Since he couldn’t yet dance with the girl he cherished, Stephen stayed for a few minutes just watching her dance.

Or he intended to. Annabelle didn’t allow him, joking about how she had to entertain him, as she would be somewhat working for him.

Having an impromptu dancing partner led him to focus more on her and notice the details of her dress. He hadn’t cared much about others’s appearance, more focused on the one person he came for.

Annabelle was about his height, with long dark hair braided around a green ribbon. It was the same colour as her eyes and jewellery. She wore an off-shoulder black dress, the skirt stopping just above her knees.

They danced for a while, allowing Stephen to feel the difference his increased stats made. While he wasn’t a poor dancer, he wouldn’t say he was competent, either. At least this time, he could lead with a bit more confidence and didn’t have to keep an eye on his surroundings as often. Be it to avoid colliding with other duos or to ensure he danced adequately.

Meanwhile, Annabelle didn’t hide her curiosity, wanting to know more about his life. They hadn’t met before. Yet, Stephen knew, in the same manner that he had heard of Annabelle, that she must also have discussed him with Octavia. It was more likely she knew more about him than the opposite. Stephen tried to avoid mentioning he had left his main job, focusing instead on what he created on his own time. He didn’t want people to focus on this sudden change since, for him, it would only risk discrediting the investment he made. Working alone or from his home was in good part because he couldn’t deal with authority or accept that someone else might know better than him how to lead his life. Small doses of advice were all right, only once in a while.

At some point, they changed partners while grabbing a drink once in a while. Quickly, Stephen had to dance with most other shareholders. When, for the fifth dance, he was paired with Phoebe, he tried to get her help so they could go towards Octavia or her mother. It wasn’t hard to convince her. The woman clearly knew he was fond of Octavia.

As it was, the birthday girl was dancing with one of her cousins, a son of Thaddeus called Adrian. Janet, however, was talking with her husband and some of their siblings and cousins. Phoebe and Stephen’s arrival and his invitation were agreeably accepted, while Gerald and Phoebe followed along.

“I saw you much more often when you were both in high school, young man. It’s nice to see you’re still good friends.”

“Well, we didn’t study the same things and had to move to different cities. It couldn’t be helped, Ms Asper.”

“I wasn’t talking about Ava. She’s a big girl. You could’ve stopped by. We don’t live that far from each other, do we?”

“Oh. I...”

“Oh, indeed.”

“It hadn’t occurred to me at the time. I mean, with Ava not being there.”

“You think I didn’t notice? Don’t be a stranger any more, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And start calling me by my name. I’m sure I already told you that more than once before.”

“You’re probably right, ma’a... I mean, Yes, Janet, I will try to come more often.”

“Better.”

Not long later, Janet was the one to lead Stephen towards Octavia, despite the man thinking it would have been impolite to change partners so soon.

As they started dancing, Stephen had a dry throat, mesmerised by the girl in front of him. It was probably a good thing, as he would no doubt have said something stupid or embarrassing.

“So, what happened the other night that you sounded so… distraught?”

“Right, that happened.”

On this point, Stephen was conflicted. Either he could find another reason for his late call than his worry about not seeing ever again the girl he loved.

Or, he could tell a version of the truth. While hoping it wouldn’t lead to one thing he was worried about. Getting others to try and advise him to rethink his decision. Albeit, coming from Octavia, there was more chance he would listen. Still, at other times, it was upsetting, but now that he wouldn’t give all elements, it couldn’t be more unwarranted.

At least he had some time to think of an answer; dancing made for a good excuse not to have a smooth conversation.

“Stress, mostly? I quit my job.”

“Really?!”

“My main one, that is. The programming thing. Not the artworks.

I… I was having second thoughts that evening. I mean, I had a safe job for years, and, yeah. I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision.

In the end, I definitely made the right call. Being reminded of today, of your company, was a good reminder. I don’t need to play safe all the time.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“I would say, ‘Welcome to the club’, but you still have another income. What’re you working on these days?”

“Well, mostly people who want cover for their books and a couple of collaborations. One on a comic and another on a manga adaptation.” At her interested humming, he kept going, expanding on what exactly he did.

“The comic’s on a slice-of-life fantasy story of a witch who moves into the city and has to learn about both sides of her life. It’s still much different than ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’. For one, it’s more light-hearted, and she doesn’t have that much trouble splitting her life between magical and non-magical.

The manga adaptation was much less pleasant to read. The setting is historical fantasy, sort of. There are a lot of fighting scenes. But they keep repeating themselves. And too many bland or ‘cliché’ characters. Still, the story is super long, and the writer gives me a lot of liberty for what to draw, so it’s fun work, too.”

Something on which he would need to focus later, as he had taken some delay on those works. And despite the urgent need to care about the dungeon, he didn’t want to drop drawing.

For the same reasons he had kept doing it along with his job, it was helpful to have a calmer and less stressful job on the side.

Not that it never was, but it was nothing close to worrying over annoying clients for a job he was skilled at but didn’t necessarily like. And definitely nothing compared to the stress of risking his life in caverns filled with monsters trying to kill him.

