Normally I don't pay too much attention to my own cooking. But after Licia had complimented it so much, I decided to give it my all to blow her away with dinner.
As such, it took a little longer for dinner to be ready than usual, but once I saw her excitedly eating it, I felt it was all worth it.
Licia: "Delicious! Why is it that the vegetables in your world are sooo good?!"
...Chemicals and stuff?
Although the quality of the ingredients was probably to blame, I felt quite proud that I managed to make her happy this way.
However, once we were done, I went back to my usual thing.
Although I did change the order a little.
Before, the gacha rolls came first since claiming the Kingdom Points didn't amount to anything.
But with Licia here, I claimed the 3 daily tickets I got this time due to hitting level three, and instead of doing the rolls, I claimed the 5 Kingdom points as well, as with Licia's two levels, I could claim 5 at a time.
Miwen: "I have enough points to buy you another change of clothes through my Gift, so be sure to select some okay?"
Licia: "Mhm... That's fine, but, are you sure you should use your Gift for something like this every time?"
Considering that I can get [Citizens] through the [Companions Banner], I'm beginning to understand how my Gift seems to work. Or at least, a strategy I could go for that would create some harmony between the [Kingdom] aspect and the [Gacha].
Yet, the Kingdom itself doesn't seem to strengthen me directly, or have any use.
I could have Licia live there if I stored enough points to buy a house, but... I already have a house.
Even though my parents are the ones paying for it...
In any case, I think the clothes are actually more beneficial to me.
If anything, it has the benefit of keeping Licia around as she builds a wardrobe.
The Kingdom has a bunch of things I can buy, especially facilities and buildings, as well as some miscellaneous things such as the [Random Seed Pack] that goes for 5 points, but... In the future, when I feel comfortable enough, what I really want to explore is the ability to expand its area.
For now, it's only a plain field, but... I wonder if by unlocking more space slots, something might happen or unlock.
However, since it might not be something good, and I can at least use the Kingdom as a safe haven, I don't want to touch that for now.
Another thing I wanted to check though was Licia's profile now that she was a [Citizen].
I was worried that I might discover something from there that would change the way I look at her and be hard to hide, but now that we have a little more of a friendship, I could probably excuse whatever I saw in there.
Still... if I was going to breach her privacy like this, the least I could do was ask for permission.
Miwen: "Licia, do you mind me checking your profile as a [Citizen]? It might give me a new insight about my own Gift and..."
Licia: "Sure... But... Share with me what you see, please... I don't want to be left in the dark..."
Quite fair.
If I saw anything weird, she might have an explanation for it too, so doing it like this prevented misunderstandings.
She was still a little awkward toward me. Especially when it came to making requests, but I was doing my best to show her that it was alright and that she could count on me.
And so, I focused on [Citizens] menu.
Doing this allowed me to see a list of the current [Citizens], as well as search them using a typical bar you'd see on a search engine online.
The only [Citizens] registered were Licia and I, and since I could check my status through the status menu, I didn't feel the need to check my own profile, going for Licia's instead.
However, my thoughts were very wrong. The [Citizens] menu showed something I wasn't expecting to see at all.
At first, it was fine. Licia's status showed that she improved her speed and that her Gift also boosted her strength and mana pool, as she had explained previously.
However, there was something unique in her profiler.
A menu for [Loyalty]. This contained a sliding bar, with a red color at the left end that faded into a green one at the right end.
A black marker was on top of it. In Licia's case, between the start of the green side and its end.
No numbers appeared, but if I had to say, it was about 70% toward the green end. Maybe 75%.
This kind of relieved me a little. Summoning her from the [Companions Banner] didn't grant me any safeguard, so if I wanted to invest into the... kingdom-building aspect of this Gift, something like this was crucial and a big advantage to have.
Although I had no metric to know how much this meant for our relationship, it was obvious that being in the green was good. As long as I don't get her in the red, I probably wouldn't have to worry about schemes or betrayal.
Aside from that, my second advantage in building a kingdom was the [Desires] menu.
Since I was reading out loud everything, Licia asked me with a blush on her face not to peek at it.
This was playing, and there was no way I'd be able to do it while she begged me with such an expression.
And yet, I did it anyway without telling her.
Just a quick glance.
However, this wasn't as good as I had previously thought.
It only showed a word.
[Hide]
Judging by the situation, instead of a deep dive into a person's heart, it simply showed what they wanted the most at the time.
A little underwhelming, but it's useful.
Since I was being so thorough, I decided to also look at her skills, even though she had already told me what she had.
And that's where I discovered a game changer in the [Kingdom] menu.
One that made it really enticing to get as many [Citizens] as possible.
