She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Each time her eyes closed, the same image appeared. Her dreams, starting to become monotonous in their meaning, made an appearance almost every night.

Because of that, Juliette found herself together with her blade more than ever. She used her sword training as a way to forget the visits of the fiery red fairy.

Her sword cut through the air in a perfectly straight line, her stance smooth and firm with every swing. The concentration exuding out of her was impressive beyond recognition.

Undisturbed by any force, she had yet to notice the colorful butterflies that sat around her arms. Because of the smooth movements, unperturbed, they persisted in staying there.

Countless swings had passed, but her eyes remained closed. Focusing purely on the current swing she was performing, her thoughts wanted to waive off. Towards the cute fairy engraved in her mind.

Suddenly, her sword sped up slightly, as though trying to slash the vivid image.

Juliette heard as something flew past her ears, making her eyes open up. The beautiful butterflies flew away along with the leaves of an oak. A light breeze brushed the light, long hair of hers.

A heavy breath left her mouth when she finally realized how weary she had become. Clueless how many times she swung the sword because of the lost sense of time, Juliette mused it had to have been at least a few hours because of the intensity.

Then, why did the sun move so little? She wondered, but couldn’t come up with an answer. She hadn’t had such a good time with the sword for a long time now.

“Did I make you wait long?”

She said to no one in particular. Beside her, a red-haired boy was lying on the grass, watching her swing the sword in that silver-white armor of hers.

“Not really. Besides, watching a swordmaster’s training gives plenty of insight in itself.”

“You must have low standards if you think I’m a proper swordmaster.”

“Aren’t you a definition of one? You can control and manipulate aura, especially around your sword. That’s something only masters know how to do.”

Her eyes lingered on him with sorrow surrounding them.

“That’s not always the case. At least, by the standards of the guild. Though, now I’m sure they didn’t raise my rank because of my nature.”

Still, the ache on her face quickly subsided, a prominent smile replacing it as she added.

“Well, it’s not like I care. The sword I wield is strong enough for me.”

‘Just wait a little longer, Julie.’

Conall thought to himself as she helped him get up from the grass. He was sure the surprise he prepared for her would suffice plenty, though he still had a long time to go for it to happen.

“So, are you ready for today’s sparring?”

“More than ever.”

Hearing his reply, her smile further deepened. She couldn’t really hide that she was enjoying their little spar sessions. Allowing her to understand the ways of the sword better by battling a real human, she experienced somewhat of a growth spurt in her own ways.

On the other side, Conall also benefited. Sparring at the end of each of their lectures, as well as during the weekends, he was practically always fighting against a much stronger opponent, one who was two whole grades above him.

Although she receded her strength for him to keep up, it didn’t change the fact that he was fighting a machine of steel. That just meant there was still a lot he had to improve.

To the surprise of Julie, he was learning her fighting style lightning quick. It was purely because of his absurd growth that little by little, their spars started to look more like real battles.

Swiftness and guile hence took over. Both him and his partner did all they could to gain an upper hand in the fight, though they stopped if the attack could have been lethal.

An approach of sophisticated savagery. Fight to kill until one actually would die.

Cold sweat appeared on his cheeks while dodging an attack. Moving slightly to the right, the blade barely missed, but before he could think of approaching her, her hand twisted.

With the sword spinning back into its original place, in the blink of an eye, she swung it yet again, diagonally this time.

Deflecting the sword with his fang, Conall thrust it towards her right shoulder, only for her to move it backward. Another strike followed underneath him, and Conall had to step back.

A few steps away from her, he gripped his longsword with both hands, looking at the cold face of Juliette. She also stood in her distinct stance, one leg and shoulder forward, left arm behind her back while the white sword faced him.

‘Why is she so harsh today?’

It wasn’t hard to notice, especially for him, who started to get used to her attacks. The speed of the attacks was faster while being even more precise than usual. At the same time, it seemed deliberate?

Although they were in the midst of a spar, he could tell that the look on her face was sharper than usual. He felt it earlier, with her eyes appearing rather cold, but Conall merely thought she was still recovering from the intense training.

Not able to form a new thought, he was forced to dodge yet again before a ferocious sensation neared his abdomen. Striking the punch away with a quick guard, he jumped up.

Though it was almost inaudible, he swore he could hear a tongue click as the leg sweep failed. Nonetheless, being stuck in the air for a fraction of a second, Juliette used it to her advantage.

Thrusting the slim blade of her rapier, he could only block it with his own. Shocked by the force, he felt the wind oppose his back. Then, he felt his clothes dampen after hitting the surface of the lake.

Delving deep into it, Conall raised himself as quickly as he could, getting some of the water inside his nostrils and mouth.

The girl was rushing towards him, despite the fact their sparring turf changed drastically.

“If that’s what you want.”

