Chapter 104: Dreamland: Mirror - 1

A shower room made of white marble.

Shhhhhh—.

Hot water, warmed by the heat of magic crystals, poured from the magitech showerhead. The high-temperature stream began to fog up the mirror, and when I stepped beneath it, the cold sweat I had shed today washed away with the water.

Thanks to the effect of my [Dragon Strength] trait, going out did not particularly leave me fatigued, and even if it did, I would recover quickly.

Still, a bath always felt good.

Come to think of it.

This place was always amazing, no matter how often I saw it.

After sparring with Angelica, heading straight back to the dormitory to shower had somehow become part of my routine.

But the dormitory shower room was always remarkable.

Of course, I knew that the showers and toilets in this world did not fall behind modern ones in the slightest.

Even the shower room at a ducal estate was so extravagant it beggared description.

Still, who would have guessed that every single dorm room would have such a luxurious shower room?

Both its size and facilities easily surpassed most modern shower rooms. It was incomparable to the studio apartments and examination-room lodgings I had lived in back in reality.

I had thought this room received special treatment because it housed a prince and the son of a ducal family, but it did not seem that way.

Well, whatever the reason.

I was happy enough to get to use such a lavish shower room every day.

Now then.

I opened my status window.

【Ian de Logres】

◈ Level: 50

◈ Titles: Rival of the Sword Demon, One Who Surpassed the Impossible

◈ Traits: [Dragon Strength], [Insight Eye], [Oath of Chivalry], [Flower of Chivalry], [Knight Slayer], [Time Sense]

◈ Stats

Body: 315 | Mana: 125

Luck: 10 | Mental Strength: 30

Aura: 120 | Spirit Power: 0

(SP Held: 15)

▶[Skills]

I invested all the SP I had into Mana.

I had enough Aura by now and did not think I needed to raise it any further. As for Luck, Spirit Power, and Mental Strength, I did not expect to have much use for them.

Last time, I had not raised it because it was not shared with Mana and Body due to my realm, but unlike back then, when I was nothing, I was now a Sword User. There should be no problem raising it.

When I added 15 to Mana, a hot sensation rose from my abdomen and soon spread throughout my body.

My Mana became 140, and with Body being shared, it became 330.

More important than that was the fact that I had finally reached Level 50.

Ordinarily, it was a level one would only reach around the middle of the story.

But thanks to the experience buff from the title [Rival of the Sword Demon], and because I had defeated Arghalia—a Sword Master and a defeat-event opponent—I had managed to reach Level 50 even though the story was still in its early stages.

With all the stats I had accumulated so far, it meant I would no longer go around getting beaten up unless a Sword Master like Arghalia came looking for me.

Of course, simply reaching Level 50 did not mean everything was over.

The next realm after Sword User was Sword Expert.

To reach that realm, I first had to hit Level 50. But unlike becoming a Sword User, reaching the required level did not immediately make one a Sword Expert.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 50.]

[You are now eligible to challenge the special dungeon, [Dreamland: Mirror].]

[Caution: You cannot gain additional experience until you clear [Dreamland: Mirror].]

Those were the notifications the system had displayed when I finally reached Level 50 with the levels I gained from sending that tin can on to the afterlife.

[Dreamland: Mirror].

An instance dungeon the female leads could challenge upon reaching Level 50 at Dawnstar Academia.

If they had not cleared this dungeon, they had not yet reached Sword Expert.

And not only that, they could not gain experience, meaning they could not level up either.

Any experience earned in this state did not accumulate; it simply vanished. So it was best to start immediately if possible.

Unfortunately, the sword my brother had sent me had not arrived yet, so I did not have a main weapon to use. Starting now felt a little awkward.

Carnwennan did not have poor attack power, but its reach was too short to use as my main weapon.

So it would be nice if I had something in my inventory that I could use as a temporary substitute...

Recalling the reward I had received from [Oath of Chivalry], I opened my inventory.

A translucent UI window appeared before my eyes, with countless square slots lined up in rows.

