I couldn’t help but smirk despite the pain as I realized I had been beaten black and blue by the same woman that had been moaning under the steady assault of my fingers after trying to get me drunk just hours ago.

The fact that her display of anger following her obedience in the morning gave an even more beautiful angle to it, especially since it suggested that the reason for her absurd reaction was less about the physical aspects of our adventure, and more about making my payback for her composure, thoroughly destroyed.

Of course, I had no evidence for the last aspect, but after the great number of encounters I had shared with several strong ladies with similar powerful backgrounds, I trusted my instincts to identify the exact nature of her feminine fury.

Pity that the sudden realization didn’t prevent me from rolling to the side, panicked as she charged toward me, no doubt not appreciating the slowness I displayed as I stood up, still leaning against the wall to make it look like I was exhausted.

This time, I had been — mostly — successful in dodging despite the limits I was trying to display, because this time, her charge was deliberately slow, giving me the time to roll away. Yet, even as I got away, she continued to swing her weapon with her full strength.

Her staff hit the wall with a great crash, leaving a big crack in the wall despite all the enchantments woven into the structure to prevent that exact outcome.

“Maybe we should take a break for a health potion if you’re going to swing your stick that hard,” I said, pushing an expression of fear to my face as I looked at the dent it left, the presence enough to break some of the enchantments through brute force.

Someone was really angry about their earlier defeat.

“If you are not man enough to handle my strength,” she said, followed by spitting on the floor, showing just how little she thought about me.

Admittedly, her attitude would have made me furious if it was the full extent of my capabilities she was insulting. Even now, it earned another big notch in the column that was keeping track of her eventual punishment. “Hey, don’t insult my manhood,” I fake-growled as I raised my hand, and a gesture later, one of the healing potions floated toward me.

I gulped it down. Its power started to stir — a particularly unpleasant mixture of fire and numbness — through my body, ready to cure my body. Their greater potential wasn’t the only reason that people preferred healers over healing potions. The nasty after-effect it left was certainly a part of it.

I turned my magic inward, making sure there was no surprise addition to the healing potion.

[+143 HP]

There was no surprise hidden, showing me that not-Delia was determined to teach me a direct lesson rather than relying on trickery, confidence that her new skills.

Though, just because the healing potion was clean didn’t mean the mana I gathered to check its content had nothing to do. Their short shelf life and their relatively limited impact compared to the healing spells wasn’t the only reason for their rare usage. They also carried a lot of little impurities that could build up unless destroyed, though destroying them without any damage required a significant precision that most healers lacked.

[-9 Mana]

“Why shouldn’t I?” she answered as I processed the healing potion, her smirk getting wider as she fell under the impression that she had gained the upper hand on our little competition.

An impression I was about to destroy with great enthusiasm.

“Because I’m exhausted,” I said, my smirk getting wider. “You can blame your slutty friend if you want to blame someone. She really exhausted me during breakfast. She’s truly insatiable, always asking for more—“ I started, only to be interrupted as I threw myself to the side once more, forcing myself to avoid a thrown staff, one that buried itself on the wall.

My eyes widened in shock, this time genuine. Her move wasn’t really dangerous for me.

For the fake level and capability I had been displaying, however…

“Come on, sweetie,” I said as I rolled away, creating a ward around me, just in time to intercept her kick, one that held back her attack. “Just because your friend has loose morals doesn’t mean you have the right to treat me with such aggression.”

[-291 Mana]

That hardly helped her anger, delivering several rapid kicks that drained the strength of the ward significantly — even though I cheated by casting the ward with a robustness that my fake identity shouldn’t be able to display.

Luckily, the same anger prevented her from noticing that little detail, especially with the current skill configuration she had been sporting.

A chill suddenly hit me, though, this time, it was less about her sudden fit of anger, and more about her complete lack of ability to recognize the irregularity in my shield. She was a living example of just how much I had been depending on the System for power.

I needed to cut my dependency on my skills, and there was no better time to do that than now. As she swung her fist against the shield once more, I roused my mana and blocked my own skill temporarily — choosing elemental magic as my target.

Then, I tried to hit her back with a gust of wind to push her back, trying to force a distance between us.

[-218 Mana]

Using that much mana for a non-aggressive spell, especially with my stats strengthening the assault, was supposed to slam her against the wall hard enough to leave her silhouette on the wall. Instead, she took a few steps back, giving me just enough time to reinforce the shield I created.

The limited effect of the spell was interesting, especially since I still had a great understanding of how to cast complicated elemental spells. That part of my understanding hadn’t been destroyed, yet I failed to cast the spell successfully.

