The next morning came with an annoying surprise… One I really should have expected but was too excited to notice. Haa. Man, I’m just, so disappointed with myself right now.

“What’s wrong, Eli?” Melly asked once she noticed me sulking.

“I didn’t recover all of my mana…”

“That’s what happens when you drastically increase your mana capacity.” Melly shrugged. Yeah, but that doesn’t mean waking up while feeling empty isn’t disappointing. Haa, if only we didn’t regenerate mana slower when we were asleep, I could have been nearly full instead of at about half capacity.

“Haa, I feel empty,” I complained.

“How empty?” Rapunzel asked.

“Around half,” I said with a sigh. Man, today isn’t going well, isn’t it?

“Oh, that is bad,” Rapunzel said in surprise.

“Really? I’m sorry Eli, I didn’t think it would be nearly that bad.” Melly apologized.

“Yeah, the combo of being almost out of mana, doubling my mana capacity without increasing my regeneration, and mana only regenerating, like, two-fifths as fast while sleeping really crippled how much mana I have now.”

“Ah, that would leave you quite drained. Are you going to be okay?” Rapunzel worried.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s not like lacking mana does anything but make you uncomfortable, after all.” I shrugged. It is surprising how much worse you feel when you wake up like this though. It’s like I didn’t actually sleep well.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun being like that.”

“True, but you know what is fun? The Hero’s cooking. That should be able to distract me for a bit, at least.”

“Oh yeah, the Hero being back means we get to eat his cooking.” Melly realized.

“We should head over to breakfast then. I am curious what made him decide to stay here for a few days instead of rushing off like usual though?” Rapunzel wondered.

“Yeah, he should have jumped at my accidental suggestion, even if we would have still delayed our departure for a day or two. It’s almost concerning that he didn’t.” I added.

“True, he should have jumped at the chance. Regardless, we will only find out once he tells us. He is still the same Hero after all.” Melly shrugged.

“Yeah, there’s no point trying to predict his actions.” I agreed.

We then quickly got ready, before heading towards the cafeteria.

Once we’d arrived, I saw that both Greg and Hansen were already waiting. After chatting for a bit, the Hero arrived with everyone’s breakfast, a feast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and the like. It’s the same food that’s always served by the church, but as this was made by the Hero, it’s anything but ordinary.

“Ah, I had almost forgotten how good the Hero’s cooking was,” Melly commented.

“Despite how he acts, his food is always fantastic.” Rapunzel agreed.

“Indeed.”

“Hey.” The Hero exclaimed.

“Yeah, his food is really good. Oddly enough, I even feel like this tastes better than his proper true food.” I added, getting strange looks from everyone.

“Really? I know that this is delicious, but true food is, well, true food. How can anything possibly even compare, much less surpass it?” Melly questioned.

“Well, true food has a weird taste that really covers up its amazingness,” I argued.

“How weird can it be that it would actually dampen the taste of true food?” Melly doubted.

“Well, it didn’t actually taste like taste, or smell like a smell. When I used my nose, it was almost like I could see, and when I used my mouth, I could almost hear. It was not normal in the slightest. Hence why I prefer this, there’s no mind-bending distortion of my senses, only good food.” I explained.

“Truly? That is quite interesting. I wonder what could have possibly caused such a strange reaction?” Greg wondered.

“Experience,” I answered. “Though that’s only part of it.”

“Experience? What do you mean by that, Eli?”

“Well, it was like experiences were given a physical form and used like a spice. I, uh, I don’t really know how else I could describe it. It was just… weird.” I paused to collect my thoughts. “Um, it was almost like I was experiencing tiny fragments of various experiences that had been ground down to such an extent that they just became exotic.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Huh, I have no idea what that could even remotely be like,” Melly commented.

“I feel the same, and I experienced it! So yeah, I definitely prefer this over, well, whatever that was. Still, true food is true food, so it was still mostly tasty.” I shrugged.

“Regardless of whether the ‘taste’ ends up being palpable, I wish to experience such a sensation at least once. If nothing else, it would be quite the experience.” Greg added.

“Indeed.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do.” The Hero shrugged. “Just don’t get your hopes up.” Huh!? Does he lack the confidence to accomplish that? Our Hero? What has this world come to?

“Thank you, Hero, for at least attempting to fulfill my curiosity.”

“No problem.”

After that, we slowly finished our food before following the Hero back to our rooms. The Hero then stood in front of us and went to pull something out of his bag.

“Okay, first up is Rapunzel.” He says, pulling out a bow. “You got a bow mainly made with the dragon’s horns and sinew, as well as a few hollow bone daggers. In addition, you have a full suit of dragon leather and muscles. These should drastically increase your combat power once you properly learn how to utilize them. Just remember not to rely on them or you won’t end up growing stronger.”

