I slowly open my eyes; as usual, my body feels heavy. The girls have easily picked up the habit of sleeping on top of me, and my brain actively ignores them while I’m resting.

  I teleport to the edge of the bed to free myself. Parts of their bodies drop a few centimeters because of my disappearance; the same thing happens every day, and none of them wake up. They cling to each other and keep sleeping peacefully.

  I’m no longer sleepy. I’ve been waking up later than usual during these vacation days. My body is asking me to get out of bed to train or eat; at the very least, I need to do one of the two so I can go back to bed for at least another hour.

  Our personal cook already has everything ready; as soon as she sees me come down, she starts preparing my breakfast. We greet each other, and now I’m on my way to the courtyard for some light training. Getting used to my new Banner wasn’t difficult—it simply felt like wearing a different kind of armor.

  My body now follows my instructions perfectly. When I finish my morning exercises, I sit down and feel the wind run past me. It takes me much less time to warm up; I’m still avoiding using mana until I recover completely, only using it if necessary—or when I forget…

  I observe my cube, much healthier now. Most of the cracks have already disappeared; only the thickest and deepest ones remain. In a couple more weeks, it should be as good as new. Glia’s help is invaluable for my recovery; without her, it would take me twice as long, or maybe more.

  Glia is growing stronger as well. She’s healing the cracks by manipulating my life mana together with her own. She’s already helped me with worse injuries—this must be child’s play for her. My little sister is also getting stronger and stronger; she’s absorbing a ridiculous number of monster cores, and her body digests them three times faster when she’s in rest mode.

  “Should I go back? Should I take the necessary time until I’m healed?” That question keeps circling in my head.

  Classes will start in a few days. I should be heading back tomorrow if I want to arrive a day before classes begin. Brendu told Susan about my situation; the next day I received a letter from Susan saying I have a few days to decide whether I want to return like the other students or wait until I’m fully healed. Shawu will replace me during those two weeks.

  When Arisa heard the news, she asked Marquis Timal if they could delay her return to classes for the same amount of time as Brendu and me; the answer was immediate and affirmative.

  I lie down on the grass, feeling the cold morning air brush against my face. “A couple of weeks off won’t be a big problem.” I need to rest completely, and I also want to share a few more days with the three of them; after all, it’ll be another five or six months before we see each other again.

  “Wake up, don’t be lazy.” I had breakfast, took a shower, rested another hour with them, and they’re still sleeping peacefully. I lower the temperature of my palm and touch all their legs almost at the same time. They jump when they feel the cold contact against their bodies and start screaming, like every day. This is my favorite way to wake them up; the second is giving them gentle electric jolts.

  “Stop bothering us.” A pillow flies toward my face; it doesn’t even get close before being sent back with my Imra toward Marga.

  “Just five more minutes.” Arisa hides under the huge blanket to keep sleeping.

  “Don’t you want to hear the good news?” I can feel all four of them paying attention, even though none of them open their eyes. “We’re staying together longer—I’m not going back until I’m fully recovered.”

  The first to jump out of bed and hug me is Sol. She’s become more direct when showing affection. “That answer was obvious—you don’t want to be away from us.” She really looks beautiful when she wakes up.

  Brendu teleports behind me, and right away I feel a pair of large, soft things on top of my head. “Good morning.” I look up and smile at her.

  The other two sleepyheads pout because they’re the last to greet me; they took longer because they wanted to sleep a bit more. All four of them are truly beautiful—well, in general, people in this world are more physically attractive. As you rise in rank, the body has fewer imperfections and gains subtle changes; you look more appealing.

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  That reality applies to everyone, but these four were already beautiful from birth. As they’ve risen in rank, they’ve become even more stunning—any model would envy them.

  They all throw me back onto the bed and lie down again on my arms or abdomen. “Get ready or I’m going alone; I have to train the guard.” I burst their bubble quickly. The four of them each grab a pillow and attack me; I can only laugh during the softest, fluffiest assault of the past few months.

