Chapter 40- Decreasing Tensions

"That just leaves the monster core for us to deal with."

Arthur waited with bated breath to see what Mira would do, trying his best to look as nonchalant as possible. The poison mage took one look at his face and burst out laughing, much to his chagrin.

“Whilst I am itching to use such a rare ingredient in a potion, I would never have been able to obtain it without your help.”

She began to walk towards her living room, pausing only to dispose of the now empty milk bottle that was resting on her table.

Mira made her way to her bag that she’d placed on the sofa and opened it before pulling out a dark purple orb that seemed to almost vibrate in her hand.

“That's why I'm going to give it to you.” She said, handing it over to Arthur.

“Take it as part of my thanks for helping me out when I needed it most. I know it's nothing compared to what you’ve done for me and it practically belongs to you anyways, what with you single handily destroying it, but it's the best I can do for you."

“For now.”

“I promise to repay this favour in full at the first opportunity I get.” Mira then did something he would have never expected. She lowered her head, almost as if she- wait- was she ACTUALLY bowing.

Arthur stood in shock with the monster core in his hand. Whilst he had already decided to ask for the loot from the monster, he hadn't expected Mira to just give it to him without even having to make a request.

“Are you sure? This is a very rare item.” Arthur spluttered, inwardly screaming ‘just shut the fuck up and take it, you stupid bastard!’

Mira glared at him for a moment, immediately switching back from her uncharacteristic display of humility earlier before she snapped.

“Not as rare as me and I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for what you did. Stop being an idiot and just take it. I already know how badly you want it. You’re practically drooling.”

Arthur smiled wryly and thanked Mira, before inspecting the orb. It was smaller than all the other monster cores he had found, besides probably the shadow panthers, and yet it was far heavier than the others, feeling almost like an orb of dense iron in his hands instead of the usual lightweight possessed by the other monster cores he’d come into contact with.

The core when observed closely, seemed to fluctuate in colour, sometimes so dark it almost appeared black and at others almost violet. He identified it and let out a gasp of surprise.

Unstable Draconic Core (Elite)- Contains Great power ??? ???

Identify has reached level 5

It was the first time Arthur had seen an elite rating on any object and he assumed that it was one step above the rare rating he had seen so often before. The description, however, left a lot to be desired in the sense that it contained no information whatsoever.

Still, Arthur expected, or rather hoped, that it would work much the same way the others he had consumed with his standard blood elixir, and he eagerly awaited the power spike he would get after ingesting it.

That could all wait for after he had left Mira’s house, however, and he placed the core back on the table for him to take when he outstayed his welcome in Mira’s residence, which he felt was fast approaching. Turning back to the woman in question, he saw that she seemed to be conducting some sort of internal debate in her head.

“What’s on your mind?”

Mira was silent for a moment longer before she seemed to come to a decision.

“Well you see, I’ve got another proposal for you. One significantly less dangerous than the monster hunt we just went on.”

Arthur was curious to hear what Mira had to say. Whilst she wasn't the best person in the world, she at least wasn’t pretending to be anymore, and things were always interesting when he was around her. Maybe he was actually starting to like her waspish personality a little. It beat her annoying naive girl act from before, that was for sure.

“You haven't been offered any scholarship at a magic Academy since you weren't at the tutorial, right?” Mira asked him.

Arthur shook his head no. The poison mage took a deep breath, hoping she wasn't rushing things. She knew that if she didn't make an offer now, someone would find out about Arthur’s true capabilities soon enough and whisk him away from Earth with a far better offer than the one she was about to give him. She crossed her fingers and began to speak.

“So Arthur, the thing is, I was offered a position at Alvaros Academy, the most prestigious school within 300 lightyears of Earth.”

She paused for a moment to let that fact sink in before continuing.

“This isn’t just big talk, but the agreed-upon consensus by everyone within the Chrollo Empire, whose territory Earth just happens to fall in. As for why they haven’t interacted with our planet at all, well that’s a different matter altogether and not at all important right now.”

“The reason I told you all this, is that I’ll be leaving Earth in four months.”

