In all honesty, I was barely conscious for the first half.

I don't remember when but I seem to have blacked out due to the sudden influx of stimulants to my brain. For a virgin like me, the information is just too much.

Yet, the touch of a woman's bare skin is all too familiar.

This is something I have realized for quite some time now. In my past life I may have been a virgin but I doubt I am one in this world. When my hands brush against Angie's bare skin, a wave of familiar sensation rush to my mind. Instantly, I understand I am no stranger to a woman's body.

Of course it would be extremely awkward and crushing for me if I just fainted before the foreplay even began. So before my consciousness left, I willed my subconscious to take my place. It may sound weird to others but I don't feel that way. The unease of letting a subconscious taking over is understandable but in truth, it's not so bad.

Although I'm barely conscious, I remembered everything that I have done or rather, everything Kai have done in my place. I even remembered every detail of the moment as if I have done all those personally. In a way, I have done all those personally.

When my overloaded brain recovered and I taken back control of my body, the face of Angie in tears and breathless greeted my sight. She was even pleading for me to stop.

What the fuck have you done!?

I shouted at Kai the instance I saw Angie in such state.

[Relax. I didn't rape her. I think?]

You think? What if she thinks otherwise? What then? What do you think was going to happen if we truly get on her ire? Huh?

[We're not even a B and she's a bona fide S. Do the math. Do you think we can truly have our way with her if all of these is forced?]

Ah.... you got a point there. Is she that kind of girl?

Nevertheless, I said my apologies to her.

I have done it. I have given into my impulse and forced myself on a girl while taking advantage of her distressed state. That's how it looks like to her, I bet.

No. That was exactly what it is and so I thought but instead,

"It's okay. I didn't exactly mind" She gently whispers into my ears. "If anything, you have done me a great deal."

When I heard such words, I felt my manhood rejuvenated in a split second.

Still, I utter my apologies again before she began asserting back her dominance.

And the rest of the night is spend with me being at the bottom while she has her way with me. Truth to be told, it's not so bad to be at the bottom, especially if I'm offered a view of a pair of voluptuous hills swaying and bouncing in elegance in front of my eyes.

That "night", I discovered another side of me and a hidden ability of mine. I recover stamina at a very exaggerated rate. Which is why I was no where near as exhausted as Angie was after approximately four rounds. I felt incredibly honored as a man that Angie even expend her Mana in place of her stamina. As a man, this is a huge accomplishment.

Nothing beats fighting a Void Demon and a certain overzealous female warrior. Compare to these two, sex is a cakewalk.

[See, everything worked out. Well done.]

Shut up. You almost blew this. We were point zero one percent chance away from being turned into dust.

[Ah. Point taken].

On the next "day" after I have ascended to adulthood, I'm awaken to the baffling face of Tom and the screams of Nilin. Another rude awakening. Angie swiftly dealt with it by imprisoning Nilin in a subspace of shadows. Tom was at least prudent enough to leave us to our business.

Currently, I am practicing the production magic that I have learned of yesterday after spending hours on tutorial books. I have chosen a vast field behind some sort of palace-like building as the experimental site. Who knows what will happen if I fucked up.

As I prepare for the experiments and practices, I felt glances occasionally coming at my way. Needless to say, it is Angie. She is also practicing magic here but we are least a few good thirty feet apart. Even at this distance, I can feel her gaze. Maybe it's because we share a bed and spent a night together, Angie has been getting more aggressive with her show of affections.

During breakfast, she even went as far as to have me feed her through mouth-to-mouth. Of course, I decline her idea. Nilin, Tom, Bartholomew, and Cormac are even troubled with where their eyes should be. I whacked Angie slightly on her head to make her stop. Oddly enough, Citra is looking at us with curious those eyes of hers. I'm slightly bothered by this. The breakfast wasn't anything extravagant. It's just fruits and water fetched from the nearby river. However, such meal is considered a luxury as oppose to the times in the dungeon.

Although a part of me think it's a shame there's no meat but another part of me is not looking forward to eating it. I have some degree of control in altering my appearance but I would like to refrain from taking the chances.

Anyways, that was how breakfast went. Nothing major transpire. But before I went to practice, I have taken a little detour.

"Why are we here?" Angie asked as we stopped our tracks right in front of a large circular Azunmite Steel door. Yes, we are at the door that obstructed our way out.

"You'll see" I'm confidently tell her so.

