Aurelia insisted on Bastion and the girls staying for another week, which they spent between fancy dinners, sightseeing, and tea before finally returning to their territory. Bastion had no complaints since he could work on his status even in the palace, while Seraphina felt pity for Aurelia, who had to face the troubles of being a monarch on her own. As for Lilia and Ariel, they enjoyed staying with Lilia's parents, who were more than willing to host them and regale them with stories of their time spent as adventurers.
Eventually, they took their carriage back to Castle Diamondhart, where Seraphina was shown the spoils Bastion and the girls had collected from the dungeon anomaly in their storage room.
"Honestly, this more than makes up for getting jipped in the deal with the empire," Seraphina said, glancing over the loot as she sifted through it, taking anything that interested her.
"Actually, they were quite considerate to include their additional findings," Lilia commented. "Mom told me stories of explorers getting cheated out of their finder's fee because the authorities they reported to were corrupt and pocketed plenty of treasures before taking inventory. It's apparently a very hit-or-miss occupation."
"I'm more amazed that we even beat out an explorer in the first place," Ariel said. "I mean, how did we even find out about that place? There was a very dangerous swamp on top of it, so no one would have thought to look there, like, ever."
"You can thank Bastion for that," Seraphina said, a hint of admiration in her tone. "He found it over a decade ago through his Luck vision, and we had been planning to go there ever since."
"Looks like we'll have more finder's fees to collect in the future," Lilia said excitedly.
"I hope not," Seraphina muttered, frowning slightly. "I'd rather we strip the place clean next time instead of giving it up for others to profit off us. It was such a waste receiving only 10% of their findings, which were probably skimmed by those who wrote the report."
"Which is why we all need to start studying seriously again," Bastion said, wholeheartedly agreeing. "Especially since we're all going back to the grind to reach Rank 2."
"Don't count on me reaching that rank any time soon," Seraphina said. "I'm still pretty far from Scribe level 3."
"Don't worry," Bastion said, taking her hand gently. "You'll get there eventually. It's more important that you make all the necessary preparations before ranking up."
"Oh, you mean like what you're planning to do with that rock?" Seraphina asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I don't have any other options, sweetie. It's the best I can do given our lack of knowledge."
"Why can't you just wait to rank up until you do find something then?"
"Because the Shield Knight Class isn't that bad. It's a Rank 3 Class, after all. It might not be the best, but I think it's as good as whatever would be publicly available at the Mages Guild, no matter where we look."
"I still think it's a waste," Seraphina pouted, crossing her arms.
Bastion's current plan was to max out all his skills and arts at level 5, then rank up and gamble on his next Class. His primary choice was the Shield Knight Class he had received earlier, while a secondary option, part backup and part gamble, relied on the rock that could absorb mana, which he had acquired long ago at an auction at the Royal Academy.
Seraphina's plan was to obtain the Rank 2 Scribe Class, though it would still take about 90 years of training to reach.
Elyra intended to pursue a Class she had taken an interest in from the book she received from Nysera called Primal Cook. It required personally hunting one thousand creatures, foraging one thousand ingredients, and cooking one thousand dishes from them. It was a daunting task, especially since she didn't even know a hundred recipes.
Lilia planned to follow the same approach as Bastion by maxing out all her arts and skills before ranking up and hoping for the best, though she intended to focus primarily on water magic and her personal research in the hopes of finding a better Class.
Ariel's plan was similar, except she wanted to focus on wind magic. Before that, however, she needed to get her stats caught up with the others, which would definitely take some time.
Whoever managed to reach Rank 2 first was anyone's guess.
Thus, the group returned to their daily grind, occasionally distracted by their respective responsibilities.
Bastion, as duke, had to handle paperwork from time to time, though it rarely required him to leave the castle. He also needed to fulfill his promises to Damian by sending blueprints of the autocannon and to Cyrus by working with Lilia to produce and enchant Rank 1 flame-resistant armor and weapons.