Among them, I clicked the newly appeared icon shining gold with my finger.

Fortunately, the icon bore the image of a sword.

[Clarent of the Coward]

The Sword of Peace used by the King of Knights when selecting his knights.

It was never used on the battlefield, but together with the Sword of Selection, it had served as one of the King of Knights' two wings.

In the end, however, it was seized by a traitorous knight and used to inflict a mortal wound upon the King of Knights, bringing one knight's story to its end. Branded the sword of a coward because of that, its abilities were warped, degraded, and lost. A tragic sword.

◈ Rank: ■■

◈ Attack Power: 140

◈ Damage dealt to Aura users increased by 40%.

◈ Aura consumption reduced by 30% when manifesting sword energy.

Nice.

Its attack power was twice as high as the sword Cassian had given me as an entrance gift.

And it even dealt 40% additional damage to Aura users.

Combined with the effect of [Knight Slayer], that made for a whopping 80% additional damage.

In other words, I could deal nearly twice as much damage.

On top of that, using sword energy reduced the Aura it consumed by 30%.

I felt bad for my brother, but that sword he said he sent me...

I think I should just return it to the estate?

#

Still, this was strange.

After confirming that I had left the shower room, Dante entered it with his head lowered, without saying a word.

And his face was completely flushed, as though he were terribly embarrassed about something.

I even heard something like moaning from inside, so I wondered whether he was hurt and tried to open the door.

"Never, ever come in...!"

But he shouted that I absolutely could not come in and would not let me enter.

Did he have some kind of complex about his body?

But with his abilities, and as the protagonist of a romance fantasy, he should have at least some muscle on him, even if not as much as me.

Then again, I was the weird one to begin with.

Well, everyone had their own circumstances.

If I kept prying when he said he did not like it, I might lose my kind and precious dorm roommate.

Besides, appearances aside, he was the third prince.

There was no need to needlessly make an enemy of the imperial family.

And more than any of the other male leads, that was especially true of Dante.

Because he was fucking strong.

There was a reason people said kind people were terrifying when angered. Just as Angelica stood on the female leads' side, Dante stood on the male leads' side. Among the male leads, none surpassed him in talent.

There was a reason he became the protagonist of the DLC among all the male leads.

And in the DLC where the world was destroyed because there were no female leads, he was the sole survivor.

Maybe Cassian came close?

But it was less that my brother was stronger than Dante and more that he had simply gotten an earlier start.

Well, even so, he could not beat Angelica.

Still, he was taking a long time.

I silently stared at the shower room door Dante had entered.

There was no longer any sound of running water, so it seemed he had already finished showering.

Then why was he not coming out?

Moreover, as though he truly was hurt somewhere, sounds like stifled moans had continued to leak out from inside for a while now.

What could I do?

I had originally intended to start after Dante finished washing up and went to sleep.

I opened my status window and took the Dreamland dungeon ticket out of my inventory.

The ticket required to enter [Dreamland: Mirror].

Riiip!

I gripped it with both hands and tore it in two.

As I tore the ticket, my vision blurred. The wooden dormitory gradually broke apart, soon transforming into a dark space.

The floor gave way as well, and everything became complete darkness. Yet the sensation of solid ground remained, so my body did not fall.

Then, in the pitch-black void, several stars began to form, and a huge planet appeared behind me.

What was this?

It had not been like this when I saw it on a monitor.

Sure, it had become a dark space then as well.

But there had been no spectacle like stars appearing out of thin air and a massive planet emerging.

Just as I was wondering about it.

"Hey. You finally made it here, friend."

I turned my head at the voice coming from behind me.

Light purple hair, dazzlingly radiant beneath the light spilling from the planet behind her.

And pale purple eyes glowing mysteriously amid those locks.

At the end of my gaze stood a small girl, crouched in midair with both arms clasped around her knees.

"Should I say, 'Nice to meet you'?"

Then she casually released her crouched legs.

"I'm Maugis. You can call me Moji for short."

She waved at me as though she were glad to see me.

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