This came to me during breakfast. I have successfully learn [Transmutation], an Arcane Art that manipulates the properties of elements, compounds, and mixtures. At level one, I have obtained two spells from [Transmutation]. One of the two is [Divide]. It is the ability to break down a compound or a mixture into its base elements. It then got me thinking, couldn't I just use this on the door?

Although I have hope but knowing my luck, I doubt I will have it easy.

Placing my hand on the door, I cast [Divide]. The whole door begins glowing red, inscriptions in crimson appeared all over the door, and what follows is my instinct screaming at its peak.

[A rebound?]

I heard Kai muttered such before the red lights assaulted my arm. I have cast [Spatial Leap] when my instinct screamed but I wasn't moving. Whatever magic is it, it has barred me of any traversing spells. It fully intends to punish those who dares to temper with the door.

"Hyx!" Angie called out in a panic and instantly move in between me and the door. The text [Space Magic: Gap Shrink] appears beside her. An inferior version of my [Spatial Leap] but it matters not when our ranking have such a huge gap. Grabbing on to me by my waist, I feel a huge amount of Mana surged within her before casting another [Gap Shrink] to teleport away from the door. Just like that, thirty percent of her Mana is used up which is around twenty four thousand worth unit. What a frightening rebound spell.

She was however a little bit too late to the rescue but she managed to save me nonetheless. My right arm has been completely disintegrated. If Angie had been any slower, I would be disintegrated altogether with my right arm.

"Are you alright!?" She asked without hint of calmness in her voice. My entire weight is entrusted to her arms but she's not minding it. I have realized this during our last night together. She's weaker than me in terms of physical ability despite the gap in our rank. I guess rank is not everything, after all. She's too concern about me to take notice of my weight.

"I'm fine." I told her and she looks more at ease with those two words. "Sorry."

Instead of letting me go, she brought me close to her face. "Don't ever do that again." Tears are on the verge of her eyes. I can even hear her heart beating loudly. I have truly made her worried. It is understandable. After all, she thought she would loose someone she cared for again so soon.

I want to retort "such is my luck, can't be helped" but I kept my mouth shut instead. After all, I remember the old saying from my previous world, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn."

We left the door with crestfallen hearts but with different reasons. We held hands while walking back. Judging from her trembling hands, she is still trying to calm down from that incident. She was very worried about my right arm but I managed to convince her that I'll be fine after I conjured an ethereal right arm as a replacement or rather, Kai did.

[Mana Overseer: Phantom Limb - Acquired]

I'll be using the ethereal limb for now until my right hand regenerates. According to Kai, I can regenerate a missing limb but it takes time. And Kai received a level up after that.

[Mana Overseer (Unique): Lv. 6 increased to Lv. 7]

[Mana Overseer: Famine Shield - Acquired]

Oh neat, a new ability but I can test it later. For now....

[I'm sorry. I wasn't able to detect it]

Why not?

[It was very well hidden. Whoever cast that magic has taken a lot of measures into account, including a very precise perception like mine.]

You were saying something about a rebound?

[You were trying to break the door down into its base elements with [Divide]. The rebound spell basically tried to return the favor.]

Ah. That's a very terrifying thought. It is without question that I wouldn't have survived it if Angie didn't came to my rescue. What a woman.

Anyways, I don't know if whoever plunged this whole city into a dungeon intends to keep people from coming in, but one thing's for sure, that door is intended to keep things from going out.

Is it because of Aedrox?

Another mystery for another time.

Anyways, back to the current time. I slap my own cheeks to return my mind back to the present.

Now, let's start practicing and experimenting. Although we have yet to acquire the knowledge on how to forge Onyx Steel, I intend to refine my forging skills first before moving on. From what I read from the books, Onyx Steel can only be forge by very skilled hands. I have no doubt that I could learn quickly with Kai's help but what worries me is that we might not be able to find Onyx Steel's recipe. I did also look for the Arcane Art to mine Azunmite Ores but I found none.

I randomly picked a chunk of magic iron ore from the basket full of magic ores beside me. These magic ores are all mined by Tom yesterday. Since I think we have more than enough, I let them to go about their own business today. They didn't tell me what they were going to do but judging from what I can sense, they are having combat practices. Not a bad idea. Cormac and Bartholomew have been showing promises, so it would be a waste if it's not refined. Tom should be able to harness their talent.

I have asked Kai if there's any irregularity in Tom's Mana flow. There is none, for now. Good. I can concentrate then. Of course, I have asked Kai to alert me if there's any slight in Tom's Mana flow.

