We arrive too late for dinner. The dining hall is already closed. However, the cooks take pity on the two of us and let us eat something at a kitchen table, basically whatever was left over. We eat quickly and in relative silence. Afterward, we say goodbye and head off to sleep, rest, and recover mana.

I am walking through the halls of the female dormitory when I run into Mary.

"Hey, hi," I say. "You're back already? How was the trip?"

"Yes, I made it back for dinner. We missed you. Poor Vincent seemed to have taken it personally that you didn't let him come along," she says with a smile.

I look at her.

Is there some double meaning here?

After the girl talk we had, it's possible that she's trying to set us up, even if it's painful for her, since she likes him too.

Mary is just too good-hearted.

"Well, like I told him, he would have been so bored. I spent most of the time practicing with the bow, and I finally mastered it," I explain, trying to change the subject.

"That's great! Congratulations, Bianca."

"Thanks."

"But I don't think he would've been bored. Just like you sent him to walk around the city with me, you should let him spend time with you too. Otherwise, how's the boy supposed to figure out who he likes?"

She says it while blushing; I think saying something like that must have cost her. But yeah, it's basically what we agreed on the other day. Only I've been pushing him toward her, and she's probably doing the same.

I smile at her.

"And Ronan and Tom as chaperones? No... He did the right thing by going off to earn points with Theodore and Darius. In fact, we didn't even manage to complete the task we took on; we were too busy practicing."

"I see."

"Come on, tell me, how did it go for you?"

"It's confirmed that it must have been Baronet Cedric Thornspire, who rules a small city called Brindale. I don't know if you've heard of it." I shake my head, and she continues. "Well, it's within the marquisate of Theodore's father. The thing is, there have been three more disappearances in Plinks, not just Bob's daughter. They suspect one of the blacksmith's two apprentices, who fled. Bob's wife, the mother of the kidnapped little girl, went looking for her. The last thing her parents heard was that she arrived in Brindale. You can't imagine how badly the old couple is taking it, and as for the little girl... I don't even want to think about it."

Mary grows more and more distressed as she tells me, and it is clear that all of this affects her deeply. In the end, her voice breaks, and I think she is very close to letting a few tears slip out. She must notice it too, because she stops and takes a few breaths to calm herself down. Then, with great determination, she says to me:

"I'm going to go. Theodore is going to help me; we can go see the baronet and stay at his house since our friend is the marquis's son. He'll give him another reason for our visit so he doesn't get suspicious."

"How are you going?"

"In his carriage."

Wait...

"Are you riding with Theodore in his carriage?"

"Yes."

"Alone?"

"Uh… yes."

Yeah...

"You can't. I know you're a commoner and don't have a maid to accompany you, but this is basic etiquette. Didn't you notice how, on the way to and from the dungeon, you and I always shared a carriage?"

Mary nods, looking a bit confused. Like me, she´s only been at the academy for a little over two months; I think she still hasn´t gotten used to the etiquette and social norms of the nobles. Well, neither have I. But the rule that a marriageable young lady must not be alone with a man is pretty basic.

An idea occurs to me.

"Don't worry, I'll lend you my maid to act as a chaperone."

Anyway, I hardly ever use her services. As a woman raised on Earth, middle class, I refuse to let a maid dress and groom me like I have a disability. Well, if it´s one of those dresses with a corset, fine, because I cannot tighten the laces on my own. But that is it.

"You have a maid?"

"Yes, she lives in the servants' quarters. I'd say she's living well, too, because with all my studying and training, I hardly ever call on her or give her work. I have her more for status than anything else. My mother would've had a fit if Berta weren't here with me. Oh, that reminds me, when I first arrived at the academy… Sol's carriage was ahead of mine, and I saw her arguing with the guard so she could bring two maids with her."

Mary stares at me in silence, and from her expression, it seems she is solidifying her own conclusions about what it must be like to be born a noble. If only she knew...

"Well, I'll let you sleep, Mary. Tomorrow's going to be a long day, and I'm exhausted from the dungeon." I say as I say goodbye.

And I'm not saying anything that isn't true, because what a dungeon, and what a troublemaker I have in that little wolf cub. He didn't activate any secret level, but he almost gave me a heart attack when I thought he had. I have no idea why he would do that.

Was he trying to see me sprawled on the floor? And was there actually something to activate? I doubt I'll ever get an answer to the first question, but the second one, oh yes, I'll definitely investigate that.

"Of course. Goodnight, Bianca. Rest well" sweet Mary says to me, and we part ways.

I head straight to my room.

My roommate is not there. She must be on a mission.

Good.

I need a shower, which in this world means asking Berta to fill the wooden bathtub with hot water for me. Look at that, I do make some use of the maid after all.

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While she prepares the bath, in the small room attached to our dormitory that only Judith and I have access to, I check my level up.

I am level 9, with a total of 3190 XP. Doing some rough math on how much experience each wraith might have given, I think between 40 and 60 points, because I know how many I killed myself, but with the wolf it isn´t as clear. Obviously, the cub, with the small percentage he gets from my kills, isn´t going to level up. But he killed quite a few bats, so I ask him to let me see his stats sheet just in case. He hasn´t leveled up yet, but he already has 29% of the experience needed to reach level seven.

Regarding the XP wraiths must give, there is something that catches my attention and strikes me as odd. I believe that a mummy from the desert dungeon gave around 5 XP, and a boss like the naga, how much? 200? 300? 1000? I don´t know. My estimates for that dungeon were that the golem must have given around 2000 XP and the scorpion around 8000. Obviously, the naga boss would have given less. If it were around 200, then four wraiths would be worth the same as that boss. If it were 1000, then twenty. That sounds like an exaggeration. If in the desert dungeon I earned 3218 XP and here I´ve gained around 1000… How can these wraiths give so much? I guess it´s because they are lethal. If they immobilize you and drain your mana... you are dead.

