The second year progressed much like the first, and while I had been the center of attention in the beginning I quickly faded to obscurity as others began to rise in popularity. I hadn't met any of them but the other three duke houses each had at least one child attending and things got into full swing between them, my sisters, the prince and the boy I suspected was the Hero. 

My suspicions were only reinforced when I learned his name, something I probably should've cared more about before he became popular. Hiroshi Nakamura, a name that was out of place no matter how I thought about it. His combat strength was also unnaturally high, to the point where by the end of the second year he was the undisputed number one, even among the upperclassman.

Each of the duke houses also began to occupy the rankings, including Eldur, though it was only Gabriel and Kalista as I had essentially become a recluse. At the start of the second year I'd been challenged multiple times by people who thought I was getting favoritism, or who wanted to verify the rumors that I was unkillable, but I rejected everything and focused on honing my Skills. I didn't have a large need for merits since I was already staying in the best accommodations available on the campus for free and the only thing I spent them on was materials for making or testing various creations, which I offset by trading in my silk, it was a valuable and highly sought after resource after all.

It was towards the latter end of the second year that I also hit puberty, something I'd been dreading for quite some time. It wasn't that hard to notice that my body was changing and growing as I began to lose the last remains of childishness. While I knew it would eventually pass, the speed at which my mood changed was the worst. I could be just fine, enjoying my time working on project and then boom, one small thing would go wrong and somehow I'd end up back in mine and Arya's room crying my eyes out on her shoulder. If there was one saving grace, it was that I didn't have to deal a period. Whether it was a racial characteristic or some other reason I was thankful.

Over the course of the third year, me and Arya became good friends, though we were still a far cry from being anything more. I wasn't sure, but I got the feeling that Arya didn't want to risk anything changing our current relationship since I was probably the first friend she'd had outside of her clan.

As for me, I still struggled with the sexual aspect of Arya's extra member. While she had all the normal equipment as a girl, the fact that she also had a dick and balls made it difficult for me to think of her in any way besides that of a friend. The stigma in my head from my past life as a man was still rooted rather deep even after all these years as a woman. While it had been quite a while since I cared about my gender, I still couldn't help the fact that I didn't want a dick inside me. Ironic since I'd recently started work on what could only be called sex toys to deal with my ever-increasing sexual frustration that I could only remedy twice a year for a week at a time with Reine. For some reason, an inanimate object enchanted with Vibro magic was something that caused no issue for me, yet even the thought of an actual cock was a no go. While I'd originally thought of visiting Marian she was busy with teaching and dealing with all the associated reasonability, especially since her and Elaine had both been assigned an extra class as to balance out the favoritism I got.

It wasn't until the fourth year that I got back involved with the other students besides Arya, the sole reason being that there was a unique benefit granted those in fourth year and above. Access to Labyrinth and by extension the Adventurer's Guild and the Skill Shop. While I was interested in exploring the Eldora Labyrinth and being able to sign up to be an Adventurer, I was far more interested in the Skill Shop. It was only available to high-rank Adventurers, or the top student of the fourth, fifth and sixth year students. They supposedly they had a way to remove Skills from a person, which could then be traded for other Skills, money, or in the case of a student, merit, something I was desperately interested in.

For the past year I had been trying to find a way to rid myself of Pain Nullification as while useful it was inferior the combination of Masochism and Power of Pleasure. Pain Nullification had reached max level which essentially removed my ability to feel pain, which in turn meant I no longer felt the arousal that Masochism turned it into, which meant I had to either rely on myself being horny, or Sadism to make full use of Power of Pleasure.

Before I really understood how effective Power of Pleasure was I was actually quite happy to have Pain Nullification instead of Masochism, but that changed once I could compare myself fully aroused compared to when I wasn't. It simply wasn't a comparison that worked before my body had fully matured, as while it wasn't like I couldn't be aroused the limit and length were in different leagues.