“Could you get the comic for me when it comes out?”

“You know it.”

“What can I say? You’re my best source of comics and graphic novels.”

“It’s good to get it confirmed.”

They kept dancing for a while before Stephen interrupted as the song changed to something too chaotic for his taste.

“How about a pause? I don’t want to dance on, …this thing. I can’t even call it a song. That would be insulting to others.”

“Oh, really? Why ever not?” She still let him lead her away toward the table where she was sitting earlier.

“Ah. Ah. I’m going to pick some cakes and a drink. Do I bring you anything?”

“Hmm, I wouldn’t mind a few cream puffs and a coupe of champagne, please.”

“I’d be right back.”

----------------------------------------

Much later, people started leaving. It was around 2 a.m. Then, it happened increasingly more often. By 4 a.m., there barely was anyone left in the hall. About a dozen people. Octavia and her parents and brother. Her associates, a few friends like Phoebe and Jeremy, and a few others.

At around 4:30 a.m., they started cleaning up and removing the largest mess. They planned to return around noon to clean the rest of the hall.

Meanwhile, Stephen used a moment when he was with Octavia to invite her for dinner in the evening.

“I told you I’m only working on my commissions for now, right? Well, I thought investing myself as a board member would be a good idea, too. And it might be better if we could talk more clearly about it before you arrange a meeting with everyone?”

She was, understandably, a bit hesitant.

“That’s a rather short notice, Stev’. Why not later during the week instead? Plus, we must return the hall in a pristine state before mid-afternoon.”

“You should go, honey!” “Mom?” ”There’s enough of us to care for everything, don’t worry about it. You just need to be there to give the key. Right? Better to take your time to have a nice dinner.” “Well, okay. Thanks, Mom! I guess that means I’m free for the evening.”

“Great! I will pick you up? And send you the time during the day. Around 8 p.m. I suppose.”

“Sure! Let’s finish this quickly. Since apparently I won’t be needed around, I might as well go enjoy a good rest.”

----------------------------------------

Upon returning home, Stephen was enthusiastically greeted by Comtess, who abruptly stopped before reaching him. She then started whining, displeased by the alcoholic smell on her human companion.

“Sorry ’bout that, girl. Ima go shower real quick, then we can cuddle all you want. ’kay?”

He hadn’t had a truly exhausting day. Still, the walk back to his home under the stars made him want to sleep.

As he lay in his bed, fresh with an apple scent from his soap, Comtess finally consented to get closer. Stephen put an alarm to five hours later, at 10 a.m. Then he went to join Morpheus’ realm. The idyllic one, not the dystopian one.

----------------------------------------

In the end, he woke up by himself. Looking at the time, he noticed it was only 9 a.m. Despite the short four hours of sleep, he was oddly well-rested.

The realisation prompted him to take care of something he had delayed long enough. Allocating his stats. Hence, he went to his small gym space, a mezzanine on the same floor as his bedroom and bathroom.

His initial need to check for the effect of stats wasn’t as important now that he had found a way to know his unawakened stats. Still, being more in tune with his improved body seemed useful.

Stephen, however, quickly realised he would need to invest in a bench press, preferably with the heaviest weights. Right now, he could only work on medium and long time exercises, as none of the dumbbells he had posed much difficulty to lift. For the tests he had in mind, it wasn’t optimal. The only stat he could efficiently train in those conditions was Constitution, as the one related to stamina.

And also the one he would need the most time for. Something he sorely lacked. Therefore, he went for another option, increasing all his stats at the same rate except for one.

On this, the choice didn’t seem too hard to make for Stephen. He wanted to learn magic, knew mana was a thing, yet couldn’t even feel any of it in his body or around. Not even when he cast the spell [Spark]. Hence, increasing Perception looked to be the most obvious choice.

Still, he was worried about imbalance. He had too often read stories where all stats had to stay in some range of the others. Otherwise, the body becomes unstable. A too resilient and heavy body without the strength to move it, or one with too much strength that the body was too weak to support it. Each stat could have a similar parallel made with another. Or at least all body stats with each other, and all mental with each other. Dumb brutes were a terror of their own, not always to themselves. On the other hand, too much mana in a frail vessel was probably dangerous to experiment with.

Nonetheless, Stephen preferred not to take too many risks.

He decided to put 6 points into Perception, raising it to 18. At the same time, all other stats were increased to 12.

Surprisingly, the shock wasn’t as important as the first time, when he went from 7 to 12 points in Perception. He still felt the difference and needed time to adjust to his new range sense. The worst were the sounds. With all the electronics around, some were starting to be heard. Especially the whirring of his PC or the sound emitted by the lamp transformers.

He suddenly got much more appreciative of Comtess, who seldom got annoyed by noises. Or even of all the animals who supported living in the overly noisy cities. At least he knew that he could tune out some noises with some time, as he did before with the shower.

Soon, he was preparing brunch for him and Lyseasis. The poor girl was probably famished; her last meal was over twelve hours ago.