Chapter 110: Connecting the Dots

Valerian stood in the kitchen of his dorm room and prepared the tea he and Seraphine usually drank before she began to examine him.

It was a motion that he had grown accustomed to by now, and he found himself calming down during it. Between the hard training under Ravena and his "research" sessions with Seraphine, the simple act of making tea was refreshing.

When he finished making the tea, he stood in his living room for a moment, confused why she wasn’t here by now.

Normally she would arrive pretty much on time with him finishing the tea, but then he remembered that she had said 10 instead of 5 minutes.

With the extra time on his hands, Valerian went to the couch and sat down, letting himself sink into the soft cushion.

While relaxing on the couch, he thought about the training today and the progress he had made, and he could only think of one word that summarized it.

’Slow.’

Since he entered the academy, he hadn’t gotten stronger in any way. The training he did with Ravena gave him some experience, but she had said that the real sword training would start once he had managed to form Twilight into its perfect shape.

But until then, they only did basic things and sparred with a different sword every day.

And on the magic front, he also didn’t make much progress as he was too consumed by the sword training.

For normal people, not becoming stronger for two weeks wasn’t anything weird, but for Valerian, it was below his expectations.

He was possibly the most gifted person in the whole universe, as he couldn’t think of a better starting point than his.

[Child of Mana], [Infinite Cosmos Physique], [Primordial Celestial Dragon] bloodline and race, [Law Breaker], and the elusive [God Seed].

He had so many advantages that staying at the same strength for two weeks felt like he wasn’t using it to its fullest potential. But to be honest, he had no idea how he should progress in these fields.

His physique, in all its might, was still just in the [Infant Stage], and his bloodline was also [Unawakened], and he had no idea how to awaken it or progress his physique.

He had the suspicion that his physique would naturally mature as he got older, but he couldn’t just bet on that happening and sit still for now. His bloodline as well, there were certain ways to awaken a bloodline, but there was no universal bloodline awakening tool; it was all about very specific circumstances for a bloodline to awaken.

Circumstances that he had no idea about, as there were understandably no records of the [Primordial Celestial Dragon] bloodline anywhere in Eldoria. One place he thought answers were on how to awaken it would be to go to Tiamat, but that wasn’t possible for now.

And then there was [Law Breaker], possibly the strongest tool in his arsenal.

The basic applications of the skill he understood; even stealing affinities was something he got the hang of. But where to go after that?

The description of the skill didn’t really set any limits or parameters that he had to follow, so presented with this infinite amount of possibilities, Valerian was slightly stumped.

And Valerie couldn’t help him either, as when he asked her about it, she told him that her knowledge was on the same level as his. And if his understanding deepened, she would also grasp more uses of her power.

He had to find a way to get stronger, and fast.

For some reason, he had the feeling that something bad was happening, and he had to hurry up and become stronger.

Just then, he felt the familiar presence enter his dorm room, and his pondering time was stopped.

Valerian stood up with a sigh and walked to the door that led to the entrance of his dorm. When he opened the door, he was met with a sight he definitely didn’t expect.

It was Seraphine, of course; that much wasn’t a surprise, but the surprise came from what she was wearing.

Up until now, she had worn her academy uniform, consisting of a white shirt tucked into the academy-issued skirt and black thigh-highs. Even if Valerian wouldn’t admit it, his eyes had drifted to her legs more than once. Well, he couldn’t be blamed; she had a ridiculously high charm stat like he did, and she was way less subtle with her stares!

Anyway...

She wore a black dress with a faint celestial look to it. The top was fitted with a high collar and sheer sleeves, while small gold details and star-like patterns caught the light when she moved. A wide sash wrapped around her waist, decorated with thin chains and a small crescent charm, and the layered skirt faded into magenta near the edges. Black stockings and heeled boots finished the outfit without making it look overly formal.

Her long silver hair flowed down her back in soft waves, with a few sections braided and tied back by a dark ribbon. Magenta earrings hung from her pointed ears, matching the vivid color of her eyes and standing out against her pale features.

She looked up at Valerian with slightly expectant eyes, and he looked down at her with a stunned face.

"You look stunning."

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

"That’s it? I look like the embodiment of beauty, and that’s all you have to say?"

There was a clear teasing tone to her voice as a grin appeared on her face. Valerian looked at her and stepped closer.

"And what is the occasion for this beauty to descend into my room?"

Seraphine didn’t step back; over the past weeks, she had gained more confidence when it came to being bold with Valerian, as the constant physical contact made her less embarrassed.

"Do I need an occasion to feel pretty?"

Valerian looked into her crimson magenta eyes for a moment; they glowed in a beautiful light that stood out against her face. Gently, he moved his hand and tucked a strand of her soft silver hair behind her elven ear.

"You are pretty every day."

She stared into his purple eyes and nearly got lost in the swirling galaxy within them. But she caught herself and grinned at him.

"Wow, that was kitschy. Hop hop, let’s begin."

She turned his body around and began to push him into the living room, with a small smile on her face.

After that, she began her usual check-up, and Valerian could see that she was indeed already on the 7th volume of the report.

Everything was going normally when she suddenly took a sharp dagger from her spatial ring and held it menacingly in front of her.

"Ehhh, Sera, what is that for?"

A bad feeling appeared in Valerian’s stomach. But Seraphine just looked at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Your regeneration is obviously part of the examination and information I need to win this game."

"I also found out that you don’t feel pain as we do, right?"

’When did she find that out?’

Indeed, pain didn’t work how it did normally for Valerian at this point. When something were to cut him, he would feel the object enter him because of the mana displacement, but real pain didn’t exist anymore for him.

But he still didn’t know when and how she found that out!

"So what if that’s true? You won’t cut me, right, Sera? Right?"

The dangerous glint in her eyes didn’t disappear as she stepped closer and pointed the sharp tip of the dagger against his stomach.

"Tell me if it hurts, Val; it’s valuable information."

Without waiting for an answer, she began to push the dagger into his skin. It had problems at first to get through the hard exterior, but that was nothing a little mana enhancement couldn’t fix, and she pierced him.

Valerian felt the dagger enter him, but since there was no pain, he focused on Seraphine and how she looked at the way his body behaved around the blade with pure amazement.

’Haaa, don’t tell me she is a sadist.’

She continued to stab and cut him for the next hour and watched the way his body would heal the damage; these wounds were always just superficial, as she didn’t go deeper than a few centimeters.

When she was done, Seraphine spent nearly 30 minutes sitting on the couch and writing everything she saw and felt today into the report, filling the pages quickly.

As he watched her write her findings down, Valerian sat across from her and drank some of the tea that was still left.

He threw a quick glance at her book; it was nothing more than a simple glance, but right at that moment, he saw something.

She had drawn an outline of his body and around him his seven affinities, with lines connecting them to each other and his body.

As he saw this, a thought rushed through his brain, and like he had had a massive breakthrough, he sprang up from his couch, startling Seraphine.

"Val? What is it?"

But Valerian didn’t answer her and just teleported beside her and placed a fleeting kiss on her cheek.

"You are a genius, Sera!"

In the next second, his body disappeared again, leaving Seraphine slightly stunned as one hand moved to the spot he had just kissed.

’What?’