Plans for the future; Who was that?;

After leaving the principals office Kerren didn't go back to his room. He wanted to find a place with nice view to think. Why would he want such a place? He got bored of his room. It was just a normal student dorm room after all, it only had basic things, even tho the university was prestigius it's dorm wasn't. People who managed it told others that it was all their plan. Protectors didn't have a roof above their heads most of the time, so that design prepared them to that humble lifestyle. It was all bullcrap, of course.

Who didn't have a roof? Protectors? Those people had several of roofs at the same time. "Oh, but when they go to raids they dont!" Yeah, no. No raids but those of high difficulty ever lasted for more than several hours. A raid of a D rank dungeon for example lasted for 3 to 4 hours in the worst case, any longer wouldn't make any sense. What's the goal of those who managed the dorms then? Huh, good question! If you ever find an answer to it - let me know, okay?

Anyway, Kerren observed the whole area the university had as it's land, entrance for other people was prohibited, so no bystanders or random people would bother him. As for other students? They had better things to do than wander around, especially at this time of the day. Not many were like Kerren who didn't attend classes at all, or only did so to bother teachers. There were many reasons why, one of which was that they took this university seriously, as their whole life after it depended on the knowledge they would get here and if they slacked off they could just die because they didn't know something basic, thus they didn't dare to neglect anything.

Kerren, however? He already knew all that, he knew ever more this university could offer, a lot more, to be honest. Of course, with time his knowledge would grow even more as he was just a porter and didn't know many things normal raiders of his time knew, he himself could attend raids of F and E dungeons as an attacker, but even D rank ones were hard for him, thus he didn't know a lot, but was still knowledgeable enough because he attended a lot of raids as a porter and had lots of time to observe them.

After wandering around for several dozens of minutes he finally found a place to sit. It was in the middle of a forest that belonged to the university. This whole forest wasn't used as much as the other places, it was just land that university owned, but didn't have enough time to find it's purpose, maybe they had some plans about it but as of now it was a forest. Uh... To be honest, calling it a forest wasn't that appropriate, it was just a park, i guess? Ah, that doesn't matter that much, does it? Both have trees, the only difference is that park had less of them and there were more roads, this place didn't have any thus i called it a forest.

As i was speaking about this place, Kerren sat on a branch of a random tree, leaning on it. It was peaceful and Kerren liked it a lot, it reminded him of the time he spent in his mountain cabin. It was his favourite place in the world... Well, not in the whole world, just in parts that he could see.

He spent several hours here, just sitting on a branch and thinking. He thought about a lot of stuff, trying to plan out every next move of his. You might ask why everytime i describe what Kerren does i just say that he's thinking... Well, because that's what he does most of the time. Most of his plans, however, aren't even used. He had made at least 10 different ones to get a lot of crystals that he would use to awaken, but he ended up using only one of them. Maybe in the future he'd use some of those if he didn't forget about them, but... For him, it was better to have 10 plans 9 of which he wont ever use than to have none.

Was he such a person from the beggining? Nope, he got that trait after doing so many raids. For example those potions that he used in the facility that held the dragon heart. Those potions... He had them for 5 or so years as a backup plan in case something bad happened. Even now he had several escape plans in case something went wrong at the university. He would use them if he needed, so it wasn't all that useless. I guess he liked to be prepared for everything, but how could he do that without spending lots of time preparing? Since he had time and couldn't advance as his target wasn't available for the time being he spent his time of a useful thing.

Of course, he could train or try to come up with some spells or something, maybe even try to get some crystals, but... Training wasn't important for him. He already had perfect control over mana, if he wanted he could artificially improve his body and simply force it to stay at it's peak afterwards, it wasn't hard but would bring suspision if he suddenly became bigger and stronger. As for spells? That was a different story, Kerren could make some, but if something happened and a wrong person inspected him and found out his status recorded a dozen of spells? That would be a problem. He wouldn't be able to explain where he got those from, it was too suspicious. Crystals? Those were used as money along with other materials, bartering was a lot bigger than it was before monsters appeared.

As for other things he thought about? He wondered about the guildmaster that tried to talk to him. Why would he? He wasn't all that special, there were many things he could want, but since he decided to dodge him for the time being he didn't have any clues, thus he soon abandoned the idea of trying to unravel whatever he wanted.

He also thought about finding a partner. What class should his partner be? Should he be male or female? What character and such things... Lets first talk about the most important thing - class of his partner.

A tanker is a no go, Kerren immediately thought that he shouldn't take one as his partner. Why? Simple, he'll get used to having someone protect him at all times, once he was alone he'd be careless. It was great having a tanker as a partner, but for Kerren who pursued his own personal strength it was a nuisance. Mage? No, if he teamed up with a mage it would make no sense.

