[ Warning breathing Chapter 2k plus word]

Sera finally let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Her shoulders slumped, the remaining adrenaline completely draining from her body. She leaned heavily against her electric bat, aggressively rubbing the side of her neck as she looked at Lucian.

"What a completely messed up night," she rasped.

First a death trap, then your psycho mind-reading, then an death monster... and now rival academy scouts."

Elira stepped up beside him, her dress still heavy and stiff with dried monster gore. She didn’t care about the Silvercrest scouts or the giant Ashura that nearly killed them. Her deadpan eyes were fixed solely on Lucian.

"The rift, Lucian. I need a shower," she stated flatly.

Lucian let out a dry, exhausted chuckle, running a hand through his hair. Between securing his new FP-farming exploit, solidifying his bizarre relationship dynamic with both girls, and miraculously surviving an encounter with an entity that possessed 195,000 Combat Power... he had pushed his limits to the absolute edge tonight.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, reopening his System rift. The familiar blue vortex expanded, leading directly back to the safety of their dorms.

"Yeah,"

"Let’s go home."

...

..

.

A few moments later, it was time to head back.

But instead of leaving immediately, Sera lingered behind, waiting for Elira to go first. The second Elira stepped through her rift and the portal snapped shut, Sera’s posture instantly stiffened. She looked visibly nervous, her gaze darting around the empty clearing as if she was fiercely debating something in her own head.

Lucian stood right in front of her. He was just about to reach up to rub his jaw when Sera suddenly gathered every ounce of her courage, lunged forward, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight, desperate hug.

The sheer force of her tackle made Lucian stumble a half-step back. A beat later, the tension left his shoulders, and a warm, genuine smile broke across his face.

He wrapped his arms around her, placing one hand softly on the back of her head and the other firmly on her lower back. Without needing to say a single word, he just gently ruffled her hair.

After lingering in the embrace for a long moment, Sera finally pulled away. Without even looking back to hide her flushed face, she stepped straight into her own swirling portal, the spatial rift snapping shut silently behind her.

Leaving the charred and smoking clearing behind, Lucian opened a portal to his own room and stepped through, vanishing into the night.

For Sera, the entire night felt like an absolute fever dream. This was a completely foreign experience for her. The moment she stepped through her own portal and the silence of her dorm room washed over her, a bubbling, uncontainable joy threatened to spill out of her chest.

Trying her hardest to calm her violently racing heartbeat, she rushed through a quick bath to wash off the soot and grime of the forest, threw on some fresh pajamas, and immediately collapsed onto her bed.

Okay... Lucian and I are officially a couple now...

She rolled over onto her back. Lying there with the back of her forearm resting over her forehead, she stared up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes. The sheer reality of everything that had just happened—the kiss, the confession, the hug—slowly started to fully hit her.

Her fingers tightly curled, gripping the soft fabric of her blankets.

"Hehe... finally..." A soft, overwhelmingly giddy whisper escaped her lips.

And then, unable to hold it in for even a second longer, she grabbed her pillow, buried her face into it, and completely exploded with happiness, kicking her legs in the air with pure, unfiltered joy.

And then, unable to hold it in for even a second longer, she completely exploded with happiness.

She violently shook her head side to side, burying her face deep into her pillow to muffle her squeals. A flurry of bizarre expressions flashed across her face—one second, she wore a goofy, blush-filled smile; the next, a delightfully smug grin, as if a thousand mischievous thoughts were swirling through her head all at once.

"He’s officially mine now..." she murmured softly, hugging the pillow tightly against her chest. "Let’s see how that ice witch tries to act all high and mighty around me now."

Alright, from now on, I’m not backing down from anyone! Lying flat on her back, she brought a clenched fist to her chest, making a solid, ironclad resolution.

I’ll openly hold Lucian’s hand when we walk around the academy... Yeah! And soon, Lucian and I will be right here on this soft bed, and we’ll—

Before that scandalous thought could even finish forming, her entire face heated up to the temperature of a furnace.

