Chapter 114: Providing Sustenance
"Hah... hah... you... monster..." lying down the ground as she stares at the artificial lighting above her, Medea’s chest heaves with every breath, showing how tired she turned out to be after her duel with Novus.
Normally, that wouldn’t be the case, however this time, she requested, borderline demanded him to show his full strength, making her realize how gravely mistaken she was to ask for such a thing, as she experienced being treated like how he treated the rogue mages during the previous incident.
Of course, she wasn’t really hurt or affected by any extreme means that he previously used; however, it still stands to reason that, given the development of his strength, even Medea’s body, enhanced with Blade Enchantment Magic, now pales in comparison to his strength, meaning that in terms of raw abilities alone, it is only Arcane that she is ahead of him right now.
"Does it hurt?" Turning her head around, she saw the young man she was talking to, just standing there as he reached out his remaining hand to help her stand up, the place where his other hand was supposed to be now nothing more than a stump, blood still flowing continuously as Immortal Energy already began regenerating said hand back.
"Not really..." feeling the concern in Medea’s eyes, Novus merely smiles as he hides a little bit of truth, the fact that he feels it far many times worse than normal, being hidden completely, as his experiences of being hurt much more than this allow him to remain composed despite the pain.
"No matter how many times I see it, it’s really impressive..." staring at the hand now recovering after her powerful final attack, Medea couldn’t help but feel shocked, reaching out and touching his newly recovered hand, eyes glowing in intrigue and curiosity as she wonders just how it is even possible for magic to achieve something like that.
After all, even Healing Magic itself can only reattach, not regrow a broken body part, and even if there are artifacts capable of doing so, the price for using them is exorbitant, to the point that even a wealthy family might find using such artifacts expensive.
"Ahem..." witnessing the lady now extending her other hand as well, examining his, her attention completely on the regeneration, making her fail to notice that she was basically holding his hands, Novus cleared his throat, snapping the lady out of her curious daze as she now saw and realized what she was doing.
"A-ahem..." she also clears her throat as she reels back, a faint blush appearing on her face as she averts her gaze, a little giggle sneaking out of her lips as she turns around, making her look exactly like what she depicts herself to be: a young maiden of a great noble family, instead of a sword master that terrifies the whole student body with her strength.
An awkward air began to loom around them as they felt all too shy trying to speak, all the events that happened during the exam helping them develop their relationship even further. Now that they returned to their daily lives, both of them couldn’t help but feel like things were becoming quite embarrassing every once in a while.
"Now you know why I don’t want to fight you with full strength, right?" Trying to ease the tension, Novus said with a slight but apparent teasing in his tone, causing the lady to turn back around to meet his smiling gaze.
As soon as she met his gaze, her body froze for a fraction of a moment before she recovered herself as she pursed her lips while she answered.
"Humph!! Don’t get cocky, Junior Novus, with the help of those Evolution Crystals you’re feeding me with, I’ll definitely catch up, no, surpass you again in no time at all!!"
She declares all too proudly, no, shamelessly, as she announces how the resources he had been giving her ever since the two of them returned to the academy will be the very thing that will allow her to surpass him in strength once more, just like when they first met.
"Isn’t that scary?"
"Mhm, that’s why you should be wary, Junior Novus?"
"I see, so if I don’t want to worry, maybe I should stop giving Senior Medea those crystals, right?"
"T-that..."
As soon as she heard his words, she couldn’t help but panic for a little bit, as, admittedly, after having a taste of improving her strength through the use of Evolution Crystals, she couldn’t help but think that she could no longer return to just meditating while circulating mana alone.
After all, she realizes it as well, the feeling of improving not only her connection to arcane, but her bodily prowess as well, is just too addicting of a process to extricate herself from.
Hence why she was already prepared to even shamelessly revoke what she just said, directing her gaze towards the young man once again, only for her to meet a mocking smile, as if he was telling her how poor she is compared to him.
"Y-you!!" she couldn’t help but feel shy as she started feeling like somehow, this young man in front of her just keeps getting more and more upper-hand against her, their relationship seemingly turning around with her once often being the one taking the lead in annoying his dull self, now with her often being caught off-guard as he becomes more and more open to her.
’He used to be so dull a couple of days back, how did he turn into this in such a short amount of time??’ she stares at him with a confused expression, the smile still on his face as it became his turn to walk away towards the exit of the duel grounds.
"Of course, I’m just kidding, who knows how weak the Sword Princess will be when I stop providing sustenance for her?" he teased as he waited for her to follow, reaching his hand out as if asking her for something, his words, along with the comforting smile on his face, making her feel all the more frustrated as the question continues plaguing her mind.
From his action, she knew what is it that he was asking for, making her take the spatial ring she was wearing on her index finger.
As soon as the ring lands on his hand, Novus smiles as he begins transferring F Tier Evolution Crystals inside, leaving about five hundred F Tier Evolution Crystals inside, and realizing that the ring’s internal space still has a couple of hundred or so crystals from the previous days.
Right in his storage space, he can see the number of F Tier Evolution Crystals falling down.
[F Tier Evolution Crystal: 1,901]
"You’re saving them?" seeing this, he couldn’t help but ask, wondering why she couldn’t even finish it when given her current tier, not to mention hundreds of F tier Evolution Crystals. It might even be possible for her to absorb over a thousand of them in a single day.
"Mn, just in case you run out of them, we can have some to share..." she said as she received the ring back, her answer forcing a laugh out of him as the two of them headed back to the dormitory area.
"Use them as much as you want, I still have a lot of them, and I can get some more soon..." he vaguely explains as the two of them walks down the path back to their respective dormitory, his words, along with the assuring, certain smile that goes along with it, making her at ease with using the resources he had given without any qualm.
"Thank you again..."
"There’s no need to. Also, I’ve been feeding you for a couple of days now, but I just received my thanks? The Sword Princess sure is harsh..."
"How I miss that cold and dull guy from a couple of days ago."
The two of them laugh as they walk with the moonlight guiding their path, time passing fast, as they had come to realize that they are already at the crossroad between the male and female dormitories.
"I’ll walk you all the way back to the dormitory, Medea." Novus declared, continuing down the path to the female dormitory, Novus declared, his words reeling Medea in shock, as it was the first time that he volunteered to do so for her.
"Y-you know what this means, right?"
A man walking a lady all the way back to her abode, normally, Medea wouldn’t have any problem returning to the dormitory all by her lonesome; however, the accompaniment of the young man made her feel safer, more secure, causing her thoughts to roam around as she realized what it would make them look to the eyes of other students seeing them act like this.
"Meaning? What meaning?"
"Ah! That..." seeing the genuine look of confusion in the young man’s face as he tries to figure out how to answer her question, Medea’s lips couldn’t hold her laughter back, realizing that despite how much he’s changed around her, there is still this dull part of him that he had when they first met.
The night sure is cold, but for these two, the wind blows quite warm and comforting instead.