It’s been around a month since we’ve arrived in the new world. Mostly a cycle of me not-so-subtly flirting with Eliza, combined with an unhealthy amount of avoiding giant men named Pierre.

Speaking of, apparently he’s supposed to take all the heroes out today to fight some of the weaker monsters. It’s so they can finally experience fighting monsters, and also so that they can increase their stats by ‘leveling up’ I guess you could say.

It’s not really what happens, but some of us have just attached that name to it. It works well enough. ‘Absorbing the magic from dead monsters’ just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. It’s also something that each of us heroes can understand.

I don’t really feel like going, to be honest. I’d rather hang around back here with Eliza. Even if she hasn’t reciprocated my feelings, she seems to enjoy my company well enough, and that’s more than enough for me. The fact that she hasn’t started avoiding me or voiced any dissatisfaction even after she knows about my feelings is a good sign.

At least, it should be. To be honest, my only romantic experience is with Eliza in my past life, so I’m not really one hundred percent sure of her feelings right now. Based on what I know of Eliza, though, I think I have a pretty good shot.

Even though I don’t feel like joining the other heroes in their first monster hunting experience, I realize I should probably go. Not only to once again show that I am powerful, which should raise morale and everyone’s confidence in me once again, but I am also curious about something.

That is, my future potential. In this life, I’ve started off with absurdly high stats. The question I have, then, is how far can they grow?

In my past life, my intelligence started at around 2,000, and topped out around 14,000. That means my final intelligence was 7 times larger than when my initial intelligence.

If that 7 times translates over to my current intelligence…

Well, it’d frankly be ridiculous. That would give me over 700,000 intelligence.

I don’t really know if I believe it to be possible for such a ridiculous stat to actually happen, but I can’t be completely sure.

After all, I’m not even technically human anymore, so you never know. I truly have no clue what the limits of a Transcendent Human could be.

Either way, I doubt just a few goblins or wind wolves will help much, if at all, considering the extreme difference in stats.

I sighed and got ready to leave, nonchalantly throwing plenty of camping materials into a pocket dimension.

…

“ALL RIGHT THEN, IS EVERYBODY HERE?”

There was some muttering among the group of heroes that basically amounted to ‘yes’.

God, that was such a high schooler response that it’s almost a little embarrassing.

I just want to get this going and over with. That way I can be back with Eliza quicker.

"GOOD! The maids should be here any moment!"

I almost ignored him, but then I heard the word ‘maids’.

Wait, so the maids are coming along with us. I wonder why?

I know that they should have at least a small amount of training. It’s something the royalty ensures so that in case of an attack or assassination attempt on someone within the castle they can help to protect them.

Well, even though I don’t know why they’re coming, I’m not going to complain. After all, this means that Eliza is coming with us!

Turns out I didn’t have to be worried about not seeing her today.

While we waited for the maids to get here, the rest of the students gathered into their groups and started talking. I was just kinda left out.

Not that I have a problem with that, nor does it surprise me. I mean, I haven’t even seen some of them at all since coming to this world because I don’t go to the training sessions.

In fact, I’m far more surprised by the fact that someone is still approaching me. A girl from my class with long, red hair.

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t remember her name at all. Not even a first letter is coming up.

She must’ve been unimportant in my past life.

When she reached me, she put on sultry smile and leaned towards me a little bit. Enough to allow me to see quite a bit of cleavage.

“Soo~, Mason, I hear you’re really strong. I just so happen to like strong men.”

She said as she leaned in even closer. She brought a hand up and seemed as if she was going to start tracing my, admittedly impressive, abs through my shirt. As she did so, I felt something attempt to invade my mind as every aspect of her was amplified immensely.

Her cherry lips seemed to magnify themselves to me, along with her ample cleavage.

As I stared at her, all I could think was…

‘How unappealing.’

Frankly, she looked fairly average to me, I would almost say ugly. I don’t know why she thought she could try to seduce me in public and right before a battle, but it obviously didn’t work.

I grabbed her hand before she could actually touch my abs.

“Oh! So passionate.”

She seemed to think I was overtaken by desire or something. That’s kind of ridiculous considering where we are. I wonder if she’s just stupid?

Before she could get any other ideas, I took her by her shoulders and forcefully turned her around, then gave her a push forward back towards the group she came from.

There were three of them there, all looking at me in shock. She also seems to be frozen in shock. So I can pretty much assume this is something she does often, and that she usually succeeds.

Which also begs the question of why she even tries to do so in the first place.

A quick use of shows me exactly why, in the form of the skills and .

A decidedly vulgar combination of skills, though it does seem effective. , in case you haven’t figured it out, helps her to seduce people. It also seems to have an almost 100% success rate at the level she has it at. is a skill that activates during sex, and steals some of the status points from the victim. Apparently, more stats are taken when the victim’s stats are much greater than the user’s.

That’s probably why she targeted me. I wasn’t exactly being subtle when I mentioned my excessive stats.

Then again, I also wonder how she got the skill. It sounds like a racial skill for, well… succubus.

I decided to satiate my curiosity using .

