After some back-and-forth in the study room with Clara and Sylvia, we finally nailed down the budget allocations for staff and promotions.
Not gonna lie...I was two minutes away from flipping the table out of boredom. I mean, the plan is to spread our name through the people, some grassroots-level promotion stuff, but we still needed to stay chummy with named associations just in case someone powerful decided to sneeze in our direction. Gotta play safe when diplomacy feels like a game of dodgeball with hidden blades.
Once I scribbled the last line and capped the ink bottle with a dramatic sigh, I turned to Sylvia.
"Lady Sylvia, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"
She replied with her usual composure, "No, Lord Hugo. The budget discussion ended earlier than I expected."
Earlier than she expected? I blinked. You thought that was early? Damn, this was the first time I'd spent that long crunching numbers and not completely spacing out halfway through. The William in me would've delegated this to an intern with a fake smile and walked out.
I nodded thoughtfully, pretending I wasn't slowly losing the will to live.
"Clara, what about you? Any plans for the rest of the day?"
Clara, ever the loyal stormcloud, said, "No, my lord. I am at your service."
"Great," I said. "I was hoping to resume my practice. I've been meditating daily for mana mastery, but it's been over a month since I last touched the sword. So…"
Clara's expression brightened like she'd just gotten a gift.
"Of course, my lord. I was about to drag you out myself if you even thought about slumping on the bed."
Good thing my lazy ass decided not to be lazy today. I dodged a Clara-level abduction attempt by that much.
Sylvia chimed in too, "I'll help too, Lord Hugo. It's been too long since I stretched."
Stretch? You call fighting me 'stretching'? You arrogant woman…
"Glad to have more helping hands," I said with a nod, though in my head I was mentally preparing my will.
The three of us headed to the backyard of the mansion, which thankfully had enough space for a casual apocalypse-level spar.
"Clara, we might have to change some exercises," I said as I stretched my arms. "I remembered you telling me you'd adjust the training regime after a breakthrough."
Clara blinked and tilted her head slightly. "Meditation and constant mana circulation are the only cultivation techniques for mana mastery, my lord."
"No, not mana mastery," I corrected. "I meant I had a breakthrough in combat power."
That got her attention. And Sylvia's too. Both turned toward me like I'd just announced I was the lost heir to the dragon throne or something.
"I felt something shift during the fight with Varkis," I explained. "Like… something unlocked. Or snapped into place."
Clara's eyes narrowed in thought. "That's possible. Some say the closer you are to death when you train, the higher the effect."
Well, I was inches from getting sliced into a Hugo-sashimi platter, so that checks out.
Truth is, combat power changes are subtle at D-tier unless you hit a breakthrough. Daily training barely makes any noticeable changes. But with Inspect giving me numeric feedback, I can track every little stat bump, while the rest of the world is stuck playing the guessing game.
Clara folded her arms, giving me a stern look. "Then from now on, my lord, it will be extremely hard to feel any changes. You'll have to work even harder."
Her tone was harsh, but her face... that was the face of a teacher trying not to smile at their favorite student while pretending they're unimpressed.
I nodded solemnly. "Let's start right away."
And thus began our five-hour grind.
Now, if Clara's strict, Sylvia's something else. That girl doesn't train you...she hunts you. There's no grace in her methods, no hint of nobility. Just pure efficiency and deadpan brutality. She looked like a war goddess pretending to be a tutor.
But there's a reason, I think.
Sylvia's innate skill, Mind's Canvas, is a psychological-type. It doesn't catalyse growth in her physical ability, which makes breaking thorugh D+ and climbing into the powerhouse league extremely difficult. And since she thinks I'm blessed with an E- skill, she's putting her all into making sure I don't regret putting in effort.
So cute of her.
Only if she knew that my skill was an S+ ranked psychological skill with at least B-tier physical catalysis. Girl, I'm fine. You're the one overachieving here.
Still, I'll take it seriously. Four months...that's the window. I've got to make another breakthrough before things get more tangled than they already are.
The training ended with a spar between me and Sylvia. And yeah, she still kicked my ass. But here's the highlight, it took her 25 minutes this time.
That's right. Last time she trounced me in 10. So technically, I survived two and a half times longer. That's called progress. A breakthrough doing it's magic.