The rest of his time was spent training his arts and skills. He focused on his Whip, Unarmed, and Heavy Armor arts so they could catch up with the others. He then turned to Fire, Water, Dark, and Wind Magic, doing his best to bring them to level 5. Among all his arts and skills, these consumed the most time and mana since he lacked the natural talent for them. Still, he persevered because this would be the last time he devoted such attention to them. Once he reached Rank 2, he intended to focus solely on Earth and Light Magic along with his core skills, since raising them to level 7 afterward would take more than a century of training each.
He also spent time improving Riding and Cannon, bringing both to level 5. Better riding proficiency and greater shooting precision had clearly benefited him. Taming, Cooking, and Traps, meanwhile, were largely neglected due to their limited importance.
His skills were straightforward to train, requiring only stamina and mana as they regenerated, and were far easier to level than arts, which demanded study and refinement. As a result, he brought all his skills to level 5 except for Tame, which he still never used. He had no intention of taming random creatures and abandoning them, viewing the skill as a sacred contract between himself and the animal, a sentiment the girls shared.
Seraphina resumed her scribe training while occasionally working on her arts and skills whenever she grew bored. She could only focus on writing for so long before the repetition drained her desire and concentration, so she made sure to spend ample time on other pursuits as well. In particular, she leaned towards Leathercrafting, Jewelcrafting, and, of course, Alchemy, which grew increasingly demanding the higher the rank of potions she aimed to produce.
Lilia focused on her Water Magic, Spell Weaving, Enchanting, and Runes, studying beyond the arts' requirements out of pure passion. She loved magic far more than even Bastion and Seraphina, who were reincarnators, a fact that Bastion wholeheartedly supported.
When she wasn't busy with her own research, she stayed close to Bastion, effectively acting as his assistant as they worked together to decipher the magic core. They also continued refining the carriage for their ultimate mobile home, taking on side projects whenever inspiration struck.
One such project was Bastion's giant robot, which was quickly scrapped due to technological limitations. It wasn't that he couldn't build one, but it would have been too weak. Ideally, he would use magic cores as engines for each moving part, ensuring it could actually provide meaningful assistance rather than remaining a simple experiment.
Ariel, meanwhile, trained relentlessly. She had the lowest skill levels among them, and her stats hadn't yet been fully excavated as a Rank 1, making her regimen the most grueling of all. Despite this, she still made time to help Elyra hunt for ingredients in the forest. As long as Elyra delivered the final blow and personally gathered the herbs, it didn't matter that Ariel had done the spotting. The two spent most of their time together, dividing their days between hunting in the Great Forest and Elyra personally training Ariel, much to Ariel's dismay.
In this way, a decade passed before their unofficial competition to reach Rank 2 had a winner. Bastion came out on top, having completed all his arts and skills first, while Lilia was held back by her research, Ariel was too far behind to catch up, and Elyra struggled with too many recipes to master.
"Are you sure about this, Bastion?" Seraphina asked, looking down at Bastion, who was naked and strapped to a table, as all his rank-up preparations seemed to have gone so far. "You don't have to be in such a rush to reach the next rank."
"Yes, I'm sure," Bastion replied with a smile. "Having tankier blocking power isn't such a bad thing. It might even allow me to block a dragon's claw."
Seraphina shook her head and stopped trying to convince Bastion. He definitely wasn't a gamer like her, always chasing the best options. He was far more reckless and indifferent to the idea of the perfect build.
"Go ahead, Ely," Bastion commanded.
"Yes, Master," she replied, before taking out a small box and opening it.
Immediately, the mana in the room was drawn in and absorbed by the piece of metal inside.
Elyra quickly drew her knife, cut open Bastion's chest, and inserted the piece of metal, then poured health and mana potions over the wound to seal it and prevent him from exhausting his mana.
Once it was closed, Bastion immediately activated the Rank Up and observed his options.
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