{Korina's Room, Mage Academy of Efthimia, Kingdom of Solovok}
...
We both stared at each other for a brief moment; before I could make an excuse or try to elaborate on my suggestion to make it less impulsive, she nodded as she ducked her head, hiding her expression from me as her pink locks flickered like a veil. She turned around and walked out of the bathroom. I followed her after a moment of collecting myself.
'She agreed? Girls really agree with unreasonable requests for cleanliness, huh? That didn't turn out so bad, right?' I reassured myself. Thankfully, she hadn't taken my words the wrong way.
"So you came from a Mage family?" I asked as I walked out of the room. Keeping the conversation flowing was an ideal way to move past the awkwardness, and besides the obvious reason for me to get on her good side, she might end up being a greater source of information outside of classes.
"Yeah, my father went through the Mage academy; my mother is a warrior, though, so I guess you could call us a Mage family, even though, in essence, we are not one," Korina replied as she was looking at her wardrobe, which was surprisingly full of clothes.
'If we were allowed to bring so many clothes, then why did I only have a spare set? If I was expected to live in the academy for a long time, then wouldn't it be better to have more clothes or other necessities?'
"So you know a little bit more about the {Processing power} and other stats?" I questioned. I got some information from Emilios's memories, and some from the class, but anything more is always welcome.
"Well, Professor Marios already talked about the {Processing Power} and the {Memory} stats. I guess I could tell you a bit more about the rest of them." She spoke aloud, almost as if contemplating if my request was too much.
She pulled out a couple of soft pink towels from her wardrobe and put them on the table. She finally asked, "You know, with each level up, you get two stat points to use, right?"
I nodded, that much information I had gotten from my memories. "Well then, normally, mages put all of those points into {Processing Power}, as putting them in other stats is simply a waste. The other stats, specifically the physical ones, need to be trained. You could do exercises and other types of training to increase every stat except for {Memory}."
She went back to her wardrobe and continued explaining, "Strength is obvious. It is the amount of physical damage someone can do or resist. See to us, Mages; this is a very important stat, and even though most of us don't ever like to enter the range of a warrior's charge, the strength stat, if high enough, can mitigate some incoming damage... You see the letter grade at the end of each stat, right?" She asked after pausing for a moment.
I nodded at that, then realized she was facing away from me, so I replied, "Yes."
"That letter is like a grade or tier system. If your strength is at F or F+, I'm guessing. Then when you attack someone with a lower grade of strength like, say, F-, you gain a 10% damage boost to every attack. The difference in these boosts is not that high within the letter grade, but the boost or damage mitigation jumps to +50 % per difference in Tier. So against an E-grade strength warrior, you are toast. Against a D grade, don't even think about it and surrender. Maybe you'll survive?" She tipped as she pulled out a pair of white lace underwear and swiftly put it in between the towels. All the while, she avoided eye contact with me.
"So, between your mom and dad, who's stronger?" I asked, curious about how the power dynamic came into play.
She gave me a weird look as she turned, another set of the Academy's black robes in her hands as she laid it on top of her gathered clothes.
"Father, of course. If Mother gets the drop on him and he doesn't suspect a single thing, then she could win, but a Mage wins almost every other time, especially those trained by the academy. With the {Blink} spell that only the academy and the Royal family have access to, and with his higher {Processing Power}, Father could easily teleport away, and once he gains enough distance, the fight would be over." She was quite sure of her words, and I couldn't fault her on that, though the spell she talked about did catch my attention.
"That {Blink} spell, it sounds like a teleport magic, so does your father have space affinity?" I guessed space affinity should be a thing, right? If something like Metal Affinity was a thing, then Space should be as well.
"Of course, when you spend four years in the academy interacting with portals, everyone gains at least a basic grade Space affinity by the end of their fourth year when the spell is taught. Though a naturally occurring Space mage is very rare, they are quite coveted by any faction." She spoke as she picked up the clothes she had gathered and walked over to her bathroom. She came back with a bar of dry soap in her hand, and then she nodded.
"Let's go," she said, and I nodded my head in reply. The walk back to my room was brief. The hallway was silent, as everyone had likely shut themselves in their rooms. I opened the door to my room and welcomed her back in. This time, she was less curious about my room, so I quickly opened the door to my bathroom, which had an identical layout.
My gaze once again scanned the runic scheme. It had some similarities with the ones in the lamps. At least the starting rune was the same. I debated whether I should try my stunt again of standing under the shower while I interacted with it but decided against it. I turned to look at Korina, who was looking at me curiously.
"Apologies, but from what I can tell, I could start the shower, but I would have to get sprayed with a few drizzles in the process. Do you mind if I take off my shirt, at least?" I asked, even if my hands were already opening up the buttons of my shirt. Her face reddened as her eyes drifted down a little bit.
It took me barely a moment to undo the bottoms and remove my shirt before I extended it to her, "Can you hold onto it for a moment?"
As she wordlessly grabbed onto the offered shirt, I turned back to the shower and tried my hardest to hide the smile on my face. From the distracted look she had, I guess my gambit had worked. If there was one thing I never complained about Emilios, it was that he was quite buff, not unlike Alex in that regard.
Hours upon hours working in the forge with my 'father' had not only slightly darkened my otherwise pale complexion, but muscle lines could easily be seen on my arms and chest. Even if I didn't have a six-pack like a bodybuilder, my new body was in perfect shape, as far as a human from my past world was concerned.
I focused on the rune scheme once again. Games aside, I do need to help her figure it out. The connection this time came quite easily. The instant I touched the 'O' shaped rune, I could feel it click. With a simple burst of mana, the switch clicked just with the lamps. I ducked my head and stepped aside as a burst of clear water was ejected by the shower. It was ice cold, and I shivered.