A mage usually debuffed enemies, buffed allies or simply killed enemies. Kerren would be able to do all those alone, which is why taking a mage was stupid in his case. Why would he? So there would be a guy or a girl standing next to him so he could look better compared to them? Nah, it doesn't work like that.

He needed an attacker. Martial artist, swordmans or even a guy with a giant hammer, it didn't matter at all as long as they could deal damage to the enemies. Why? Simple, if his partner was an attacker who only dealt damage he would still have to rely on himself most of the times, but his raids would go faster as enemies would die quicker. It's not like it matter for him if he cilled them or not, it was all a matter of efficiency. Having two attackers that specialised in different thing was great for him, but for others?... They would need to find a tank and a healer, so it wasn't viable. There were many attackers and tank? Well, you already know. Healers are better in that regard, in was a subtype of magic so mages could heal themselves if needed, but those that specialised in healing were valued more.

But... Should it be a man or a woman? Well, Kerren didn't really care about that, both had their pros and cons. For example, if it was a woman he could, potentially, advance their relationship to have fun, it was good. She could also attract unwanted attention if she was pretty, that part was bad. If it was a he, however, he wouldn't mind. Men were naturally stronger than women, so if it was a big guy who could smash enemies with his bare hands? Welcome to my party, buddy!

In general, Kerren wouldn't even care about their character as long as they were useful, he could adapt if needed, but he would prefer if his partner listened to him without asking questions, which was a normal thing that lots of people wanted, but it wasn't that crucial for Kerren, as he was such a guy. He was a porter, after all, so what if he needed to lick some boots to get what he wanted? Pride? What's pride? I only have benefits in my dictionary.

He didn't waste time, as what i told you before was only a small part of what he really thought about. It's a lot more, but talking about all that will make me go insane... Anyway, soon after it started getting dark Kerren left the forest. It wasn't that far from his dorm so he could sit even longer, but since he didn't move at all when he sat on that branch half of his body was numb and the other half didn't work properly, thus he wanted to quickly go to sleep.

As he was approaching the dorms, he saw a girl coming his way. He didn't think much of it since... Well, it was a dorm? Not his private territory or anything? Why wouldn't someone walk here? But, as she got closer to him she spoke, which startled Kerren for some reason.

- You are Kerren, right? -- her voice was pleasant to the ears and her looks were even better, i wont describe how exactly she looked, but she was tall and her figure had... forms, let's put it like that. She was even taller than Kerren, which made him feel even smaller than he was.

Kerren's height? Didn't i talk about it already?... Uh... Well, he was 158 cm tall now, his whole body was somewhat small, in his past life he was 170 cm, so he'll get taller with time... Hell, he could even get up to 2 meters if he wanted, he could use mana after all, but he preffered to be small, since it was easier to dodge and hide if he wanted to, he didn't need a big body.

Oh, right, the girl... She was beautiful, not as beautiful as the lady from Kerren's previous life but still on a fairly decent level compared to her. Her hair wasn't long, it could barely reach her shoulders, her face looked somewhat cute and in general she would pass as a model somewhere, other than that there's nothing i can talk about. She was somewhat musculas, i guess? What else do you want to know, damn it?..

As Kerren gazed upon her body she repeated - Is your name Kerren? -- this time her voice was somewhat angry.

- Yeah, so what? -- he replied, redirecting his gaze towards her face.

- I heard you were strong, want to spar? -- she quickly told the reason behind her approach.

- What? Me? Strong? Who the hell told you that!? Go spar that guy, not me. I never even fought after awakening... Oh, right, i'm awakened, so we cant fight. -- he tried to bullshit his way out of this as he wasn't in the mood right now, and fighting?... Well, he could if he needed to, but if he could dodge it? Sure, why would he show his true skills? Should he lose on purpose? That'll damage his reputation... But dodging did too... A tough choice, huh?

- Dont worry, i'm an awakened too. As who told me about you? That doesn't matter, what matters is that you have no choice but to fight me. -- she declared, as if she already had a way to force him to fight.

- Oh? How so? Will you blackmail me? Kidnap my family? Tell everyone that i have a small d*ck, or maybe risk being kicked out by attacking me right now? What plan do you have? I'm curious. -- he brought up a lot of matters he didn't care about so she would think about using them, thinking he tried to scam her by saying those... Would that really work?.. I doubt that...

- W-what? -- she was somewhat shocked -- What are you talking about? I was just going to make a bet with you! -- she quickly revelaed her plan.

- Oh, that... -- it sounded somewhat sad -- Well, okay? What do you want to bet? -- he asked with a smile on his face.

