Waking up in my room, my brain quickly found its way back to reality, thinking about the strange man who called himself Mr. Laufeyson. His words had been strange, what harm could there be in absorbing mana? Could mana be different from other sorts of mana?
Granted, I didn't do all too much research on the subject as, from a first glance on the internet, there wasn't much information about it. Thus I had, maybe naively, assumed that it was something that humans of this world might have looked passed.
In the first place, meditating inside of a dungeon where your life was on the line was pretty crazy, so it wasn't as if it would be weird that people didn't do it. Though, there was no doubt that some nobles should have tried to at least make sure their heirs would have the possibility to do so.
Then there was the question of what the man who had 'saved' me was. In my mind, there were two different possibilities, one much more plausible than the other.
The first possible answer would be that he was just another human who was incredibly powerful or had an incredible Manual that allowed him to do things I couldn't imagine. There was not a chance in the world that, if this was the case, he would be an [S]-ranker.
However, the other answer I arrived at felt a lot more relevant and accurate. Mr. Laufeyson was a demon. I had already tried to feel his mana signature, but it was not like other humans. It was different, almost disgusting.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it. If I told anyone about his existence, there was a large risk that I would have to explain too much about who I was or what my Manual is. Also, if the demon wanted me dead, I would probably be dead already. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion was that he wanted to use me for something.
In my mind, all I had received from him were gifts so far. He had pushed me to rid myself of hesitation, something that instantly improved the quality of my new life and made me able to finally see a future. So if it turns out that his warning was legitimate, I would only have received another present from him.
"Haaaa... I wonder if he also took me home? Or did I somehow walk here on my own? Bah! I'm too tired to care..."
My tired head needed to rest after enduring all that pain and talking to the demon, but there was still one thing I had to do before I went back to sleep.
'Status.'
===Status===
Name: James Jackson
Rank: E+
Strength: F+
Agility: E+
Stamina: E
Intelligence: D-
Mana Capacity: C- *?*
--> Main Manual:
[Trickster - Ungraded] - Medium Understanding.
-Core Skill: [Double Trouble]
-1st Skill: [Swap]
--> Side Manual:
[Conjurer - Ungraded] - Minor Understanding
-Core Skill: [Conjure]
--> Elemental Affinity: Mist
->Elemental Skills (Affected by [Conjurer] Manual): [Dome of Mist]
==========
'What is that? And why didn't my overall rank increase? Shouldn't my stats be enough to justify a promotion?"
So many questions, yet I didn't have an answer for either of them.
First of all, and most importantly, why was there a question mark on my Mana Capacity stat? It was obviously a by-product after absorbing the mana from the dungeon, but what did it mean? Feeling my body, I could feel an immense increase in mana, but there didn't seem to be too much of a change in the quality.
'Is it that I didn't hone it properly? Maybe I am just a walking pool of inefficient mana now...'
It did sadden me that I might have conglomerated the mana inside of my body in a very stupid way, but the increase in mana was still enough for my needs. I just wanted enough mana to use my Skills without having to worry about running out of mana after all.
Possibly, in the future, I would need to put a larger focus on getting my mana more potent and increase the efficiency of my mana-based Skills, but for now, this was enough.
The second thing about my status was not as important, but it was infuriating! Even though my stats were clearly high enough for my overall rank to have increased, it hadn't, still staying at [E+].
It was still very good for a freshman at Ainu who had only attended the school for a month, but I wanted more! This was the life where I would excel, where I would get ahead of everyone and be able to live my life exactly how I wanted to.
'Does it not recognize my Mana Capacity as a true stat value? Do I have to hone it for the panel to approve of my promotion?'
The status panel was as weird as ever, making my forehead crease as I tried my hardest to understand what kind of invisible logic was behind it. In the end, I gave up. There was no way I could somehow just come up with some great answer with my head in its current state.
****
[Sophie's Pov]
"Aaaahhh! This is amazing!"
Feeling the warm water in the huge bath helped my tense muscles relax, slowly letting go of the tension that had ruled them for the entirety of the week, only getting more exaggerated by the dungeon dive yesterday.
It was a bit embarrassing to wear a swimsuit in a public space, as it was hard for the black fabric to contain my chest and bottom, but luckily, there weren't many students here.
Aside from me, Sarah and Adriana, there was no one in the bath.
Sarah, who was wearing a very cute and frilly swimsuit that hid her elegant curves well, and Adriana, who had put on a similar swimsuit as I, only it had some kind of silver decoration in the form of a tree of the stomach part.
"So, how was the dungeon? And how was James? Was he strong? He probably looked really cool..."
The human princess launched a barrage of questions when we had settled down in the water, her eyes shining with excitement.
'I wonder how quickly her interest would disappear if she knew what he was like...'
Still, I answered the girl, hiding my personal opinions so as to not upset her for no reason.
Letting my arms fall over the stones which supported our back, inadvertently making my chest float to the surface, I told her about the Monastery.
"It was pretty scary, to be honest. The smell of death, those creepy skeletons... It wasn't exactly pleasant. But they were pretty weak, it wasn't until we got to the boss that things got a bit difficult."
"You made it to the boss? How? Wasn't this the first time you went into a dungeon?"
It was my first time seeing Adriana lose her cool, obviously shaken by my casual words. Still, it wasn't to the point of standing up or yelling, but her huge eyes told the story transparently.
It was hard to not let out a smug smile, finally getting to see a genuine reaction from the professional actor of a princess.
"Yea. And as I said, it wasn't that hard. Most of the skeletons blew up with a single punch after all. Oh, and James also killed some."
To please Sarah, I did force myself to mention that James had also been a part of why we were so efficient. However, there was no way I would tell her that the way he fought was insanely cool, something I would have never expected from someone wielding a farmer's tool.
I had always found the pop culture on Earth where people used scythes as weapons to be silly, but James somehow made it look absolutely amazing.
Not letting Sarah open her mouth, Adriana continued her, somewhat, blatant interrogation.
"So? Are you going to challenge the boss next time then? Maybe you should bring Arthur just to be sure that you can take it down."
"Pfft! Hahaha!"
Although my chest created violent ripples in the water as I laughed, I couldn't stop myself. Her serious face when talking about how we would take down the boss 'next time' was too funny.
"What's so funny? Do you think you need to bring even more people? Did the bishop look that strong?"
Wiping a tear from my eye, I managed to settle down enough to inform her just how wrong her view of the situation was.
"Aah... Well, it's like this Adriana... We already killed the boss. It was really strong, but after destroying one of its legs it was easy!"
Now, there were two very astonished beautiful girls looking at me, neither knowing what to say.
Even with their mouths open, I couldn't help but take a moment and admire them.
They were both so cute and feminine. Adriana's delicate curves and pristine pale skin, Sarah's more womanly form, and her innocent face.
A wave of self-consciousness flushed over me, thinking about my own body.
It was, by no means, not feminine. I had enough softness to easily smother a man, after all, but there was a very clear lack of delicacy in my large body.
'I just hope Arthur can accept my body...'
In the end, we sat in silence. Two of us, too surprised to find words, and I, wallowing in self-pity.