It was difficult to know how much a short time was for someone who existed since before the universe was created, but without the possibility of reaching immortality, the lifespan would be finished up at some point.
"Thank you. I was fated to never go past Rank 2 anyway. The chance to live with the chance of becoming stronger is enough for me. Immortality was never something I considered possible."
Gregor managed to gather all his strength to speak those words. Without reaching Rank 2, the lifespan would be limited to that of Rank 1, which was merely the double of the normal lifespan.
However, he felt that even if he died before reaching the age of the limit lifespan of Rank 1 due to what happened, as long as he managed to turn strong and enjoy his life, it didn't matter. He was ready to die at any moment since he took the courage to try to leave the Forest of Illusions.
"Sometimes, a bigger hope may lead to bigger despair. I don't know if this will help you or not. Maybe you would have been happier dying against the bandits than having a chance to live more. Anyway, I am just telling you because there is nothing better to do. You won't be able to remember about this and be ready for it."
If Gregor knew from the beginning everything about his unavoidable death, he would be able to expect it and be mentalized, but without knowing anything, it would be natural that he would have greater expectations as his strength grew since the curse had been broken and the side effects of his broken fate would help him a lot before leading him to his death.
"It is time to wake up in the real world. I hope you can help Shiba with the time I have given you. Don't force him to face the impossible. Not like you would remember this anyway."
Liye's shadow sighed, and then Gregor disappeared from the Timeless Border.
Just as Liye's shadow said, he wouldn't be able to remember anything from what had happened there. With some luck, some feelings of what happened might remain, which might help him a bit, but that was all.
The conversation couldn't be considered long, but the concept of time of the real world couldn't be applied, so Gregor didn't wake up on the real world despite the short conversation.
The merchants didn't know what happened to him, but they swore to protect him until he woke up, so they put Gregor on their carriage and resumed their travel.
The next day, Gregor remained on his sleep, but it was a very busy day for Shiba and Eini.
Eini disappeared early in the morning as she went to investigate about the resources to speed up her growth. She planned to ask for help to advance to Rank 1 if the resources were enough to make her look at least a couple of years older.
She didn't feel that it was ideal, but she was conscious that in her state, it was possible that she would advance by mistake at any time, so if she managed to make her body mature until fifteen, she would advance as soon as possible.
It was better to advance consciously than unconsciously, given how important that breakthrough was. At that moment, she couldn't be picky.
After asking about them, those materials to grow were quite low quality for her standards, but they were enough for her situation.
Basically, rather than let her mature quickly, they allowed her growth to continue normally for two years.
Materials of that type would be rather pointless if she reached Rank 2 since they just made the growth speed reduce to half as long as one reached at least Rank 1. At Rank 2, the growth speed would slow down again, so she would end up in the problem again if she advanced too quickly.
The best materials to hasten growth had almost immediate effects, but not even the academy could have those.
Of course, if she became strong enough, manipulating her own apparent age wouldn't be difficult, and even without reaching that level, as long as she could meet her family again, they could help her to hasten her growth quickly. The issue was that it would be too long until either of those cases, and Eini didn't want to look like a kid for too long.
Since she was already thirteen and not that far from fourteen, she wasn't that much of a kid as before, she was a pretty young lady that attracted a lot of gazes, but she still felt that remaining at that age would be bad.
While she was investigating about the resources, Shiba had gone to listen to a lesson. He was hungry for knowledge, so he planned to assist as many theoretical lessons as he could.
He wasn't too interested in practical skills, since the legacy he received from his master was more than enough for that. Anything he could get from the legacy was far better than what could be thought in the academy. Thus, he gave full priority to improve his general knowledge.
Shiba attracted many gazes since the rest had never seen him, and the rumors about him and Eini were fully spread.
They were all surprised that Shiba looked quite plain. He wasn't ugly, but he wasn't the handsome type either. The only thing remarkable about his looks was that his muscles were properly developed. He wasn't bulky, but he looked quite strong.
Based on his looks, many boys who had been jealous of him before thought that Eini should also be quite plain or ugly if she was with him, so they weren't as jealous as before.
They were still jealous of someone with a girlfriend, but it wasn't the same jealousy from dating a beauty than a girl who wasn't a beauty.
All the boys in the class were genius grade, and about similar ages as Shiba, so they longed for a girlfriend as capable as them, but the girls in the class also had high standards, so it wasn't easy.
Thus, having a girlfriend who was also a genius, was extremely eye-catching.
Teens of Shiba's age were usually interested in those things, it was just that Shiba was too ignorant on the topic to know about them to the point that he didn't notice that his relationship with Eini was more that of a couple than friends given how they acted.
After the first lesson, Eini rushed into the classroom where Shiba was, which was something that left all the boys speechless.
"Shiba, they told me that they will have everything ready to aid my breakthrough this afternoon. They are quite quick. I don't know when I will be back, but wait for me, okay?"
Eini spoke quite loudly, so everyone heard her. Moreover, she said it after jumping to hug Shiba.
Eini wanted to show the girls in the class, that Shiba was already taken. Those girls weren't interested in Shiba at all, but from Eini's point of view, it wouldn't be strange if they all turned into her enemies, so she wanted to put clear their relationship in front of other.
The girls were quite shocked by Eini's tone of voice. They noticed that she was giving them a warning, but they weren't that interested from the beginning.
On the other hand, it had a devastating effect on the guys. After all, Eini was a very cute girl, nothing like they had imagined.
Seeing Shiba with her made them burn with anger.
"Miss, you shouldn't be with a weakling like him. How about dumping him and going out with me? I am already at Rank 1. I am the strongest one here. We could have a lot of fun."
A boy with bulky muscles got up and walked towards Shiba and Eini while licking his lips and moving his fingers weirdly.
He was already fifteen, and in that classroom, he was the strongest. Of course, there were stronger people in the academy, but since everyone chose what lessons to attend, none of the stronger ones were there.
Shiba attended quite a basic lesson, so it was strange to find people at Rank 1 attending them since students at Rank 1 usually learned it long ago.
He focused fully on increasing his level, so he was quite stupid, which made all the professors recommend him assisting theoretical lessons once he reached Rank 1.
Reaching Rank 1 was crucial, so the teachers would just ignore those who skipped theoretical knowledge to advance, but being too stupid would be a problem afterward, and they didn't want the students to sully the name of the academy due to them acting like illiterate barbarians.
"No way. Scram, you are too gross inside and outside."
Eini's words were fully honest. That boy looked quite ugly. That young face with that crazy amount of muscles didn't look good at all. It was one thing to have a proper amount like Shiba, but in excess, it looked too gross for Eini. Moreover, it was clear to her that he also had a bad personality, so she wasn't interested in speaking with him. She would burn him to ashes if he dared to try doing something to her or Shiba.
In fact, all the girls in the class had similar thoughts. If it weren't because they were weaker than him, they would have already beaten him for how he acted in front of them. He was quite a pervert, so he was quite known among the girls as someone that should be avoided. Of course, the academy had rules, but it was better to avoid trouble unless there was no other way.