Chapter 187: C For Astensia

The training area was filled with the sounds of magic bouncing off walls. Lancet unleashed Skills one after the other, both from Thor and Astensia, straining his Core to be absolutely sure everything was fully healed.

Every single channel held the immense pressure perfectly. There was no leak, no sudden sputtering, and no drop in power. The Grace flowed like a torrent inside him, entirely under his command.

With a satisfied breath, Lancet lowered his hands, the Phantom Ring glowed with just 20 charges left as he stepped down from the raised, circular dais. The brilliant white ring of light cast his shadow across the floor as he walked over to Espel.

"Yep, I’m definitely completely healed now," Lancet said, a wide grin splitting his face. He extended his fist and gave her a playful, soft punch on the shoulder.

Espel blinked, her shoulder shifting slightly from the impact. She stared down at the spot he had touched, then looked back up at his face. Clearly, that was an entirely novel gesture to her.

"You’re awesome, Espel," Lancet added genuinely. "Thanks so much for this."

"You’re welcome," Espel replied plainly. She adjusted the sleeve of her white tunic, her eyes flicking toward the ceiling fixtures. "I want to meditate for a while and absorb some Grace to refill my reserves. The healing process was quite taxing. When I’m done, we can head back to the room and have sex again."

"Oh." Lancet’s face reddened a bit as he reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Okay."

Espel gave him a single, deadpan nod, treating the statement as nothing more than a routine update to their schedule. She turned around, her long dark hair with its distinctive pink shading swaying over her shoulders as she walked back onto the central dais.

Without a hint of hesitation, she lowered herself directly onto the center of the glass-like floor, tucking her legs beneath herself into a neat criss-cross applesauce position.

She closed her eyes, her hands resting on her knees as she aligned her core. Above her, the triangular geometric panels lit up, expelling magical energy into the room for her to absorb and separate.

Her Bloomwings and Gravewings appeared and swam around her, creating an ethereal sight that let Lancet know that intrusion was not allowed.

Lancet watched her meditate for a while, then he was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden ring of his system

Ding!

The golden screen materialized out of thin air, snapping into focus directly in front of his face. Lancet read the words:

[ Congratulations! You have achieved Character Exploration with your Heroine: Espel ]

His brows furrowed instantly as he stared at the notification. He tilted his head, his gaze locked onto the unfamiliar golden words.

"Character Exploration?" Lancet muttered thoughtfully under his breath. "What’s that?"

[ Conversing with your created Heroine and practicing various activities that pertain to their motives, personality and backstory helps you achieve Character Exploration ]

[ Exploring your Heroines increase your synergy, Skill Transfer, and your stats! ]

[ Roster: ]

[ Astensia Valengard : Exploration - C ]

[ Thor Stormchild : Exploration - C ]

[ Spectra Hexerra : Exploration - F ]

[ Espel Fyrebloom : Exploration - A ]

Lancet stared in shock. "Only C for Astensia? How?"

He’d spent the most time with her, starting from when he’d taken her to the city, to when they had sex in the infirmary. How could she only be C and Espel be an A already?

He read the explanation again.

[ Conversing with your created Heroine and practicing various activities that pertain to their motives, personality and backstory helps you achieve Character Exploration ]

Then it made a little more sense. Everything he had done so far with Espel; their conversations and even the sex, had all been about her character. They had talked about her motives, the butterfly and the moth, her drive to expel good and bad from the world, and they had sex so she could understand joy.

Lancet had explored her character!

He’d done some of that with Astensia and Thor but not to the level he just had with Espel. In fact, when Lancet thought about it, he’d explored Thor’s character even more than he’d explored Astensia’s.

Lancet lips thinned. Does this mean that Espel and I have the strongest synergy amongst all my Summons? He looked at the Healer Mage who was still engrossed in her meditation.

Lancet sighed quietly. ’This is a big deal.’

Ding!

He looked at the system screen with urgency this time.

[ Massive rewards are awaiting you. Please level up to claim them! ]

[ Present Level = Lvl 19, Required Level = Lvl 25 ]

Lancet brows creased. ’Why is it making me level up? I’ve never had to level up to get system-based rewards before?’

His earlier plan of staying low and only leveling up when he required it was being jeopardized here. But then again, this fairly lined up as a situation where he needed to level up.

Lancet tentatively summoned his profile interface.

[ You have leveled up 19 → 20 ]

[ You have leveled up 20 → 21 ]

[ You have leveled up 21 → 22 ]

[ You have leveled up 22 → 23 ]

[ You have leveled up 23 → 24 ]

[ You have leveled up 24 → 25 ]

[ Multi Level Up Achieved! Attribute Restoration Activated! ]

[ Your stats have been refilled to maximum capacity! ]

Lancet looked at what was left of his massive pool of EXP that he had claimed from the Hebthej Raid.

[ EXP : 11340 ]

If he allocated the EXP on his own, that could be enough for at most two level ups given his present level. But if the system allocated it, maybe three to four levels.

Even though Lancet had the Summons to get him more EXP if he wanted them, he couldn’t help but mourn the death of his spent EXP. That large number had been uplifting to look at.

But now, at least he had reached Level 25, the required Level to receive whatever rewards the system had for him.

Lancet rubbed his hands, ready to see what it was that he had spent his massive EXP this early for.

Ding!

[ Your power have increased massively! ]

[ Your level more accurately reflects your capacity, though your true power far exceeds it ]

[ Fairplay policy is being activated ]

Lancet creased his brows. ’Fairplay policy? What is that?’

Ding!

[ CP costs for all future Heroines have been increased by ×3 ]

Lancet’s eyes bulged wide. "What the fuck?!"