It’s been few days since then. At first, I thought she would continue ignoring me after the things I said last time. However, every day, she will apologize to me whenever we’re alone together in training. And my response, I ignored her every time. It may be childish, but it’s not a simple matter; it’s someone’s life was on the line, we’re talking about life and death situations.
Furthermore, she’s oddly being kind to me ever since, and it’s been creeping me out. But I didn’t give her a bat in the eyes and continued ignoring her. The statement that I said last time is my genuine emotions conveying that I don’t want to have anything to do with her—And, I’ll keep my words until then.
Acting oddly kind and even in sparring, her aura around her became calmer than before. Like someone possessed or something, the prideful Lily was nowhere to be seen on the current Lily I’m seeing now. Because of that, it’s quite been a bother to me.
Although there’s a lot of factors that I’m lacking in me, however, Diana explained some things about my fight, which I lack the most. The will and determination to win. And I understood what she means by it. In my first fight with Lily, the only thing that goes on my head at that time was how to survive, as my life was in danger at that time. However, during our second fight, the sense of hunger to win that fight has been absent or the urgency to win the fight because I treated it as a sparring fight that wouldn't really matter.
These past few days, I’m working on coating my sword with quintessence. And also, my quintessence’s color had dramatic changes. It became richer and finer than from my old pale golden color to now golden-purple color. From my understanding, I feed Diana with my quintessence for her nourishments and since our soul hasn’t fully merged yet, I can only use a tiny bit fraction of her power.
However, I can use more of her power when I call her name, like the other spirits—But, the difference would be that Diana can’t fight along with me, as it’ll be troublesome because her power would be split into two which can be troublesome in some scenarios except for some certain situations.
Back to Lily. She has been annoying these past few days, so I’m mulling over what I can do so that she wouldn’t bother me anymore. Lying under the tree while leisurely gazing at the sky; the wind grazes my skin gently. Above me, it was Diana floating, looking at me with a smile on her face.
(Diana.)
(Yes?)
(Have you gotten any friends in Avalon? You haven’t really told me anything about Avalon.)
(Avalon, huh? Hmm... I have many friends, most of them are females; I don’t befriend guys—They’re creepy~ But, of course, my dad is an exception.)
(Oh? Does that mean you have parents?)
(Of course, I have 12 siblings. All of them are females, though. Mom is what they call the goddess of love and my dad is called the god of war.)
(Eh—?)
I've never thought that her dad would be called the god of war. It made me raise an eyebrow. Having a thought of what would be her father would be like, sends shivers down my spine.
(Now that I think about it, why are you all obsessed with establishing a contract with people like me?)
(There is this saying in Avalon, where establishing a contract with someone and merging soul with a mortal can unleash the full potential of our divine powers. Of course, we gods and goddesses can be consumed by greed. However, in my case, my mother told me you can find love once we establish a contract, making them our soul partners. In truth, my mother doesn’t really love my father, but she fell in love with a mortal in here. But because of the curse, she got separated from the one she loves. That’s why we sisters are so fond of that idea. Luckily, I found mine~) saying it while embracing me and rubbing her cheeks against mine.
(Wait, does that mean the people you said who wanted me are actually your sisters?!)
(Not only them but many others too.)
'Okay. That's worrisome and great at the same time, but I think I need to worry more about myself because of that.'
(Oh... I’ve got one more question though. Can I still create a contract with other spirits? I’m curious about it.)
(Yes.)
(Really?!)
(Of course, was it because you don’t want me...?) Diana sadly looked into my eyes.
( No way! I’m just curious.)
Actually, the reason for it, I wanted to hide Diana’s existence because of her otherworldly beauty and her origin. There were a few humanoid spirits, however, with Diana’s godly beauty it would be troublesome because her appearance hugely resembles a human which is unheard of. If people knew about her existence, it can be problematic for her and me as well.
(Can you shape-shift, Diana?)
(No, I can’t. Why?)
(It may be a selfish request, but I want to keep your beauty from others because I only want to see it for myself. Is it that impossible?)
From understanding Diana's personality, she doesn't give a shit about others or about the world in general in her world I'm the only one who exists. I don't want her to act like from before, like the first meeting with Master Irene and Clara. There'll be a lot of complications if that thing happens again.
(Why didn’t you say so?! However, I can’t go into the Aether to get you a pet because our soul hasn’t fully merged yet.)