Hearing him speak under his nose, she sped up, venturing slightly into the realm of the first gate. As unfair as it was, he didn’t care.

“Why did you meet up with Professor Silvana yesterday?”

Getting caught off-guard by the sudden question, he almost took on the attack which would have penetrated right through him.

Yet, when he spoke up, it was her who got embarrassed instead.

“So it was you who was stalking us!”

“A-ah! No! I didn’t! I wasn’t even remotely close to you. I-I just saw you leaving and returning to the academy grounds together!”

As though to shake off any remaining shame, she slashed at him with her rapier roughly.

However, he wouldn’t just leave the matter like that. Easily dodging the blade, Conall counterattacked.

“Yet, you watched everywhere I went. Are you sure you ‘just’ saw?”

Continuing to stutter, she couldn’t believe he saw right through her.

“Y-you! Even if I did, I didn’t go to the capital to observe you! It was an accident at most.”

While talking, they continued to fight, but it was unbecoming to call it a proper spar or battle. Not actually focused on the opponent, the two of them attacked just for the sake of it.

Seeing her so sheepish all of a sudden, Conall couldn’t help but tease her slightly, but it quickly backfired.

“The professor invited me for tea with her, what’s wrong with that? It was just a student and a professor meeting formally for a discussion.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Juliette suddenly dropped her head before glaring at him with cold, serious eyes.

“Liar! You want to believe you went for tea together in that fancy suit of yours?!”

“Wh-wha?”

He blurted out hearing her, but there was a sword charging right at him. The only way he would have dodged was by falling to the side. Despite that, he didn’t wish to go down alone.

Grabbing her arms, they fell together on the shallow parts of the water.

Lying on his back in the lake, submerged just below his ears, he saw that the girl on his chest didn’t want to move.

“I hope you can believe me because I was telling the truth. Silverose is a teahouse. We went there to discuss the problem of my core.”

Slowly, she finally raised her head after a few seconds of silence. Her eyes glistened as tears welled up on the corners.

Startled, he was about to ask what was wrong, but she beat him to it.

“I’m sorry. I… just didn’t want to lose you.”

He felt his heart thump loudly for a moment. There was no way he could have predicted that, though his reaction would probably still be the same.

“You were the first true friend I met all my life. Seeing you with her just made me… angry.”

Hearing her reasoning, Conall couldn’t believe such a silly reason, to which he chuckled slightly.

Startled by his reaction, she quickly wiped away her tears.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about something like that. I will always be your friend, no matter what.”

Finishing with her tears, she pondered for a second before finally bringing out her pinky, right above his head.

“Promise me.”

‘I need to start charging people for all the promises I make.’

Nonetheless, he didn’t hesitate. Firmly holding her smooth finger, he crossed it with hers.

“I promise to be your friend forever.”

A bright smile erupted on her face as she got up from the cool waters of the lake. Stretching out her hand, she helped Conall get up once again, however, before he could fully stand up, she went behind him before pushing him towards the deeper parts.

Hearing the proud giggle right before he was submerged, he quickly got up, running after her.

“Come here, Julie!”

“I will if you catch me!”

…

The day passed by rather quickly. After his sparring session with Juliette that went on for another hour or so, he went to Silvana to get his blood extracted.

After training for a few hours, he finally raised all of his physical stats to seventeen. Despite needing a few days, he gained them naturally and not through alchemical means, though not that they would work. As for the rest of his attributes, both Mind and Spirit stagnated a bit.

He could raise his Mind through mental exercises, however, Fate’s Ploy was obstructing all of his stats, making them much harder to increase.

For the Spirit, on the other hand, he omitted it for now. When he still possessed cursed blood, he simply endured the pain from using his aura to increase it, but currently, the stat was too high to raise by training. He couldn’t train it without having his soul healed, and free stat points were the most optimal way to expand his soul, at least until the first gate. Before it, he needed his soul to be mended already.

Besides the fact that he most likely wouldn't be able to raise it with the free stats, he had no wish for his spirit to be weakened and of lower quality from increasing it with free points. That’s what the gates were precisely for, to challenge and reward the individual.

Conall stood in the middle of growing wheat fields beyond the capital city, directly beneath the bright, full moon. Using a tiny amount of aura, he opened his inventory before taking out ten beast crystals. They were Grade C, but the level of the beasts was the same or higher than him.

Soon, he started. The place he was in was slightly unique. Surrounded by wheat that was growing faster than the rest, the mana here was also denser compared to normal air.

Throwing one beast crystal in what seemed like the middle of the enhanced area, the crystal suddenly hung in the air, as if stopped by an invisible wall. Yet, the energy inside it evaporated and the crystal itself seemed to dissolve.

A few meters in front of Conall, a small blue crack in the space could be seen. Without further waiting, he threw another one. One after another, he threw countless crystals.

