"I'm Alex, by the way."
"I know," Elara whispered. Then she realized that sounded creepy. "I mean... everyone knows. I'm Elara."
"Nice to meet you, Elara. I won't disturb your study time any longer."
He bowed his head slightly—a perfect, gentlemanly gesture—and turned to walk away.
He didn't ask for her number. He didn't ask her to tutor him. He simply took the book and left.
As he walked down the aisle, he could feel her eyes on his back. She wasn't looking at him with lust or annoyance. She was looking at him with curiosity.
'Good,' Alex thought, his expression remaining neutral until he was out of sight. 'Plant the seed. Don't force the flower. She's the type who needs to come to me.'
[System Notification: Connection Established (Elara Vance).] [Status: Cautious Curiosity.]
*****
The sun was setting by the time Alex left the library. The walk back to the Edelhart private dormitory was quiet.
He felt the weight of the book in his bag. It was a small step, but a necessary one. He couldn't just rely on the System or sex to fix his tangled circuits. He needed to understand the mechanics of this world if he wanted to survive the Expedition next week.
He reached the front door of the dorm.
He paused, sniffing his own shirt.
He had showered in the locker room after the... incident with Maya, and he had spent hours in the dusty library. The scent of Maya's musk was gone, replaced by the smell of old paper and soap.
"Safe," he muttered.
He unlocked the door.
"I'm home."
The hallway was quiet. Usually, Lily would come bounding out like a golden retriever the moment the lock clicked.
"Lily?"
No answer.
Alex frowned. He walked into the living room. It was empty. The kitchen was cold.
Then he saw the light coming from the master bedroom—his bedroom.
He walked to the door and pushed it open.
Lily was there.
She wasn't cleaning. She wasn't preparing the bed.
She was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding one of his shirts—the one he had worn yesterday during training. She had it pressed to her face, inhaling deeply.
Her eyes were closed. Her expression was unreadable in the dim light.
She looked... lonely.
Alex knocked on the doorframe.
"Lily?"
Lily jumped, dropping the shirt as if it were on fire. She scrambled to her feet, her face flushing a deep crimson.
"M-Master!" she squeaked, smoothing her apron frantically. "You're back early! I... I was just... checking the laundry! To make sure it was... thoroughly cleaned!"
Alex leaned against the doorframe, watching her panic. He didn't tease her. He felt a pang of guilt. He had been so busy plotting his survival and "conquering" others that he had forgotten the one person whose loyalty was absolute from the start.
"It's okay, Lily," Alex said softly. "You don't have to explain."
He walked over and picked up the shirt she had dropped. He tossed it into the hamper.
"I'm tired," he said, rolling his shoulders. "It's been a long day. Is dinner ready?"
Lily stared at him, her chest heaving slightly. She seemed relieved he wasn't questioning her weird behavior.
"Y-Yes! Of course!" She snapped back into maid mode, though her cheeks were still pink. "I made stew. It's keeping warm on the stove. I'll... I'll go set the table!"
She tried to hurry past him to escape the awkwardness.
As she passed, Alex reached out and patted her head. Just a simple, gentle pat on her blonde hair.
"Thanks for waiting," he said.
Lily froze. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. The tension in her shoulders melted away.
"Welcome home, Master," she whispered, a small, genuine smile returning to her face.
She hurried out to the kitchen, humming a tune, the gloomy atmosphere completely dispelled.
Alex watched her go, then looked at the stack of books on his desk.
"Sigh... it's going to be a long night."
After a hearty dinner (which involved dodging Lily's attempts to spoon-feed him more Minotaur soup), Alex retreated to his room.
He sat at his mahogany desk, the magic lamp casting a warm glow over the stack of books he had borrowed from the library. The thickest one, Foundations of Mana Resonance, lay open in front of him.
Alex cracked his knuckles and began to read.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
"Wait a minute," Alex muttered, blinking at the page.
He turned the page. He flipped to the back. He cross-referenced a diagram with his own notes.
"Is this... it?"
He stared at the complex magical formation drawn on page 42. To the people of this world, this was a mystical, esoteric art known as the 'Grand Arcanum of Flow'.
To Alex, a university graduate from 21st-century Earth who had survived the hellscape of advanced calculus and physics, it looked suspiciously like...
"This is just geometry," Alex whispered, a grin spreading across his face. "This is literally just vector calculus with a fancy font."
He picked up a quill and grabbed a piece of spare parchment.
The book described a spell formula as 'The alignment of the three stars to channel the river of aether.'
Alex scribbled down the variables.
Mana Input (x)Resistance (y)Output Vector (z)
He solved the equation in thirty seconds.
"The natives treat this like religion," Alex laughed, spinning the quill in his fingers. "But it's just math. Complex math, sure, but logic-based."
This body was indeed a genius. The original Alex had the hardware—the brain plasticity and the memory—but he lacked the software. He lacked the logical framework of modern education.
"I can optimize this," Alex realized, his eyes gleaming. "I don't need to chant long incantations. I just need to solve for X."
He looked at his hand. He tried to form a small light ball, applying his new understanding of the formula.
Fzzzt.
A pitiful spark appeared and died.
Alex slumped in his chair.
"Right. The hardware issue."
His brain was a supercomputer, but his battery was a potato.
"System. Status."
[User: Alex Edelhart] [Class: Noble / Student]
[Current LP (Lust Points): 70]
[Mana: 8 / 8]