Haruki pushed open the door. A curved staircase heading into the next floor came into sight.

‘It’s going up. A tower?’

He expected it to be a dungeon, not a tower.

“The land here is rotten,” Arch said. “I thought it was better to create a structure. It’s shaped like a triangle, and you’re at the bottom. The higher you go, the bigger the floors.”

‘A genius. Is your last name Kayaba?’

“I’m not a nutty game master.”

Haruki’s eyes widened. Arch caught his SAO reference as though she lived and breathed an otaku life.

“And don’t underestimate a goddess’ intelligence.”

‘Ah yes. The goddess who forgot to awaken my system.’

“I—forget it.”

Haruki shook his head. Riling her up didn’t get him the answer he needed. The relationship between his mother and Arch was a suspicious one. It could also be related to the reason she didn’t awaken his system before his mother’s death. Even Arch wasn’t stupid enough to forget a thing for seventeen years.

This floor was once again riddled with skeletons. The boss was four of the skeleton bosses of the previous floor with several normal skeleton warriors. Nevertheless, he made short work of them.

[Task completed. Well done!]

[3 X Low-Rank Gacha Coupons rewarded.]

“Haruki-sama, did you gain anything other than those marbles?”

Haruki checked his status.

[Awakening progress: 1.15%]

“Not much. We need to go deeper to find strong opponents.”

Medea shuffled the marbles in her hands. They were pleasing to touch and could act as mini leylines to provide magical energy. However, the few they had would barely make a dent in her massive mana pool.

“The second floor was more difficult than the first one. How big is this place?”

“We’ll know soon.”

So he entered the third floor.

The first fellow he encountered drifted through the hallways. A ghostly figure shrouded in a white robe, from which three sharp black claws stuck out. A bloody tongue similar to a lizard’s tail was in place of its mouth. The ghost was straight out of a horror movie.

“It’s a wraith, Haruki-sama. Souls with deep grudges against something. Ordinary attacks won’t hurt it.,” Medea informed. “My enhanced reinforcement spell should work on it.”

“Wraith,” he repeated. This place had more things in common with the Land of Shadows than just a similar name.

The wraith finally decided to pay attention to him. It soared, nearly touching the ceiling, and wailed. The crimson tongue shot out. Haruki instinctively blocked the tongue with his spear. The cunning wraith wrapped its tongue around the shaft and tried to yank the spear from his hand.

‘Woah. This thing has a brain.’

“Haruki-sama, its tongue is its medium to interact with the physical world.”

Haruki grabbed the tongue trying to disarm him and crushed it into a bloody pulp. Activating the reinforcement, he plunged the spear into its head. Violet mana swirled at the spear tip, becoming a fierce cyclone that effortlessly collapsed the wraith’s spiritual body. It left behind a similar Magical Essence to the skeleton boss.

[Awakening progress: 1.31%]

‘Sheesh. Now I know why Kuzuki could go against Artoria. Medea is such a cheat mage.’

“That was anticlimactic,” Medea commented with a grin and took his hand tainted in the spirit’s blood. She pulled out a clean cloth from her robe. “It might become a curse if left alone.”

Haruki gazed at her with a smile as she dutifully rubbed his hand. “How is your magical energy now? Any side effects yet?”

Medea found the warmth in his eyes a refreshing sight.

‘He was so different when he was making love to me.’

She grinned at the desires that rose in her heart, wickedly so. “Worried for me?”

“I shouldn’t?”

“I’m better than I ever was.” She clasped his hand and guided it to her breast. “Can’t you feel it?”

Her magical energy pulsated to his touch, as if synchronizing with him on levels deeper than a simple master and servant contract. He felt like he could draw out her magical energy if he wanted to.

“She is yours,” Arch said. “Don’t forget it.”

‘Show her status.’