“Yes, thank you,” Rapunzel responds with tears in her eyes. “I won’t let you down.”

“Good. Now, you can either put it on right away or you can wait until everyone has gotten their equipment.”

“Understood, I’ll wait.” Rapunzel bowed before retreating to the side.

“Next is Melly.” He called.

“Yes!” Melly shouted in excitement. Man, she’s even more excited now than she was last night.

“For you, we have several bone weapons, from axes and swords to mauls and shields, so you shouldn’t lack weapons for the rest of your life. Especially as a few of them have been reinforced with bits of the dragon’s claws.” He says as he hands her over a dozen different weapons. Melly received them reverently before carefully storing them away in her bag.

“Next is your armor, an entire set of dragon bone armor, held together with chains, with scales and leather filling in any gaps. You should be nigh invincible once you unlock its true power.” He said grandly. “I didn’t get you a gambeson and the like though.” He winked.

“...Thank you.” Melly choked out through her tears as she bowed. She then went to stand next to Rapunzel.

“Next is Hansen. For you, a full set of dragon-scale armor, designed for comfortable travel. I also have a few collars that will slightly increase the power of some of your summons, though you have to manually equip them every time you want a summon to be empowered by them.”

“Thank you, Hero,” Hansen said with a bow. While he wasn’t moved to tears like everyone else, he was still quite happy with his new gear.

“Gregory, you’re next.”

“Understood Hero,” Greg responds with a bow.

“You get an Arachne silk robe with some traveling boots. Sadly, there are few things that can properly enhance one’s magic, so this is the best I can get for you.” The Hero apologized.

“Do not concern yourself with that, Hero, I understand the rarity of such items. And, despite the effects being fairly minor, Arachne silk does give the user noticeable results. Few things can compare to the nearly staff-like assistance robes woven from a dryad can give you, after all.” Greg smiled as he received his robes.

“True. And, speaking of staffs, I have a dragon spine core staff for you as well. While not normally quite as effective as other staffs of even a slightly lower tier, because you fused with the breath sack, you will be able to store a few spells in the staff that can be cast instantly. I figured that would be more useful than a slightly higher increase in power.” The Hero added with a confident smile.

“Marvelous. Truly marvelous! You are quite correct, Hero. While more power is always helpful, an instant cast that can be used even while suffering mana poisoning is a true life-saving tool. I dare say that you could count the staffs that one might prefer over this one with your fingers. Thank you for your wondrous gift, Hero.” Greg finished with a bow.

Ah! That’s amazing! I can't wait to see what I get. I’m almost shaking in anticipation.

“And Eli.”

“Yes!”

“Didn’t get anything.” He declared.

“What?” I said, stunned. “But, why!?”

“Because what you already have is better than anything I could give you.” He shrugged. “So, now that everyone has their gear, please go and put them on. I need to teach you how to properly use them, after all.” The Hero announced.

“O-oh, okay,” I muttered as everyone hurried into their rooms as they couldn’t wait to try on their new gear. Don’t cry, Elizabeth, it’s, it’s fine. Man, today just sucks, though.

Haa, and what do you mean by I already have something better? My staff is quite normal! Yeah, Greg’s staff is only really special because of his monster ascension, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t easily get something else for me!

I couldn’t help but pout while poking at the ground with a stick that I had, for some strange reason, stored in my bag as I waited for everyone to finish.

“Okay, it seems like everyone is ready.” The Hero called out once everyone had finally finished getting ready.

Whatever. While I didn’t end up getting anything, at least I can now join in with whatever training the Hero has prepared for us.

“So, as I said, your equipment is quite special. Without proper training, you won’t be able to properly utilize its power, so, I will teach everyone about what your equipment can do and how to do it. Also, since you won’t benefit from this training, Eli, you can just keep doing what you were doing before.”

What…

I could only blankly stare as the Hero led everyone away. I, I wasn’t invited…

Why did you even have me come here in the first place! What did I do wrong…

Haa, whatever, he’s probably just messing with me or something. And, he is kinda right as the church definitely has tons of better staffs than anything he could get. I also doubt anything else made from the dragon would help me either, as disappointing as not receiving anything is…

Well, I guess I should just do what I said I would do, try to figure out how to cast part of my robe’s spell. Haa, I just don’t want to though… I mean, I’m already lowish on mana, and it takes a ridiculous amount of mana with each cast of my spells, so…

Whatever, I should just try to make my spells more efficient. It’s something you can somewhat do without mana, after all. And. with my mana density being as high as it is, I should be able to reduce my mana usage fairly easily. Hopefully that will be effective enough to make studying my robes a reasonable undertaking.