"…you killed it with your wing," Leon muttered, staring blankly at the headless corpse spurting blood on the ground.
"Yes, I did," Beriel responded. "Its stealth was good for a First Class monster. I doubt you would have noticed it until it was too late."
"Oh, I definitely wouldn't. I mean, it was that close, and I didn't notice a damn thing."
Leon shook his head as he said that, mentally noting to end his dungeon exploration here before returning to the original topic.
"That aside, you beheaded it with your wing."
At this, Beriel lightly flapped his wings and then retracted them as he spoke. "I was saying so, wasn't I? They look light, but they do carry a fair bit of weight. If you sprout a pair now, your whole body's balance would be off, so rather than enabling you to fly, they'd only enable you to fall backwards."
The magic power he was channelling into the spell on Leon increased slightly, and at this, Leon stretched his arms and said,
"Oh, the pain has stopped."
"Because I increased the potency of my spell," Beriel replied, frowning lightly as he added, "Which, in hindsight, is actually a bad idea."
Just as he said that, he lowered the spell's potency, and Leon immediately began groaning in pain again.
"Why did you reduce it?!"
"So you can get used to the pain. You'll go through this two, maybe three more times, and I won't always be around to cast a pain reduction spell, you know?"
"Well, I'd just cast it myself," Leon shot back.
Hearing this, Beriel raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, really? I'm pretty sure the young master who was just shouting about pain wasn't exactly in the state of mind required to construct the necessary magic circle."
"…"
Leon silently averted his gaze, and at this, Beriel chuckled and lowered the spell's potency again, earning another groan of pain from Leon.
◇ ◇ ◇
The physical transformation of Leon's body following his Class Advancement didn't take too long, but the adjustments to his bone structure required much more time, keeping him on Floor 21 for quite a while.
When the transformation reached a point that wouldn't interfere too much with his body's balance, it stopped, allowing Leon to finally leave the dungeon, having surpassed his Level 100 goal.
While Beriel drove him to the Seradain household, Leon scanned his stats, now all at D+ except for his Strength and Energy, which were at C-, above average for a Level 104.
It was around noon when he arrived at Camellya's house, and since he had texted her that he was on his way when he left the dungeon, she was already expecting him. What she hadn't expected was him showing up at her doorstep with a 12-pack of canned fruit wine.
"Why do you have wine?" she asked, curious about why he was carrying the pack.
"Picked it up from a local supermarket on the way. The samples tasted good, so I bought one."
His response made Camellya wonder what local supermarket offered wine samples as Leon walked into the house and straight to the dining area.
As she closed the door behind her, Leon set the pack down on the table and asked, "Where's your mother?"
"Sleeping. She just took her drugs," Camellya answered, picking up the TV remote and increasing the volume in the living room.
"Drugs, huh?" Leon muttered, glancing away from Camellya to the seat at the dining table where Genevieve had sat when she'd told him about her Core Skill that consumed her lifespan.
'What kind of drugs is she taking, and are they actually doing anything? What's killing her is the lack of lifespan, isn't it?'
Right after that thought, Leon remembered her mentioning something about alchemically acquired magic power, and he made a mental note to research that particular incident from Deity Rising.
'Information on the Artificial Magic Project is restricted, but I won't have trouble finding out the details if I ask Mother. She's one of the people who dismantled the original project, after all.'
"Did you come to talk with her? What are you two even up to?"
Camellya's question pulled Leon from his thoughts, and he shook his head. "Nahh. I'll talk with her later. I came here for you today."
"For me?"
"Yeah," Leon replied. "We gotta plan our next course of action, after all."
Camellya nodded silently and softly sighed, and seeing this, Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Lemme guess, our meeting has messed up whatever plans you had?"
"If you already know, then don't ask," Camellya shot back, pulling back a dining chair and sitting down.
Leon chuckled and took a seat as well, pulling out one of the wine cans from the pack as he asked, "Mind telling me what those plans would have been if I wasn't in the picture?"
"I would have gone to the Russell Empire."
Camellya's immediate answer made Leon freeze, the can in his hand dropping onto the table as he blinked in shock.
"Russell? Why would you go there knowing it's where you're supposed to, you know, lose all your memories?"
"I planned to go before the time that's meant to happen," Camellya replied, glancing at the wine pack and picking a can for herself.
She stood and carried it to the sink to wash it, and while she did this, Leon pursed his lips and shrugged.
"I guess it makes sense. I planned to have Vato investigated, too, especially since it's tied to one of the game's events I want to get involved with. The Blacksmith Family's Kidnapping."
"Ah, that…"
Camellya switched off the tap and turned around, leaning on the counter as she opened the can and said, "We have to do something about that. At least prevent those two from losing their ability to use their hands."
"Yeah. It's a tragic fate. Born into a family of blacksmiths but losing their ability to use their hands…"
Leon tossed a can toward Camellya, and she caught it, giving him an incredulous look, her gaze asking why he'd throw a canned drink.
"It's wine, not soda. It'll be fine. Just help me wash it."
He picked up his phone after saying that and replied to a text from a friend to let them know his location before glancing back at Camellya.
"In the game, all we could do was save them after they'd already been kidnapped and tortured," he said.
Camellya furrowed her brows lightly at his words, then exhaled as her expression softened while she opened the tap and replied, "I'd like to have them saved before that happens. Unfortunately, there's little I can do on my own, given my current status."
Turning back, she tossed Leon's can to him and continued, "But if you get involved, my options expand. For one, you have access to the event where they get kidnapped from."
"The Noble Heirs Meeting is on the 30th," Leon said. "In-game Leon couldn't attend since he was in a dungeon trying to level up, but that dungeon run is going to have to take a rain check."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and he continued, "On that note, why don't you come with me to the Noble Heirs Meeting, as my partner for the Opening Ball?"
That question was what Cameron heard as he came down the stairs, and he responded like any brother would in that situation.
"Hello, Cameron," Leon called, opening his can and taking a sip.
"Yeah, hello, and uh, did you just ask my sister out?"
Leon blinked at Cameron's question, and even Camellya froze for a moment before realisation dawned on her.
"Um, I just asked her to accompany me to a party, not go on a date," Leon clarified, setting his can down on the table.
"Doesn't that usually count as a date for you nobles?" Cameron asked, eyebrows raised, and hearing it put that way, Leon understood the perspective he was coming from.
"True. I don't have any personal experience, but in most cases, asking a lady to accompany one to a party or ball as your partner signals romantic interest, and some do consider it a date…"
"Exactly what I just said," Cameron quipped, then turned his gaze to Camellya as he asked, "And why haven't you said 'No' already?"
His question nearly made Leon spit out his drink, but he managed to swallow without choking before quickly asking, "But why?!"
"What do you mean by 'Why?' Why would you try to drag my sister into that messy battlefield called 'Noble Society'?"
"Well, you're not exactly wrong to call it a messy battlefield," Leon began, but Cameron cut him off.
"I'm completely correct. It is a messy battlefield. And you just asked my sister to follow you into that."
After saying this, Cameron turned to Camellya, who had been silent all this time, and asked with narrowed eyes, "You have no intention of going with him, right?"
Camellya was silent for a moment, her gaze falling to the can in her hands, and the lack of an immediate answer made Cameron's eyes widen in shock.
"You're actually considering it?!"