(Oh, I see. Don’t worry then. We’ll just keep you from others, okay?)
(Okie~)
Afterward, a shout calling my name enters my ears.
“Young Master, Madam wanted you in her office!” yelled Clara.
“Okay!”
────────────
Knocking on the hardwood door in Master Irene’s office.
“Enter.”
Opened the door. What blooms before me, was the erotic scenery of Master Irene in her bathrobe while sitting on her office chair.
“Why are you dressed like that, Master?”
“This? It’s quite hot, so I chose to wear this.”
“There are many clothes you can choose from, but you really chose that one?”
“Hey, it’s my choice.”
“Okay, okay. So, why did you call me here?”
“Sit down first, I need to talk about Lily.”
“Okay...”
Obediently sitting on the sofa, Master Irene sat right beside me and crossed her bare exposed milky legs—Tempting me badly. If Master isn’t a monster, I would assault her right here, right now. This devil's incarnation of temptation, enticing me into doing bad things to her.
“So, what do we need to talk about with Lily?”
“I’ve been checking on you two for the past few days, and you’ve been ignoring her all this time. Care to tell master, why are you doing that?”
“Personal reasons.”
“Haah... Lily already told me the reason and wanted to apologize to you deeply. She’s regretful about wounding you in the last sparring session. She thought it wouldn’t pierce your skin like last time you fought at the banquet.”
“It wasn’t even that.”
“Because you thought, she wanted to kill you?”
“Isn’t that the case?”
“No, that’s not the case at all.”
“You may be confused on why she’s holding a grudge against you. You see, she’s a huge fan of mine and admires me the most. She even wanted me to pick her up as a disciple, however, I’m not the type of person who picks up disciples. You're the only one. Well, Clara too but she's more like a self-taught. Thus, she got extremely jealous of you when she found out that I chose you over her. Imagine what would she feel, if I picked up a manaless person like you over her?”
“That doesn’t mean she can do whatever she wanted. She's already in her teens, yet her mindset is still like a child's. But, if that's the only reason. Sorry, I can't. I'm firm with my decision, a flimsy excuse like that won't change my mind."
“Now, let’s go over that part. She told me she wanted to test and scare you to see if you're fit to be my disciple which is extremely childish of hers. And, I already scolded her about it.”
“What’s that for? Do I need her approval for such a thing? She's too entitled.” furrowing my eyebrows, clearly upset at what Master Irene just said to me.
“You don’t, and it's still my decision to choose who to choose. Lily probably did that impulsively.”
“Haah... Anyway, is that all? Because that reason alone won’t change my mind.”
“I know. But, at least give her a chance, will you? Can you least hear her out?”
“Depends.”
“That’s least good to know. If you really can't then I won't force you. It's your own decision, not mine. Let’s talk about what I said in the past about my plans for you two. I’m planning on letting you take the entrance exam of the academy.”
“Exam? Why do I need to take an exam? I already have my scholarship in the research department.”
“I want you to enter the normal course like everyone else. Of course, if you still wanted to enter the research department, you can still join. It’s just that, you’re not the old flimsy inferior person that you used to be. What a waste if you can’t enjoy it.”
“I understand... Isn’t it such a waste? I mean, I have my scholarship after all...”
“Depends on you, I’m just telling you. Wisely, it’s good to be in the research department as they only care about your worth and brains.”
“Haah... Okay, I’ll try... I want to challenge myself anyway.”
“Good~! I already registered you over it, anyway.”
“...” Looking at Master Irene with a look of contempt.
'I got a feeling she used reversed psychology on me.'
There are different departments in the Atlas Academy, but most of them have the same curriculum. Naturally, inside the academy discrimination against manaless people still exists. The old Claude chose the research department, at least in there, no people can discriminate him as the only important thing in there is your contribution on projects or thesis, but he still needs to attend normal classes like everyone else.
Moreover, there are three types of examination: Spirit Efficiency, Academics, and Physical Capabilities. Of course, as a manaless person, the only hope for that person to join would be the Academics. Next, the class rankings would be categorized from S Class to D Class.
The S Class would the mix of S class spirits and Deity Spirits they would automatically get in that class no matter how bad they may be at spirit efficiency or physically. However, that wouldn’t be the same on the people below them, as they’re all mixed, no matter how strong your spirit is if you can’t even bring out its potential then they can throw that person out on the C or D class—It’s an unfair system.