Her movements seemed slower now. I could spot more openings. My sword didn't feel like a stick in my hand. Even with Inspect guiding me through the trajectories, my stamina couldn't keep up. She reached my blade and the duel ended with me flat on my back, again.
As we trudged back toward the mansion, Clara turned to me with that oh-so-serious glint in her eyes.
"Lord Hugo, I think training without application won't be effective anymore."
"What do you mean, Clara?"
"It's better if you gain practical experience. Your breakthrough happened during the fight with Varkis, remember? Practical experience hones instincts, not just techniques."
So I asked, slightly wary, "You mean…?"
"Yes, my lord," she said with a smile I did not trust. "It's about time we headed to the dungeons."
Great.
"I used to explore four dungeons a month when I was a trainee," Clara continued. "One each week."
She turned to Sylvia. "Lady Sylvia, I assume you had dungeon drills too?"
She nodded. "Two explorations, post-academy. I would have had more but... situations back home made me focus more on the management side than combat."
Clara gave a short nod. "Young master, since we can't leave the city until Lord Orion returns, let's prepare to head to a dungeon as soon as he's back."
I gave a reluctant nod. "Let's do that."
Still curious, I turned to Clara with one more question.
"Clara, back in the Falcon Duchy, the mana beasts' death residue helped cultivation, right? That's why your mana mastery is so high despite not having an innate skill. But… what about here? Elvian mana and human mana are different. Wouldn't that make the beasts' mana hard to absorb?"
Clara frowned, deep in thought. "You're right… I hadn't considered that."
Sylvia stepped in. "I think it's still usable, Lord Hugo. I remember a professor once saying dungeon beasts draw mana from the core, not the environment. So their mana is different from both elves and humans."
Which meant that mana of beasts is same regardless of region, and the grind must go on.
"Then let's wait for Lord Orion to return. Once he gives the greenlight, we head in."
Clara nodded. "I'll ask a guard to submit our request to the nearest Adventurer Guild. They'll grant us dungeon access once we're approved."
"Please do," I said.
Yay, I guess we're going dungeon diving. Someone send a fruit basket to my future self.
I got back to my room and headed straight for the bath. Honestly, the bath has never felt this great. Maybe it's the sweat from all that training. Or maybe it's the fact that my body was screaming in new dialects of pain I didn't even know existed. After a month of skipping real exercise, yeah, I earned this soak.
Freshened up and borderline human again, I stood in front of the mirror.
The stat window popped up like usual.
HUGO GYRFALDRACE: Human
STRENGTH: 55
GRADE: D
AGILITY: 57
GRADE: D+
ENDURANCE: 51
GRADE: D-
COMBAT POWER: 53 {D}
INTELLIGENCE: — / ▬▬(Active/Passive)
GRADE: ▬▬ (Passive)
MANA MASTERY: 49
GRADE: E+
MANA ENHANCE: — / 49(Active/Passive)
BATTLE FORCE: 53 / 54(Active/Passive)GRADE: {D / D}
INNATE SKILL: Inspect {S+}
My stat window and Sebastian's show same anomalies... Stats that are not related to the body are masked. Though Sebastian's stat window shows loyalty stat, it's value and grade are masked.
His race is shows as 'demon'. The fact that demons are considered extinct and his stat window shows the same deviations as mine from the rest...are concerning, but since he is bound by contract.. it's fine, I guess.
I was low-key hoping something changed from today's training, maybe a magical boost that makes me finally taller or something. But no. Growth has slowed down by a lot after the breakthrough. New tier, new rules. Of course it'd get tougher. Should've known the game doesn't hand out freebies just because I sweated a bit.
Normally, this is the part of the night where I sit down and cultivate like a good little protagonist. But tonight, I decided to mix things up. Instead of cultivating, I was going to train something different. Perception.
I sat down cross-legged on the floor and closed my eyes, circulating mana through my body like I usually do. Once I was ready, I tapped into my mana pool and began expanding my perception.
At first, I kept the range to just my room. I could feel everything. The fluttering fabric of the curtains. The tiny shuffle of a paper as air moved past it. I swear I could even sense the damn dust particles doing the conga in the corner.
Then I decided to increase the range. Let's push it to the eastern corridor.
