Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 58:First Mission (5)

"Raymond. It’s time so get up already will you?"

He groaned, it had taken the others only two hours or so to fully recover (only one for Thomas and Audrina) but since they had now fully recovered and were in peak condition. They expected Raymond to follow as well.

But he was still recovering his mana, in fact he would have recovered slightly faster if they didn’t decided to sit next to him. Causing them to absorb some of the ambient mana.

If he had some of his skills then he would have been able to recover faster. But his system still showed no signs of returning any thing other then a few stats here and there.

"I’m not fully recovered yet."

"If your body is still tired I can use my holy energy to rejuvenate you."

Thomas unhelpfully chimed in.

"My body’s fine. But I’m still replenishing my mana."

Seeing Raymond sprawled out on a mat on the ground, Noelle rolled her eyes slightly. "It’s just one last section anyways and then we’re done. Lets just quickly finish it and go."

He groaned again, sitting upright and using his staff to push himself into his feet.

The promise of it being the last one was enough to give him the motivation to stand up again. His body shaking slightly as he did.

"Dammit, why am I the one forced to constantly run around. Can’t you guys do a better job at protecting me?", he complained.

Lucy quipped, "It’s pretty difficult to try and block several hundred hornets."

"Only Thomas and Ellen are allowed to say that."

At least Thomas and Ellen had a good excuse. Thomas didn’t know any Arts other then the one he learned in his childhood in the heavenly realm. Whereas Ellen was a archer who struggled with swarms.

Lucy however, despite using a rapier. Seemed to have some kind of Arts for everything.

Raymond could tell she had some kind of footwork Art. Some kind of rapier Art and definitely some kind of sensory Art that improved her reaction speed.

Noelle was in a similar vein, despite using only her Asteria Armoury Arts. It practically functioned as a footwork, weapon and defensive and offensive Art all at the same time.

Stretching his body, he covered his mouth as he yawned. The early wake up and constant action had made him really damn tired.

He just wanted to go back to their hotel and sleep already.

***

"Amazing! To think that you cleared out nearly a third within just one day even though you’re all only G-ranks!"

Raymond’s ears twitched slightly at that remark.

’G-rank?’

Raymond had already ’formed’ his core a while ago. Making him officially an F-rank now. Measured, he would likely appear to be an F+ rather then an F-.

The + and - were only measures of quantity within ranks based on the average. With Raymond’s abnormally high mana purity and amount. He was automatically considered to be a + in any rank.

Since he still acted as if Raymond was a G-rank. It was safe to assume the academy had finally done something right. Managing to hide him forming his core from the public.

Seems like principal Herol finally did something!

Raymond mentally congratulated him. But only briefly, there were still too many problems with the academy to start applauding him too enthusiastically.

But to hear that they only just cleared out a third after a whole day of fighting...

It really doused out Raymond’s emotions.

They would have to repeat the same thing at least two more times. Maybe even three.

After too much friendly exchanges between people trying to suck up to them. Raymond eventually managed to get them off his back.

For some reason, they seemed particularly eager to suck up to Raymond.

Collapsing onto his hotel bed, he sighed at the thought of needing to eat dinner later. Right now, he was so tired he wanted to just sleep. He could already feel slight traces of mana burn coming in, not as intense since he didn’t overexert his mana and allowed it to recover in between sections. Merely from when his mana reserves bottomed out.

Luckily, he didn’t need to shower. His magic cleaning spell was better then even a deep clean.

Plus, as the perfect human. He didn’t sweat much, shed any hair or skin cells and could even control his own bowel movements.

Of course he still let it all run on autopilot most of the time. Only a few times when necessary would he ever take over control.

Closing his eyes, Raymond felt himself drift off into sleep slightly. His eyelids growing heavy as he resisted closing them before eventually deciding to give up.

Before realizing it, he had already fallen asleep.

The door to the shared bathroom in their hotel room opened up, Ellen’s wet hair dripping water on the floor.

Seeing Raymond sprawled out on his bed, mouth open and snoring. A pillow wrapped in his arms. Still in his robes, not even bothering to change made her mouth twitch slightly.