  “Where are we going today?” Arisa, already changed and ready, plays with her spear. Her weapon is made from the remains of three grade-five monsters; it’s equal to or better than my Thundersnow Fangs. She inherited the spear from her uncle; apparently her cousin didn’t want to use it because he focuses more on mid- and long-range attacks—he’s not as balanced as Arisa.

  “Puntsal. I’ll be acting as an instructor for a new dungeon discovered a few days ago.” I feel the others walking closer; they can hear my voice just fine. “They’re humanoid-type monsters—half human, half wolf. They usually attack in packs like wolves do; they’re fast, strong, and have good control over their affinity.” That was the information gathered by the first group.

  “Sounds interesting. It’ll be good practice for us.” Marga replies. The four of them will be training together as well; I need to keep an eye on both groups.

  “They’re the most troublesome monsters—always fighting in groups and with no clear weakness.” Sol has a different take. I look her in the eyes; she isn’t afraid—it was just a comment. I can’t deny her words at all: none of them are extremely strong, but they aren’t weak either, and their coordination is natural—they’re a pain.

  “That’s why I’m going. They need someone strong and trustworthy to handle any situation—there’s no one better than the strongest in the territory.” Since it’s a grade-three dungeon, options are limited. There are only a few veteran guards capable of staying calm in any situation, and another option would be the Owl Group, but most of them are still grade three.

  “Come on, you don’t want to be late, right?” Brendu smacks my back harder than necessary—probably because of my sarcastic comment.

  The trip was quite pleasant; since we left with plenty of time, we were able to enjoy nature and even take a small detour before reaching the other town.

  There are two squads ready to enter with us, both composed of some young members and veteran soldiers. The two leaders of each squad approach me as soon as they see me arrive.

  They introduce themselves and we talk briefly. “Fight however you see fit. I’m here to give casual pointers and help you if you get into trouble. You can be a bit reckless if you want—I promise to keep everyone alive.” I wink at the man and woman; both look to be over thirty-five.

  They thank me and return to their groups. I’m glad I didn’t sense any irritation from my last words; I always feel a bit wary in these situations. I don’t know whether they truly respect me for my strength or because I’m the baronet’s son. No one should have any reason to doubt how strong I am.

  I enter the dungeon first, appearing on a huge platform as usual. The next to enter are my group, followed by the leaders of each squad, and finally the rest of the personnel.

  According to the studies, the dungeon always has the same sky resembling a sunset, and there’s only one type of monster. Those are the advantages of a group-attack dungeon with no clear weakness: they tend to be very static and easy to control.

  The groups split up, and everyone starts fighting almost at the same time. Since it’s a new dungeon, it’s nearly full of monsters; it’s easy to find opponents even while staying relatively close to another group.

  I’m using my Personal World to observe each group. The squads from my territory are made up of eight people including the leader, and the smallest group is the girls’. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the group with fewer members perform better than the other two—the girls have more talent, and adding someone as strong and experienced as Brendu has reinforced them.

  The princess is as strong as ever; she hasn’t neglected her training for a single day. Sometimes I forget just how strong she is—she’s as strong as, or stronger than, the twins, Humyr, or Shawu, though she’s still far from Areci or me.

  I use an ice shield to stop a potentially lethal blow aimed at a female guard’s head, and an ice sword to halt the momentum of a surprise attack. These kinds of constructs are no problem at all; I don’t need to inject much mana to stop simple grade-three monsters.

  An hour passes like that, and everyone takes a break together. The safe zone is quite large—enough for about a hundred people. Once everyone recovers, the second round begins, then a third, and finally a fourth. Everyone does well; I have to save them a few times at the beginning, but they improve as the minutes pass, and by the end they only need help at awkward moments. Everyone does well.

  The guard squads say their goodbyes; I’ll see them again tomorrow. “You’ve earned a good dinner—let’s head back and get ready.” They all jump with joy and tug on my arms to hurry me along. I only helped them once, and it was unnecessary—Arisa would have handled it somehow. Together, they’re very strong; with a bit more training, they’ll be able to fight a ruby-rank without any problems.