I could have avoided the impact. I could have even frozen her midair using my gravity cage. I had other options that wouldn't have left me in this position—but… I simply let things flow the way they were meant to. My body hit the floor as I tried to carefully hold the person on top of me. The wooden planks didn't suffer a single scratch, and I saw some runes activate.

I looked at the person above me, who was laughing hard at her own mischief. Everyone around us had stopped what they were doing to stare. It was even worse when someone like her was the cause—someone known throughout the entire school and, according to herself, loved by everyone: Shawu Lizami.

"Where were you? We've been looking for you for about four hours." She was pouting, and I could smell a faint scent of wine or some other liquor from her breath. Her face was very close to mine.

"Sorry, some colleagues stopped me before I could come." I tried to get up, but my attempts were useless—she kept pressing me down with her whole body. I could feel her making herself heavier with her own mana.

"Are you sure?" She seemed to doubt me. Before I could prove my innocence, she leaned closer to smell me. "You smell like beer… and a little like a woman. Are you sure you were only with colleagues?" Her gaze sharpened, and I could feel her Imra trying to pierce mine to see if I was lying. Her attempts to break through my defenses were useless, and she frowned slightly.

I gave up under the pressure and allowed her into my Imra to see whether I was innocent or guilty. "I was drinking with some professors and walked a colleague to her building." Shawu looked even more interested. "Nothing happened. I left her outside the building and came straight here." After a few seconds, she finally believed me. Everyone around was still watching us and whispering.

"Can we stand up? We're attracting too much attention." She looked around and just shrugged, not caring at all. A few seconds later, she released her pressure. I decided to tease her back for the interrogation. I trapped her inside my gravity cage, reinforced with my Imra and powered by my Banner.

She was left suspended midair—luckily her dress was long, so no one could see under her clothes. She was curled up like a fetus, struggling to break free. My Imra was solid, clashing against hers until she gave up—but the problem came when she empowered her release with her Banner. At that moment, I let her go; pushing more mana into the ability would have caused new cracks.

"Hey, Maki! That wasn't funny." Shawu was about to punch my shoulder. Areci finally decided to act—she had been standing a few steps away all this time. Susan's daughter grabbed her friend by the neck and hugged her to calm her down. Everyone around us was still staring, now even more intensely.

Areci clapped loudly—loud enough to drown out the music—and everyone turned toward her. "Nothing happened here. Everyone, carry on." In that instant, the whole crowd went back to their partners or friends and pretended nothing had occurred.

"Areci, let me hit him. Maki just suspended me in the air like a sack of potatoes. He deserves a punch." Shawu made a puppy face at Areci, trying to get her friend to let go.

"You already knocked him down and caused a scene for quite a while. It's time to go to our table." Shawu lowered her head as if she'd been scolded by her mother. When she looked back up at me, I stuck my tongue out, which made her even angrier. Areci calmed her down with a single look. Now I'd have to be careful not to become the target of Shawu's next prank.

"How have you been, Maki? Come join us." Areci gave me a hug before inviting me along. Both were wearing knee-length dresses that fit their well-toned figures perfectly—though from the front, Shawu still looked like an eleven-year-old. Areci wore a coral dress with a red ribbon in her hair, and Shawu a cream dress with a matching bow.

I just realized—almost everyone had changed clothes; barely anyone was still in their school uniform. I felt a little embarrassed for still wearing mine. "Gladly. I was looking for you two anyway." Areci took Shawu's hand, made a small gesture with her other arm, and I pressed my wrist to my stomach to form a "D." She placed her arm there, completing the gesture.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

When we reached their VIP table, I noticed four people—two of whom I'd already seen with Shawu before. The other two were girls, and one of them looked almost identical to one of the guys—their faces were like mirror reflections, the only difference being their hair. Siblings, perhaps?

"Guys, this is Maki. I mentioned him to you a few days ago. He'll be joining us tonight—I hope that's fine with everyone." Since no one complained, I gave a small bow in greeting. "Maki, let me introduce them from left to right."

