: 85/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: C-637 -> SSS-1,318 -> I-0 (1,977) ]

[ Endurance: C-629 -> SSS-1,312 -> I-0 (1,968) ]

[ Dexterity: C-649 -> SSS-1,330 -> I-0 (1,995) ]

[ Agility: C-632 -> SSS-1,316 -> I-0 (1,974) ]

[ Magic: B-776 -> SSS-1,493 -> I-0 (2,240) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Swordsman: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance ]

Although he was 'only' at Level 2, just like the other two, and his pure stats couldn't yet contend with Mina's, once he activated his trump card and multiplied all of his stats by 2.2, he vastly exceeded these seniors of his.

One might expect that he now entirely eclipsed them, but this wasn't the case. Even though the grades of their Development Abilities were the same, their individual skill with their respective weapons varied greatly. Quinn simply couldn't catch up with Mina, who had been following Isaac for a lot longer than him. He could achieve the same - or even better - results as she did with in-depth planning and strategizing, but when only the two's swordsmanship was compared - for example, during spars - then he couldn't last more than a handful of exchanges. And Kalin… he was even more outstanding than Mina! Admittedly, the gap between the two wasn't that big, but the young man had confidently kept his lead in the realm of combat skills all this time.

Details like these simply couldn't be glimpsed from a person's Status. Perhaps in the future, the grades of their Development Abilities would eventually give others a more accurate idea, but for now, they all appeared to be at the same starting line.

A relieved smirk played across Isaac's lips as he thought about his plans for the time to come. All of his subordinates were growing well, and just as he had expected, Quinn was going to become a terrifying weapon of mass destruction if he continued along this path. Even his achievements on the martial path wouldn't be that important once he reached further heights - his sheer advantage in stats would overwhelm most opponents.

'I should try a bit harder tomorrow, I don't want her to fall too far behind.'

With a glance at Mina, his most loyal retainer, Isaac resolved himself to sleep well tonight, so that he could make the most of his new dungeon delving equipment as soon as possible. If his assumptions were to turn out to be correct, then Mina's 'cheat', the Reverential Resonance Skill, was by far the weakest in this group of three, at least in Isaac's current state. So even if it was just to give her an opportunity to compete with the two boys for longer, he felt like he shouldn't slack off too much.

Yes, he considered his groundbreaking achievements and mind-blowing rank up-speed to be 'slacking off'...

For today's training, the group returned to the same Twilight Manor courtyard as always and met up with Lefiya, who had been obediently studying. Most of the time was spent on helping the three newly advanced Level 2's to get used to their improved bodies, so they didn't make too much progress overall. Isaac also included Titania in the spars and helped her to develop more dangerous attack patterns for her leaf-tipped tentacles. While she didn't make much progress yet, she at least tried to improve.

When it was time for dinner, his teachings concluded, and everyone went to take a bath or shower, even Isaac. But of course, even as he was standing under a showerhead and letting the water droplets cleanse his body, he was still deep in thought.

'Aside from Lefiya and Titania, I don't think the others will be capable of comprehending the concept of the mental layer. Well, maybe Quinn will stand a chance - he seems quite smart, after all - but he definitely won't be able to do it anytime soon.'

Because he had made significant improvements in his understanding of Magic recently, and would only further refine it in the future, he decided that it was high time to confront his people with the realm of mana as well. Still, because most of his subordinates and students weren't especially talented in this regard, he would have to rely on certain alternatives. Just by looking at their mostly impressive Magic stats - Aselina was clearly the black sheep here - it was clear that it would be a real shame if they couldn't make use of them to support themselves in battle.

Also, according to Isaac's observations, while Mina wasn't entirely mindless when she fought, she relied so much on instinct that her massive growth in the Magic stat couldn't solely be explained by her mental activity. On the other end of the spectrum was Aselina, who had become far more methodical during her fights, so she should have started to accumulate Magic-related excelia - but this wasn't the case. Most likely, the presence and respective growth of this stat was also reliant on a person having an inborn talent for it, or on Magics already slumbering beneath the surface, just waiting to awaken.

Pursuing this train of thought even further, Isaac deduced that these Magics had to be a part of their very souls, and most likely had something to do with the respective person's previous lives. The fact that souls reincarnated was pretty much common knowledge in this world, so assuming that previous lives were entirely wiped clean and had no influence on the present would be simply naive. Isaac had already been quite certain that at least a person's fundamental personality was relatively consistent, even over the course of many lives, but even Magics being a part of this was an intriguing new hypothesis.

