Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 128: I Have A Proposition

Deep within the vast, boundless expanse of her own consciousness, Peko floated adrift in a sea of absolute, perfect silence.

The space around her was filled with hundreds of thousands of brilliant, burning stars, scattering across the endless void, each burning with its own light.

This was the Ancestral Knowledge. It was the physical manifestation of the legacy etched into her bloodline, an unfathomable library of Magecraft intricately encoded into her very being.

Every single star hanging in the dark expanse represented a unique spell, a fragment of ancient magic, or a forgotten technique.

Peko sat perfectly cross-legged in the center of the astral void with her mind unbothered by the sheer weight of the cosmos surrounding her. Her focus was entirely locked onto a massive, blindingly white star floating just a few feet before her.

She breathed in, matching her spiritual rhythm to the slow pulsation of the celestial body before her.

With every measured breath, thin, luminous wisps of pure white light peeled away from the star’s volatile surface, drifting forward before sinking seamlessly into her forehead.

She sat there, meditating and patiently comprehending the knowledge, uncaring for the flow of time.

After all, inside this inherited mindscape, time was an abstract concept. What felt like an eternity of silent, agonizingly slow comprehension was, in truth, just a fraction of a mortal night.

Centuries seemed to pass within the span of a few stolen hours as she unraveled the magic strand by strand, pulling the knowledge directly into her mind until the massive white star finally dimmed.

Exhausting its vast reservoir of knowledge, the celestial body dimmed down into a dull, dormant ember before losing its light entirely.

Peko let out a slow, ethereal breath, feeling the knowledge settle into her mind before slowly opening her eyes within the void to watch the fading ember drift back into the endless sea of surrounding stars before she severed the internal connection.

And the very next moment, she woke up in the real world.

The cold, crisp morning air immediately washed over her face, carrying the faint scent of the morning dew.

Peko sat perfectly still on the wooden veranda of their temporary estate, keeping her legs crossed and her hands resting lightly on her knees.

The sun had barely begun to crest the horizon, casting long, pale shadows across the manicured courtyard while the mana lamps flickered out one by one.

She had spent the entire night anchored to this exact spot, letting her physical body rest in a state of shallow meditation while her mind delved into the cosmos that was her Ancestral Knowledge.

Before she could even shift her weight to stand, her sharp ears picked up a heavy thud from the second floor.

That thud was immediately followed by the sound of frantic, scrambling noise that echoed down the hallway.

[The Young Master’s directive to cut her study time was indeed tactically sound...] Peko admitted to herself, feeling a surge of genuine surprise as she listened to the approaching chaos.

Normally, dragging the Nom-Nom out of her bed required physical threats or blackmail, or a combination of both. But to hear her voluntarily awake and moving before the sun had fully risen was nothing short of a miracle.

Peko smoothly pushed herself up from the cold floorboards before walking gracefully into the hallway, arriving just as Nom-Nom violently tumbled down the wooden stairs in a chaotic tangle of limbs and messy black hair.

"Morning, Peko!" Nom-Nom yelled, springing to her feet without a single ounce of dizziness.

Nom-Nom practically radiated enough energy to power a small city block as she bounced excitedly on her heels. "It’s a new day! And Master said I only have to study for one hour!"

Peko gave the Dragon a sweeping look, taking in the wide grin and the complete absence of her usual morning lethargy.

[She is far more motivated today as well...] Peko nodded to herself.

Before Peko could issue a response, the doors leading to the kitchen pushed open, and Elena stepped out into the hallway, wiping her hands on her apron.

As the General’s planted operative and their resident maid, Elena was usually a master of maintaining a perfectly neutral, professional facade. But the moment her eyes landed on the bouncing chimera, she froze dead in her tracks.

Recovering quickly, Elena cleared her throat and offered a polite bow. "Good morning to you both. Breakfast is almost done. If you would, please, take your seats in the dining room."

"Yay!" Nom-Nom cheered, instantly abandoning the conversation as she sprinted past the maid and practically teleported into the adjacent room.

Peko followed at a much more dignified pace, stepping into the dining room just as Nom-Nom reached for the heavy wooden chair at the head of the table.

"I have a proposition..." Peko spoke before Nom-Nom could even pull the chair out.

Watching Nom-Nom tilt her head, Peko began-

"Since you are up so early..." She said, keeping her tone perfectly flat and diplomatic as she stepped toward the table. "You have two options regarding your new schedule."

Nom-Nom blinked rapidly, her violet eyes narrowing in instinctual suspicion. "Options?"

"You can study for your mandated one hour right now, before leaving for the Dungeon," Peko explained.

"Nope," Nom-Nom immediately replied.

"I was still speaking..." Peko shot Nom-Nom a look, "As I was saying, doing so will clear your schedule for the rest of the day, giving you all the time you need to relax and have your fun when you return this evening. Or, we can keep our previous arrangement going, and you can study after your dungeon dive."

Crossing her arms as Nom-Nom went into deep thought with her brow furrowed, and her lips pursed together as she weighed the pros and cons of front-loading her academic suffering.

Watching the mental gears begin grinding to a halt, Peko decided to sweeten the deal.

"There is a food stall near the city library that I tried once," Peko added casually, watching Nom-Nom’s ears instantly twitch at the word ’food’. "They sell really good takoyaki. If you choose to study now... we won’t have to come straight home after you finish today’s dungeon dive. We can meet up at the library, and I’ll take you there. We can even take a stroll around the city... and have some fun."

Nom-Nom’s eyes widened into massive, sparkling saucers. The internal debate instantly vanished, replaced by an overwhelming tide of pure excitement.

"Yeah!" Nom-Nom cheered, nodding her head vigorously as she slammed her hands onto the table. "Let’s study now and stuff! We can get the takoyaki later!"

Nodding with a small, deeply hidden smile, Peko turned on her heel and walked out of the dining room. She glided down the hall and into the drawing room, efficiently gathering her academic supplies along with a densely packed leather-bound book.

Peko walked back into the dining room, stepping up to the table before firmly dropping the thick, ridiculously heavy textbook right next to Nom-Nom, rattling the entire dining table.

Nom-Nom froze in place, staring down at the embossed golden title she didn’t even understand the meaning of.

"Since we only have one hour..." Peko announced, offering a flawless smile that was both polite and ruthlessly cold in equal measure. "We will be exponentially accelerating the curriculum. Now, open to page one."

Nom-Nom’s violet eyes widened in absolute horror as the terrible realization finally struck her.

She slowly looked up from the book... at the smiling Peko, then back at the book.

Less study time did not mean less actual studying. It just meant Peko was going to violently cram four hours of academic suffering into a single, highly condensed sixty-minute nightmare.

"Waah!" Nom-Nom wailed, gripping the edges of the table as if trying to escape.

"Page. One," Peko simply ordered, suppressing a dark giggle.