"Wait... no, no, no! What if he accidentally reads my mind right now?!" Sera shrieked, sheer panic instantly overriding her fantasies. "Ahhhhh! He’s going to think I’m completely shameless!"

She immediately slapped both hands over her face and started violently rolling back and forth across the mattress like an absolute maniac. It was a chaotic cocktail of extreme embarrassment and overwhelming excitement. She kicked her legs and flailed her arms against the blankets, completely losing her cool composure, acting exactly like a giddy teenager who had just scored her very first crush.

A while later, completely out of breath and exhausted from her own thrashing, she finally stopped. She lay there, hanging halfway off the edge of the bed, her messy red hair spilling toward the floor.

Despite the fatigue, a soft, lovestruck smile was still plastered across her lips.

"Lucian..." she whispered softly into the quiet room, her eyelids growing heavy.

And right there, wrapped in a cocoon of boundless happiness and a warm, lingering sense of safety, she drifted off into a deep, peaceful sleep without even realizing it.

Back in his own dorm, Lucian had just finished his shower. Roughly towel-drying his damp hair, he sat down exhausted on the edge of his mattress and pulled up his interface.

"System, show me the stats. And pull up those special items."

[Mana: 10,000/10,000]

Tap yes to enter the next stage – Flow

[Combat Power: 26,500 → 34,000]

[Physical Strength: A → A+]

[Magical Aptitude: B+ → A+]

[Charm: A]

[Fate Points: 34,900]

[Shop Item: Air Pen (80% Limited Period OFF) – Cost: 1,000 FP]

[Special Item (One-time buy): Broken Watch of Brenos – Cost: Free, Unicorn Hearts x4]

Hmm... so now we’ve officially reached the fourth stage... Lucian taps "yes," and as he does, his blue aura begins shifting into a purple-colored aura, flowing around his body.

[Force → Flow]

[Mana: 13,000/50,000]

[Magical Aptitude: A+ → S]

"Woah... I’m feeling really good..." He curls his fingers..

"System, drop the special item — Unicorn Hearts. Let’s absorb them."

In front of him, on a plate, four living blue-colored hearts materialize. Veins spread all over them. One by one, Lucian picks them up in his hand and absorbs them. After a few minutes—

Ding!

+8000 Mana gained

+6000 Combat Power gained

You have gained new combat techniques → Martial Arts.

That controlled purple aura now flows steadily over his body.

"Nice... now I’m prepared to even take on second and third-year students..."

Even after gaining all this, his mind was somewhere else.

Still i need around 15k more points for that expensive skill... what was its name again? Overdrive, right? Lucian thought, rubbing his jawline thoughtfully.

[Affirmative. Overdrive requires a total of 50,000 FP.]

Lucian narrowed his eyes at the glowing blue text.

"And what exactly does ’One-time buy’ mean for this special item? Does that mean I can’t purchase duplicates?"

A heavy silence filled the room. Then, the System’s voice rang out in his head, dripping with absolute exasperation.

[It means exactly what it says, you absolute jackass! I get a headache just trying to explain basic concepts to you. For someone who is supposedly a genius, you do some incredibly dumb shit sometimes. It means if you claim the watch and end up losing it somewhere, you can sit in a corner and cry about it, because you are never getting a second one! That is what ’one-time’ means! Now, buy it or don’t. I’m handing you free loot and limited-time offers, and you’re still sitting here throwing a tantrum like a cheap, picky bastard...]

Lucian was completely caught off guard. He blinked rapidly a few times, staring at the empty air. This was the very first time the System had completely dropped its formal robotic filter to openly curse and trash-talk him.

Instead of getting angry, a highly amused sneer crept onto his lips.

"Alright, alright. Don’t be so rude, my friend,"He chuckled while shaking his head.

"Buy it all. I mean, the Air Pen and the watch. Give me both."

The very next second, a faint flash of light illuminated both of his palms, and the two items materialized from thin air.

"So... let’s see what this ’Pen’ is all about..."

He brought the object in his right hand closer to his eyes. It radiated a faint, glowing bright blue color, but no matter how he angled it, it looked absolutely nothing like a writing instrument. It was practically the size and shape of a thin, remarkably sharp needle.