Kaitlyn’s acquisition of the Skill:

Your classmate, Kaitlyn, has acquired the skill by evolving a skill she had before. The skill is gotten by acquiring money using your body. This skill can be evolved into the skill which can allow the user to acquire stats using their body.

I coughed a little from the pure shock. I’m sure that if I was drinking something, I would have spit it out.

This means that the very universe itself has declared Kaitlyn a whore. I’m not really sure how I should feel about this.

I ignored it and decided instead to think about how she was seducing me.

Even though I would obviously never fall for the seduction, I am still a little bit worried about my reaction. To be more specific, the complete lack of one.

Even though in my past life I was almost 25, right now I’m only 17. Meaning I still have the raging hormones any teenager would have. The simple fact is, even if I didn’t want it to happen, my body still probably should’ve showed some sort of reaction (If you know what I mean).

However, nothing happened at all. Not even a twitch…

...ED?

I paled at the thought that came straight from my nightmares. Surely not, with my constitution, I should be raring to go well into my seventies.

I wiped away the nervous sweat that had gathered on my hands as I turned around.

In doing so, I got a full view of what I consider a glorious sight. In front of me was Eliza, not in her usual maid clothes. Instead, she was wearing a leather chestplate, and dangerously short shorts.

More importantly, she happened to be bent over, strapping something to her ankle.

I wasn’t paying much attention to whatever was being strapped on, as I was a bit too preoccupied with the sight of her… rear end being just five feet in front of me.

I am not ashamed to admit that I continued staring until she had stood straight once again.

I am also not ashamed to admit that I am still definitely vigorous.

“Since everyone’s here, we can set off!”

I had to put my hands in my pockets and take a few awkward steps as we left the castle.

…

As soon as we left the capital, I could see where we were heading. It was a place known for training beginners. Aptly named ‘The Goblin Forest’.

Believe it or not, inside you could find goblins.

The forest was legitimately unusual. Obviously you could find goblins, but that was literally the only thing found inside. Not a single pack of wind wolves, not even one rogue slime.

Even if there is a goblin king inside, which there almost definitely is, there should still be some other monsters there.

It was an oddity that everybody had just simply learned to accept by now.

It was also something that people had learned to take advantage of, using the weak goblins as ways to allow new adventurers to get used to battle.

As we began to travel to the forest, I fell into step with Eliza.

I seemed a little out of place, as all the other heroes were talking to each other. There seemed to be two distinct groups, one of maids, and the other of heroes.

I was the only exception to this, but I didn’t mind. I much prefer Eliza to any of my classmates.

“So, why didn’t you tell me the maids were going on this trip?”

She is clearly aware of my feelings for her, and should know that I wouldn’t have hesitated about going if she had told me.

“Well, I just assumed you weren’t going to come.”

“Aww, c’mon. We both know I would come the moment I knew you were going. I’m lucky I decided to actually come at the last second, otherwise I would have missed your… you.”

“Oh? What was that you were about to say? Why don’t you tell me?”

She always looks like she enjoys teasing me.

“Well… your outfit.”

I said with a bit of embarrassment, but I will not relent on this point.

Even though I have fallen in love with a maid, I’m not really all that into their outfits. They don’t show off any of Eliza’s beautiful legs, which is simply unacceptable to me.

Her current outfit is almost ideal. The short shorts allow for a full view of Eliza’s legs to be seen. This is one of the things that lets me go on in life. Now that I think about it, as my personal maid, could I order her to wear something other than a maid outfit? I’ll have to thoroughly check this out later, if it means I will get to see her legs more often.

Eliza’s legs just so happen to be my second favorite thing in the world. My first favorite of course being Eliza herself.

“Really? How odd. I’ve heard from the other maids that most people from your world seem to really like the maid outfits for some reason.”

I snorted, of course those stupid 17 year olds couldn’t understand the greatness of legs.

“Well I happen to have a more mature outlook on life. With my plentiful experience, I realize what a travesty it is for you to hide your magnificent legs under a maid outfit!”

I said with more fire than strictly needed. I also only realized what I said after the deed had been done, my passion for her legs erupting before I could stop myself for the sake of public decency.

As I thought, all the maids around me were looking at me with a range of different emotions.

Some seemed to be looking at me with disgust, luckily that seemed like the minority. Quite a few were blushing at my declaration, including Eliza. Finally, there was another small group that was looking at me and Eliza with smiles on their faces, like they had just found out about some conspiracy.

I was embarrassed, but I was also determined not to show it. I’ll only look like a fool if I do. My father always used to say that whatever I do in life, if I do it with confidence, no one will judge me.

With that in mind, I looked forward and kept a serious face as we continued walking. Eliza also seemed to recover soon enough, though I didn’t miss her occasional glances at me, followed by a light blush dusting her cheeks.

I had to hold back the urge to smile wildly in joy every time I saw that. It was just too adorable, the way her little mouth scrunched up as she too tried to keep a serious face. Unluckily for her, she doesn’t have the skill like I do.

We continued like this for the rest of the walk to The Goblin Forest. As we arrived at the outer edge of the forest, Pierre, who was leading the group, turned around.

