I was seriously dumbfounded. Who was this dumb bimbo? She really didn't care that they both almost just died. Even one scratch from those tigers would kill as their magic would have burst into your body. The magic that those tigers use is called 'Gale Wind' and it only takes effect once they scratch you. The wind goes into your body through the scratch and explodes inside of you, most times killing you instantly. The only people who survive it are those who are scratched on their extremities, and even then they lose whatever extremity it scratched.
It really was an awful death, and it destroyed the prey so the tigers tended to not use it unless it's against a difficult opponent, they needed to eat after all. I shook my head just thinking of what could have happened to the two of them. Just seeing two people die in front of me would have been traumatizing, but seeing them both explode? That would have been horrifying.
"Anyway," The man spoke with a resigned face. It seemed that he was somewhat used to this behavior from the woman so he gave in quickly. "Thank you for saving both of us." He said with a bow.
I shook my head. "It was no problem, I just happened to hear her scream so I rushed over." I pointed at the mage while I said that, emphasizing that it was her scream.
She turned bright red and looked away from me. I observed her while she did that. It was the first time I had looked closely at her, and realized something. She was an elf, her long ears gave her away. She had very pale white skin and silver eyes with bright green hair. If Princess Elizabeth's hair was the color of a pine tree's leaves then this elf's hair was the color of freshly mowed grass.
The man started laughing at my statement, which earned him a few hits from the elf. I looked at them confused for a moment before the man explained, laughing between his words. "She screamed because of a mushroom, not because of the tigers." He finally managed to squeeze out, breaking down into laughter afterwards.
I looked at her in sheer amazement. She was totally unafraid of the beasts, but was terrified of a mushroom? She felt my gaze and looked towards me, her face still crimson. "L-Look, it just surprised me okay? Just forget it…please." She added the 'please' quietly at the end, looking seriously scared about me judging her.
I snickered before sticking my hand out for a handshake. "I'm Caesar, first year. Who are you two?" I asked, keeping my hand outstretched.
The man took my hand first, shaking it heartily. "I'm Daniel! It's my fourth year, and I'm in the 'Junior' course." He let go allowing the elf to take my hand. She daintily shook my hand for a moment before pulling her hand away. "She's Amelia, an elf as you can see by her ears which are currently bright red." That earned him a kick. He doubled over as she kicked him right in the pit of his stomach.
"I'm a fourth year just like him." She spoke, taking over the sentence as Daniel was unable to speak for the moment. "Also in the 'Junior' course. Nice to meet you." Despite her abusive behavior towards Daniel she seemed like a kind person so I smiled and responded with my own 'Nice to meet you'.
"But what's a first year doing in the 'Junior' forest? Even we struggle here and we just got admitted to the 'Junior' course." Daniel asked, having fully recovered from the kick to his stomach.
"Ah, yeah. I'm a 'Hero', so I grow much quicker." Truthfully, I wasn't supposed to be here, not being a level twenty five yet and not having a party. But my stats were much higher than my level would indicate, whether due to the Holy Goddess or some other reason I'm not sure.
Amelia's eyes lit up. "A 'Hero'! Really?!" Her hands, which she previously quickly pulled away from contact with, reached forward and grabbed mine. She pulled my hand up close to her chest, almost like she was praying with my hand between hers. "Please be my friend!"
My eyebrows raised in shock. Seeing my confused face, Daniel facepalmed and shook his head before explaining. "She's been really interested in the 'Heroes' ever since you all were summoned. But she was unable to just burst into your lives since you are sacred existences, so she just waited."
I looked back at Amelia after hearing his explanation. Her eyes were sparkling in wonder and amazement just looking at me. She was really pretty, and would be worth being friends with, so I smiled and nodded. "Sure, I'll be your friend."
She let out a small yelp of excitement, jumping up and down. Her body wasn't bad either, despite her breasts being small. Her hips were wide and her but was a nice size. "I really want to know all about the world you came from, like everything!" Her eyes continued to sparkle, hope evident in her eyes.
I chuckled before stopping as an idea occurred to me. I smirked, "Sure, I can tell you everything. Let's set a time to meet with just us two so I can. It will take a long time to explain even the basics." Her sparkling eyes practically glowed at my response.
"Yes, yes! Of course. When are you free?" She was really excited about it. I smiled, I was also excited, but for a different reason.