"System, didn’t you say this was a pen? From what angle does this look like a pen to you?"

[Yes, it is a pen. Press it against your finger.]

Lucian stared at the glowing blue needle with deep skepticism.

"This is just going to cut me. You know that, right?"

[Just do it and then talk.]

Lucian debated it for a few seconds.

How much pain could a needle this small even cause anyway?

Brushing off his hesitation, he pressed the sharp tip of the blue needle directly against the pad of his right index finger. He felt a sharp, tiny prick, and a single bead of crimson blood welled up from his skin.

"I knew it. This damn System always—"

He had barely opened his mouth to complain when the needle-like object suddenly liquefied. Before he could even react, it burrowed straight into his flesh, sinking completely beneath his skin and vanishing without a trace.

Lucian violently flinched, jumping straight up from the edge of the bed.

"What the fuck was that, System?!"

In a state of sheer panic, he started violently shaking his hand, as if vigorously shaking it would somehow dislodge the needle from his flesh. But then, he noticed something bizarre. With every frantic whip of his hand, a glowing blue line trailed behind his finger, suspended perfectly in mid-air.

Lucian’s eyes widened. Leaning forward slightly, he deliberately dragged his index finger across the empty space. Another sharp, luminous blue stroke formed in its wake. A realization clicked in his head. Moving his hand in a series of smooth, practiced motions, he wrote out his own signature. The glowing blue letters floated in the air with absolute clarity before slowly fading away.

"Oh ho! System, this is actually incredibly cool!" he grinned

"So, is this all it does? I mean, is there nothing else?"

[For writing, yes, that is the extent of it. However, its primary function allows you to send direct mental messages to your partners—or anyone you physically mark with the ink—regardless of the physical distance between you.]

Lucian fell silent for a few seconds before a deeply satisfied, calculating grin stretched across his face.

"Wow, wow, wow. So it’s basically a telepathic instant messenger. Good, good... I like it a lot."

Shifting his attention, he reached down to the mattress and picked up the ’Broken Watch of Brenos’.

It looked just like a standard, antique pocket watch. However, there were no numbers or hands on the dial, and its rusted outer casing was severely cracked and heavily damaged.

"Okay, let’s see what this piece of junk does—"

The rest of the sentence died in his throat. Out of pure habit, he had glanced toward the full-length mirror leaning against the far wall of his room. His breath hitched in his chest.

His reflection was completely gone.

The exact second his fingers had gripped the cracked pocket watch, his entire body had turned one hundred percent invisible! He looked down, seeing right through where his legs and torso should have been.

"Whoa! What the hell... this is insanely dangerous!" he whispered, a villainous spark igniting in his unseen eyes.

"If this does what I think it does... does this mean I can..."

For the next five seconds, a tidal wave of filthy, devious thoughts flooded Lucian’s mind as he imagined all the scandalous ways he could exploit absolute invisibility.

He violently shook his head, physically tossing the dirty thoughts aside.

Focus, Lucian.

[Keep your perverted thoughts in check, you degenerate. You can split this watch into three distinct parts — two straps and the main casing. Whenever you tap the side button on the case, anyone holding or wearing the straps will turn invisible along with you. But pay attention: if the straps move more than 1.5 meters away from the case, the cloaking effect will break for them. Only the user holding the main case will remain invisible.]

"Okay, I get it, I get it. This is insanely useful too,"

He tapped the side of the watch, deactivating the skill and watched his physical form shimmer back into existence in the mirror before tossing the cracked timepiece directly into his Inventory.

Exhausted, he fell backward, landing comfortably flat on his mattress. Interlocking his fingers, he placed both hands securely behind his head, using his forearms as a cushion as he stared up at the dim ceiling.

"Ahhh... well then. With all these new toys in my arsenal... I just need to pull one more heroine to my side. And that shouldn’t be too hard now, right?"

A confident, calculating smirk curled on his lips. And with those final thoughts echoing in the quiet room, the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of the night finally crashed down on him, dragging him into a deep, dreamless sleep.