Almost six hours after I had walked into the room, I had long collapsed on the bed next to Marianne’s sleeping figure —as Titania had left a couple of hours ago to asure the defensive efforts— trying to push back temptation to sleep next to her, exhausted by the constant exertion, though not the physical side. It was not to say that the physical side of it was not exhausting, but my stats were more than enough to compensate for the particulars.
However, the ntal challenge constantly enhancing Marianne’s soul space and converting my mana into experience again and again for six hours. And the strain from constantly depleting and refreshing my mana reserves was not inconsiderable.
Pity that with everything going on, I didn’t have the ti to enjoy so after-sex cuddling.
I had a feeling that, if I dared to do sothing like that with a lower endurance, I wouldn’t have walked out alive. Still, what a way to go.
After throwing one last glance at Marianne, deliciously naked except copious amount of cum covering her tits as well seeping out of her every orifice, still wearing a silly smile even as she slept, I pulled the covers on her and left the room.
Since I had already discussed a strategy with Titania —basically advising her to act like she over-exhausted her mana while staying in a warded location to prevent ambushes— I didn’t waste much ti in the town. I just walked around once to check the unique chaotic resonance the mysterious organization was using to create artificial monster hordes. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any, suggesting that, at least for the short term, they had reached the end of their little bag of tricks. Then, I conjured another trusty fake elental steed, and left the town through the sa tunnel I had created earlier.
[-1163 Mana]
As I traveled back to Silver Spires, enjoying the wind on my face while I considered the next steps.
The discovery of an organization of mysterious assassins just hours ago put a rather unwelco twist to the challenge I was facing. First of all, it suggested that I was not the only one with the ability to manipulate the leveling system, but rembering the disgusting sight of their soul spaces, it was clear that they had a wildly different technique than mine. Whether it was the limit of their abilities, or I was facing just the tip of the iceberg, I didn’t know.
But I had a feeling that I would learn.
However, their inclusion ant I needed a develop a better strategy to protect myself than just handling whatever they were throwing at .
The simplest thing to do that would be to talk to the headmistress about the plot, including the existence of the mysterious organization to see whether she would prepare any insights about them. Considering that she was a crone that had been alive for centuries, her knowledge did seem likely. They were targeting Titania, who was one of her loyal supporters until I sunk my hooks into her —well, I did sink sothing into her, repeatedly, which was decidedly more effective than hooks— which ant there shouldn’t be an alliance between the mysterious organization and the headmistress. As a bonus, openly talking with her would increase the defensive effectiveness of the school quite a bit.
Unfortunately, there was one very small problem with that plan. I didn’t trust her.
Admittedly, I wasn’t the most trusting person. Not that I had the luxury to extend my trust easily considering the challenges I had been facing, the potential worth of my unique system, not to ntion the potential shady activities every single organization, official and illegal alike, might do to take soone that could actually manipulate the leveling system.
My distrust toward the headmistress was on another level.
First of all, for soone that managed the most important educational facility of the Empire, she was shockingly unknown, more of a scary ghost that perched on top of Silver Spires rather than an actual educator. And eting with her directly didn’t help any. Her mysterious ability to limit the effectiveness of the system was very scary, and the way she dressed didn’t make her any more trustworthy.
Pity that I still had to collaborate with her to so degree.
I started to consider it a dangerous idea. “I need more data,” I murmured even as I turned my gaze toward the spires of the school, shining silver from a distance. I needed to know more about her before I could make a decision. What she really looked like? How did she act when alone? What was her objective? Why was she hiding in Silver Spires without taking any action for centuries?
Sothing resembling a smile crossed my lips as I considered the best way to do so. It had been a while since I sneaked around when being caught ant mortal danger. It was hard to feel the sa exhilaration lately, because the worst thing that would happen was to waste a bit more ti to get what I wanted more directly.
Sneaking into the personal tower of the headmistress was the opposite. Sneaking in through those expertly crafted magical defenses was hard enough, and the fact she lived in a self-enforced solitude ant that there was no convenient servant I could disguise myself to create an easy way to sneak in.
More importantly, getting caught had scary consequences, and just to make things better, I had no idea what those consequences would be. I didn’t know how strong she was —though considering she had to use Titania as a regent, I had to hope that there were so limits to it. However, even if that assumption was correct, she clearly had a range of mysterious abilities, as implied by her ability to empower Titania and hamper my connection with the system just by walking in her room.
When I arrived at the school, I t with a total cacophony, squads of students leaving the school, led by the faculty mbers, while the others returned with obvious signs of battle damage, their highly varying numbers and haunted expressions implying casualties.
The strategy to weaken the school through the monster hordes was clearly ramping up.
However, I didn’t choose to leave Silver Spires to hunt the hordes, because the number of students and faculty mbers that were preparing the leave the school was suspicious, as if almost soone was trying to leave the school defenseless. Considering the number of mana gems in the possession of the necromancers had to have a limit, it made sense from their perspective to launch all of them together to deplete the reserves before launching a final assault. Not to ntion it was questionable whatever process they had to employ to trigger monster hordes had no other cost.
Of course, I might be completely wrong and they might be just using that to badger all those squads under endless monster hordes before easily marching against the school, but I doubted that. If they had that capability, why would they bother to actually gather a huge undead army?