'Fuck, who wants to take a bath in that? Isn't there like a heater or something?' I frowned.
"What happened?" I heard as Korina questioned my movements.
"Nothing, just give me a minute," I mumbled before I looked at the cold water tapping against the floor.
'Okay, I need a new plan. Should I let her take a bath in this cold shower? Maybe she'll get sick, and I could, you know, nurse her back to health or something...' The thought barely lasted in my mind for a second before I pushed forward. I had to let the water spray on me for a couple of seconds, and the cold caused me to shiver as my finger made contact with the same rune. I closed it off.
The water immediately trickled off, letting me work. I still took a step back to dry the water from my hair and looked back at the runes. Not knowing the language sucked, and I made a mental note to take a look into the library later today.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" She asked again, this time taking a couple of steps forward until she was just behind me. I turned back and clearly surprised her, as her eyes took in my wet face with water dripping down my chest.
"The water was too cold. You would have caught a cold," I replied.
"I could have managed, " She frowned as she sighed, put her clothes above the basin drawer, and took one of her towels, extending it toward me.
"It's okay. I need to see how I can change the settings for this thing. There is supposed to be a heating system on this thing, right?" I asked, and she nodded. She pointed at one of the runes that looked like an amalgamation of weird dots and lines (ᚠ) and spoke, "Try that one. That's a symbol for Fire or heat."
'Huh, of course, she would know the language; her father is a Mage.' I sighed before I touched the rune. I instantly felt another connection and repeated the process; this time, the connection felt a little different. I poured more mana through, widening the connection. This one felt like a dial, and once I had it switched to the max, I dialed it back down a bit.
'Don't want it to burn. I don't know how hot this thing could get.' I thought as I flicked open the switch once again. As I stepped away, once again getting sprayed by the shower head. The water this time was warm, a little too warm than I would have liked, but nothing that should burn.
"Try it. I can change it a little if you want," I said as I turned to look at Korina. She gave me a puzzled look once again before she pushed the towel against my chest. I stepped away as she extended her hand against the drizzle of water.
"It's good." She nodded as I took a step back. I put her towel down on the nightstand and walked over to the door.
"I'm gonna close the door, and it will lock, okay? Just knock when you are ready, and I will open it?" I asked, and she nodded. Her face blushed slightly.
"Alright, I'm going to go wait. Don't take too long, okay? I need a shower before the next class, too." I teased as I closed the door behind me. The smile drained from my face as I walked over to my wardrobe. The warm water did help a little, but the back of my head was still feeling cold.
'She didn't seem freaked out, so I guess it wasn't so bad,' I thought as I pulled on my towel and started ruffling my hair and wiping my chest.
'It should take her a while to be done with shows; from the looks of it, she seems easy to get along with. But I'm not looking for a relationship, and she looks like a sweat princess type girl... But then again, I'm really not sure if the one-night stand culture is even present in this world or not. I don't want to ruin my reputation on the very first day...'
I walked over to the bed and sat down. Opening my stats, I looked at the new skill and the changed experience.
...
[Name: Emilios Charis]
[Level: 1(20/50)]
[Mana Pool: 577]
[Mana Regeneration: 0.23/s]
[Experience Pool: 0]
[Class: Basic Earth Mage{Common}]
[Magical Affinities: Tier-3 Earth{Uncommon}]
...
[Physical Stats:]
[Strength: 6 {F}]
[Speed: 5 {F}]
[Dexterity: 8 {F+}]
[Vitality: 10 {F+}]
...
[Mental:]
[Reflexes: 7 {F+}]
[Processing Power: 39 {D}]
[Memory: 23 {E+}]
[Vision: 6{F}]
...
[Skills:]
[Earth Manipulation{Common} Lv-1 (23/50)]
[Mana control{Uncommon} Lv-2 (21/100)]
[Meditaiton{Common} Lv-1 (23/50)]
...
[Spells:]
[-]
...
[Lust Points: 0]
[Lust Shop]
...
'This wasn't so bad. I got 20 Exp for leveling up Mana control from level 1 to 2 during the class. I would level up myself a couple more levels. I should use the stat points on Processing Power, right? Expand the advantage that I have?' I put aside the questions about my future build as I clicked on the new skills to see what info I could glean.
...
[Mana control{Uncommon} Lv-2 (21/100)]
[The ability to control and manipulate your Mana.]
[Mana Control: 11%]
...
[Meditaiton{Common} Lv-1 (23/50)]
[Allows access to a trance-like state that increases both Mana Regeneration and Mana Control by 10%]
...
'What's up with these short ass descriptions? Give me something more.' As I grumbled about the lack of information I had, I still closed the status window and pulled the luminous crystal out that I had gotten from today's class.
'No need to waste time and Mana. The sound of the knocks will break me out of the meditative state anyway.' I thought as I focused on grinding my Mana control.
...
*Knock Knock*
The knocks broke me out of the meditative trance. I pulled on my status screen, put the crystal on my bed, and walked to the bathroom door.
'I almost got a whole 10 EXP points in Meditat-' I opened the door and froze, my eyes locked onto the copious amount of exposed flesh in front of me.
"Can you close the shower? I need to change, and the water is making it very difficult." Her face was red as she avoided eye contact with me after the first look. Her hands clutched onto her side as she pressed the towel against her body.
...
"...Uhhh." I was a bit surprised by the opportunity, and it took everything in me to restrain myself from trying anything.
'Did my luck change after the transmigration?'
...
---------------------------------
AN- The first few LPs gained in the next chapter.
P.S- 4+ Chapters and Korina's bath-towel photo on P.atreon