The Gamer's POV

Later that night...

——

Cedric exhaled and opened his eyes, then slowly looked down at his chest.

...By now, it was no surprise that his mana core had grown quite a bit.

Over the course of the past weeks, every night, he had been alternating with Aika to grow his mana core. Now, it was quite large for someone who had started his cultivation far later than his peers.

However, he didn’t plan on relenting, and would continue expanding his core every night, because he had now made up his mind that he would keep ascending the Grades of power.

There were so many things happening in the worlds right now that were either out of his control, threatening the person he cared about, or directly targeting him. In order to protect, to uncover the truth, and to live his life in peace, the way he wanted, he needed to keep growing.

But the thing was, the higher grades were a bit tougher to reach, because other requirements, aside from just meeting the evolution quotients, began to factor in.

For instance, one of the requirements for advancing to Grade Five was for a dominant to reach the absolute limit of how far they could expand their core.

From the basics of what every dominant knew about the nature of magic, the nobility of a person affected more than just the bond. It also affected little things like how fast a dominant could heal from an injury in comparison to others, to major things like just how large one could grow their mana core.

...Everyone knew that during the course of trying to expand their mana core, a dominant would eventually hit a wall or slump when they approached their natural limit. The closer one got to that threshold, the harder it became to grow their core until eventually, progress stopped altogether.

Now this meant two things for Cedric, who was the very definition of nobility — a member of the old royal family.

One, his mana core had the potential to grow vastly larger than any of his peers, but that only meant that it would take longer to actually hit that limit.

So, he needed to work hard. Twice, no, thrice as hard as every other person.

Cedric sighed.

Currently, he was sitting in a meditative position in the center of his room. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and the tattoos on his body were faintly glistening with a sheen of sweat. Aside from the tattoo of the beautiful heart on his chest, he had also later gotten another tattoo on his back.

It was a striking composition of two dark koi fish swimming through elegant waves. In the center, running directly down the length of his spine, was a long, unsheathed katana. The blade acted as the anchor for the entire piece, separating the twin fish as they spiraled upward toward his shoulders.

But setting that aside, after a moment, Cedric stood up and made his way to the dressing area.

When he got there, he pulled on a long black robe, which settled loosely over his shoulders and covered the elaborate ink on his back. Then he began to head out of his room.

While walking down the dimly lit corridor, he stumbled into Aika, who seemed to be on her way to the room.

"Oh?" Aika took a step back while studying him. "Are you heading somewhere?"

"Mm-hm," Cedric replied flatly. "I can’t sleep. So some intoxicating air might be what I need."

Aika’s gaze dropped to his chest briefly before returning to his face. Then with both hands behind her back, she smiled and leaned forward a bit, her eyes crinkling with mischief. "Can I come with you?"

Cedric thought for three seconds, then smiled. "Sure." He also leaned in slightly while tilting his head. "Would be fun if we got drunk together."

Aika smiled.

It was the Carnal Festival, after all.

He stepped forward and offered his arm. She took it, then both of them vanished in a flurry of feathers.

***

"Happy revelry!!!"

The streets of the central city were bustling with unbridled energy. Street performers, fire-eaters, and musicians filled the plazas, drawing massive crowds at every turn. Many of the people in the throngs were wearing grotesque, elaborate, or beautiful masks, while others didn’t bother and just let their own faces show.

The sight was something to behold. While some women wore revealing clothing, most men just went about bare-chested, enjoying the freedom of the festival.

The scent of heavy perfumes, burning incense, spilled wine, and roasting meats filled the air. And Gods, it was loud with all the music and singing along.

In one of the alleys, Cedric appeared in a flurry of feathers, after which Aika materialized beside him.

Grabbing her by the hand, he gestured with a smile. "How about we hit the canal first?"

Aika blinked, adjusting to the sudden noise and the vibrant wash of light, before a small smile crept onto her face.

Seeing that, he took it as a yes and pulled her out of the alley, into the thick of the crowd. They made their way to one of the nearby cobblestone bridges which had lots of people leaning over.

On reaching the top of the stone arch, Cedric too leaned over the railing to look down. Truly speaking, he was amazed by the sight below. Rather than turquoise water, what he saw was red wine.

’I wonder just which dominant is behind this,’ he mused. ’To be able to change the water in the canals of the entire city, such a person must be a really high grade dominant, probably in the God tier.’

He thought as he watched the dark red liquid ripple under the warm, ambient light.

In Lumieria, the street lights were made using magi-tech and housed glowing crystals that cast a soft, steady illumination across the thoroughfares.

There were lots of boats which were rowing slowly in the water, keeping close to the stone walls and handing out food and wine to those leaning over the edge.

Cedric reached out and got two large pewter tankards from a fat, blonde lady on the large boat closest to him.

"I think I see where everyone in the empire gets their drinking habits from," Aika remarked with a quiet laugh as she reached out to take one of the tankards from him.

"You drink more than the average Lumierian," Cedric smiled. "I wonder where you get yours."

They clinked their cups together, then took a heavy gulp.

"Gods!"

The wine was unlike anything he had ever had!

Barely a few seconds after drinking half of the bitter, spice-infused liquid, he had to hold on to the cold stone railing to support himself.

"Hey," Aika reached out and held the sleeve of his robe, drawing his attention. She then swept her gaze toward the nearby plaza. At the center of the street, a group of people were dancing and clapping. When her eyes returned to him, she smiled and looked back at Cedric.

"Let’s go dance."

"D-d-dance?!" Cedric blurted in disbelief.

Aika nodded as she took another long sip.

’Is it just me or is she acting out of character?’

Come to think of it, had he ever seen Aika dance before?

Suddenly, he was curious to see what she would look like dancing. After a beat, he asked over the loud music. "Would you be alright?"

"Yeah," Aika shrugged playfully. "And besides, many of them are in masks."

She grabbed his hand, then before he could even find his footing, she led him enthusiastically toward the swirling crowd. "Come on."

The music being played in the open square by the violinist and the drummers reminded Cedric of a song he liked in his previous life called Kingdom’s dance.

When they got to the square, Aika took a few steps from him and to his surprise, she began to move her legs to the music in the same manner everyone else was doing, stomping her boots to the heavy beat.

Then she began to swirl in a circle around him, inviting him with her pewter tankard to join in. Seeing that, Cedric smiled and also began to copy her rhythm. He tapped his legs on the ground, skipping it as he began to move in the opposite direction, circling her.

Then they closed the distance between each other, locking their drinking arms at the elbow as they spun. Laughing over the roar of the crowd, they both drank from each other’s tankard until the vessels were completely empty. With a synchronized toss, they threw the heavy pewter cups aside, letting them clatter against the stone, and separated from each other again.

Aika put her hands behind her back and began swaying hip to hip with a smug look, then she paused to let out a breathless, challenging laugh.

Cedric then smiled to show that he could do better. He executed a flawless, rapid series of heel-clicks and sharp steps to the driving tempo of the drums, then gestured for her turn.

She scoffed and immediately jumped back into the center to match his complexity step for step.

Watching her dance in the short, pleated skirt that flared with every sharp spin did something to Cedric that he couldn’t quite put into words.

A moment later, she closed the distance, extending both hands. Cedric took them and began to spin her in a tight, dizzying circle, before finally pulling her close.

He put his left hand firmly against the small of her back, while the other held her hand high, as they moved across the floor.

Aika looked into his smiling blue eyes, which mirrored hers, and a thought quietly drifted through her mind.

’Do you know, Cedric... seeing you dance with me in this manner... is doing things to me that I can’t quite put into words...’