So he is having s*x with two women he wanted relationships with, without him knowing.
And now he's forced to spend time with his assaulter because of one of those women's decisions (irene)
He still isn't being properly trained and now has a sparring partner he wants nothing to do with.
100% can confirm. Irene is a f*cking idiot
I'm pretty sure Irene is a succubus or something and draining his excess energy in dreams so he doesn't explode.
Kinda agree on the other points though, she's a pretty bad teacher all around.
@Xiaoshen Oh yeah, that priest guy did call him a mana generator last time - if I recall.
Yeah idiot and liar (plothole) ...Irine clearly stated sparring match was meant to grasp their current abilitys and then create fitting training regimens...that sounds right but days later still sparring between MC and Lilly is defnetly authors error!!! IIrine had days to create their individual trainings still sparring??? sry thats total crap.And useless... it would mae sence if they had trained seperately for at least a ccouple wees to make another test spar to get a grasp of progress....but even after tthe fight nobody is teacching him the basics like stance and grip ???? and even send him to tthe akademy like that????
Author thinkk about a rewrite!!!! This is getting totally in the wrong direction!!!! Nothing makes sense anymore...latest now it´s clear that he is NOT treated as a disciple he is not ready without proper training how stupid sending him to the akademy without beeing properly trained???? just for Plot/ Story progress???
I had hopes it would get better but now... i doubt that...
We don't know that he's having s*x for sure, but it does seem like that.
I do agree that she's not a great teacher, but I'm not sure that she didn't come up with a training program. Sparing is normal for an end of the day thing regardless and it doesn't surprise me if they're still doing that.
I do think that some of you need to take a chill pill. Especially @ravenlore
Calm down. It's not big enough of a thing that needs a rewrite. If anything I recommend just bringing in someone good at the fundamentals. A Chiron type of hero teacher. Either way, it'll be fine and you gotta just breathe a bit. 😆
Remember he's got three years of training montage coming up basically.
@Ouroboros I´m chilled it´s just that it doesent make any sense at all.Akademy means less time for training if even possible, means the role of the master ends witthout much results at all.Fighting people like the princess without proper training before would result in losses demotivating him.Bullying what Irine hates .... So there is a lot more what could be mentioned.Like i said it´s sad that a story with potential got so many flaws that could be prevented.Now it feels rushed just for the plot with the princess.At least give him some time to get real training before school arc.Otherwise the previus stuff around Irine and his training before was waisted.
Ok rewrite maybe to much but at least find a way to fill the holes....
and about the training in school .... then what was the reason for Irine??? She wanted to train him... and now ? Right no training at all from his Master? Waisted chances for charakter development and so on.
I think we can agree on this ?
@Ouroboros @BLuU I think she's just suggesting an energy of him.
like, before there was a reverse rape tag, but the author took it off, so maybe he had an idea to put it in, but he gave up
@Ravenlore author seems to be ADDING plot points to the "past" randomly. Like the current "s*x while Claude is sleeping"
Author seemed to rush that one, saying it started happening when he first moved in, then added that it happened for a year. Seems like a rushed plot point.
And it seems author is info dumping in an unnatural way to set up for future developments.
Diane came off as an annoying Navi that just overloaded us with information and we barely got to feel what type of person she was because she was used an an encyclopedia in this chapter.
Story is still good, but so many details are being put in places that disrupts the flow of the story.
@BLuU yep the flow doesn´t feel right.And the poiints i mentioned are somehow missing.There would have been oppurtunities to fix at least some details but so far it just continues in a way that somehow "jumps" to fast foreward...
@Ravenlore author can also fix many issues with side story chapters in other P.O.V's
I feel after Claude moved in with Irene, we really didn't get much more character development.
I do like the way Claude is blunt with lily, but I'd also be that blunt with Irene and move out. 3 years and she hasn't trained the guy and is making up excuses for his "training".
@BLuU yep no even 1 scene were Irene is training him not even now.Instead send´s him to the akademy.Then he learns there so why then make him her disciple in the first place? She would have to correct stuff they taught him there afterwords to e fit for her real trining what would mean he waisted years of time learning things different from what she would teach him.She is a swordsaintess for crying out loud ...
@Xiaoshen if it was a dream there wouldn't be the wet substance no? And why would he imagine the maid if it was that?
