My interrogation lasts about ten minutes, during which I don't tell the professor anything about the octopuses. The headmaster himself approved hiding the part of my chart about the four elements and spirit. Officially, I only have earth magic. They could have at least left me with light magic... Catrina, despite her tough reputation, congratulates me on my strategy with the stone wall and my courage in attacking the zombies in hand-to-hand combat with a sword.

"Do you want me to train you for sword mastery?" she asks me. "On Wednesdays after classes, I supervise a select group of students. Your strength stat is a bit ridiculous. If it were just based on your stats, I see you more as a mage. But you've shown courage. Darius told me how you fought side by side against the zombies."

As I don't answer her, being somewhat surprised since I didn't expect it, she explains better:

"Darius is one of my best students. He's been training in dungeons before entering the academy and recommended you. Honestly, I prefer a mage with guts over a warrior with good strength stats who's afraid of breaking a nail." She doesn't clarify who she's referring to, but it's obvious. "If you make an effort, I think you can obtain mastery on your next level up or even before."

She's referring to the fact that masteries are offered to you (or assigned in the case of NPCs) by the system when certain requirements have been met. One of them, in this case, would be training or fighting with a sword. If, for example, I train enough on my own, it's very possible that when I level up, I'll be offered the mastery. Leveling up is another requirement. Obviously, with a system with a maximum level of 20 and where it's increasingly difficult to level up, it would be a disaster if that requirement were indispensable. Otherwise, a level 16 swordsman could spend years training and never obtain the developed masteries because he doesn't have enough experience points to level up. Because in that, at least in the game, the system was inflexible: a shoemaker artisan doesn't gain experience for making boots. A diplomat doesn't either for avoiding a war, or a merchant for making a nice profit on a sale. No. XP is only gained in combat. However, there are ways for that artisan to get his needle mastery or that diplomat to get his charisma mastery, without leveling up. One is trying new things and repeating them a lot. It's the slowest and most tedious way and, from what I've read in the library, it doesn't always work. Another, the most accepted and recommended, is to learn from a master. My case, coming from another world, I don't know if it's special. After all, when I leveled up for the first time, I wasn't offered scholar mastery. It would have made sense for how much of a bookworm this body was. Instead, I was given everything at once when I unlocked it upon entering a dungeon created for travelers from other worlds. I assumed that from now on, my case would work like everyone else's and, honestly, I hope so. Catrina's offer is a good way to check it. Besides, I'm drooling just thinking about knowing how to wield a sword properly and being able to enhance it with my channeling spell.

"Thank you very much, professor. I accept gladly. I've always wanted to know how to wield a sword well," I answer her enthusiastically.

Catrina raises an eyebrow and stares at me. Okay... my real self on Earth, an avid gamer, yeah. She wanted to know how to wield a sword and also a mage staff and create fire armageddons. Bianca, the count's daughter, I think not.

Anyway, once I leave the pavilion, the princess, who's still waiting, greets me. I approach for a moment to say goodbye. Darius is still there too, as well as the prince and the other two boys from his group, all keeping Lily company. I find it curious that she didn't go first for interrogation, that Catrina didn't give her special treatment for being royalty. An assistant approaches to call her, and she mutters a "finally", unable to hide her impatience.

"Do you want to return with us? There's room in one of the carriages," Vincent asks me.

"Thank you very much, but I better go now. I'm tired," I answer him.

That simple? I help save his sister, Darius likes me, and they open the doors of their group to me?

For a moment, I really think about it. On Earth, in high school, I hung out with a couple of friends, and we kept a pretty low profile, nothing like the football team or the cheerleaders. Sometimes I would have liked to be like them, so popular and good-looking. However, I'm not very social and, honestly, I want to focus on studying and training to improve. If the princess starts inviting me to tea parties with pastries... ugh, no, better not. Although I miss my friends.

I shake my head to rid myself of the sad thoughts and head towards the vehicles. The driver of one of them calls me. It's empty. I'm going to have to wait for it to fill up.

"Don't worry, there are very few of you left and plenty of carriages. I can take you now," he says, correctly interpreting my expression.

I smile at him, thank him, and get on.

Well, going alone is perfect, because my roommate could be in my room. I leave the backpack next to me on the seat, wait for the vehicle to start moving, and take the little one out of the pocket. He still fits on my two cupped hands together. He hasn't grown at all when he should be much bigger. I raise my palms to have him in front of my face. Let's begin.

"Do you understand me?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

For an answer, he just stares at me and tries to lick my face. I push him away a bit so he doesn't reach.

"I know you're a divine beast, so you're magical. Can you increase your size as a puppy?"

He barks once.

"I'm going to put you on the floor. If you can, make yourself bigger."

The little wolf just runs around between my feet. Well... we're doing well. I pick him up again and bring him close to me.

"Did you cause that in the dungeon?"