After extracting the magic irons from a few ores, I move on to next step, smelting. As far as I can tell from Clammis' memories, there are such things like furnace and forge in this world but in Angie's time, they used magic instead. The Arcane Art for smelting is called [Forge Fire]. I thought something like this would be a spell under an Arcane Art but that is not the case. Speaking of [Forge Fire] , I have also came across a book on fire and lightning magic.

To my surprise, I wasn't able to learn fire or lightning magic even though I was able to learn [Forge Fire] and [Lightning Serration]. Further analysis from Kai resulted in the answers being, [Forge Fire] is not considered as fire magic, and [Lightning Serration] is a legacy Arcane Art.

In simple words,

Normal Arcane Arts are acquired through aptitudes or affinity

Legacy Arcane Arts are acquired through bloodline or heritage

Unique Arcane Arts are acquired through luck or bestowed by Gods

That's how it is apparently. According to this logic, I have the affinities for [Spatial Magic], [Abyss Magic], [Spirit Magic], and [Sealing Magic]. I wonder, it is possible to regain back [Abyss Magic] since it's a normal Arcane Art instead of unique or legacy. Unfortunately, Kai's answer is,

[It's highly unlikely. You didn't just gave away your magic, you gave away aptitude too but there is a slight chance that you can regain it but it is a very small chance.]

But I'm not that disheartened nor too concern about it considering the other Arcane Arts I have are basically cheats even without [Abyss Magic]. In a certain perspective, [Abyss Magic] might have the lowest potential among the others. Heh.

Still, I have aptitude for [Forge Fire] but not [Fire Magic]. Weird but I decided to postpone this mystery for some other time.

A magic circle forms below the clumps of irons which reminded me of a pair of alchemist siblings. In the stead of flames, an intense pillar of heat erupted from the circle. The clumps slowly loose its shape and turn into its molten form. What a neat trick and I understand why it's not considered as fire magic. Mystery solved-ish.

After smelting the iron, I hold the lump of molten iron in the air with [Psychokinesis] since I don't have any place I could just put down the molten iron without burning a hole through. It wasn't because I forgot about such thing but it's because there is no such thing around here. It created a dilemma at first but Kai reminded me that I could just use [Psychokinesis] as a replacement.

In its molten form, I alter its shape with [Transmutation: Transfigure]. There are two reasons as to why I only use [Transfigure] after I smelted it instead of straight up skipping the smelting part. The molten form of an element or compound is much easier to be altered in its molten form as in it consume less Mana and effort to reshape it.

Another thing I have taken note about [Transfigure], I can only alter the shape. The total volume and mass will remain the same. It is not possible to transform a small pebble of iron into a full-size sword.

[Is this suppose to be a mini statue of a sickly snake or a curved baton?] Kai asked, knowingly.

It is something I would stuff it in your arse if you have one but too bad, I'm not looking forward to fucking myself.

[Heh. Touche. Anyways, you should use a mold or a cast.] Kai said.

I agree. The magic iron sword that I have forged can't even be considered a weapon as it lacks a sharp edge and a straight body. The book have instructed novices to use a mold or a cast but I neglect it since I thought I can make it without one. I was wrong. But hey, at least I have a grasp on the fundamentals.

Whew~! [Transmutation] and [Forge Fire] consumes a shit ton of Mana. When I look at my Mana bar, twenty percent of my Mana has vanished before I knew it and I'm only trying to forge an iron sword. I wonder if [Transmutation] and [Forge Fire] 's Mana consumption decreases with level. Otherwise, I don't see why anyone would use such magic to forge unless all the blacksmiths of Angie's time have absurdly high amount of Mana.

At that moment, my instinct screamed.

I blinked to where Angie is and shielded her from an explosion with [Plane Displacement].

[That was not necessary.] said Kai.

Duh.

I know Angie wouldn't get hurt by such petty explosion but my body literally just moved on its own.

"Ehehehe~ Thanks." Angie lets out a giggle.

"You should be more careful." I warned her and flicked her forehead.

"Sorry." She said while not looking sorry in the least bit. "Now we're even."

I glanced at the table where an iron dagger has its blade burst into pieces. Her enchantment failed, I see.

"How goes?" I asked.

"No where near the intended level but there's progress."

"Good."

"Getting comfortable?"

I was puzzled by her words at first but I then realized I have wrapped my hand around her waist and cast [Plane Displacement] with the other hand.

I let go of my hand around her waist but she's not moving. Instead, she leans into me.

"You're really looking forward to see the world on the outside?"

"Of course?"

Her smile disappears "Do you really think you can find any answers out there? It is a vast world. I have lived for more than two centuries and barely half of the world's mysteries are known to me."