- Whatever you want will do. Crystals? Artefacts? Skill books? Knowledge? Even unique skill books if you want to, as long as you accept -- she revealed her status pretty quickly, shocking Kerren to an extent. Not many could say that they were willing to bet a skill book, those were insanely expensive, unique ones, however? Priceless. He actually wondered about her indentity at this point, thus saying...

- Okay, a unique skill book it is then. Which ones do you have? -- he didn't even hesitate.

- That was fast, heh. What books exactly do you want? Magic related? Attack, defense or supply? Maybe buffs or debuffs? I have lots, just ask -- she had a wide smile, as if she was bragging.

- Eh... Well, lets say... A good defensive or a healing skill book would do, i dont care if they're passive or active, as long as they fulfilled their purpose of making me have more defense. -- he really did have low defensive capabilities, he didn't have a single spell he could use but basic ones. Those used lots of mana and weren't that effective at their job.

- I'm afraid those would require more than a simple duel, but... Fine, i will give you a unique book after we have a duel. I will choose one myself because your request is too much, you must know how expensive those are. -- she paused -- But if you are willing to take some other skill, like a buff or an attacking spell i'll allow you to choose one -- she added after some thinking.

- Nah, it's fine, as long as you tell me which spell it is i will fight you. -- his greed already overtook is logic, what a pity...

- Okay, when and where will we hold the duel? -- she asked happily.

- Well, as of now - nowhere. -- he suddenly stated -- Until you tell me who exactly it was i wont accept it no matter what you offer me. Even if you offer being my slave i wi... Ah, who am i kidding, i'll agree to that, but even five unique skill boo... ah... Forget about it... -- he tried to boast that nothing would make him fight her, but it was hard for him to lie about it. What if she really did offer that? Would he be able to reject?

- Uh... Well, if you want to know it that much... Oh, i know! I will tell you if you win! On top of giving you the book, of course... Even if you lose i'll give it to you, okay? -- she found a compromise really fast.

- Fair enough. Let's... Tomorrow at 12, choose a place, i dont know any. -- he didn't even lie, he didn't know where training grounds or sparring arenas were, he never went to them, how would he?

- I'll pick you up at 11:30, be in your room -- she said happily, while getting closer to Kerren.

- Uhhh... -- he backed away -- I'm fine with you picking me up, but can you not get too close to me? -- he wasn't shy or anything, it's just that his reaction was bad, if she attacked him he could not even react... To her, however, it looked like he was shy...

- Hahah! -- she said as she jumped back -- U're shy? Didn't expect that from a guy who trampled on the teachers and awakened at 16, what a joke! Hahaha! -- she continued laughing for a while -- Okay, okay, sorry. -- she added after calming down -- I wanted to check the amount of mana you had, but i couldn't see it from here so i decided to get closer, didn't want to startle you though. -- she said while almost laughing.

- Whatever you want to think. Anyway, wake me up when it's time, i'll probably be sleeping. Hmmm... what about another bet? I wont close the door but i will place a trap for you. If you trigger it before waking me up you will owe me another skill book, what do you say? -- he didn't miss his chance to benefit some more.

- A trap? Well... I guess i can agree, but a skill book is too much... What about a kilogram of good crystals? -- sadly, she didn't agree, but he still profited!

- Fine, why not. The trap will be able to hurt you, so be careful, i dont want to wait for you to heal before the duel. Farewell. -- he added in the end as he walked.

As for the girl? She stood there, looking somewhat puzzled about what happened. She overheard that there was a strong and arrogant guy that loved to bet with teachers, so she wanted to test him out. Maybe he was strong enough to be her partner? After all, he was a mage, and if he could support her while she fought? That would be great.

Now that i look at it... They both needed partners? What a coincidence! Wow! Well, i know that it was the principle who told her the same thing as she told to Kerren, about the importance of partners and all that, but... Why did she even listen to that crap? Did she also have an ulterior move, or is it that she thought that that advice was good? Whatever it was, they both needed partners and by "chance" they met each other... What a joke...

Well, it is from my perspective, but from their? They didn't know that it was all planned, Kerren genuinely thought that it was some student that liked to talk, or some moron that pretended to be his friend told another moron that he could beat his favourite guy or a girl... Whatever it was he was ready to beat them to "death" for bringing problems to him. But he also could thank them for giving him an opportunity to profit, i guess?.. Eh.. It had it's own cons and pros, as all things did in life.

As for the girl? Well, she simply wanted to find out why this guy was so arrogant, and, if possible, make him her support. If he really was strong she could lure him with riches or something like that, to her, he looked like a guy who would eat the bait and ask for more, but it didn't matter, if she wanted she could even force him by any means necessary. She was only simple on the outside, in reality she was a part of something much bigger than even the principle could imagine. As for why she needed a partner that much? That is a secret, for now.