Natsuki reported that the situation on Ren Isana's end had concluded. After reviewing the details, the higher-ups quickly issued instructions: Ren and the others were to continue their classes for now, with further arrangements to be made later.
As for the rewards, they certainly weren't lacking. They were granted a direct award of one million credits. Such a massive amount was already enough to exchange for numerous items; at Dimensional Nexus University, credits were far more precious than money.
Credits could be exchanged for money, but money could not be exchanged for credits. This was because you only needed to trade a few credits for items like a Spatial Backpack to turn them into hard currency.
Ren Isana and the others were completely unaware of this at first. After everyone finished washing up, they crawled into bed and fell into a deep sleep. By the time they woke up, it was already evening, and everyone had received a notification on the school's app.
The notification detailed how many credits had been deposited and informed them that they could go to the campus community mall to exchange them for whatever they needed. Everyone was thrilled when they saw their new balances.
The class group chat exploded instantly. Everyone started sharing how many credits they had received and what they wanted to buy. Everyone in the class was @ing Ren Isana, asking what materials he needed for their equipment.
Ren Isana was awake by then. He sat in a chair on his balcony, scrolling through the university's credit mall on his phone. After browsing the available items, he thought for a moment and sent a message to the group, listing the items everyone should get.
Ren Isana: "Choose based on your own attributes. Tungsten Sand Gold is a mandatory pick; for the rest, use your own judgment."
After sending that message, Ren Isana @everyone and sent another follow-up.
Ren Isana: "@everyone. For the new students, if you want a custom weapon, you can collect some materials too. I'll provide the materials for the base blanks, but you'll need to choose the reinforcement materials yourselves."
He spoke directly about their weapon situation. Seeing this, the eyes of everyone in the class lit up. If they could truly obtain a custom weapon, they wouldn't have to worry about their equipment for a long time.
They all began @ing Ren Isana, signing up for the weapons they needed and very humbly asking for advice on what materials would be best for reinforcement.
Seeing the situation, Ren Isana simply compiled a list and sent it to the group, telling them to prepare the materials themselves and that he would handle the rest when the time came.
After finishing up in the main group, Ren Isana sent a message to his small team's chat: "Has everyone eaten? Want to head to the dining hall?"
Just as Ren Isana popped into the chat, Asuna suddenly vaulted down from the floor above. This scene was witnessed perfectly by Ren Isana, who happened to be looking up. As Asuna landed on his balcony, Ren Isana spoke with a look of disappointment, "Safety pants really are the worst invention in the world."
Asuna, who had just steadied herself to say something, instantly turned beet red. She realized what had happened; Ren Isana had seen everything just now! *Thank goodness I wore safety pants!*
"You idiot!! Don't just say it out loud like that!!" This was too much. If you saw something, you saw it—if you had kept your mouth shut, you would have gotten a free show, but saying it out loud was just plain embarrassing! Did she have no pride?
"Don't vault over the wall like that next time. It's fine if I see it, but if someone else does, you'll be the one losing out," Ren Isana teased as he looked at Asuna.
Asuna rolled her eyes and spoke up, "Right, right, right, as if letting you see it isn't losing out. I don't care, you have to take responsibility."
As she said this, even the tips of Asuna's ears turned crimson. This was essentially a confession, wasn't it? After speaking, her heart hammered against her ribs, and she didn't dare look at Ren Isana, fearing he might reject her.
Asuna's sudden words caught Ren Isana off guard for a moment, but he quickly broke into a smile. "Alright, no problem. I can take responsibility!"
Ren Isana hadn't expected Asuna to say something like that. But since she had, he was more than happy to go with the flow and agree. After all, when a girl puts it that way...
How could anyone refuse? Not to mention, Ren Isana liked Asuna a lot too. Actually, he liked all of them. Though it was a bit scummy, those were his honest feelings, even if he was focusing his attention on Asuna right now.
Hearing Ren Isana's response, Asuna froze. She couldn't help but look up at him, her eyes filled with surprise as she asked, "Really? I'm being very serious, you know! I'm not joking!"
She hurriedly added that last part, terrified that Ren Isana thought she was just playing around. She didn't want this to be a joke; she wanted it to be real!
"I know. You want to be my girlfriend!" Ren Isana understood perfectly that she wasn't joking, so he was being serious as well. After all, what was wrong with starting a relationship?
At that, Asuna smiled. She looked at Ren Isana with pure joy and said, "Then... for the rest of our lives, please take care of me!"
