"My dignity..."
The time was day.
I was looking up to the sky like a philosopher who was questioning the meaning of life.
It seems like, in the process of gaining precious things, I also lost something precious.
Everything was fine when Bianca said she was worried about me.
In fact, I feel touched to know that there was someone out there who cared so much about my well-being.
But why… why did she ask to sleep together?
'No, that much is fine… The problem is her other request.'
Why did she even ask to take a bath with me and wash each other's backs?
'This isn't right…'
No matter how much she treats me like a cat, in the end, am I not a male?
There's no problem if she went back to her dragon form… but didn't she stay in human form?
And a really pretty human girl at that.
'It's true that I'm just a child at this point, but… you know?'
My soul is that of an undergraduate student.
Sure, even in that world, it wasn't long since I was considered an adult, but…
'I reap what I sow, I guess.'
In the end, this is also the result of my past decisions.
I had previously chosen to gain Bianca's favor, even if it meant I had to act cute or do things to make her happy.
'Plus, we are teacher and disciple.'
Didn't they say your teacher is your second parent?
I don't know what will happen after I become an adult, but for now, I fully intend only to see her in that way.
'Right. It's fine if I just endure it.'
I nodded with a newfound determination.
'Well, I've rested enough. Let's continue the practice.'
Unlike usual, what I'm going to practice today is not swordsmanship or my other fighting skills.
'Whew. Here goes.'
It was when I activated my auxiliary skills.
[White Dragon Vision]
The world suddenly transformed into a collection of words and numbers.
It was a skill that lets you see the essence of things.
If you have ever played MMORPG, it's one of those identification skills that lets you find information about whatever you see.
Apparently, I can adjust how I want the information to be presented, too.
For Bianca, she sees the world in colors and shapes.
For me, the world appears in words and numbers.
This is probably because I am used to seeing the status window and all kinds of information screen from my time as a player.
The drawback is that words are slower to process than images.
'Because I have to read them.'
Which is why Bianca's method was better and faster.
She could instantly find what she wanted to know, even in the midst of a hectic battle, because the information she needed was presented visually.
'I can't do that just yet.'
As efficient as it is, I am still at the early stage of learning.
I should take things one step at a time instead of rushing impatiently.
'Of course, there are other effects befitting a legendary grade skill.'
Finding enemies' weaknesses, finding someone's true nature, perfect memory, you name it.
'However, due to my proficiency being too low, this is the most I can do.'
Unfortunately, there are negative side effects.
'My head hurts.'
It's a skill that doesn't consume mana, aura, or any other resource.
Heck, it can even bypass abnormal status ailments and special fields where it's forbidden to use a skill.
However, due to the large amount of information that was suddenly coming to my brain, the mental load was no joke.
Bianca told me that it's only hard in the beginning.
So until my proficiency increases, I think I will get a headache whenever I use this skill.
'Calm down. If I narrow my focus, I should be able to filter only the information I need.'
I deactivated the skill for a moment, took a deep breath, and activated it again.
For now, let's look for the herbs.
I looked at the ground and began to move forward.
Bianca hid a rare herb somewhere in the forest.
It was disguised with magic to look like the grass I'm currently stepping on.
So unless I activated the skill, there was no way for me to find it with my current abilities.
'But where is it?'
I had been walking for quite a while, but if it was like this, wouldn't I stay in the forest until dinner?
'Let's think of another way.'
Rather than filtering the grass one by one, maybe there's a better way.
'Ah, come to think of it. If it's disguised with magic, then… Can't I just detect the magic?'
Of course, normal grass also has mana, even if the amount is minuscule.
Because, unlike aura, mana is everywhere.
But since this was just a test, Bianca surely must have made it solvable.
'If it's affected by magic, then there should be more mana on that herb compared to the rest of the grass.'
So, if I can just filter the skill to only work on objects with mana above a certain threshold…
'This could work.'
I immediately put my idea into action.
After failing several times, I finally found the herb I was looking for.
'It was this easy...'
I feel like an idiot for struggling so much.
But now that I learned how to do it properly, I'm confident that I will never have to struggle when trying to accomplish similar tasks in the future.
I picked up the herb on the ground.
Immediately, the disguise came off, and a flower with icy blue petals appeared.
'This is…'
It's a flower that would make you smarter if consumed.
It sounds like a scam that would work great for moms who want their children to enter a good university.
But in this fantasy world, what would normally be considered a scam could very well be genuine.
This flower is one example of that.
"Bianca, you're watching, right?"
"Yup."
Then, Bianca suddenly appeared on my side.
She was squatting next to me while resting her chin on both palms.
"Was that perfect stealth?"
It was another auxiliary skill she taught me.
"Handy, right? Even traps and magic tools couldn't detect me. If you're at my level, then you could even hide others and fool fate."
"Fate?"
"There's such a thing."
She smiled.
"Anyway, congratulations. I know the skill has been hard on you, so I prepared this as a gift."
Really… She was so considerate when it came to me.
"Now that the practice is over. Let's go home. You look quite dirty from all the walk too, so I'll help you clean up, hehe."
Of course, it's ruined because she says things like this in the end.
"Haha."
I could only give her a weak laugh.
In any case, she's a good teacher and someone I'm grateful to.
Certain parts are a bit disappointing, but isn't that true for everyone?
'Right. Let's just accept it.'
I prepared myself for what was to come and walked home with Bianca as she talked happily about this and that.
Surprisingly, our walk home doesn't feel too bad.