It was Lily as she opened the door and came inside. Alex narrowed his eyes at this, he knows that he closed the door. So Lily just casually lockpicking the door with no problem. That was done to show Alex that though he might be stronger than her… she can still kill him if he goes back on his word. He can be eating, sleeping, or in the bathroom, when he has the guard down the most she will assassinate him.
Of course, she knocked this time too, so it was only a warning this time. Lily grew up on the streets, so she isn't someone who will trust someone like Alex who has made it pretty clear that their relationship is only a working one. It's more like a partnership, or employee and employer.
'She is street smart.' Thinks Alex, but he already predicted that she would do something like this.
In the end, he just puts his wand under his sleeve and turns his sack and ties it up putting it in his backpack. Alex has a calm look on his face as he does this, which infinitely makes her feel nervous. She knows just how dangerous Alex is.
Alex sees the look in her eyes and just sighs at this. "Lily, don't ever do something like this again… I want to trust you. So the next time you do something like this, or do some power move on me I will kill you."
Lily just snorts at this and doesn't say anything, she doesn't care if he kills her. She has already learned that Alex needs her so he definitely won't kill her.
At least that is what she thinks until… suddenly blood starts running down her nose.
She looks at Alex and sees a red aura appear around his body and his eyes shine red.
Though she feels a little fear at that, in the end, she doesn't buckle under pressure and just says. "I -If you want to kill me just do it already. Stop playing around and just do it!"
As she says that Alex stops his intimidating mana leaking from his body. "You are truly a hard customer aren't you…"
Lily just wipes the blood off her nose and replies with a smile on her face. "But you wouldn't have me any other way would you…"
Alex doesn't answer that as he just goes and packs some things while also taking some things from his backpack. As he does so he thinks. 'As expected, a hero's will isn't that easy to break. This will have to take quite a while for me to be able to have her under my control.'
He took out some knives from his backpack and put them on his bed.
He points at them and explains. "They are yours, also that red one… though a good knife, be careful how to use it. It's not as simple as it seems."
The dagger that he is specifically talking about is a red dagger with runes engraved into it and it has bloody energy around it. That was the Blood Sacrificial Dagger, the dagger which Alex took from the Blood Cult hideout. While his wand might be at novice level and only one-star equipment, the dagger is three-star and very good even among its star rank.
"It doesn't look simple anyway." Mumbles Lily as she goes to pick it up.
Alex on the other hand had a smirk on his face as he said again. "Well, it's even more complicated than it looks."
"Is that so?" Asks Lily, but Alex just nods at it, not answering her question.
Lily doesn't proceed with the topic anymore and asks another question. "Why did you give me this then?"
She mentions at the Blood Sacrificial Dagger, even she can tell that it is something too good to give to someone like her, who has quite a high possibility to betray him. She just couldn't understand the motives behind it.
Alex just smiles at this. "Well, I am only letting you hold on to it temporarily. If you want to truly own it then you will have to become my comrade."
"That still doesn't explain why you gave this to me." She twirls the red dagger in her hand and slashes at the air a couple of times.
Fwish! Fwish!...
Alex just shrugs at that. "Well, I want you to help me steal a certain thing from an old man. I am a mage so… you know not exactly the person for the job."
Lily nods at that, she might not be as smart as Alex and she realizes that, but she also knows how to steal and is confident in her abilities.
Alex takes out a paper and shows her a drawing of an overly curved horn and explains to her about how big it is and how heavy, even some of the places where it could be hidden with one place where it is most suspected where it is.
"So you use the chimney to come down and then go and take the horn under the dinner where the safe is." Explains Alex, he needs this dragon horn for the future. It will help him too much and with Lily's luck and talent, she should be able to steal it. But at the same time, just in case, he has put a blood explosion spell in the red dagger that he just gave her.
It of course won't damage the dagger, but Lily's body would be a different deal. Hero or not, people die when they are killed. Especially when a Rank 1 Thief is hit at point-blank with the spell of a Rank 2 Blood Mage.
….
Lily just nods and goes away after Alex explains everything to her. He couldn't wait any longer about the horn or the dwarf might decide to move away.
Anyway, as Lily goes away, he just lies down on his bed and opens the interface. Immediately he puts all of his exp to his Blood Mage Class.
He spends around seventy percent of his Exp to push his level from 8 -> 10…
He doesn't even need to think about it as he puts both of his new stats points into intelligence to nineteen togetegr with his perk which gives him plus one intelligence every level. Alex's mind expands again and he then even remembers a couple of things from his first life, like what he wore during his prom night and such.
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You have triggered 3rd Rank Advancement Mission
[3rd Rank Advancement Mission]
Mission Introduction: You will truly begin walking your journey now. Your understanding of magic has advanced even more and you are closer to the T.R.U.T.H...
Mission Requirements:
You need to have a 300 MP capacity
Learn 50 Rank 1 Spells
Learn 20 Rank 2 Spells
Reward: You become able to use 3rd Rank Spells, Blood-Horse Sacrificial Teleportation, 1 Random Perk Card.
_____________________
Alex examines the quest carefully, the quests for advancement are different depending on luck. After Rank 2, every other Rank has an advancement quest, though the quests are different and some could be hard or easy. It is a random assignment, and it can also be completed without the need to complete the quest by using the Quest Completion Card, which he knows where a lot of them are. But Alex can see that this quest isn't that hard to complete, though he will need to be in the Magic Academy to complete these steps.
'It seems like I will have to try and gather as much Exp as I can in here and then I can power level once I can level up again.' Calculates Alex as he thinks of dozens of quests in Gungai City.