“Okay! As this is your first time out, we will stay together as a group. Also, be sure to stay next to your maids, they should each have the know-how to travel through a forest like this one.

We then entered the forest. Each hero was grouped up with their respective maid, and spread out slightly, though everyone made sure to know where the rest of the group was.

It was an alright method of training, if a bit overly cautious. Considering the constitution of even the weakest hero here, I doubt a goblin could kill most of us if we let it.

Living up to the name ‘The Goblin Forest’, many of us soon found some goblins. They were easy to take out, so long as they could get their shaking under control. It was honestly kind of pathetic that they were shaking at the sight of these weak monsters with stats less than a hundredth of their own.

We had to spend a good half hour at the outskirts of the forest, facing only the weakest goblin variants, just so all of us could get somewhat adjusted to killing something. Actually, I’m sure that some of my classmates have hunted deer or rabbits due to where we lived in the old world, but it’s a world (get it?) of difference to shoot something and end it’s life instantly, and to stab something through the chest and watch as it struggles to breathe it's last breath.

Soon enough though, the rest of my classmates were sufficiently able to kill monsters without flinching or whimpering.

When Pierre had deemed all of us prepared enough, we started to travel a bit deeper into the forest.

We were far enough in that we were able to meet the stronger goblins, most of which held weapons, but not far enough in to meet hobgoblins.

While everyone else was actually trying to get used to battle, and taking their time with each goblin, I ended each of my fights with one move.

I usually just use a wind blade to take them out quickly. Wind attacks happen to be my favorite spells to use when facing a single enemy. The ridiculous piercing power of most wind spells can kill the majority beasts in one hit if you’re good enough with the spell. And not to brag, but I just so happen to be more than skilled enough.

I didn't get the skill for nothing.

“What is the point of me even being here?”

Eliza asked with a sigh. I chuckled a little bit. The maids are supposedly here to help us learn about moving through the forest, including pointing out poisonous and edible plants. However, I am without a doubt the most knowledgeable on that front within this group. I had to survive for two full years straight in the wilderness, compared to these maids who have only learned about the things surrounding the capital.

“You help to raise my morale.”

“Oh really? So you can better one shot every enemy you see?”

She asked with an exaggerated roll of her eyes and a healthy amount of sarcasm.

“Um… You’re something pretty to look at?”

I said, a bit unsure how I was supposed to respond to what is a true statement from her.

“I forgot, you seem to like my legs well enough.”

I coughed a bit to hide my embarrassment from my earlier outburst. She smirked a bit at my reaction, clearly amused.

“Haaaa~, what a terrible master I have. To think he would have a fetish for legs.”

She said in mock sorrow as she wiped a fake tear from her eye. I laughed a bit at her antics, and she wasn’t against joining me in my laughter.

“Hey, in my defense, at least I don’t have a foot fetish.”

“... Fair enough.”

Luckily, we were both in agreement on this point.

“So, any other fetishes I need to know about?”

Asked Eliza with a teasing raise of her eyebrows.

“Hm? And just why would you need to know anything about my fetishes?”

I shot back quickly, an eyebrow raised.

“Why, obviously so I can warn the princess. I’m already prepared to tell her not to show her legs to you, who knows what you’d do if she did.”

We both laughed and continued the leisurely conversation while those around us were busy fighting seriously.

The rest of the trip continued like that. We had travelled somewhat far into the forest, and made our stand there for an hour or so. After doing so, we left the forest and went back to the castle. Some of the physically weaker heroes looked to be quite exhausted from our short three hour trip, but most of us were in good condition.

The maids separated from the group as we got to the castle, so they could change back into their maid attire. It was a very saddening moment, but I made sure to get a good, long look at Eliza’s legs as she walked away.

Pierre then gave some sort of pep talk to the rest of us, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Although I was a bit unsettled when I heard the words, ‘Take every chance you’ve got!’ while he stared at me with fire in his eyes.

Deciding that that was my cue, I hurriedly fled the scene.

Back in my room, I was able to settle down from the slightly more eventful day.

I was sitting on my bed thinking when Eliza walked into my room. She was in a maid outfit, much to my sheer disappointment.

“You’re back already? I know for a fact the captain is still giving his speech, you can hear it from anywhere in the castle.”

“Well, he was saying a few scary things while looking at me, so I thought I’d bounce.”

She chuckled a bit, already aware of my… peculiar relationship with the man.

“Well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to chat today, I just stopped by to drop off a set of clean clothes for you.”

She emphasized by holding up the folded clothes in her hand. I already told her I could handle cleaning my clothes with magic, but so far she’s just ignored me and continued doing her job.

Setting down the clothes, she proceeded to leave the room. At the door, however, she stopped and turned around.

“One more thing, Mason.”

She smiled cheekily as I looked on in confusion.

All of a sudden, to my utter shock, she grabbed the hem of her maid outfit, and lifted it up so that I could get a good view of her fine legs.

As I was busy dealing with my fluttering heart, Eliza ran out of the room quickly.

Gods, do I love that girl.

I also may need to rethink my stance on maid outfits...