*Huff**Huff*...
Inside a large room with nothing but a bed and a drawer, filled with intricate royal patterns, a guy with silver-white hair wild on his head, and electric blue eyes filled with contemplation, was doing push-ups.
'So, no matter how much I work out in the dream world, no matter how many times I die there, I won't get affected on the outside? Not even a bit?'
It was Alex, and right now, he was talking with Sophie about some rather serious topic.
It was about why he felt no hint of tiredness even after the workout with Sophie and the fight with the monsters in the tutorial dungeon, and Sophie's reply to that was simple.
[As I said before, no matter what you do in there, it won't affect your physical body on the outside. For your physical body, you are simply sleeping; all that's happening is a dream. But as the system's name suggests, it helps you use those dreams.
But still, if you were to die a lot of times continuously, then it might affect your mind, making you feel fatigued all day long because even if you are dreaming, dying is scary. So just like how it happened with, um, well, this night, your body would still feel the mental stimulation.]
She explained it to him, giving him a short and concise explanation, letting Alex understand what she wanted to say. She did shutter a bit at the end because she was still feeling a bit down about the wet dream incident.
'I see, so I just don't have to die.'
Alex, on the other hand, just shrugged. If he wasn't going to face any backlash for all the time, he could spend honing his skills in the dream world then what else could he want?
Even if he were to not clear the dungeons and just use the dream world to master his abilities, then it was worth it.
He could have the knowledge of those skills, and how to make better use of them, so it was all good. But since he had the dungeons, those clearing them could help him power up, making him manage his time better.
With how it was right now, he could use most of his time the day on things that needed him to be awake, for example, gathering more information about several things related to the plot, and in his dreams, he could fight monsters, clear dungeons, and get stronger.
*Knock**Knock*
But just then, breaking him out of his thoughts, two knocks were heard from the door of the room, making Alex, turn to look at it, his body still moving up and doing, counting the number of push-ups, waiting for the person on the other side of the door to speak, and soon...
"I'm coming in, Alex."
'Huh? Mom?'
The voice belonged to his mother, making him stand up straight with a frown as the door creaked, revealing Vanessa, who directly entered the room with Mira following her from behind, only to freeze for a moment.
Alex was standing bare-chested, with a white towel already draped over his shoulder, covering his sides, but his compact chest muscles and his defined abbs were clear for one to see, and Mira, with her ever-dead eyes, was doing exactly that—staring at his muscles.
"Good morning, Mother."
Alex, however, soon nodded his head, greeting Vanessa, who just stared at him, sighing in her heart, 'He sure has grown.'
She really couldn't get over how fast children grew. But all she could do was mutter things on the inside and not on the outside—she was just incapable of showing it all on the outside.
"Good morning, Alex."
But, as she should, she greeted him back, walking closer to him, followed by Mira, who just couldn't take her eyes off Alex's toned abdominal muscles. She wanted to touch them for some reason, but she felt like she shouldn't.
Just thinking about doing it was enough to make her feel strange tingles in her body—something she had never felt before.
"What brings you here so early?"
Alex, on the other hand, decided to directly jump to the main topic. Vanessa coming to his room like this when she clearly knew that the first thing Alex does after freshening up is coming to her, was a concerning matter.
She probably had something important to tell him.
As for Mira, he let her be for now. She wasn't that important to him right now that he would waste time mingling with her when there could be something really pressing his mother wanted to tell him.
"A candidate pope from the church of Life is coming to see you, bearing their concern for your well-being, accompanied by a high-ranking healer to heal the mental stress you are feeling."
Nodding her head, Vanessa also didn't play with words and directly told Alex why she came in right now, informing him that the matter was related to the church of Life.
Alex, hearing it donned a serious expression, not wasting a minute of their time, spoke, "When are they arriving," he waved his hand, gesturing for Vanessa and Mira to sit on the bed, "and when did you receive this information?"
This matter was not something he could just wave off. Church of Life was one of the main contributors to the plot of the novel, and it was not without a reason, they had that much influence and power, so their making a move was a matter to think about.
Especially when they were sending a candidate pope was the one who was being moved.
The candidate pope is the being who is like the crown prince of the empire. The only difference was that there was just one crown prince in an empire, unlike the candidate pope—there were 5 of them, and if one of them were to die, they could be replaced.
"They will be here in an hour at most, and the message was delivered just now," Venessa, taking a seat on the bed, nodded her head, answering Alex's question, staring at his back as he walked into the bathroom, nearing the sink to wash his face, only to pause when he heard her words, turning to look at her with a frown.
"I wished to refuse, but just now, I received a call from Brother, requesting me to welcome them into the mansion."
As if she knew exactly why Alex was frowning, she continued, making Alex's frown deepen before he turned toward the bathroom again, going ahead and washing his face, his mind reeling with many scenarios of why the emperor would want the candidate pope to be welcomed.
*Splash*
He, still wearing a frown, splashed some water on his face, thinking of ways in which he could exploit this situation, making the best use of it.
Vanessa and Mira, on the other hand, sat on the bed, their gaze fixed on Alex, who took the towel off of his shoulder, whipping his face with it, letting them have a look at his ripped back.
"Which one of them is it?" Still whipping his face, Alex questioned, looking at Vanessa's reflection in the mirror ahead of him.
"Vestian Holdstaffen," Vanessa replied, looking into his eyes in the reflection, her expression as cold as ever, not fluctuating during the entire conversation.
Her words, however, made Alex raise a brow in surprise before a look of realization came over his face.
Everything suddenly became clear to him, making him turn toward Vanessa with a smile, already having a plan prepared in his mind.