I look up while tilting my head. "It's better than being in the dark completely. Even if I can't find anything out there, I still have you."

She blinked for a short while before a wide grin forms on her face. She then smothers me in her pair of prides. "How cheeky." She said while tittering like a little girl.

Shortly before breakfast, I have confided with Angie about everything. All the way from how I came from another world up till now. For some reasons, Kai advice me to not reveal anything about him, so I didn't. Judging from how her shows of affection has only intensified after that, I guess she believed every word from me.

"You know, I have just remembered something."

I arched an eyebrow. "Something related to my circumstances?"

She nodded. "Summoned or reincarnated from another world.... There were such magic concepts back in my time if I remember correctly."

My whole body froze for a second when she dropped the bomb. "Say whut nah?"

"It was during the Void Legion's invasion. People were desperate in coming up a way to suppress the Void Legion. This was one of the few ideas the mad researchers had. Apparently they have a theory that every soul is bound to certain limits, laws, a logic of the soul's native world. They described it as nature's safety measure to prevent anyone from becoming a power that can alter the laws of the world. The Void Demons are exempted from this logic which is what makes them so powerful. And these researchers believed if they could summon a foreign soul from another dimension, realm, or world, these foreign subjects will also be unbelievably strong since they are not bound to the logic and limits of this world."

I want to press further on but she cut the discussion with "This is just a theory, it was never actually realized. The theory was even discarded as too preposterous." In other words, she knows nothing about it. I don't blame them for making such assumptions. Even I'm still finding hard to believe it and my hazy memories are not helping. But it is a lead nevertheless. I originally thought of staying here a little bit longer than needed but I changed my mind when I realized that almost everything of worth, knowledge or artifacts are missing. In fact, these whole city seemed like it was pillaged.

"How's your hands?" She asked.

"Nothing's changed. They still tremble intermittently."

"They are not going away anytime soon?"

"Unlikely. It's not something I can just removed with a snap of my fingers."

"If it's you, I think that is likely."

"I'm not omnipotent, you know?"

Her trademark mischievous grin spread across her face "Not yet." She said while bringing her face close to mine. We share a kiss at this opportunity. I can sense her exhaustion at that moment.

"You know, I don't mind doing the magic enchantment too." I told her when our lips parted.

She shakes her head. "No no no. I must do my part too. I have no doubts that you will be able to but I want to do my part. It helps me get my mind off of.... things."

Ah.... I see. Saying anymore things would just be boorish of me. "I understand." I nodded.

"Well then, let's get back to practice." She said and resumed her practice with magic enchantment. To be honest, I would rather practice this than that. In addition for the need of concentration, I would also need to withstand the thousand degrees of heat that enshrouds me during the forging process.

Hours went by and I have managed to finally forge a perfect sword. Perfect as in being usable in combat. Since I didn't know how to create a mold, I have to be adamant in transmuting without one.

Of course it goes without saying things would be so much easier if Kai intervenes but I refuse. I need to do this myself. I have let Kai took over for a while to see how he fares. The result is a majestic long sword with perfect precision on the details and it is currently in a building somewhere roughly a mile away.

[Sore looser.]

Shut up.

The sword I have succeeded in forging is not of iron. I have depleted all the supplies of magic iron ores before I knew it and I moved on to other ores. The sword in my hand is forge of Thedus Steel. Of course, it is a magic steel. It has twice the strength of an ordinary steel and also a little bit lighter. All in all, Thedus Steel breaks less easily and has better Mana conductivity than ordinary steel.

The knowledge of forging Thedus Steel actually came from Clammis, or to be more precise, her memories. She has got quite the knowledge about metal although she has close to none about forging. Because mixing memories can be quite dangerous in the long term, I had shelved any memories that aren't mine into a corner of my mind. It was at Kai's suggestion that I access Clammis' memories from the pile.

After I completed my first real sword, it was lunch break. Of course, we called it lunch but we have actually no idea whether it is actually day or night on the outside.

Tom and the others are shocked to see my ethereal limb, of course but Nilin's reaction is just too exaggerated. It took quite a while before I was able to convince them that I'm fine. I felt like I have taken more time to assure Tom than Angie. It might just be my imagination. I can relate to their worries but aren't you three more beat up and bruised them me? Some training they must have gotten themselves in. But it bore fruit. Bartholomew and Cormac has obtained the Arcane Arts , [Body Strengthening] and [Shadow Magic] respectively. Well done. Still, it will be nice if I still have the reagents. Hmm... isn't there a forest full of herbs east of here? I'll ask Senna later.