Asuna gazed at Ren Isana with a face full of smiles. They had finally reached this step! She was so happy. However, Ren Isana's next words dampened her mood.
"The rest of our lives? Isn't that a bit far off? What if we break up halfway through?" Ren Isana looked at Asuna with a puzzled expression, causing a giant question mark to slowly form over her head.
"Wait... we literally just decided to be together, and you're already thinking about breaking up?" Asuna's brow furrowed, and her heart suddenly felt like lead. What did he mean, the rest of their lives was too far off?
Ren Isana chuckled, then stood up and took her hand. "I'm just kidding. For the rest of our lives, please take care of me, Miss Asuna!"
Seeing that Ren Isana had finally changed his tune, Asuna decided to let him off the hook. Seeing her hand being held by his, she didn't resist at all; instead, she felt a sweet warmth in her heart.
However, she quickly pulled away as Yukino and the others' voices sounded from above, seemingly looking for her.
"I'm here with Ren Isana! Let's just meet on the first floor!" Asuna hadn't forgotten that it was time for everyone to go eat. Being in her first relationship, she was still a bit nervous.
Ren Isana didn't mind. The two of them jumped down from the balcony and waited quietly. Soon, Megumi Kato, Yukino, and Mahiru Shiina also came down from upstairs.
Once the five of them met up, they headed toward the restaurant together. Asuna subconsciously moved closer to Ren Isana to walk beside him, a detail that Yukino and the others didn't miss—especially since all three noticed Asuna's slight, joyful bounce.
*Are they... together?* Asuna looked exactly like a girl in the middle of a romance. The three of them were stunned. When did these two get together?
Although the three were curious to gossip, no one pressed for answers. When the time was right, they were sure someone would tell them. The group arrived at the restaurant, ordered some food, and sat together chatting while they ate.
"Class Rep, I have a question I'd like to ask," Mahiru Shiina suddenly said while they were eating. Hearing her, Ren Isana looked at her with curiosity, gesturing for her to continue.
"It's about my weapon. Since I use [Support Magic], I was wondering what kind of staff I should use. Do you have any suggestions?" As a dedicated support, Mahiru didn't quite understand these things.
She was different from the others. While she could use magic, she wasn't particularly skilled in offensive spells. And for healing, what kind of attributes would be best? The weapons Ren Isana made were clearly unique.
"A normal staff will do. When the time comes, I'll add some healing amplification to your staff," Ren Isana explained slowly after understanding her concerns.
The attributes a regular staff possessed were still useful to her. There wasn't actually that much of a difference; the main thing would be making slight modifications to the staff's attributes.
Listening to Ren Isana's explanation, Mahiru Shiina nodded thoughtfully. Then, she couldn't help but ask, "I was looking at the credit mall just now, and I saw a material called Tree of Life branches. Can those be used as the main body for a staff?"
She asked about the item she had just seen, which caused Ren Isana to look at her with a hint of surprise. "You're planning to go for the best right away? The credit cost for that material is very high."
Using a branch from the Tree of Life to make a staff was undoubtedly the best choice for Mahiru Shiina. Since the Tree of Life inherently possessed restorative properties, crafting a dedicated healer's staff with it would be incredibly simple.
However, it wasn't strictly necessary. Using his methods, he could achieve similar effects, and they could just reinforce the equipment over time. All the students had roughly one million credits.
A Spatial Backpack only cost 200,000 credits, while a single Tree of Life branch cost a full million. If she bought that, Mahiru Shiina wouldn't have any credits left for other materials.
To forge a staff, that single material wasn't enough; she would also need relevant Magic Gems, or else the staff's full power couldn't be realized.
"Yes, I want to get the best I can right from the start. That way, I can be of more help to everyone. A staff like that should significantly boost my [Healing Magic], right?" Mahiru Shiina said with a gentle expression.
The others could take it slow, but if she could jump straight to the top, the benefits for the team would be even better. That was her reasoning. As for the other materials, she already had a plan: she would use money to buy them from elsewhere.
Or she could pay classmates who had spare credits to buy them from the school for her. Money was no object for her; Mahiru Shiina was also a wealthy young lady.
Asuna and the others nodded thoughtfully after hearing Mahiru's explanation. Asuna then spoke up, "I have more than enough credits, and the materials I need don't cost that many. I can lend mine to you first."
She supported Mahiru's decision. A staff that suited her would provide a massive boost, and as members of the same team, everyone would benefit greatly.
Following Asuna's lead, Yukino and Megumi also spoke up. Both were willing to lend their credits to Mahiru Shiina so she could finish her weapon first.