On his way back to his private world, Isaac pulled out the Occulus that Fels had given him and injected some of his mana. Once he had made sure that the skeleton was listening, he stated his request.

"I would like to buy six grimoires, would that be possible? I'll pay in magic stones."

About half a minute later, a reply finally arrived.

"Mr. Blackshaw, that would be 600 million valis worth of magic stones. I can have the grimoires ready by tomorrow morning, but are you sure that you have enough money?"

A heavy sigh escaped Isaac's lips and he nodded. Even before his recent slaughter of hundreds of thousands of monsters did he have more than enough to afford such a paltry expenditure. His pockets had grown ridiculously heavy, and his wealth felt like a burden sometimes - more specifically when he had to keep track of it.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll drop by my cell at around 6:30 a.m. then. Can I just leave the magic stones with you, pick up the grimoires and depart again? Should there be any discrepancies or missing magic stones, then you can always contact me, after all. Also, please deal with my lunch again, I won't be able to return to my cell at the respective time tomorrow."

When they finally answered, the helplessness in Fels' voice was palpable. They felt like an exploited office worker that was being ground to the bones, and yet… they already had only bones remaining! Maybe that was why nobody seemed to feel bad about burdening them with ever-increasing amounts of tasks.

"As you wish. Have a good night, Mr. Blackshaw."

Clearly not in the mood for a chat, Fels hastily cut the connection before Isaac had any chance to pile even more things on their plate. Prior to Ouranos' meeting with this young man, while Fels' daily life hadn't been an idle one, they at least hadn't had to burn the midnight oil every single day. Now, however… they were toiling away every waking hour - 24 hours per day - and still felt like they were slowly being submerged.

-----

Humming a light-hearted tune from her childhood, Mina stood in the subordinate base's kitchen. Her dark-blonde hair had grown about two centimeters longer since she had first met her lord, but when fastened into a ponytail, it was still about shoulder-length. She had shortened her bangs a few days ago because they had started to get in the way, and now they were back to barely reaching her eyebrows. When she had come to Orario, she had worn rough linen garments, but since a few weeks ago, she could enjoy the comfortable cotton clothing that she had bought on a shopping trip with Lefiya and her friends.

Currently, she wore sky-blue socks over white stockings, and her fluffy tail partially stuck out from underneath a close to knee-length, azure pleated skirt. Her upper body was clad in a sleeveless grey blouse, over which she had draped a simple white apron. With a wooden ladle, she rhythmically stirred the vegetable beef stew on the magic stone-powered stove in front of her.

After holding her hand over the pot to check the temperature, she happily nodded to herself and turned off the stove. With practised movements, she scooped out a few ladlefuls into a soup plate and took out a spoon from a drawer nearby.

Happily whistling to herself, she stripped off the apron and hung it over a nearby chair, then she securely balanced the plate in her hands and hurried out of the back door of the base. Even though she was moving at a speed that most people would have difficulty to keep up with, and carrying the stew with her while she was at it, she didn't spill any of it and quickly arrived at the training courtyard that they had all been at barely half an hour ago.

Moments later, she used the teleportation node to move to her lord's private world, where she found him sitting at a table not far away, seemingly deep in thought. A book and a magic stone were placed in front of him, but there was still plenty of empty space.

"Milord, please have a nice meal!"

With a bright grin on her face and a nimbly wagging tail, she placed the plate and spoon on the table, careful not to set them down too close to her lord's research materials.

Showing an amused smile, Isaac lifted his head and turned to face her, causing her tail's movement speed to rapidly increase. Unhurriedly, he reached out and patted her head, which she had already lowered in expectation.

"You know, you don't need to go out of your way to bring me food. But still, thanks for the hard work."

Even though he had told her this many times before, she still insisted on providing him with something to eat whenever she could. Although this was the first time that she had delivered it to his private world - after all, this place hadn't been around for long - he had already felt it a bit excessive when she had knocked on the door to his and Ais' room in the past, always carrying with her some simple but hearty meals.

"But I'm not going out of my way, milord! Being of service to you is my utmost goal and makes me happy."