"Well, usually I'm free after I hunt everyday, what about you?" She tilted her head and tapped her chin in thought, dropping my hand as she did so. It took a moment but she finally seemed to figure out something as she once more took my hand in hers.
"I'll be free at night! We could even do it tonight!" I smiled, she was definitely overeager, but I didn't mind. It made things easier for me anyway. I looked over at Daniel with a fake apologetic smile.
"Is it alright if I borrow her at night? It's the first time someone's been this excited about my world so I really want to talk to her." I subtly made it difficult for Daniel to include himself, making it seem like she wanted it to be just me and her. It worked, as Daniel just smiled at me and nodded his head not even trying to include himself..
"Thanks!" I said with a bright smile, trying to act as bright as possible. "Where should we meet? I would prefer some place quiet so we don't get interrupted…" I let the sentence trail off as I spoke, tapping my own chin in thought. They were fourth years, so they knew the campus far better than me. If there was some quiet place we could use they would know.
"Yep! We elves actually have an extra room on campus just for us, so that we can relax on our own for a while. It's because growing up in the woods we spend a lot of time alone so the Academy had to accommodate that. Especially since the dorms have more than one person in them." It seemed that for the more common people the dorms were shared, what the other 'Heroes' and I got were the more expensive dorms for nobles. "It's really nice inside too! They have elven furnishings and everything." I smiled. It was the perfect place for what I wanted.
"Then we'll go there, shall we meet up there after dinner?" Amelia smiled brightly and nodded. I smirked, letting my greed show for a moment before quickly covering it up and instead smiling brightly to match Amelia. "Good then I should get back to hunting."
Amelia kept her hold on my arm as I tried to walk away. "Wait! Maybe you can hunt with us?" She spoke in a small voice, seemingly scared that I would refuse. I wanted to, as I wouldn't get as much exp in a party, but I wanted to develop trust with her more so instead I agreed. It was fine, I had two steady sources of exp already anyway. Besides, the exp gain that I got from the tigers wasn't great to begin with, I got far more from doing it with Hannah and Jez.
The hunting went off without a hitch, there were no more close calls now that they had me there to take some pressure off. Amelia's magic was very helpful as well, so I took the time to look at her stats with 'The Eyes of A Pervert'.
Name: Amelia
Class: Nature Mage
Level: 27
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 25
Wisdom: 28
Charisma: 28
Skills:
Expert Nature Magic
Elven Longevity
Mana Conversion
Herbal Vision
It seemed that lightning magic was contained within the 'Nature Magic' skill, which was a little confusing as I thought it'd be a subset of fire mage. I figured I should ask her about it later, maybe she would be able to explain it to me. But I put my curiosity aside, it was time to split apart from them for a while. We had just exited the forest, and reentered the Academy.
I had grown decently close to both of them in that time, just as I had wanted. Amelia hugged me goodbye before running off with Daniel following close behind, waving at me behind him. I smiled and waved back, walking towards my dorm. The plan we had agreed on was to eat immediately after the hunt and then meet up at the place after an hour.
I arrived at my dorm quickly, Hera was already cooking in the Kitchen. I smiled at her and thanked her for making me food before heading to my own room. I had to make sure my 'Stamina' skill worked, but thanks to partying with the others I couldn't. So instead I needed to do it now. I dropped down and started doing push ups. Thanks to my increased stats I could do well over a hundred of them before I even started to feel it, so I sped up and tried my best to tire myself out.
It took over thirty minutes of the fastest push ups I could manage before I finally felt the skill activate. A notification popped up in my vision.
[Skill:Stamina Activated]
[State:Fatigued being neutralized]
[Skill:Stamina Level Up]
I stopped, laying on the ground. Despite the skill kicking in I was still tired, it seemed to revert me to the state just before becoming fatigued which was still a state where I was tired. The skill deactivated as I laid there, detecting that my motion had stopped. A wave of exhaustion spread over me. Even just that small amount of fatigue had built up and washed over me all at once. The side effects of this skill were rough at these lower levels.
Fortunately, I was able to confirm its use. And I was able to do so before I met up with Amelia. I let myself rest for another ten minutes before leaving my room to eat. Truthfully, the food was done twenty minutes ago, but I was too busy doing push ups and Hera didn't want to bother me so she just waited. I ate quickly, thanking Hera once more before leaving. I was really excited for today.