On her skills tab, there was a little button on top with the word [Share] written in it.
There wasn't something like this when I had checked my profile previously, so it caught me off guard.
I decided to take a look at my own profile to see if this button appeared there too, and...
Yep, as if it was the most natural thing, the button appeared there as well.
It was quite interesting, so I decided to try it.
Once I did, a list with the registered [Citizens] appeared. However, only Licia's name was in there.
When I selected her name, her skills appeared as well, right next to mine.
However, while mine were selectable, hers were not.
I was unsure what would happen, so I decided to test on a useless skill first.
Licia: "You don't need to worry, I'm also curious, so on with it!"
However, someone was a little too excited to try it.
Once I selected [Faster Tree Climbing], a pop-up appeared, asking if I wanted to share the skill with Licia.
Upon hearing my words, she nodded at me, and I went ahead with it.
Miwen: "Can you check your skills real quick?"
Licia: "Sure. Oh hey! There it is!"
Miwen: "Let me guess, you got a new skill?"
Licia: "Yes! It allows me to... well... climb trees faster."
Just like that, her excited voice became monotone.
Miwen: "I see, well, be careful alright? With great power comes great responsibility."
Licia: "...?"
Her not catching such an easy reference bothered me to no end.
I decided to make her watch movies with me whenever I had the chance.
Miwen: "But this is strange, I've maintained the skill in my status. Did I just duplicate it?"
Licia: "Seems like it. Can you do it again?"
Miwen: "Let me check."
I entered the [Citizens] menu once again, and while looking at my skills, I noticed that I couldn't select [Faster Tree Climbing] again.
Either it was a one-time thing, or it was unavailable due to both of us having it at the same level.
In any case, I could still select the other skills.
Licia: "Now try the reverse! Share one of mine!"
As curious as a kid who found a new toy, she quickly regained her excitement. She just couldn't wait to play more with my Gift.
But well... I was also quite interested in testing this out, and since she was the one requesting I decided to take one of hers.
They were all pretty good, but the ones I was most interested in were the [Mana Control] and the [Swordsmanship].
Those two are quite well-known skills, and a must-have depending on your build.
Since I can't choose skills to unlock for myself, I couldn't pass on the chance of getting them.
As a side note, even without a sword, [Swordsmanship] is still useful as it boosts the use of bladed weapons in general. However, it also acts as a specific skill, so only by having a sword can one get to make the most out of it.
Both of them had a cost of only 1 Kingdom Point to share, which was the same as the [Faster Tree Climbing].
However, grabbing the two of them at the same time made Licia upset at me for the first time.
Licia: "I never said you could take two."
Miwen: "My bad, listen, I'll give you one more of mine then."
In my mind, that would make us even, but...
Licia: "No fair."
Miwen: "Hm? Why not?"
Licia: "The first one was a test, so it doesn't count. Also... [Faster Tree Climbing]? Even if I was fighting an ent, I don't think this would be useful at all."
Pfft.
She really wasn't able to hold back.
It was the first time she had such a selfish request, and I could not get mad at her.
I was already planning on spending the 5 Kingdom points on her, and with something way more trivial too, so...
Miwen: "Fine, you win. What do you want then?"
Licia: "Hehe. You're so kind, aren't you? I want... [Movement Speed Up] and [Enhanced Drop Chance]."
She really seemed to like this type of thing, once I agreed, she couldn't even hold back how happy she was about it.
Miwen: "Why the [Enhanced Drop Chance]? I thought for sure you'd take [Physical Prowess]."
Licia: " [Physical Prowess] costs mana, and I'd rather use it on [Ice Magic] if need be since my current mana pool doesn't allow for much."
Reasonable. Smart, even.
Between the two, she's probably more used to [Ice Magic], and with her mana limiting her, using what she's most comfortable with is probably the most effective.
Licia: "Also, there's a gigantic advantage in me also having [Enhanced Drop Chance]."
Great. She was also thinking about the group as a whole.
Miwen: "It's the area of effect right?"
Licia: "Exactly. With the two of us boosting the same area, the effects should be increased, making drops more common."
I'm not earning enough to make a living out of the dungeon as of yet, but if I choose this path, having Licia and this skill will make things way easier.
Our plans seemed to align since I was planning on giving her this one whenever I had a spare Kingdom Point.
This ended up being a nice experience. My Gift wasn't telling me anything, and a few things I'd have to discover by exploring.
The Kingdom Points for example just went from useless to a hot commodity, and my overall power increased quite a lot in a single move, although it was only possible due to Licia starting out with good skills.
Still, there was a lot to do before calling it a day, especially since I had yet to do the gach rolls from the tickets I had claimed.