After getting the spirit boots, I decided to rest in the Spiritual Resting grounds until my injuries get fully healed.
This resting place seems to heal all sorts of injuries extremely quickly. My injuries should be healed within a few hours.
As I was resting, thinking of how I could get enough sleep to spend the next day normally, the System suddenly made a notification sound.
[Congratulations!]
[Your {Gravity Magic} has levelled up! {Gravity Magic III} -> {Gravity Magic IV}]
[You can now use more spells and the damage you do with your spells has increased.]
[Congratulations!]
[Your {Energy Magic} has levelled up! {Energy Magic V} -> {Null Magic I}]
[You can now use more advanced spells and the spell's effectiveness will be more.]
I stared at the notifications for a while before smiling like a maniac.
"hehehehe... HAHAHAHA! FUCKING FINALLY!", I exclaimed before jolting up with pain.
"OW! ouch... damnit... but this is huge, though!", I spoke to myself.
The reason for my excitement was quite simple. With Gravity Magic IV, comes the spell 'Psychokinesis'. It's a spell that constantly drains mana and uses the force of gravity to manipulate objects in the environment. It's something that later down the line becomes an absurdly overpowered spell!
Although it's useless if the environment you're in is flat or doesn't have any objects you can use the spell on. Also, in its current state, the spell can only affect objects that weigh less than 100 kilos.
Also, the spell can't be used like a burst, in the sense that you can't just push something away or pull something towards you. It's a spell that has to stay active for at least 1 minute on a specific object and you can't do things like crush something with the spell. It's merely a spell that grants you the ability to pick things up and throw them with your mind.
Which in and of itself is quite powerful!
Although it's still not as strong as any of the Protagonist's skills... But when I reach Gravity Magic X, I'll have the spell 'Implosive Ballista', a spell that can one-shot monsters like Death Knights. Now that will be a force to be reckoned with. Literally.
Also, the Energy Magic, or should I say Null Magic... will be quite helpful. With it, I got the spell 'Luminous Lasso', which is a kind of binding spell which is quite useful, and also 'Reinforcement' has now evolved into 'Enamel', which is a stronger version of the same spell with the added benefit of longer spell duration and lesser mana cost.
Speaking of Mana cost, it seems that even with Amaranth, My mana reserves are still lacking quite a bit... Unfortunately, there are no other artifacts or consumables that are within my reach right now that could help my mana reserves grow...
'*Sigh... the more days I spend here, the more I grow to become something like a glass cannon, which I definitely don't want to become...', I thought before lying down on the grass and waiting for my injuries to fully heal.
...
After an hour or so, my injuries were fully healed and I was ready to head back to the hotel.
Although my injuries were all healed as well as my mana was refilled, I was still limping and struggling to walk straight. It was because I was becoming extremely sleepy.
After another whole hour of limp-walking, I finally reached my room.
I immediately took off my robes, pants and even underwear, put down Amaranth and threw myself onto the bed.
I fell asleep instantly.
--- 4 hours later ---
*DING DONG!* *DING DONG!*
"Urgh... for fuck's sake... who the fuck is it...", I grumbled as I still didn't want to get up from sleep yet. I was so exhausted that I didn't even get any dreams or nightmares the previous night...
*DING DONG!* *DING DONG!*
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'm coming!", I yelled and slowly got out of bed.
I noticed my 'little big brother' hanging out and quickly grabbed my pyjamas from my bag.
"Please wait... I'm coming!", I yelled to whoever was at the door.
I put on the pyjamas and walked to the door.
"Who is it? Don't you know any mann-", I was interrupted by the sight I just saw.
It was Evangeline. She was fully dressed up, hair combed and all. Also, she did not look happy at all. Quite the opposite in fact. She looked pissed.
But as soon as she saw me for some reason, her pissed look suddenly changed into an embarrassed one and she jolted her head away.
"Wh-Why are you naked?!?!", she yelled, suppressing her voice so that no one apart from me could hear her.
"O-Oh... Um... I just woke up... Haha..."
"What?! It's 11:00 AM! Are you not going to the Forest trip?!", she exclaimed, this time looking at me directly.
"We-well... I didn't get much sleep last night...", I replied honestly.
At this remark, however, Eve's face turned into a worried one.
"Wait, why? Did anything happen?", she asked out of genuine concern.
"Ah, it's nothing too serious... I'll get ready right away. We still have half an hour left before we all leave, right?"
"No, That's not important right now. Let me come inside."
"Wait, no! You can't-", She didn't let me finish my sentence and barged straight in.
"What is this? Why are your robes so dirty?", she asked while picking up the robes from the ground.
"Hey! You can't just barge into the room of another guy and look through his clothes!", I retaliated and snatched the robes away from her.
"... What were you doing last night?", Eve asked. Her tone was serious.
"... Nothing really... just walking around the beach at night..."
"Was there blood on the beach?"
"What?"
Eve looked me dead in the eye. Her expression was half worried and half sad.
"Why was there blood on your robes?!"
"Eve, calm down-"
"Answer me! What were you doing last night?!"
'Whoa... she looks like she's about to cry...', I thought, observing Eve's expression.
"... I was out last night..."
"Where?"
"In the Mystic Forest."
"What?! Why would you do that?!"
"I found the clues of an Artifact that's located there. On the way, I ran into an unwanted visitor. I had to deal with them.", telling the truth was the optimal choice here. It would make a lot of sense since I was the guy who had 3 artefacts as well as a staff of my own so quickly.
"... And that's what this blood is?", she asked. Her voice was shaking.
"Yes."
"How could you do something so reckless, you idiot! You could have died! You should have at least told the teachers or even told me!", she yelled.
"... Eve... I think you're forgetting something..."
"What?"
"I am my own person. I have no obligation to listen to your demands and tell you what I am going to do next. I am not yours to command, do you understand?", I said in a cold, rather harsh tone. It needed to be said because it was true.
Eve looked shocked by my words but quickly realised that what I just said was all true.
She really looked like she was about to cry now, though...
"That said... I am sorry, Eve... for making you worry... I can't promise to never do it again, but, if you could, please forgive me if I do...", I said as I walked closer to Eve and put my hands on her shoulder, in an attempt to calm her down.
"*Sigh... okay fine... But you better not die, do you hear me!", she yelled again, which I thought was quite unnecessary.
"Oh and by the way, how are you? feeling better?", I asked.
"About what?"
"I meant that how is your progress on improving your mental state?", I asked with genuine concern.
"It would have been a lot worse by now if you got seriously hurt or even worse, died!", she answered sarcastically with a smile.
"I'll take that as a positive thing then.", I chuckled and took my hands off Eve's shoulders.
'For some reason, Talking with her is never exhausting... I wonder why...', I thought.
"U-Um... could you please wear something now? it's embarrassing...", her face flushed again but this time, she didn't look away from me.
"Ah right, haha. Sorry!"