It´s making me want to forget the mission and just farm wraiths instead.

As for the stat point from my new level, I´m still unsure.

Now that I´m fighting so much with the sword, due to my specialization, maybe I should try to increase my weapon damage. Catrina told us in one of the early classes that the damage with a weapon depends on whether you have mastery, the level of that mastery, and your strength. If you don´t have mastery with the weapon, your damage will always be one. If you do have mastery, it varies with a table that is similar to magic for low affinities.

Well, and if you used a two-handed greatsword or a heavy axe, the base damage was also higher—two in that case. Meaning, depending on the type of weapon, the damage could vary.

Since my maid is still bringing buckets of hot water (no, she is neither a water nor a fire mage. Something normal, considering she is not a noble), I get up and grab the Principles of Physical Combat book and search for the page.

Sword Mastery:

Mastery level/ Damage points

No Mastery

Minor

Low

Intermediate

High

Advanced

Master

Grandmaster

Legendary

Mythic

1

0-∞

1-9

1-8

1-7

1-6

1-5

1-4

1-3

1-2

1

2

 

10-18

9-16

8-14

7-12

6-10

5-8

4-6

3-4

2

3

 

19-27

17-24

15-21

13-18

11-15

9-12

7-9

5-6

3

4

 

28-36

25-32

22-28

19-24

16-20

13-16

10-12

7-8

4

5

 

37-45

33-40

29-35

25-30

21-25

17-20

13-15

9-10

5

In the book, the table goes from one to five points of damage, but that doesn't mean you can't deal more damage with higher strength or mastery. They just didn't extend the table. Of course, who would even be capable of dealing six points of damage? For example, with my current low mastery, I would need 41 strength.

Alright, going back to my decision, I won't deal two points of damage until I have nine strength. When my mastery reaches intermediate, it will only take eight. Right now, I have five strength, so I'd need three level-ups just to reach eight. By then, I hope to have intermediate mastery already. These masteries are relatively easy to acquire, but leveling them up is a different story. And the higher the level, the harder it gets.

I´d love to deal one more point of damage with the sword, but honestly, I´m already dealing way more thanks to the channeling and to the Legendary Sword of the Queen Mother, which gives me +1 magical damage for each type of damage used in a single attack.

Yes, thanks to that sword, I´ve better options than just raising my physical strength. One is to increase my fire channeling to deal more damage, and another is to figure out how I can apply more than one channeling to my sword.

Because I haven't forgotten that, according to the aetherblade's description, I´ll eventually be able to imbue the spirit element into my body, my gear, and my spells. So that limitation of not being able to imbue my body with fire might change. And so might the restriction on applying more than one channeling to my sword.

Honestly, for an otome game, the level-up, magic, and combat system is really complicated. A warrior with high mastery in the sword needs 7 strength to deal two points of damage, and 13 strength to deal three. And I am dealing a total of five, because the calculation I made for the fire-channeled arrow also applies to my sword.

Five.

A warrior with high mastery and no magical items would need 25 strength to achieve that.

25, with how hard it is to level up at higher levels.

Holy crap!

With this whole spirit magic thing, I´m starting to feel like I´m cheating.

I am a mage, but when it comes to damage, I might even surpass the most seasoned warrior in the kingdom. I don´t know. Although, it´s true he would probably beat me in a duel fought only with swords, since he knows actual combat and fencing techniques, unlike me.

No way!

"Almost ready, my lady," Berta says as she enters with the last bucket of water.

"Give me a couple of minutes, I will be right there."

Alright, that snapped me out of my stupor. Well, I´m definitely not putting that point into strength. Intelligence it is, to boost my channeling damage.

With earth and fire, I have intermediate channeling. With 8 points in intelligence, instead of the 7 I had, I now deal 3 points of damage instead of 2.

That will make a total of 6 with an arrow or a sword strike (or a staff hit, or any weapon I choose, as long as I have the legendary sword equipped).

I smile.

I don´t know what kind of terrible threat I´m supposed to be preparing for, but I´m beginning to see a clear path ahead of me. It feels like all the other humans are League of Legends minions, and I´m a fully fed level 18 champion.

If I keep getting stronger, I´ll be able to protect the entire kingdom, not just my friends.

Bianca L'Crom

Race: Human

Age: 18

Level: 9

Constitution: 7

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 8

Agility: 9

Wisdom: 10

Health Points: 7

Mana Points: 10

Magic Affinities:

Elemental: Earth, medium level. Water, medium level. Fire, medium level. Air, medium level. Spirit, high level.

Non-elemental: Light, medium level.

Skills:

Low runner: Passive. +2 Agi. Run 20% faster.

Low sword mastery: Passive. +2 Str. Wielding a sword feels natural.

Minor Bow Mastery: Passive. +1 Agi. Fighting from a distance with a bow feels natural.

Low scholar: Passive. +2 Wis, +20% memorization speed.

Mana Control: Passive. Mana fully regenerates after 20 hours, provided the user has eaten and slept for at least 7 hours.

Spells: High earth control. Intermediate earth wall. Minor stone bullets. Low fire arrow. Low breath control. Low splash. Low healing. Low light orb. Minor channeling with water and air. Intermediate Channeling with earth and fire. Minor flash. Minor meditation.

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