As I walked toward the temporary residence of our Royal guests, my mind was already on how I could leverage the direct access to the artifact, to deepen my understanding of how to handle the Divine Spark.

Though, it was interesting a ruined piece of an ancient artifact, with its broken handle, cracks, and more rust than metal, had such a great impact on my development path.

However, when I found myself at the separate building assigned for the Crown Princess, I focused on the presence. "May I ask you to send a message to Lady Delia," I said to the nearest guard. Interestingly, rather than asking a reason or an explanation, he just nodded before sending a message.

They were clearly instructed to do so.

Even more interestingly, rather than leading me inside to meet with Delia, the handmaiden responsible for arranging my services — and seducing me to a betrayal in the process — the guard asked me to wait.

A moment, I thought that to be a subtle power play, trying to keep me waiting at the entrance to remind me that I didn't have the luxury to go around as I wished, especially this late. To my surprise, however, Delia appeared at the entrance less than a minute later, an apologetic expression on her face. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she gasped as she came to a stop from her hurried walk — the speediest she could move without looking like a peasant.

"No worries," I said with a wave of my hand.

She turned to the guard. "It's a scandal, how can you keep such a valuable guest of us waiting," she admonished.

"But … the Princess ordered that —" he tried to argue, only to be cut off.

"I know what her Highness ordered," she cut him off. "That doesn't apply to honored guests," she added before continuing with several choice admonishments, mixed with warnings and threats.

Good show, I thought even as I watched them, barely holding back a smirk. She was a good actress, I had to admit, but not enough to fool me.

"Sorry about that," she murmured after finishing the punishment of the guard, and gestured me to walk. For a moment, she was silent, her hands dancing on her hair to deflect anxiety, trying to fix it.

Another part of her little ploy, I noted as I let my attention wander on her dress, which was ruffled and skewed, like she had put the dress on hurriedly. However, considering it enhanced the cleavage of the dress more than intended, but not enough to actually reach a level that could be defined as obscene.

Her beautiful blonde hair, damp and slightly mussed to give the impression that she just stepped out of a bath, sold the impression even better — despite the fact that a simple spell would have dried it properly.

Altogether, combined with her attitude, she sold the story of an enthusiastic greeting.

I had to admit, I was impressed by her attention to small details. Manipulation was much more effective through subtle details than grand declarations, and I could always respect a consummate professional.

Not enough to actually stop my own manipulations, of course.

As we walked, I made a show of glancing down her enhanced cleavage, blushing softly as I did so — which was hardly a chore as I enjoyed the delicious walk of the busty blonde while she made small talk.

"You weren't around for a few days," she finally broached the subject, slipping the question like it was just another casual comment.

"The demands of my boss, unfortunately," I murmured, with an enhanced focus on the distaste, making her eyes brighten for a moment. "But with the recent attack, I had a lot of other things to deal with."

"So unfair, making you work that hard," Delia said, probing lightly.

"Someone in this school has to, or the place would collapse," I countered arrogantly, adding another layer to the fake pompous personality I was selling to them. "If it wasn't for my great wards, this place would have long collapsed under the weight of the undead."

"They are lucky to have you to put things together," Delia said with a sigh, as she grabbed my arm thankfully, and 'accidentally' dragging my arm until it was momentarily buried in her glorious bosom before letting it go.

Nice touch.

"Yes, they are," I said smugly. Though, it was ironic just how close my fake personality was taking credit for my actual achievements, yet somehow managing to disguise them as fake in the process. She nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything else.

Because we have arrived at our destination. The research room they had prepared for me.

"You guys decided to go with the most expensive option, nice," I murmured, not bothering to hide my shock as I said so. The research room they had set up for me was definitely opulent, extremely so, which almost felt me guilty for asking such a detailed request. It was just supposed to be an excuse to allow me to create my own wards, allowing a more throughout the observation of the Princess.

Though, having access to a well-equipped research room was much better than the alternative, especially since I was confident to block any magical observation they might leave in place.

"Nothing but the best for the best," she said even as she rubbed my arm suggestively. "Her Highness ordered that everything that you require should be readied for you immediately, especially if it might achieve our goal faster."

"Everything seems to be in order for the moment," I said as I examined the room, including the mana-laden forge, several tables with supporting arrays to make the analysis easier, piles of materials — both monster parts and minerals — carefully categorized on shelves, tools forged from magical metals, and even a small box including three Mana Gems.

A truly impressive preparation. Just the materials were enough to bankrupt most families. Ironically, it was also a statement from them, saying that, even diminished, Crown Princess had access to deep and mysterious resources.

"How much do you think it would affect your projection," she said, unable to hide her nervousness.

"Don't worry, with all this, I'm confident that I could replicate it no more than two weeks of work, especially since my work will keep me in the school for a foreseeable future," I said. If it wasn't for the sudden appearance of the dragon, adding much more interesting leverage to apply against the headmistress, I would have used the opportunity to highlight just how unreasonable the headmistress' requirements were, trying to use the Princess' weight against the headmistress.

"Oh, such good news," she gasped in happiness as she hugged me. Her happiness was real, though, the seemingly impulsive move was certainly not, especially when she was doing her best to rub her chest against mine as she rocked up and down.

A move that had rather radical implications on the movement of her dress, making it slip lower and lower, until it gave a glimpse of her nipple, giving me an amazing view, and a notification.

[+100 Experience]

I tensed the moment I read the notification, while she stumbled back, a blush on her face, assuming that was a reaction to her nudity, which wasn't.

It was the reaction to the fact that I had received experience without any reduction, proving that her level was higher than mine!

It was shocking, because, the last time I had checked, she was only supposed to be level twenty, which was too low to give me experience.

So, either she managed to gain more than twelve levels in a few days, or I had fucked up my initial assessment greatly.

Either way, yet again, I found myself in a much more complicated deal than I expected.

"I'm so sorry," she gasped as she tried to fix her dress in fake panic, messing it even more in the process, giving me an even better view of her naked tits for a fleeting moment. She even managed to stumble toward me in the process, forcing me to hold her to prevent her from a painful fall — pressing her naked tits against my chest in the process.

Unfortunately for her, it also gave me an excuse to slip another string of mana to her, allowing me to examine her soul space. I was lucky that she was busy giving me a show, giving me an excuse to look shocked.

I was shocked, because her soul space was markedly different.

She was not level twenty anymore, but thirty-five, a huge difference from before. But compared to other details, it was not even important. The fact that she had several more skills, or some stats were markedly higher was not shocking as well. The selection of the new skills, most magical and some crafting, while curious, wasn't entirely world-shaking, though almost as suspicious as her sudden power-up.

What was shocking was the absence of skills that was there the previous time I had checked, like dagger skill, or sense motive. Similarly, some of the stats, like dexterity, were lower, and the whole distribution was completely skewed.

Yet another mystery, I thought even as she managed to fix her dress.

Like the situation wasn't complicated enough with angels, dragons, and mysterious organizations…

—

[Level: 31 Experience: 493310 / 496000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6226 / 6324 Mana: 7750 / 7750 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

Expert Craft [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 22/26]

[Helga - Level 22/26]