The comncent of the attack would have given an excellent opportunity to sneak into the headmistress’ room. Unfortunately, I actually had to talk to her before the attack comnced. The involvent of an organization that could send three people over level thirty to a mission together wasn’t an entity I wanted to ignore, even at the cost of violating the headmistress privacy despite potential violent consequences. Hopefully, she would be out, discussing so war matters with the rest of the faculty.
For my disguise, I chose a boring gray cloak with a hood, just enough to hide my identity without giving a clue about my affiliations. I doubted that it would be too effective if I got caught, but it at least soothed ntally.
My real thod to keep myself concealed was a complicated arcana array around myself, blocking any hint of presence. It wasn’t a mana-intensive spell, but the sa way juggling a dozen knives was not a strength-intensive task. It was a complicated mana structure that needed to be maintained and shuffled at all tis to catch any scrap mana I radiated. It was only possible through my finally completed Master Arcana skill, and even then, barely.
[-45 Mana]
I could feel sweat dripping down my face as I stood at the entrance of her tunnel, shuffling my own personal ward to prevent any kind of mana or life energy from radiating out as I tangled with the defensive wards of the entrance. It took twenty minutes even to bypass the outer wards, and another ten minutes to take the first step on the imposing stairs. I climbed them slowly as I constantly used little slivers of mana to assess the ward structure, taking the most challenging walk of my life.
Then, I arrived at her office, only to hear people talking from the other side. Apparently, she was actually having a eting, quite an important one considering no one had walked in or out while I studied the wards.
Luckily, her office wasn’t the only place I could enter using the stairs. One floor up, I could see another door, probably to her living quarters. I took a deep breath as I carefully climbed upward, afraid of what to find in her personal quarters.
When I opened the door, however, I t with a sight even more shocking than I had expected. Not because it was the scariest thing I had ever seen, but because it might have been the poorest personal quarter.
The room itself was quite large, however, other than a weird crystal in the middle of the room, and a huge shelf filled with books, I could easily convince myself that I walked into the servants’ quarter. The bed was small and uncomfortable looking, there was a long pole with five hangers, one empty, the other four with dark colored misshapen cloaks, just like the one that she had been wearing during our eting. Though, despite their misshapen nature, their inner lining was covered with an impressive number of runes, so familiar, so utterly foreign, suggesting they were not simple utilitarian garnts.
There was no bed, but just a cot was thrown in. Other than that, there was a small desk in front of the shelf along with a chair, both looking suprely uncomfortable. On a corner, there was a small pitcher of water and a washbasin. The floor was bare stone, absent of any kind of carpeting.
Even my room when I was the mule was suprely better than this horrible prison place.
My attention turned into the crystal in the middle. Essentially, it was a platform, about a foot in height and four heights in diater. It looked like a solid diamond, which was a ridiculous contrast to the poorness of the rest of the room.
The crystal was perfectly circular, and its surface, other than an impressive number of rune carvings that I no idea what it ant. However, they were written in the sa script I had found in the book I had acquired from Titania’s library when I started scouting her. Ultimately, the crystal was the main suspect for limiting my contact with the System.
Pity that I had forgotten to check about Helga’s progress on that, or even bother to question Titania about it.
The shelf was equally impressive. Like everything else in the room, it was crafted horribly, but the number of leather-covered books, actively radiating mana stronger than most magic items, which I didn’t think was possible. However, since their nas on their spines were written on the sa confusing script, I decided to examine the crystal first.
I walked closer, and touched it with my mana … and suddenly, my mana cald. The difference was like a calm lake and a typhoon. I had no doubt that, if I cast a spell-like this, the effects would be much more precise than I ever thought possible.
My mind flew through the possibilities, sharper than I ever thought possible. With every passing second, I was reaching a new understanding of magic regardless of the topic. My perception of the different topics started to rge…
It was a beautiful mont of enlightennt, so much that I felt very annoyed when the annoying click of the door distracted from my musings.
Then, I rembered where I actually was! “Fuck,” I murmured as I did the only thing I could do. I dashed toward the only thing I could hide behind, the bookshelf, even as I cast a weird spell that perfectly rged the concepts of air elent and arcana simultaneously, creating an illusion to hide from the sight. It granted near-perfect invisibility as long as I didn’t move.
Ironically, casting such an intricate spell was only possible due to the extre calmness of my mana, given to by the sa item that caused to be caught in my current circumstances. I watched with no little amount of trepidation as the hunched figure of the headmistress walked toward the middle of the room, my heart beating like crazy.
[Level: 30 Experience: 447193 / 465000
Strength: 41 Charisma: 53
Precision: 35 Perception: 37
Agility: 35 Manipulation: 40
Speed: 34 Intelligence: 44
Endurance: 34 Wisdom: 46
HP: 5370 / 5370 Mana: 1394 / 6600 ]
SKILLS
Master lee [100/100]
Master Tantric [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elental [100/100]
Master Arcana [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [97/100]
Expert Speech [70/75]
Advanced Craft [50/50]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowernt (1/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Cornelia - Level 21/25]
[Helga - Level 17/21]
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