[Quest Completed.]
The coquettish voice of the system was like a morning bell, ringing into Arthur's ears.
[Rewards: 1 Level Up, 1 Elemental Attribute Point, 10 Gold Coins.]
[Congratulations on leveling up, you have received a free attribute point.]
[Elemental attribute automatically assigned to Fire Element.]
[10 Gold Coins deposited into the system space!]
Arthur read through the information and had no complaints. He focused on his stats and assigned the free attribute to Dexterity.
[Dexterity: 30.]
After Arthur was done, he also briefly glanced through his stats, noting that he now needed 7 more Elemental Attributes.
'After that my Fire Element will evolve to Grade E.' Arthur's eyes brimmed with confidence as he staggered in a particular direction.
While running the 100m lapses, he had encountered a stream upshore and decided to take a soak in it to cleanse his body of the sweat.
On the way there, Arthur noticed a subtle increase to his speed that wasn't there before. It was barely noticeable, but Arthur could tell that his speed had increased.
'The Dexterity stat.' Arthur muttered in understanding.
Thankfully, there were no wild beasts roaming about even as he finally reached the stream.
After glancing around the place and noting that there was no one around, Arthur immediately took a dip.
He felt the warm sensation of the water on his skin, and all the stickiness he felt from sweating was washed up instantly.
Arthur enjoyed the bath for a few minutes before finally emerging with a change of clothes.
After he was done, he returned back to the cave from last night and noticed that Gabriella and the driver were already waiting for him outside with impatient expressions.
"Sorry, I was held up by something," Arthur said in an apologetic tone as he finally caught up with them.
The driver didn't say anything and instead went to the reins of the carriage, signalling for the two to get on so they would continue on their journey.
Gabriella glanced at Arthur briefly, and he could notice a slightly pinkish hue on her face.
A look of confusion appeared on his at the sight of this. Not thinking too much about it, he entered behind her, and then the trio continued on their way.
The journey to the capital was far from smooth, and occasionally they would encounter bandits and thugs on the way.
Aside from that, Arthur had to stop occasionally to feed the little fox. Thankfully, after a grueling few days, they were already halfway there.
Nothing particularly interesting had happened between Arthur and Gabriella, although the two had conversed casually; in the end, it was nothing serious.
…
While they were on their way, Arthur stroked the fox's snow-white fur on his laps and decided to initiate a conversation with the lady.
"Do you know about the Sentient Academy?"
Arthur had wanted to ask her since the first day that they met but ultimately held himself back. After all, they were still strangers back then; he had to take things with her slowly.
Gabriella pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear and turned to Arthur with a casual smile, her gaze filled with jealousy briefly glancing over the little fox.
"Yes, I studied there before graduating…"
'Graduating?' Arthur was surprised. Although the lady seemed to be in her twenties, he didn't expect that she was done with her studies already.
'I've heard that no one who graduates from the Sentient Academy is ordinary… In that case, could she be hiding her strength?'
Now that Arthur thought about it, even back then with the bandits, Gabriella had never shown any panic, even while sleeping with him.
What lady would casually let a guy stay in the same bed as her without any sign of cautiousness?
'…Unless she's confident she can one-shot me. Damn.'
Arthur felt cold sweat run down his spine, but he forced a calm smile.
"Oh really? That's interesting. What's studying there like?"
"It's not too difficult. Just try to get as many points as you can, and everything else would be pretty easy."
Arthur rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I've heard there's discrimination toward certain classes."
Gabriella nodded, then gazed through the carriage window and muttered in an audible voice,
"There's quite a lot of discrimination, but with sufficient strength, it isn't something you can't overcome. There is no weakest class, only the weakest player."
Arthur felt her words had some truth to them and couldn't help seeing her in a new light.
He chuckled, then changed the topic. "Do you have any idea what the entrance examination is like?"
Gabriella laughed before replying, "It's changed every year, so knowing it will do you no good. Just ensure to be prepared."
"Summoners are allowed to fight with their summons, right?"
"Yeah. Of course all fights have to be fair…"
Hearing her words, a grin formed at the corner of Arthur's lips.
Speaking about unfairness when it came to Titan…
'Hopefully they don't change the rules because of him. Because having him as my summon is basically cheating.'
Gabriella didn't notice the smirk on Arthur's lips.
Her eyes glinted curiously. "Are you a Summoner?"
Arthur hesitated briefly before replying with a warm smile, "I'm a Mage."
After he finished speaking, fire briefly appeared on his palm before he extinguished it.
'Since I don't know the extent of her strength, it's best to keep some measure of trump card for myself…' Arthur mused internally.
Gabriella nodded silently at the display, then finally settled her eyes on the little fox.
"You really can't discuss with her—let me just have a touch?"
"I can't force her to do anything…" Arthur replied with a wry smile.
Gabriella snorted and turned once more to the other side of the carriage.
The journey continued in silence as the two remained in the carriage, the faint sound of galloping horses echoing into the air.
After a while of silence, Gabriella suddenly furrowed her brows.
Arthur also looked startled, sensing that the carriage had come to a stop.
"There is a dungeon on the way," the words of the driver drifted into their ears from outside.
"What rank?" Gabriella asked.
"Most likely an E-rank dungeon."
Hearing that, a disinterested expression appeared on Gabriella's face.
'An E-rank dungeon?' Arthur whispered internally, his eyes flickered with thought.
"Since it's getting dark, let's settle here for the night. I'd want to clear the dungeon tomorrow morning."
Gabriella cast Arthur a sidelong glance, then shrugged.
With that, the duo found a place close by to rest.
There was another reason Arthur decided to clear the dungeon the next day.
Tomorrow, he would finally evolve his Fire Element to E-rank, becoming stronger once more!