Boom. Sensory input exploded. I could sense people moving, the distant flicker of mana, staff going about their chores and preparing for dinner. It was fascinating, right up until I tried to focus on details, like the ingredients in the kitchen. That was when the focus drain kicked in like a mule.
The more I tried to zoom in, the more mental strength it sapped. But if I bore the strain and kept focusing on just one object, I could almost form its shape. Vague. Distorted. But recognizable. Still, I knew I was nowhere near good enough to piece it all together, so I backed off before I popped a neuron.
Next step: full mansion scan. Let's go big or go unconscious.
I extended the perception range to cover the entire mansion. Instant regret. A sudden burst of mental pain slammed into my skull. A scream almost escaped my lips, but I clenched my jaw. I wasn't about to tap out now.
Sweat formed on my forehead...even in this room with cooling artifacts humming quietly in the background. Everything around me, including the objects in my own room, became clumps of blurry substance. If something moved, it just looked like a clump shifting spots. Could be a trolly. Could be a ghost. Could be a really ambitious table. I had no idea.
Still, I could perceive large-scale changes, and that was something.
Zooming in for detail hurt a lot more than just maintaining the wide range. But I wasn't satisfied yet. Now I wanted to know my limit.
I pushed again.
Let's try till the garden area. All of it.
And that's when the real pain began. My head screamed. My lungs screamed louder. I panted like I just ran laps around the duchy. But I didn't stop. Because somewhere in that chaos, I realized something:
I was being limited. The mana I was allowed to access wasn't enough to support the increased perception. So, naturally, I tried to force more mana through by speeding up its circulation.
Only it didn't work. The speed didn't increase. I tried again. Nothing. Was it my mana veins? Was I missing some fundamental principle?
I thought about reducing the perception range and focusing on just circulation, but… nope. I decided to be bullish instead.
I did both. At once.
I tried increasing the perception range. And tried to boost mana circulation. Both at once.
I felt my heart ache. Nausea crept up like an assassin. My instincts were blaring alarm bells at full volume. Just when I was about to collapse, I heard a familiar sound.
Ding.
That was Inspect's pop-up chime.
Wait… something in my stat window just broke through?
I didn't dare open my eyes. If I lost focus now, I might pass out or, worst case, combust into blue glitter. But I could feel it...what used to feel like thick oil crawling through my veins now rushed like river water.
The speed of mana circulation had increased.
It felt like someone flushed out my rusty old pipes and installed premium irrigation lines. I could now access more mana...not because I had more of it, but because more mana was flowing through a given point per second. And that is what determines how much you can actually use.
You can have a mountain of mana but if you can't circulate it well, you are no better than a person with no mana at all.
With more mana flowing naturally, the strain on my mind lessened.
Don't get me wrong, perceiving that much range still felt like juggling flaming swords blindfolded. But the swords were now slightly less on fire.
So I did what any idiot would do: I tried to push the limit again.
Whole estate now. From the backyard to the main gate.
My brain sent a resignation letter. The pain spiked to unbearable levels within minutes. So I decided to shut it down. Clara had told me to decrease the range bit by bit when training perception, so I followed that advice.
Except… I might've overdone it.
The range I'd expanded to was already too far. Now I had to crawl all the way back down, and it was exhausting.
I started by slowing down the circulation, which naturally reduced the mana I could access, which in turn forcefully lowered the perception range along side my efforts to lower it.
But it hurt. Oh gods, it hurt. I started panting again. My lips curled in discomfort. And before I realized it, I had instinctively cut off the perception and halted circulation in one abrupt move.
Wrong move.
The world around me spun like a carnival ride on turbo. Colors exploded in my vision like fireworks on drugs. I staggered upright, hoping to walk to the bed and collapse like a civilized mess. But my stomach had other plans.
New quest unlocked: Find Bathroom Before You Paint the Floor.
I stumbled toward where I thought the bathroom was, barely managing to swing the door open before—
"BLLLOOOK."
Yep. Vomit.
Shockingly, I felt better after that. My head stopped spinning. The world decided to stay in one place. Progress.
I made it back to the bed...barely, and collapsed like a sack of enchanted potatoes.
Dinner was still an hour away. I didn't even look at my mana stat. I just buried my face in the pillow and closed my eyes.
Today was a win.
A disgusting, sweaty, painful win.
But a win nonetheless.