[Sophie's Pov]
"So how do I spend the rest of the day then?"
In a world of superhumans, I was surprised that somehow Arthur was out for the count after our drinking session yesterday, meaning we couldn't spend the day sparring as we had planned. Thinking back, it was truly a great evening, full of laughter and joy. Heck, even James appeared to let out a couple of genuine smiles every now and then.
'I wonder how things turned out after we left. It would probably do him some good if he had someone to cherish.'
Having talked to Sarah before we invaded James's place, I knew that she had resolved herself to at least try and talk to him, and let him know that she was interested in him. Still, I didn't think it would necessarily be that simple, she was quite the innocent princess after all, even if she had made some great progress this last week.
Also, Arthur had shown such a different side to himself at the end of the night, his drunk mind pained by something I assumed to be the memory of his past. It had hurt me all the way to my core, seeing the one I adored with tears in his eyes, stuck in the fragments of time.
This was what I assumed was the real reason why he wanted to keep to himself today, the embarrassment of showing weakness as a result of drinking too much. However, I didn't care at all about that. I just wanted to comfort him, hold in my arms and tell him it was fine. Alas, that was something for the future.
It was a while since I just laid on my bed and let my thoughts wander, having been almost always busy doing something. If I wasn't attending class, I was training. If I wasn't training, I was hanging out with my new friends. So with that realization in mind, I decided that maybe it was time for me to have a day for some 'self-care'.
So I slowly began thinking of my deepest desires, letting my mind accept the guilty pleasure that I would allow to consume my body. It didn't take long until I had removed the student uniform from my body, letting the silky soft sheets envelop my massive curves, and opened my laptop in order to stimulate my eyes.
It felt so good, the rush of dopamine surging in my body, my heartbeat speeding up to make sure my body didn't miss a single second of the pleasure. It was too much, it was just too intense. So I couldn't stop myself from letting out a soft moan.
"Ahn!"
'Ice cream truly has to be god's gift to humans!"
And with that, I continued to devour the tub of strawberry ice cream while watching some stupid show that was popular in Mensch.
****
[James's Pov]
"[Detonate]!"
*BOOM!*
Almost all of the skeletons in the Monastery got decimated all at once, using my incredibly efficient new Skill. If the monsters gave EXP in this world, I was sure that this was the way to game the system, abusing their incredibly limited intellect to bait them into a cloud of mist, which I then made explode.
Emptying my mind, I sat down with both of my bodies and started to meditate, making sure to try my best to notice if something felt off. However, this time, it felt even more natural than ever, as if my body was even more attuned to the frequency of the dungeon's mana.
It was hard to stay focused and ignore the excitement that was building from feeling the massive amounts of mana that I sucked into my body, but I stayed strong.
*Ding! Ding! Ding!*
After a couple of hours, the alarm I had set on my digital device went off, throwing me out of the meditation session. This was the countermeasure I had thought of to prevent myself from falling too deep, just to make sure I wouldn't accidentally lose myself in the sensation.
Standing up, it was finally time for a rematch with the bishop, another attempt at getting the item I wanted from him. Sadly, just like with the Ring of Ascension, there was no information about it on the internet, making it pretty obvious that it was incredibly rare. However, it wouldn't hurt to at least try a couple of times.
It didn't take long until I was inside the dark, gothic church, with my eyes plastered on the small skeleton that I knew would transform as soon as we initiated battle. But I had a plan that I thought might work wonders.
Using [Materialize], I transformed sub-me into Bobby, while at the same time summoning Matt in the form of a wolf as well. 'Maybe I can trick people into thinking I'm a [Beast Master] or something...'
I felt pretty cool with the two pristine, white wolves around me, both looking majestic, fierce, and cute at the same time.
'Let's go!'
Making a coordinated attack, I dashed with both my furry clones towards his skinny, right leg, and before he could react by transforming himself, both of the wolves had latched their jaws around his bones.
"[Detonate]!
*BOBOOOM!!!*
A massive pulse of energy surged out, debris and dust erupting from the floor successfully covering my vision. Gritting my teeth when the disgusting sensation of dying, times two, I also dashed forward to make sure I could end the life of the boss as quickly as possible.
When the dust settled, I saw the pathetic skeleton of a boss lying on the ground, with both of his legs, as well as an arm, missing. Focusing my mana into the scythe, making the blurry mana envelop it, I swung downwards, lodging it in his skull. When the strike made contact, I used another [Detonation] to blow up the skull from the inside out.
*BOM!*
The sudden explosions and the finishing blow had been too much for the boss to endure without enlarging himself, there was no chance of survival.
Having finished the fight, I let my body relax. "Hurgh! Huff, huff!" As my combination was executing a combination of dry-heaving and trying to recover, I sat myself down. Because my mana pool was almost empty after using my abilities consecutively, I took the opportunity to meditate for a bit while waiting to see if the item I wanted would drop.
It didn't take long until the pieces of bones had disappeared, and a pair of boots had taken their place. Inspecting the black boots with my smartwatch, I was conflicted. On one hand, it could be pretty useful. On the other hand, it wasn't the artifact I had been seeking.
[Footwear of Safety]
Description: No one wants to die! Use these to keep yourself safe in case of danger! These boots will let the user instantly dash 5 meters backward. When all the uses of the active ability are depleted, the boots will disintegrate.
-Active Ability: [Retreat!] 3/3 uses
It was very likely that this artifact may come to save my life in the future, therefore the difficulty in being mad at not getting what I had come here for. Also, the design was pretty great. Black and sleek, lightweight boots, which matched pretty well with my student uniform.
Although it was possible to 're-design' an artifact, although I had no idea how they did it, it cost a lot of money to do so. So it was quite lucky to find something that didn't stick out much, making it hard for anyone to notice that I wasn't using the assigned boots of the academy.
==========
Having finished my dive before night had fallen, I took the chance to get a look around GCM (The silly abbreviation I decided to use for The Great City of Mensch).
It was such an insane difference from Essen, with the capital being almost completely modern, with the only exception being the huge palace in the middle, with its traditional castle-like appearance contrasting every other building.
However, there were also the occasional more fantasy-looking buildings, like taverns or smithies. It was hard to get used to seeing a small stone building located right next to huge hotels or apartment buildings.
I couldn't recall if the game was like this as well, having spent all my time just progressing my character instead of looking at cutscenes or reading dialogues. Thankfully, I had my smartwatch which was guiding me to the destination I had in mind, so it didn't take long until I was standing in front of a small, wooden cottage.
Reading the sign, I could confirm that this was the right place for me to find what I was searching for. [Elemental Resources]
As there was no teacher at Ainu who could teach me about the mist element, I used a couple of forums to try and see where I could find more information about the element. In the end, this was the place most people recommended, saying that although it wasn't all too popular of a store, it had a pretty big variety of useful stuff.
Opening the door, I was met by a very strange sight. My expectations of the inside reflecting the outside were completely blown away when I saw the very modern facility, resembling some kind of combination between a pharmacy and a library.
Behind the white counter stood a ridiculously energetic, white-haired woman. "Welcome!"