It was like knowing the best way of traveling, optimal stops, the ideal pace, and the danger zones… Yet, if the ability to take a step disappeared immediately, all that knowledge went to waste, useless to apply.

I loosened the block, testing the rush of instinctual understanding that filled the gaps. With my Intelligence and Wisdom allowing me to pin the difference, I was able to identify several critical aspects.

And the rushing figure of not-Delia, ready to deliver another punch, was a perfect driver to learn. “You can’t even cast your spell properly,” she smirked violently as her fist connected with my ward once more.

The loss of instinctual learning was scary, I decided as I repeated the same wind trick after I blocked the skill once more.

[-196 Mana]

This time, I was happy to note that the distance between us almost increased to five steps despite her preparation and slightly lesser mana spending. “How about this,” I said with a smirk. “Much better, right? Maybe you’re not as scary as you thought you are.”

“Really?” she growled as she moved forward, attacking once more. We fell into a weird pattern, sometimes letting her attacks succeed, giving her satisfaction of making me hurt, sometimes deflecting her attacks.

[-2849 Mana]

[-619 HP]

However, after five minutes and a great amount of mana expenditure later, I was able to cast the wind spell with a satisfying proficiency. It was still below — if barely — the expertise I displayed when I had first completed the basic level of the skill, and that was with the great difference in the stats between the two periods.

Yet, the speed of learning I was able to achieve during the process was impressive, even if it came with wasting enough mana to kill her more than twice.

“That’s enough sparring,” I said after a while, doing my best to look exhausted in the process. With my regeneration, I had already recovered most of the mana I had expanded, but we were reaching a point that, even with her current lack of magical ability to accurately assess my spells, it was getting suspicious.

I let the shield fall, only to receive a surprise kick that sent me flying.

[-85 HP]

The kick was a surprise not because I lacked the ability to react. With my reflexes, her skills weren’t advanced enough to prevent me from reading her moves even if she pushed herself to the limit. And, with her perceived success of beating me earlier, she wasn’t even pushing her skills to the limit in the first place.

Yet, I let that connect, because it was an excellent excuse to push back. “I see, you’re willing to play it like that despite the consequences.”

“What consequences?” she said, a vindictive laugh exploding against the walls. “There’s nothing you can do I can’t handle.”

Unfortunately for her, my smirk was no less vicious. “As you wish,” I said. “You can tell Delia that you have ruined the cooperation that she had worked so hard to earn.”

The speed with her satisfaction melted away, replaced by a shocked expression, was a work of art. “W-what do you mean?” she gasped.

“I mean that our cooperation is over, completely. Not only I won’t help your princess in that mission, but also I’m going to stop working on the project. Have fun explaining that to Delia.”

“W-wait,” she gasped, her eyes wide. “You can’t do that!”

“And you’re going to ensure that, how?” I asked, enjoying the panic that was exploding on her face. And even better, with all of her skills geared for combat, she had no hope of reading that, or understanding the nature of my bluff.

“But…” she said, trying to find an argument, one that failed as I turned my back and started walking away. “Please,” she gasped. “I can apologize.”

I had to hide my smirk as she reached for the clasps of the leather armor she was wearing, panicked enough to reach the same solution that had secured my cooperation earlier, about to deliver the same thing that enraged her in the first place.

And, it would be a lie to say that I was not tempted to get that immediately, teaching her about the best way to take revenge. Unfortunately, that conflicted with my desire to resolve the mystery that surrounded them — especially since I didn’t dare to poke around in their residence, afraid of more surprises.

Luckily, there was a way to resolve both problems simultaneously. “Not like this,” I said with a shrug and continued walking, enjoying her surprise. “I’m going to take the rest of the day off, and tomorrow morning, I’m going to visit Delia for another breakfast. Either you be there as well, and both of you apologize, properly, or I stop working with the princess.”

I didn’t ask that just because I wanted a fun threesome where both girls worked hard to earn my forgiveness. It was just a nice bonus. I wanted someone else other than not-Delia to visit, so that I could work on deciphering their tricks with the assistance of a second person.

I smirked at her sudden silence, giving her a second to realize just how badly she had fucked up, before adding one last sentence. “And, feel free to go and complain to the headmistress if you want. I’m sure she’ll be very helpful.”

With that, I left her behind, confident that she would accept my request, my mind already on the best ways to handle the surprising freedom I had found myself enjoying.

[Level: 32 Experience: 499160 / 528000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 4891 / 6528 Mana: 4910 / 8000 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Master Craft [84/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (0/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia – Level 22/26]

[Helga – Level 22/26]