"This is Ogine, our team's support and healer." She was about Areci's height—around 165 cm, about seven or eight centimeters taller than Shawu. Her shiny black hair and eyes stood out, her small face contrasting with her body, and her eyelashes were enormous. Ogine smiled and waved lightly.

"He's Humyr, our tank." He was tall—over 190 cm—with a well-toned body that didn't quite reach bulky. Short, bright red hair in a military cut, and sharp brown eyes. The guy winked at me in greeting.

"Lastly, these two are Brak and Bruk—the twins. They're both attackers: she fights from long range, he fights up close." Their expressions barely changed; they gave a brief bow as an informal greeting. Both had black hair, though the girl had dyed the lower half of hers, and they shared the same deep blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you all. I hope we can get along well." Everyone replied and invited me to sit down with them. The twins were the only quiet ones, saying only "Welcome" and "Nice to meet you."

I sat between Areci and Shawu. The latter handed me a large glass of some kind of alcohol, pressing it against my face to make me drink. I accepted her challenge and downed it in one go. If she wanted a drinking contest, I'd give her one—she had already passed out once, and I didn't plan on losing tonight.

"Maki, I've heard a lot about you from Areci and Shawu. It's nice to finally talk to you." I stopped struggling with Shawu, who was trying to hand me another drink, to answer the tall guy.

"I hope they said good things about me." I joked, while Shawu poured another drink for us, but Areci elbowed me lightly from the other side.

Humyr laughed at me as I rubbed my side. "Yeah, of course—only good things. They've been praising your swordsmanship and sensory ability nonstop. Every time they talk about it, I feel like sparring with you or asking you to join our team." I looked at Areci, who met my eyes with a proud pose.

"If you ever invite me, I'd be happy to join you." I looked at each of them carefully, scanning them slowly—they were all at the peak of sapphire rank, like Shawu. Definitely strong. "I'd also like to train together sometime—it sounds fun." Ogine nodded, Humyr looked ready to spar right there, and the twins… well, they seemed interested but stayed quiet.

"By the way, Maki, we've never asked you this. When you enter a dungeon, what role do you usually take? Do you have a preference?" Shawu asked, now calmer after another warning from Areci.

A specific role? A preference? I'd never thought about it. "I don't know. I always go solo, and I'm good at handling every role." I answered without much thought—everyone had always praised my versatility, and I was quite proud of that.

"You go solo? Isn't that risky?" Ogine wasn't the only one surprised by my answer.

Before I could reply, Areci spoke first. "No, it actually makes sense. Maki has top-tier swordsmanship, an impressive level of Imra control, and a sensory ability anyone would envy." Areci touched her lips before continuing. "He also has an amazing healing ability." Ogine's eyes widened at that.

"Yeah, I saw him regenerate an arm shattered to pieces in seconds. His healing ability is on Ogine's level." She has life affinity too? I gently spread my Imra around her—apparently, she didn't notice. There were gaps where I could feel an affinity identical to mine.

"But that shouldn't be enough… sometimes you need to attack from long range, or you get surrounded and have to fight tooth and nail." Humyr had a point—against the ogres, I preferred long-range combat at first because being surrounded was too dangerous.

"Don't forget mana control—you need precise timing to cast spells at the right moment." Ogine had a valid point too. Areci was about to say something but stopped when our eyes met. She glanced toward my cube. I understood her message and nodded.

"I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'd say I'm pretty good at construction and mana manipulation." At that moment, I covered my left arm in ice armor using my War Architecture skill. I didn't hold back—showing both control and strength, even adding my Banner into the construction.

"An example speaks louder than words." I reused the mana from my armor along with my skill, Deadly Arcane Construction, to forge a Joyeuse. I had never felt my ice constructions so solid and powerful—the Banner was doing a great job. I let the sword fall, piercing my own hand in the process, then dispelled the construction once there was a hole in my palm.

Their faces shifted from surprise to panic. I could feel Ogine about to channel mana, but I didn't give her time. I healed the wound instantly, waving my hand to show it was perfectly fine. Thankfully, this kind of construction didn't damage my cube. I looked at everyone's shocked faces—Shawu's mouth hung open, and Areci was staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.