After almost an hour taking a bath, Rito came out.
No matter how many times he dies, it was hard to get used to it.
But, he was doing better now.
He smiled mainly when thinking about the crystal orbs of the divine art of regeneration.
...
Outside the mansion, he used the crystal orb of the divine art of regeneration.
The orb turned into a gust of gray mist that penetrated Rito's body. A strange and powerful energy flowed through him. His cells began to vibrate.
Then, his cells began to rupture. His face instantly paled. The intense pain made him sweat all over his body. There was even a trace of blood in his sweat.
He used a purple orb from the gray lizard and the intense pain eased a bit.
It wasn't worse only because he had already copied part of the regeneration ability from the gray lizards, but even so, when filling the 'empty shells' the pain he had to go through was no less than dying.
It was a rupture at the cellular level. He could feel it in every corner of his body. His cells began to recover slowly. Information about the divine art of regeneration emerged in his mind.
Then, his cells went through a cycle of rupture and repair.
A special life force was born in his body. He learned a bit of the divine art of regeneration.
It was a very basic learning, but very precious to him.
Destruction and life. This type of divine art was of a very high level.
When he finally managed to move properly, he started running.
The pain of each step was absurd, but he continued while the divine art of regeneration had already begun to take effect.
When the effect of the orb ended, he digested the next one, along with a purple orb.
...
A few hours later...
On the fifteenth orb of the divine art of regeneration, he rose to level 7.
The star-shaped core gushed 'water' and the puddle turned into a pool.
Rito's spiritual mana reserve had just doubled.
Rito clenched his hands into fists.
'This divine art is very profound, I feel that even after consuming all the orbs, I won't be able to learn it completely...'
Because of the time difference, even though it was day in the Jardin of Eden, he knew it was still night outside and he still had about twenty hours before he had to go to school.
Not feeling sleepy, still wanting to increase his regeneration a bit more, Rito went back to consuming the divine art orbs and purple orb.
...
A few more hours passed, and he used another twenty-one divine art of regeneration orbs and twenty-one purple orbs.
His eyes shone with a gray mana. As long as it wasn't a lethal injury, he would be able to recover at an accelerated speed.
He only stopped training because he had leveled up again — now he was at level 8 of the Abstruse State — and wanted to take a bath, eat, and sleep a bit.
==
==
When Rito woke up and left the Jardin of Eden, it was 6:51 in the morning.
Later at breakfast, besides Zastin – which was no surprise... There was also Yami.
"Yami, how has your stay on Earth been, are you liking it?" He struck up a conversation with her.
In a soft tone, she answered calmly: "It's quite different from the other planets I've been to. Although it's not the most advanced planet, I really like Earth's books."
"Mm, there are many interesting books on Earth." Rito said: "Of course, that's not all."
She nodded, saying: "The food, although strange at first, I liked it a lot."
"Yes, especially Mikan's food, it's not everywhere you can taste something as good as what she makes, right?" He smiled proudly.
"Mooh!" Mikan blushed at such praise.
But, to her surprise, Yami agreed: "Yes, Mikan's food is really good."
"Yami..." Mikan got emotional.
"I really like the food made by Mikan!" Lala raised her hand.
"Me too." Asia did the same.
Zastin didn't even need to say it, he showed up every day at mealtimes: "Miss Mikan's food is the best I've ever tasted."
While they ate and talked about various advantages of living on Earth, a sly smile curved on Rito's lips, which he concealed.
"Yami, since you like Earth so much, how about officially living here?" He clasped his hands, crossing his fingers and smiled gently: "Actually, at first, I just wanted someone strong like you to protect my little sister, Mikan, but things have changed. Besides, we really like you too, so I'll ask one more time, would you like to be hired by me and protect Mikan?"
Yami fell silent.
Mikan fidgeted nervously in her chair.
Even Lala avoided making jokes.
After almost a minute, Yami finally said: "I can try for a year. Is that okay?"
"Yami!" Mikan stood up and hugged her.
Rito smiled and said: "Of course."
Rito knew that Mikan didn't care much about this protection thing, she doesn't have much of a sense of danger, although she had gone through a complicated situation just yesterday, it wasn't a big enough scare for her to understand the gravity of the situation. What she really wanted, which was obvious, was to become closer friends with Yami.
And he could understand why. Yami had something about her that, despite her indifference, makes people want to get closer to her. This happened especially with those who had purer hearts. A good example was Mikan, Asia, and Lala who liked Yami a lot.
He negotiated her monthly salary at 500 thousand yen. Plus bonuses and a place to stay.
"That's too much."
"No, it's not, you'll be protecting my little sister, of course you deserve all that." He replied.
After that, she didn't object anymore.
While Mikan looked at Rito with complicated eyes.
...
On the way to school, Lala suddenly said while they were on a deserted street: "Listen, Rito. I had an idea to create something cool with the orbs and it could be useful for protecting Mikan and Asia."
"Oh-ho? And what would that be?" He asked with interest.
"It's still a secret~!" She stuck out her tongue: "I'll finish it today."
"Mm, I can hardly wait to see." He smiled at her.
Lala snuggled closer, hugging his arm and resting her head there.
==
==
It was another day of tests and when the bell rang signaling the end of classes, today's groans were even louder than yesterday's.
"Rito, let's go home~!"
Of course, not everyone was shaken, for Lala, the tests were simply easy. Compared to what she was forced to study while on Planet Deviluke, as an obligation as the first princess, this was simply way too easy.
"Lala, go back without me today." He said: "I have something to do, I'll get home a little later."
"Mm... Okay." She nodded.