@Ravenlore the fact his battle instinct are trained is not bad because they probably wouldn't in the school and at school he could learn all the basics. It's the the best school so the teacher there should be good. Tough the facts that he is learning footwork just by watching from the maid is laughable, considering he is the one moving around and attacking and the maid is only in a defensive position.
@Eugenio it was never clearly stated tthat the maid was only defending.But sharpening the battleinstincts would make it necessary to get attacked with killing intent, at least in a fantasy setting were your life depends on it.MC was only eaten up.And like efore mentioned if a master takes a Disciple then this master got a certain figthing style.So letting MC getting trained in the akademy from a different teacher is counterproductive beause Irine would have to start after the years in school again at zero.After school would simply not e enough time for proper training even if he could leave campus.There would be ttime lost with going home and back to school too.And the footworkpart was discussed earlyer as well.If you simply try copy it there is a high risk of injuring yourself.....
The biggest sin irene do is make claude forgetting Stephanie
@Ravenlore i think author did write a scene where Clara doesn't move from a spot and Claude keeps running around and attacking. So he gets absolutely nothing from it. Just a beating.
@BLuU true but in some other sentences he wasn´t going into details more like he tried to land a blow and got beaten up.For this she would have to get a little more offense instead of avoiding and some counters.Ottherwise it´s really hard beating someone up
@Ravenlore I honestly just imagined her standing in the center if a room. While he runs around her swinging away and she just blocks and deflects
@BLuU wouldn´t help much with battle instincts if the opponent only defends and never attacks...and in the fight against Lily it was cleary obvious that he could see when things got dangerous.
@maum.2412 another point firstt potential harem member introduced but then out of the pcture for his master and her maid just for no real progress between them and next girl got braught up with Lily.MC says no way.Then Diana got his Spirit (and Wife) just to bring Lily back into the picture.I can see the reason behind that but the timeframe is to short.Girls plopping up efore there is even time to build up 1 relationship in a serious way.Simply rushed and that disrupts the storyflow as well
@Ravenlore yeah, but with battle instinct I did not meant something like killing intent but only something like finding and exploiting weakness in the adversary stance, style or something similar. Like what he did with the elven Princess. And it's plausible that the style of his master is advanced, so the basis are the same. Like how to swing, ex: how to turn your feet, where to put your weight,balance, the correct use of the upper muscles etc.etc. Those are the same for everyone or the changes are so minute that a novice wouldn't need to know because they are too hard to use properly
@Eugenio every style still has basic movements. Hes just a boy waving a stick not even knowing how to use his hips with a thrust or parry... or how NOT to throw his shoulder out when swinging. I don't wanna get TOO technical on a fictional story, but "basic movements" isn't a style and its very necessary. Infact he is now SELF TAUGHT on how he fights, and he's been doing it for YEARS now.
To train him means now they have to UNTEACH everything he TOUGHT HIMSELF in the last few years. Its like being a 6th degree tae Kwon do black belt, deciding to just to boxing
@BLuU maybe to make the difference more obvios switching form kickboxing to capoera...
@Ravenlore The major problem why some people are criticising so harsh is that in all this time Irine didn´t teach him anything only the SELF TAUGHT Maid wich means so for MC can´t even be considered her Discciple only in name.It wold be different if someone who studied under her before would train him the basics.Next thing is he was a teenager before he died with at least enough knwoledge to get an idea what happend when he was out cold or sleeping and found the bed wet.So he should suspect what happend...
@Ravenlore
Wow, so many notifications. No way I'm going to read all that. However, I will say that constructive criticism is good. It'll serve as nourishment for the story to improve if used well.
@Ouroboros Not everithing is bad the idea itself is great.How he wants to fill in te girls is good as well.But it feels rushed because there are some steps skipped in between which makes the story less enjoyale and gives it a bad flow.Relationship development with the Girls or lack in the training part.With those parts fixed and MC less dense and stupid the story would be really great.The way it s now you can use it as a filler while waiting for updateson otther storys or change of pace but with the potential behind it it would deserve better if only the flow was a steady pace and some errors ccorrected
s*x involves consent. He is being raped.
@BLuU. s*x involves consent. He is being raped.
If u read more... its just 'almost'
@SinginOffTone
No.
No rape, keep reading.
@Xiaoshen instead of a teacher, just see her as his benefactor, it feels more fitting to what she has done so far...