Walking over to him, she quietly bent over slightly. Her face directly over Raymond’s, a few strands of her wet hair tickling his face. But she wasn’t worried, this guy could sleep through earthquakes and would barely even notice anything happened.

...usually at least.

She made sure not to stand too close to him, lest an incident like last time happened again. At least last time there was still some space between them.

If it happened again...

She felt her own heart racing as her mind visualized the image. Her cheeks slightly flushed as she continued staring at Raymond’s face.

She raised her index finger at him and-

poked him in the cheek.

"mhmm..."

She poked him again.

and again, and again. Repeating this for almost a minute straight.

His cheeks were surprisingly soft, similar to the texture of rice cakes.

Seeing him occasionally make a sound at her poking was also fun as well. It was like the same feeling that you would get from petting your cat or dog, except for a person. Strangely stress-relieving and comforting at the same time.

Seeing his big goofy smile in his sleep, she continued poking him.

"hehe, mom...that tickles...."

She stopped, her finger pausing in its tracks.

Instantly, the two little angel and devil versions of herself appeared on her shoulders again. This time, engaging in a fierce battle of words. Her morally good side and her not so morally good side clashing in a duel that would determine her next action.

’Use this opportunity Ellen! You might never find out more about him ever again! Aren’t you so very curious?’, the little devil version taunted her.

Unwilling to give up, the angel version of her tried to persuade her. ’No! Don’t fall for the temptation! We are better then this! We must respect his decision and let him keep his privacy!’

Closing her eyes, Ellen’s debate continued. The two sides of her rampaging as she tried to calm herself.

In the end however, the angel version won.

Right before he was vanquished, the demon version let out a few last words. Growling slightly, ’Grrr, I’ll come back! I always come back! And when i do...you shall obey me once and for all!’

Covering Raymond with a blanket and tucking him in. She quietly opened and closed the door, making her way downstairs to the hotel dining area to get dinner for herself and Raymond.

It was only when the elevator doors closed on her and she was inside did she realize.

’Ah. I forgot to dry my hair.’

***

Raymond awoke with a yawn, turning over slightly. He mentally sighed as he reminisced over his bed at the academy, it was large enough that he could roll over three times before finally reaching the other side. But now, he couldn’t even roll over two times.

Grabbing his phone, he flinched slightly as his eyes got temporarily blinded by the bright light.

[2:11 a.m]

He stared at the time for a bit.

They had finished yesterday at around three p.m and reached the hotel again at around four. Assuming he slept at roughly that time, it meant he was asleep for nearly ten hours. A testament to how drained he had been yesterday.

’Hmm? Why am I covered by a blanket?’

He was sure he had simply collapsed onto his bed and fallen asleep, so how was he now snugly tucked underneath?

’Probably just tossed around a lot while sleeping.’

Raymond attributed it to his sleeping movements.

Feeling his stomach rumble, he soon managed to make out a small silhouette on the small table they were provided in the dark room. Resembling a plastic takeout container.

Carefully navigating through the darkness of the night, he made his way to it. Finding a packaged meal with utensils.

He could feel his own gratitude for Ellen soaring in real time as he ate. If life was a dating sim, then his affection rating for Ellen would have increased by a whopping ten point and that was out of one hundred.

He almost even shed tears.

t

Almost, he didn’t actually. But he was close to.

He made a mental note to tone down his revenge plot he had cooking up for Ellen. He was still definitely going to get his revenge, he just wouldn’t do anything super horrendous. Regular horrendous was enough already.

While Raymond was cheerfully thinking of reducing the scope of his revenge, less then a few meters away—Ellen suddenly frowned in her sleep. Unaware that she had slightly saved her future self.

Finishing his warm dinner (he reheated it with magic), he cracked his fingers—pulling out a pen and a notebook. Different from the one he used for his magic research on Borrow Future Strength. This was a new one that he would dedicate solely for new spells.

’Now then, I should try and finish this before we head out tomorrow...or today technically since it’s past midnight.’