When the ten in his grasp ended, he took another set of ten grade C crystals. Although he threw in twenty of the blue cores of beasts, the space seemed undisturbed, with only slight changes in the crack.

Twenty quickly turned into thirty, followed by forty and fifty. Despite the slow process, it started to move. Compared to the beginning, the crack was at least twice as big. The mana around it started to become denser while the surrounding space began to glow.

The quality of his crystals slowly diminished, however, it didn’t really matter. All he needed to do was throw crystals inside. Tossing them one by one, the number quickly hit the complete one hundred and a phenomenon occurred.

Like breaking through a bottleneck, the crack enlarged in a split second, reminiscent of an explosion before stabilizing itself again.

If before it was hard to affect the crack, now it seemed almost impossible. Constantly throwing them, the numbers rapidly climbed up. Earlier, Conall was taking them from his inventory, but now, he simply emptied a portion of his crystal stash on the ground.

Surrounded by what seemed like a hill of blue, glowing rocks, he quickly threw them.

From one hundred, the ‘portal’ quickly swallowed another four hundred. With no stopping, a fourth-figure number was approaching.

Then, at nine hundred, space surrounding him started to waver. The more he threw, the denser the mana inside the crack and the fiercer its suction was.

Finally, he hit one thousand, and a phenomenon similar to the first one happened, simply on a much larger scale. Yet, nothing changed, the crack was simply bigger and stronger, at the size that could swallow his body.

Like a foolish man’s work, there were no effects after the first thousand. Regardless, Conall didn’t give up. Even though he spent hours sending rocks into the portal, despite the cold air surrounding him, he prevailed. Although his shoulders and back were screaming at him, the thousands climbed up slowly, but surely.

Struggling to move any of his arms anymore, he held one of the smallest crystals that were left inside his inventory. Roughly the size of a nail, the round crystal was weakly thrown inside, finishing the ten thousand crystals inside of it.

You have spent a stirring amount of mana to open a hidden dungeon. How about you enter it?

The mana around him imploded, quickly rushing towards the dungeon portal that glowed as bright as the moon itself. It was so strong that Conall was being pushed towards it.

Although he looked at the questionable, golden screen that popped up in front of him, he knew what the dungeon in front of him held. Without any sort of suspicion, he quickly went inside, before anyone could catch him in the act.

Rightfully so, as soon as he entered, the dungeon closed up and countless figures arrived. The sudden outburst of mana caught the attention of countless eyes. Despite the dungeon being simply Grade C, the amount of energy needed to open it up and sustain was staggering.

However, as soon as they arrived, the portal was long gone.

On the other side, Conall looked at yet another set of golden screens.

You have entered a dungeon recommended for two parties of five

This special dungeon won’t lower its difficulty. The elimination of the boss may not result in the completion of the dungeon.

You can’t leave without defeating this dungeon.

Even though he knew all of that, the screens still informed him, unlike in the game. He supposed that just like before entering and during the miracle, this was the effect of his Blessed Blood.

Truthfully, he hadn’t yet seen the true effects of the skill ever since leaving Harmis, so it was nice to see some reaction.

Nonetheless, he quickly stopped focusing on the matter. Instead, he looked at what was in front of and around him.

A scorching heat assaulted his body, but the heart at his center kept him cool along with his mana veins that bore the ice element.

The fine, red sand underneath him was easily swayed by the gentle breeze of the place, but luckily, it didn’t obstruct his breathing or vision.

No matter where his gaze went, a bright red desert encompassed everything, sand dunes as vast and tall as mountains were scattered everywhere. In faraway places, enormous, dark rocks protruded from the ground, in the shape of spikes.

Taking out a fine robe to help him deal with sand if the wind got harsher, he quickly put it on before moving around.

Simply after walking for a couple of tens of meters, he already felt the threat of the hidden dungeon.

The ground beneath him collapsed slightly, sucking in his feet. Without any thought, he quickly stepped back instinctively.

A long column of dark brown scales that cluttered as it was moving upwards. The brown worm soon landed, sprawling across the desert.

Before Conall was able to attack the five-meter-long worm, he had to move once more. A dark, purple gunk was spewed out of the worm’s mouth, which was littered with sharp, blade-like, dirty bones.

Dodging the substance that quickly ate away the sand, he unsheathed his sword before running towards it.

The monster itself wasn’t that large. Although it was long, its diameter was roughly fifty centimeters. It also wasn’t very fast. Still, its level was slightly above Conall’s, so its stats were definitely impressive. But, he had enough experience fighting stronger opponents.

He had already run up to the monster, who was already charging another acid spit, however, before it could execute the attack, his sword pierced right through its body. Stabbing the tough scales, he jerked it away to the side, and the body was split.

‘About time.’

He thought to himself while experiencing a sudden warmth in his soul. It wasn’t anything exceptional. He simply knew he had leveled up.