Despite the fact that she had her eyes closed and was basking in the bliss of the gentle head pats, Mina took the chance to explain herself, eliciting a resigned but benevolent chuckle from her lord.

"Fine, fine. Just don't make the others wait for too long. I'm sure they're really hungry."

Reluctantly separating from his hand, Mina nodded.

"I understand. Then, may your research be fruitful, milord! See you tomorrow!"

With speedy footsteps, she turned around and walked back to the teleportation node. On the way, she noticed a certain Demi Spirit in the distance, who was munching away on a mountain of hundreds of magic stones.

"Bon appétit, Titania!"

Leaving behind these words, she disappeared from sight.

'They all call him 'milord' instead of 'master'. Am I the weird one?'

Unbeknownst to her, the plant was too deep in thought to even register what she had said.

Less than a minute later, Mina arrived back at the base. Searching around the kitchen for a moment, she found the white potholders that she had placed on one of the shelves and grabbed them, using them to carry the still steaming pot of stew into the dining room. She placed it on the heat-resistant table mat and heaved a satisfied sigh.

"Everyone, dinner is ready!"

Shouting just loudly enough to notify everyone who was currently here in the base, she went back into the kitchen and got seven soup plates as well as just as many spoons. She also didn't forget to bring the ladle along.

By the time she returned, Aselina, Averin, Jakk and Quinn had already sat down, while Kalin and Valenoa were only just arriving, the beautiful girl clinging to his arm with a breathtaking, innocent smile on her face. But because such intimate behaviour between the two had slowly but surely turned into normalcy, nobody batted an eye.

"Let me help."

Before Mina had a chance to say anything, Aselina had already risen from her seat, grabbed the ladle out of her hand and was scooping out stew into the soup plates that Mina had just set down.

Even though the raccoon girl hadn't waited for her answer, Mind just showed a slight smirk and finally allowed herself to sit down and come to a well-deserved rest.

Amidst the customary bragging of Averin, who successfully managed to eat without the use of a spoon, the antisocial silence of Jakk and the 'knowing' looks that he shot in Kalin's direction, they all enjoyed a filling meal.

Kalin and Mina were the 'soul' of the table, and the ones who usually drove the various conversations, while Averin, Quinn and Valenoa just followed along. Aselina was mostly silent, but paid close attention to everything around her. She would probably be capable of reciting the entire chat in detail if she were to ever be asked about it. Jakk was a bit more of a recluse when it came to participating, but occasionally, he would whisper something to Kalin, who was sitting to his left. The two of them had grown quite close since their first encounter all those days ago.

Soon after they finished their dinner, the group separated again. As usual, Quinn dragged Averin off into his room and went to sleep, making use of the most superior of fluffy hugging pillows. Jakk excused himself and wandered off, most likely to enter the dungeon on his own again in mere moments. Kalin and Valenoa returned to their own respective rooms as well.

In Mina's room, she and Aselina were sitting on the bed, now clad in far more comfortable pyjamas.

"You crossed the Beol Mountains all alone?! Whoa, wasn't that scary?"

Hugging a pillow and leaning against the wall, the Chienthrope girl's eyes widened as she listened to her friend's recollection. Ever since Aselina had joined their ranks, she had rapidly developed a liking for her and she soon began to see her as somewhat of a best friend. The raccoon girl was an expert listener, and not nearly as icy as she appeared on the outside. When given the chance and asked the right questions, she would also turn into a chatterbox on occasion.

"It was, but I asked some hunters who lived nearby many questions before I ventured across. They gave me lots of useful information, about how to recognize the local monsters' tracks, as well as how to avoid their notice. It all worked out remarkably well. For two weeks, at least."

As if she had just remembered something unpleasant, Aselina's brows furrowed and she wrapped herself a little tighter into the blanket that she had enveloped herself in.

"Knowing about the monsters was helpful, and I wasn't bad at traversing mountains either. But in the end, I still tripped and fell, straight off a cliff. Well, luckily, I landed in the net of a Deformis Spider that had chosen to nest nearby…"

Realizing the implications, Mina grew pale.

"You mean…"

With a sigh, Aselina nodded.

"Yeah, I almost died right then and there. I heard that in the dungeon, those spiders are at Level 5, but the one I encountered was pretty weak, even for a Level 1. I don't know if it was a newborn or whether these spiders have weakened a lot over however many generations have passed since they came to the surface. Anyway, I was still a seven year old girl at the time, and couldn't possibly defeat it. Even a Goblin would have been able to easily kill me."