We gather under a tree that produces green and red apples simultaneously. We all sit on a large blanket spread over the patch of grass, courtesy by Nilin. I was little bit tempted to praise her but knowing her personality, she would likely let it get over her head.

While having my meal that consist of red and green apples at a spot a little further from the group, I go through the old parchment that I found back at the forbidden library. The parchment is something akin to a blueprint, a schematic.

What truly shocks me about it is that the schematic is of a firearm. Yes, a gun. It is a very detailed design schematic of a gun. I do not know exactly what kind of gun but by my guess, it looks like a crossover of a Flintlock and a revolver.

Most of all, the words written on this parchment is Helix.

Guns existed during the Helix era.

Three quarters through my pear and while scanning through the old parcment, a pair of arms are suddenly coiled around me. I jumped, the pear fell from my grasp, and the parchment is crumpled further by my hand. I then felt a pair of soft and bouncy sensation pressing into my back.

"Scared you?" Angie asked as she lays her head onto my shoulder from behind.

The pear has fall off my hand but it had not touch the ground, it's floating about a feet from the floor. Yes, I have used [Psychokinesis].

"Yes." I answered, bluntly. "This is the last pear, you know?" I told the coyly smiling Angie.

"In that case, a~~n." She opens her mouth wide.

I sigh with a smile and toss the pear into her mouth.

She closed her mouth and looked at me with agape eyes while slowly chewing the pear. I guess she didn't expect I would give up the last pear to her. Silly girl.

After swallowing the pear, she tightened her hold around me.

"Angie, it's uncomfortable."

"This is punishment."

I arch my eyebrows. "For?"

She points at my ethereal limb.

"Ah. Sorry about that." I lost count on how many times I have apologized.

I gave up on "deciphering" the parchment and moved on. It is a book this time instead of some crumpled papers. The book has a single word as its title, Mimics.

"Does what the bitch said bothers you that much?"

I arched an eyebrow at the harsh word in Angie's vocabulary. By bitch, I'm sure she is referring to Vira. I did told her about my encounter with Vira after all and also the fragmented memories of Vira and I. "She seems really convinced that I am one, for whatever reasons. You know anything about Mimics?"

"Um.... I have never personally met one before. Mimics are quite rare but I have heard about them for a lot of times. They often appear in dungeons. And their primary ability, [Mimicry] which allows them to disguise as almost anything. The most common disguise they took on is a chest."

Dark Souls much?

"And some Mimics even have the ability to read minds and they disguise themselves as the sweetheart of its victims."

Ah. I can see why they are hated so much. They can pose as almost anything through its racial ability [Mimicry] and they are able to read thoughts. I have none of those two.

"Do you think I'm a Mimic?"

"No." Angie answers straight at once. "The Mimics at my time are weak from what I heard. Their disguise don't last long and there were no Mimics which have permanent disguise. But I could be wrong now. Time has changed."

Touche. I nodded with understanding.

Angie and I lock gazes for awhile before I finally break the ice. "What?"

"Nothing. I was waiting for you to start reading."

Ah. So you want to read too. I understand but could you not treat me like a pillow for hugging? She doesn't let go. Mah~ I can just read like this.

Oh.....k? I don't know who wrote this book about Mimics but boy.... the author sure has some extreme prejudice against Mimics. The foreword goes like this, "kill every mimic on sight". That pretty much sums up the author's feeling for Mimics.

After devouring a few chapters, I remembered something. I am nearly out of magic ores, so I implore Tom to mine more ores for me later in which he readily consented. He really is a yes-man to me but I refrain myself from abusing that.

"Eh~! But you promised to play with me later." Cried Nilin but Tom and I ignored like usual.

Cormac is once again teasing Citra with food and received a chop from Bartholomew.

Oh shit.... wow? Cormac's HP is halved from that chop. That is some frightening strength you have there, Bartholomew.

Citra took the opportunity and swallow the half slice of apple whole in Bartholomew's hand. Her body then takes the shape of the half slice of apple.

Angie laughed wryly but wholeheartedly at Citra's apparent repeated blunder. Angie's hold on me only tightened till the point that I'm tapping out. She must be using [Body Strengthening].

Tom is smiling dryly at my situation while Nilin is smirking at me with a face that said "Suits you right." Cormac is rolling on the ground in pain from getting chopped while Citra is being strangled by Bartholomew to force her spit back out the apple.

Peace is nice after all.

And the break ended with me almost being crushed by Angie due to her unfounded anger of me worrying her.