My relationship with Mary was pretty complicated. We met and fought together in the dungeon, and quickly, we got along. Our relationship then took the next step when we exited the dungeon and had sex.
But afterward, I learned that Mary was married, and that made our relationship a bit awkward.
I did not plan to contact Mary again after that, but she contacted me instead and invited me to a ‘date’. At the start, I was hesitant about agreeing or not agreeing, but the demon suggested that I should not cut off my relationship with her.
According to him, my relationship with Mary could ‘help me to learn about the adult world'.
I agreed with him after thinking for a while. To be honest, I did not want to cut off my relationship with Mary either, after all, I got along with her well.
Thus, I agreed to her invitation and went out with her on a date. The date was nothing special, just going out, window shopping in a mall, and eating something delicious in a comfortable restaurant.
But to my surprise, the date was more enjoyable than I expected.
Mary was funny, witty, and smart, plus she was beautiful. Moreover, because she was older than me, she liked to take the initiative, making my date with her relaxing.
We did not have sex after that date and just returned to our homes, but we kept in contact through messaging apps. After that, we went on another date, and this time, the date ended with us on a bed.
After that, my relationship with her continued to improve. I talked to her about my life, and she told me about hers. Occasionally, she complained about her husband, and I complained about my training (without mentioning the demon or the dreamland).
Soon, I found myself looking forward to talking to her.
The best part about our relationship was that it was free of responsibilities. We were not lovers, but friends closer than normal friends. Following Mary’s words, it was better to not make it complicated.
It was not that easy, though. Mary was very charming as a woman, but I tried to act like a mature adult. Instead of thinking of Mary as an object of affection, I tried to think of her as just a friend. A friend whom I occasionally went to bed with.
Mary seemed to notice it, and she became more and more casual with me. To be honest, I kind of liked the relationship we had now.
Thus, when she asked me to see her in the morning, I agreed without thinking much about it.
The next morning, I arrived at her house early in the morning. Mary was waiting for me outside and hugged me as soon as she saw me.
“Come, I will bring you to a nice place. You will like it.”
“You are making me curious. How about a clue? What kind of gift is it?”
“Hehe, guess.” Mary chuckled and hugged my arm, pulling me towards her car. “I can only tell you that it will help you during the entrance examination.”
Mary’s words intrigued me, however, no matter how much I asked her, she did not reveal anything else.
The car drove for around twenty minutes before arriving at our destination. To my surprise, Mary brought us to a cordoned area outside the city.
“This is… a dungeon?”
“Hehe, but this is not a normal dungeon. Come, follow me.”
We left the car and I followed Mary to the soldiers guarding the zone. Mary then showed them a credential and the soldiers allowed her to go in.
Soon, we arrived at the location where the dungeon appeared. There, a woman received us.
“Mary, you are here. Is he the boy that will enter the dungeon?”
Mary nodded. “Yes, when can he enter?”
“Half an hour later. Does he know the rules?”
“I’m about to explain them to him. Don’t worry.”
“Okay. Get ready then. He will enter when the person inside comes out.” The woman said and left.
I was completely flabbergasted right now.
“Mary, what is it about?”
“You know that there are several kinds of dungeons, right?”
I nodded. Most dungeons were of the normal kind, but occasionally, the behavior of some dungeons was a bit different, so the association used this behavior to classify them.
“Then you should know about open dungeons. This dungeon is like that.”
I was surprised.
Open dungeons referred to dungeons that could be entered and exited freely. Normally, you could not leave a dungeon without destroying the dungeon core, but open dungeons did not have that restriction.
Mary noticed my surprise and smiled.
“Not just that. This dungeon is even more special. Besides being an open dungeon, this is a training dungeon as well.”
This time, I was completely stunned.
A training dungeon!?
That was the most valuable kind of dungeon!
Inside training dungeons, the mana was very active, abundant, and at the same time docile. It meant that training the mana inside this kind of dungeon was many times easier than in the outside world.
But that was just the start. Due to the nature of this kind of dungeon, when you kill a creature inside, the mana in its body is released and absorbed by the nearest creature. It meant that killing creatures in this kind of dungeon was the same as becoming stronger.
It was almost like gaining experience inside a game.
“Surprised? This dungeon appeared yesterday, and I was called to explore it. When I discovered that it was a training dungeon, and also an open one, I immediately thought about you, so I asked a friend of mine if I could allow you to enter. And he agreed.”
This…
Mary, I’m really about to fall in love with you.
I calmed down my emotions and started to think. This is really a great opportunity for me.
“How strong are the monsters inside?”
“Don’t worry, all the strong monsters were killed by us yesterday. None of the monsters inside is stronger than tier three, but you should not have any trouble facing that kind of monster, right?”
I nodded. I killed even a Tier-Five Awakened. Killing tier-three monsters is a piece of cake.
I took a deep breath and controlled my excitement. This time I struck gold.
Right now my strength should be the same as a Tier-Four Awakened, but my mana, on the contrary, is stuck on the second tier. According to the demon, my talent in mana is trash, so I should be happy that my mana is not regressing.
