Celine woke up due to some unknown noise and in her hazy state she didn't know where she was.
"Hey, it's almost time, get up." She heard Esdras's voice again, this time she heard it clearly and remembered where she was.
"W-what time is it?" She asked embarrassedly, she wrapped the blanket around her body tightly as if Esdras hadn't already seen everything yesterday.
Esdras chuckled at her actions, "it's almo dawn, come let's take a quick wash so you can get back to your room and wear something decent."
Celine hesitantly got up and saw that a bathtub with steaming water was already prepared, Esdras was in his underwear holding onto a sponge and some towels.
She remembered her blunder from yesterday, why she didn't think of bringing any clothes with her had completely eluded her.
"Wait, who brought the bath water?" Celine asked.
"Hm? Oh, it was the servants, they were already up and about so I call some over and that's how." Esdras nonchalantly replied.
"S-servants? They didn't see… they didn't see me right?"
"Oh, no no they didn't relax. I only called women here anyway."
"They brought it in but didn't see me?" Celine had a hard time understanding exactly how that happened.
"Well, I meant they didn't see your body, they probably saw your face…"
Celine covered her face in shame.
"Stop dwelling on it and get in the tub quickly." Esdras rolled his eyes and headed in first, Celine followed in shortly after.
Esdras took this chance to use the [Third eye] on Celine.
Name: Celine
Rank: 1
Class: Apprentice mage lv. 4
Physique: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 3
Spirituality: 3
Mana: 3
Wind manipulation Lv.1, Wind conjuration Lv.1, Wind weapon Lv.1, Wind cuter Lv.1, Water manipulation Lv.1, Water conjuration Lv.1, Fog cloud Lv.1, Acid splash Lv.1
?:??
What?! Esdras was surprised that Celine was attempting to become a dual elemental mage. Moreover there was even something that he couldn't see.
And what does Rank mean? It was the first time he saw that stat. Oh that's right, he leveled up the [Third eye] yesterday and didn't check out the new changes because he was busy.
"Hey, why didn't you tell me that you engraved two elemental sigils?" Esdras directly asked.
Celine was of course surprised, "eh? H-how did you know that?… I tried to tell you but you always ignore me… it was Miss Elara, she told me that I could go for it and that she wanted to take me in as her disciple."
"Really? Hmm, that's good then." Actually Esdras didn't know who this Elara was, she should be a Great mage from the brown tower.
"More importantly, why didn't you use magic yesterday when you didn't know that it was me?" Esdras frowned.
"Ah, I didn't… I don't know, I was frozen and scared and—"
"Okay, I got it. But that's not acceptable! When you're in danger you have to keep in mind that your safety is the most important."
"But firing magic in such a close range, it's too hard." Celine complained.
Her words were reasonable, Celine only knew cantrips not true spells as she was still just a mage apprentice, but that way of thinking just won't do.
However, Celine simply didn't train her physique and it was impossible for her to start and get immediate results like Esdras.
"Fine, I will get you a magic item to protect yourself." Esdras sighed, he hoped that the dungeon's next floor had better loot.
"A magic item? If you find such an item you must keep it to protect yourself." Celine had no intention to get such a thing even if it was almost impossible to get a magic item in the first place.
"Forget it, I already made my decision, you can't change my mind. Now come on, let's take you to your room quickly."
Esdras was not going to argue, especially on something he didn't have yet.
Esdras took Celine back to her room, she was wearing one of his long hooded cloaks to hide that she was wearing nothing underneath.
The trip ended without incident, some time later breakfast was served, and Celine, David and Esdras ate together.
"I can't believe you stood up to Robert, these changes happened too fast don't you think?" David was glaring daggers jealously at the flirting copule.
"I always thought he was all bark and no bite, he's just a coward!" Esdras answered loudly enough that all those in the hall heard him.
Robert who was not too far away shook with rage, Sam, his right hand man was about to get up and start beating Esdras right now but Robert made him sit back down.
"Why don't we teach this bastard a lesson? He just got a little talker and now he thinks he can walk all over us?" Sam was clearly not the type to bottle his anger.
"Shut up for now? Do you think I'm just going to let him get away with it?" Hissed Robert back at Sam.
"Anyway," Esdras said, "what's your problem David? If looks could kill I would have died a dozen times."
"I'm jealous, obviously!" David clenched his fists, "when can I get a girlfriend too."
"I'm afraid I can't help you with that, you need the right… looks, heheh." Esdras joked.
"If it's just looks then it will be solved when I become a True mage then." David smirked.
Although True mages don't get an extended life span, they do have many perks besides the high social status and personal power.
Their looks get enhanced, not all mages become good looking per say, but all of them become better looking than they originally were. And when they get to their prime their aging stops.
That's why most mages look like they were in their early or late twenties. They begin to age when they approach the end of their life spans.
When they were all about to move out of the fort, Esdras heard a buzzing sound, it was faint at first but soon it grew louder and louder and a minute later everyone in the fort could hear it.
It was coming from the forest and in the direction of the fort.