Medea: A Sorcerer from the Age of Gods and your current Servant, tied to you by the Fuyuki Holy Grail System. -Current Status — Can people die from too much happiness? -Relationship Status — 103/100 -Species — Spirit -Age — Uncountable -Gender — Female -Height, Weight — 163cm/51kg -Alignment — Neutral Evil -Parameters Strength: 10 (E) Endurance: 21 (D) Agility: 32 (C) Magical energy: 75 (EX) Luck: 40 (B) -Authorities None -Noble Phantasm Rule Breaker ...

Her magical energy had grown from A-Rank to EX-Rank.

‘Is this permanent?’

His status didn’t update after he used reinforcement. Medea’s status also shouldn’t be updated if it was a temporary result of receiving his magical energy.

“Your magical energy expanded her spiritual core,” Arch answered. “It’s a permanent change.”

‘I’m awesome… will it happen every time we fuck?’

“Stop being too greedy, little dragon. It won’t work on Medea until your next major awakening. Her current vessel is limiting her. Too much magical energy can make her explode.”

Haruki shuddered, promising himself to refrain from any creampies.

‘When is my next awakening?’

“Five percent, then ten, twenty-five, fifty, and finally one hundred percent. The next awakening will unlock more potential of your body.”

‘Wonderful.’

He was a little hyped for the five percent awakening and every awakening after it.

‘Will I be as strong as you at one hundred percent?’

“Possibly,” Arch said. “I don’t want you reaching that level…”

‘Worried that I’ll push you down?’

“...There is nothing but boredom here.”

Arch completely dismissed the random thought that popped in his head. Of course, he was just teasing her. Putting aside her otherworldly beauty, he didn’t know enough to consider her as a partner. On the other hand, he wondered what kind of powerup she could give him.

“Haruki-sama,” Medea said, her eyes misty with desire. “Do you want to?”

Seeing him in a daze flooded her with an influx of emotions.

‘He is so infatuated with me.’

She couldn’t help but giggle. A shimmer of his attention was enough to keep her happy. These feelings were no weaker than the curse Aphrodite put her under, but they were native to her heart.

“I was thinking of something,” Haruki said and pulled back his head. “I want to clear five floors today.”

Arch needed time to change his hand with the Noble Phantasm.

Medea agreed with him with her whole heart. She may have objected if he said something along the lines of going as far as they could go. However, the first five floors will be a walk in the park if the enemies were weak like the skeletons.

“You also need to rest after that,” she said. “We can do the lessons first thing in the morning.”

“Sure thing.”

He tossed the marble in his pocket and wandered through the corridors. The wraiths that he encountered were slain without exception. The boss was like an altered version of the previous wraiths with a black robe and deadly claws. Unlike the other wraiths, this one had no tongue.

Medea didn’t say a thing this time, letting him decide the course of battle and gain more experience. He needed time to incorporate his martial arts into his spear techniques. Since Medea had almost zero experience in formal martial arts training, she couldn’t teach him anything.

The black wraith arrived before Haruki in the blink of an eye; it was faster than anything he encountered so far in this place. But they couldn’t hold a candle to Medusa’s chains.

Sparks erupted as the metallic claws of the wraith clashed with his spear. A sharp gale originated from their collision, blowing the blue torches in the narrow corridor.

‘It’s strong.’

The force behind the claws was impressive, to say the least. The wraith scraped the spear—which became harder than steel—with its claw. Haruki winced at the unpleasant screech, reminding him of that one shitty teacher who used the traditional chalk and board just to make students cringe. Having succeeded in its distraction, the wraith swung its left claw at Haruki’s face.

Medea squirmed in anxiety. Keeping her impulses in check was harder than she ever thought. Fortunately for her, Haruki parried the attack on simple instincts before driving the spear in its stomach.

“Rest in peace.”

With those words, he filled the spear with more magical energy.

[Awakening progress: 1.40%]

Haruki wiped the sweat off his forehead. Things got a bit scary in this battle. He never expected the wraith to pull a trick like this.

“Haruki-sama.” Medea strutted up to him. “Are you hurt?”

He shook his head. “They will get more intelligent in the deeper floors.”