Mary knows that my mana is just at the second tier (though she thinks that it’s because I just awakened), so she thought that if I entered this dungeon, my mana could increase for one tier at the very least.
To me, this is a godsent opportunity. If my mana increased for one tier before the entrance examinations, my strength will see a considerable improvement.
“Mary, can I fall in love with you?” I asked with a sincere expression.
The auburn-haired woman giggled and shook her head. “It’s better if you don’t. I don’t want to break your heart.”
“What a pity.” I feigned sadness, making Mary chuckle and throw a flirtatious glance at me.
Sigh, what a dangerous woman.
Being just a friend is not easy.
So the mc is ok with adultery as long as he is not the victim. OK
@Aidka you should consider this more cause hippocritical mc ...well u know the rest.
Unknowingly sleeping with a someone else's woman is a mistake but continuing it is not
I think him not caring much is largely due to the culture of his world. Their social norms are different from ours. Awakened having multiple partners is something accepted even if it isn't discussed openly. Adultery in this world is likely a problem, but not nearly as big of a one as it is in our world. Perhaps Jane is a bit hypocritical in his personal desires, but most people are.
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter.
As long as Mary isn't the main girl/ heroine then who cares? I just don't want to see him simping after married women. If they both understand no exclusivity and he purely treats her that way then who cares
A cuck, hate this mc really. He doesnt have any amount of self respect for himself. He feels honored that a married woman sleeps with him and he is proud of being a good friend. Dropping this.. I dont know what makes you think that having a character like this makes your story better.
Unclean! Not a virgin! Burn her! How dare she not divorce her husband immediately! You people project too much of your insecurities on fictional characters.
You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. I don't see why every partner, must be exclusive, If both sides enjoy each other then there is nothing humiliating about sharing.
The only time you need exclusivity is either if :A one side does a lot more, then that side can demand exclusivity to balance, :B they decide to have children together so that you don't have to raise someone else's kid or C: if they agree that they are exclusive.
@joeblow12 I agree - I am sure @day_dreamer loves harem novels where the male MC sleeps with multiple women, often at the drop of a hat, and by that action that makes them "his" and have to be exclusive to him - but he gets to sleep around and they don't. This story is one of the few that doesn't have that huge hypocrisy as part of it - if the MC can sleep around why can any of his friends-with-benefits. A mature and well thought out cultural shift from being awakened - if an awakened female is exclusive, there is a risk that whoever they choose as an exclusive partner, is either infertile or genetically incompatible, having multiple partners increases the chance a female awakened will conceive, just like having male awakened having multiple partners to increase the number of possible children that are awakened.
It's the authors story, if you don't like cast your vote in the traditional way and leave.
@Fost I actually like it that the writer decided to make Mary into a married woman. Story became more interesting that way. I always hated how every harem story had the most beautifull and talented women in the world that are still shy virgins. Now there are several things though that I am not a huge fan about. I would have prefered if after the first night and him finding out that mary is married that the sexual relationship would have ended there or that mc decides to keep some distance. Just a few chapters prior mary was fawning all over him telling hin how he is her hubby and like they were made for each other just for us to find out she is a married woman and this relationship will become nothing more than sexual. Maybe I am projecting my own morality too much into this but if someone did that to me I would feel somewhat cheated. Also sleeping with someone with a partner while the partner has no idea is kinda shitty thing to do. Hiding behind the thought that he does it why can't I do it doesn't make you any less of a disgusting person. Either end it or confirm with each other that you are not exclusive. Right now how it looks mary is a trashy person and mc is kinda pathetic for being uncomfortable about it but still going along with it. Either don't care or stick with your morals and end the relationship. Personally I would have prefered the latter and if the author is really planning on letting mary becomes a future partner of the mc letting the relationship progress by slowly closing the distance that was formed because of Mary lying.
@Marxdarkbear I agree with what you are saying at the end there, given the number of books I read concurrently, I can forget details like that - I also think the MC should be concerned about Mary’s duplicity - if she had be honest from the start I would have no problem with the MC being non-exclusive in return, but a relationship that started with lies is not a good one.
@Fost I'm glad you understand what I am talking about. I have seen several comments either completely ignoring this fact or act like her behaving that way is completely okay because her husband cheated on her so it's fine to withhold this information from the mc and cheat back. I am predicting that the author is planning on making the husband be an asshole which will make Mary more innocent which turns her into a potential harem member. But at the end of the day the problem is still there. Mary, a grown woman intentionally withheld the fact that she was married to seduce a younger man to have a sexual relationship with him. She is a trashy person.
@Marxdarkbear as someone who is married, I don't see the attraction of a harem, I suppose it seems idyllic but practically I suspect it is a lot of work and hassle - which is why almost all cultures have a single male/female pair as the core family. I can see how culturally, if a) awakened is significant survival advantage and b) just having one awakened parent significantly increases the chance of an awakened child, the social structure described in this story could come about - however given Mary is awakened, the MC (I dislike calling him Jane) should be immersed in this culture and just straight assumed she was non-exclusive, thus the whole issue prove irrelevant. She would not have offered as she did, and the MC would have expected others.