Three barks.

"One bark yes and two no?"

Four barks.

"Take this seriously. You bit me before, you didn't wound me, but you bit me. That means you were following my conversation with Ronan and realized I was going to reject him."

One bark.

"Great. Will you answer me now?"

Two barks.

"Do you serve your god?"

Five barks.

I no longer know if the little troll is playing with me or he just doesn't understand me.

"You don't have permission to answer me?"

Three barks.

I bring him a little closer.

"You wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

The puppy whines remorsefully and gives me puppy eyes while slowly stretching to give me a lick on the cheek.

I'm lost. I really don't see any malice in him. I know he has dark magic. Many people have it. And on Earth, many would have had it too if it existed; for starters, all those who climbed the corporate ladder by attributing to themselves merits that weren't theirs, all those who committed petty thefts or said nasty words on purpose just to hurt others. That fits perfectly with a low or medium level of affinity for darkness. But this little creature must have it high by necessity because he's the seed of darkness and a divine beast. And Ronan... I really don't know what to think of Ronan. He doesn't seem like a bad guy to me and, hey, I'm glad he didn't ask me out. I prefer a thousand times for him to be obsessed with being my minion rather than trying to hook up with me. No, I don't want to have minions. But the boy hasn't turned me in and hasn't done anything wrong. I come from Earth, there your friends are the ones who treat you well and support you with their actions. You don't discriminate based on the color of magic.

The little wolf sees me confused and a bit sad and keeps licking me. His tongue is a little sticky. I bring him closer and feel the softness of his dark fur on my cheek.

"You're a sweetheart," I whisper to him. "I don't believe you're evil. Please don't disappoint me."

I stay like that for a few minutes and then put him down on my lap, where I pet him.

"Look, we have to talk to Ronan. I want him to tell me everything he knows about darkness and divine beasts and to explain clearly why he thinks it was you."

Since there's still time before we arrive, I ask him to let me see his character status and he does. As for understanding me, he clearly does. It's another thing if he doesn't want to or can't communicate with barks. Anyway, I realize I haven't asked for it since that day in the dungeon. I haven't had any notification that the seed has leveled up either. I read his card and see that everything remains the same. It's just changed what he's missing to reach level 2. It's gone from 20% to 85%. That makes me wonder if the shadow wolf's dungeon kills granted experience to the wolf or the seed. I ask him to let me see his evolution chart, and it's still the same, at level 30 and without any indicator of how much experience he's missing for the next one. Touching with my finger where his level is, I manage to open a window that explains to me that he's at the maximum level possible for a divine creature. Hmm... then one of two things: either the little wolf doesn't get experience when it's the shadow wolf that fights, or the little wolf needs a brutal amount of experience to level up. Please, from 1 to 2 is easy. Because with the zombies and the octopuses and the spider, he had to get XP, yes or yes, being in wolf form and being my pet. Or not? I open my character status and start navigating the system to figure out how the pet thing works. It takes me a few minutes, but I end up finding it.

Pets, when near their owner, get 5% of the experience gained.

Okay, it's like a little parasite that takes 5% of my experience. I don't know if this also applies when he's in shadow wolf form. I try to access the system message history, to search for any notification related to it. There are none that tell me the experience the creatures gave me, but, for example, in the fight with the lich, I can see that... oh, this is different. It says that I, who did nothing, got 15% of the experience the shadow wolf would have obtained from the kills. Well, this also answers my question: The little wolf only gains XP when he's in puppy form. I'm not able to do calculations to see if he needs more than me, because I went up to level 2 after killing two level 1 slimes, but I didn't pay attention to how much my progress bar was missing. Afterwards, I needed 8 more slimes and a boss to go up to level 3. Okay, the zombies gave more experience being level 4, but the seed only gets 5%...

Ugh, not really. I would need paper and pen and more data. If my system history gave me the total XP values per creature, it would be super easy. I think it's better to stop trying to do math in my head. It will be simpler to pay more attention to how much the puppy's progression goes up from now on, so I'll get an idea of whether he needs more experience than a human to level up. I could also look for someone with a pet and ask them, but something tells me that the case of the seed of evil is special.

Since I'm at it, I try to find out what those influence points are. The only thing I get out of the system is this:

Influence points are part of the leadership and management system of a kingdom or empire. They are necessary both to unlock construction options and to buy kingdom spells, grant abilities and improvements to vassals, or manipulate the delicate balance of diplomacy.

So, that's it. No, I don't want to be the Demon Lord and conquer the world. I'll pass. I decide to ignore those ten points as if they didn't exist, I recline more comfortably in the padded seat, and close my eyes until we arrive.

The rest of the day is very quiet. The following morning, before class, I see almost all the students crowded in front of the bulletin board.

My heart skips a beat. It must be the exam grades and the first list of points for the contest.