Pausing for a moment, the raccoon girl stared at the ceiling.

"I didn't know it at the time, but I had to have landed on a spot in the net that was quite fragile, because it couldn't hold me for long. It wasn't as sticky as it probably should have been either. My backpack got stuck and I had to leave it behind, but I somehow struggled free. I fell the last three meters or so to the ground, then I chanced upon a small cave that the spider couldn't fit in. I followed it for a few days, living off the moss that grew inside and a small underground spring, before seeing the light of day again. Thinking about it now, there were countless things that could have gone wrong… Just imagine, that cave could have been inhabited by some other monsters, or I simply could have missed that net…"

Aselina couldn't help but smile a little wryly, not sure what to think about it all. While she had managed to escape certain death through a lucky string of coincidences, it had still been a harrowing experience nonetheless.

Hugging her, Mina showed a sunny smile in an effort to cheer her up. Just like that, the two girls talked until deep in the night. Finally, they got exhausted and fell asleep, inadvertently having a sleepover. An hour or so later, someone invisible fixed their unhealthy sleep positions and tucked them in properly. If they had been awake, they would have heard a pleasant voice whispering to herself, clearly a bit annoyed.

"I swear, these girls... You can't just do this every day, think about your health! You might catch a cold."

-----

'-o--- tru-- ---t ----!'

Knock knock.

Feeling a sudden burst of slight weakness, Kalin's weary eyes shot open and he stared at the ceiling, into the darkness. He had fallen asleep just three hours prior, and that simply wasn't enough rest for his body that had been significantly exhausted yesterday.

"Ugh… did I just… hear… something?"

Mumbling to himself, he calmed his rapidly beating heart. Whenever that ring of his absorbed some of his stats, his body would usually become more active, as if it had detected a foreign threat and needed him to prepare himself to fend it off.

Absentmindedly rubbing the stone ring on the pendant around his neck, he slowly succeeded in clearing his head again.

Knock knock.

"Huh?"

This time, his tired self actually realized that someone had knocked on his door.

'Who could it be?'

Never before had anyone awoken him this deep in the night, so he slowly sat up and stretched, readying his worn out body for movement, should it be necessary. One never knew, maybe their teacher was summoning them for something?

"Come on in. What is it?"

At his words, the door opened, revealing the tear-stained face of a red-haired beauty. She was clad in only a nightgown that had slipped down her right shoulder while she had rolled around in bed. It hardly even covered her chest anymore, causing Kalin to blush deeply in pleasant surprise. Still, her red, teary eyes quickly snapped him out of it.

'You idiot! Can't you see that she's feeling horrible? Now's not the time for this!'

He would have heavily slapped himself if he was alone, but now, he needed to appear to be reliable. Hastily, he stood up and grabbed her shoulders, carefully sizing her up. She hadn't gotten hurt, had she?

"What's wrong? What happened?"

In response to his question oozing with concern, the shivering Valenoa dove into his arms and sniffled.

"I had a nightmare… I don't want to be alone. Please, please… let me sleep here tonight!"

Any other day, such a request to share the bed with him would have flooded Kalin's mind with dirty thoughts - most of them courtesy of the bad influence that was Jakk, of course - but considering her current condition, he would have to be a real scumbag to be entirely overcome by them. This wasn't to say that a voice somewhere in the back of his head wasn't whispering lewd ideas into his ears, but that simply couldn't be helped. Most people would, at least subconsciously, have these thoughts in such situations - especially with a bombshell like Valenoa in their arms.

"Alright."

His voice as gentle and calm as possible, Kalin caressed her back and closed the door, then he led her to his bed, where they snuggled up together. Valenoa quickly fell asleep, but she occasionally clutched onto him tightly, clearly having encountered something terrible in her dreams.

For more than an hour, Kalin found it hard to relax, especially when the reality of the situation slowly settled in. Having her in such close proximity to him, breathing her pleasant scent, feeling her body heat and her soft skin… it was overwhelming. He needed most of his self-control to keep the embers of lust at bay.

Ultimately, he found himself too tired to even think about anything, and the accumulated fatigue engulfed him, causing him to drift off into slumber.