Mira looked at Arthur to see if her confession had affected him in any way. He didn't seem to really care. Well, they had only known each other for a week which did little to reassure her wounded feminine charm. It did hurt a little knowing that her departure didn’t concern Arthur in the least.

“The only reason I’m even on Earth, was because Rakesh, that's the person that offered me the position, a total dick, by the way, went against proper protocol and told, no, forced me to come back here to see if I could find anyone interesting that might be good enough to also go there.”

This piece of information, Mira observed, had at least managed to get Arthur excited, which she could see in the tell-tale signs of his slightly raised eyebrows. Something humans did when they were interested in something to allow light to better enter the eyes, even if the item or thing of interest wasn’t visual in any way, shape or form. Arthur seemed to have guessed where the conversation was going.

“Yes Arthur, you guessed right. I’m offering you a position at the Alvaross Academy. All you have to do is make sure you're ready to leave Earth in four months.”

Mira finished off her short speech and hoped the twinkle in Arthur’s eyes was a good sign that he was interested.

Mira almost felt bad when she saw the hopeful look on his face. She was taking advantage of the fact that Arthur didn't even know just how rare his own talents were to make it seem like she was actually doing him a favour by offering him a chance at going to such a prestigious academy.

Still, Mira didn't think it was all bad. Alvaross Academy really was the best school within 300 lightyears of Earth and even if Mira didn't get Arthur to attend there, he would have eventually ended up at the school when someone saw his potential and referred him there. It was the best way for him to advance his abilities short of direct apprenticeship, which now that she thought of it, wasn't entirely out of the question for someone with Arthur's potential.

The institute had a system in place to reward those who recruited new talents, which was also the main reason why Rakesh, a graduate student from the academy, was so desperate to get as many people to go there as possible. Mira wasn't one hundred percent certain, but she’d managed to infer that the arrogant man was in some sort of trouble and hoped the merits such a service would award him would help him out of his situation.

Being the one to offer Arthur a position he would have eventually ended up with just made sure that she could be part of his success and also help her build a connection with Arthur before he managed to forget about her. Maybe she was being a leech, but Mira didn’t really care as long as she accomplished her goals. And it wasn’t like she was actually doing anything to harm Arthur.

Even if Rakesh was a snobbish prick, he wouldn’t do anything to actively harm the young man. He was far too much of a coward for that. His annoyance factor came from his passive-aggressive attitude and disposition of scorn and arrogance.

Arthur meanwhile, had no idea what thoughts were growing through Mira’s head. He was too preoccupied with the fact that he had the opportunity to attend an institute of formal learning about ether and its proper usage. It wasn't an opportunity he had expected to come across any time soon, and despite all his usual caution, Arthur didn't suspect any truly ulterior motives from Mira for once.

After all, he didn't even know just how absurd his own abilities were, just that they were special, and that the woman's strange act of sudden kindness was attributed to the fact that he had just helped save her life.

Arthur’s goal of researching resurrection magic and its possibilities was not one he’d forgotten, though he tried not to dwell on it too much since it was still far beyond him. Although he had been in contact with the system for around two weeks now, albeit nearly half that time was with a defective one, he was no closer to achieving his goal.

It was that line of thinking that finally made the decision for him. Maybe he’d learn a lot there but it would also severely limit him with obligations and rules. Well, he still had a lot of time left till the deadline.

~Mira~

Mira sat at her kitchen table, eating the meal Arthur had made before he left her house half an hour earlier. There are just more and more layers to him.

The food was fucking delicious, to the point that Mira suspected Arthur may have used a system skill to enhance its taste, but that was just absurd. There couldn't be a skill for cooking, could there? Idly playing with the token she had been given during the tutorial, she realised she only had one now.

The other had been given to Arthur. It was a shame he said he wouldn't be attending with her. She felt a pang of regret at the loss of such an amazing item but reminded herself that Arthur was a worthy investment. Who knew what he'd use it for? A bargaining chip?

She smiled. Life seemed to finally be looking up for her.

Token of entry: Alvaross Academy (Epic) - A token of entry to Alvaross Academy of Ascendency. ??? ??? ???