Eric could not remember when he had such a nice sleep. He felt his body was so light that he might just fly off.
He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was two beautiful girls staring at him with their bright, colorful eyes.
He smiled and slowly sat up. "Ly, Liv, how long was I asleep?"
He remembered that he had taken on some nightmarishly difficult task, but after that, his memories were in a big mess.
Livy quickly answered, "One day, Brother Eric. Currently, it is evening."
Lyria gave Livy a glare for taking her answer away.
After Eric had fallen, they had fed him Tier 1 Health, Stamina, and Mana Potions as well, and since then, he had been sleeping peacefully.
After his condition had stabilized enough, they carried him to his bed. Since then, they had waited quietly for him to wake up.
Lyria and Livy had also applied a little Tier 1 Health Potion to their injured lips and drank the remainder. Within a few hours, their injuries were also completely healed.
Lyria asked right after Livy, "How are you feeling, Brother Eric?"
This time, Livy glared at Lyria with rage. But since she had promised herself that she would be cool-headed and more mature, she did not immediately jump up and start suffocating Lyria for taking away such an important line.
"Very good." Eric nodded. "I bet both of you haven't slept at all. Let's have our dinner, then both of you need to rest for at least a night." He paused and then asked with a serious tone, "Ly, Liv, are you girls ready for tomorrow?"
Lyria and Livy knew what Eric was suggesting. They knew they also needed to do the same thing Eric had done, but for some strange, unknown reason, neither of them felt any fear nor were they experiencing the slightest panic.
It was not that they were looking down on Eric's hard work, but they strangely felt there was nothing to fear or worry about. Even more strangely, they felt they would also pass whatever Eric had tried to do. They themselves did not know why they were awfully calm about it.
Lyria and Livy nodded solemnly.
Lyria asked with a gentle tone, not to make Eric feel disheartened, "Brother Eric, did you succeed in whatever you were trying to do?"
Hearing that, Eric took a deep breath, closed his eyes, though did not enter the Mind Space, and asked someone who resided there, "Well?"
In fact, he did not even need to ask, as he was feeling so strong at this moment that he felt like he could now lift an entire mountain. It was an extremely weird feeling—almost like he had skipped nursery class and jumped straight into college. He was definitely not that much of an abnormal freak.
"Of course, success! All of them!" An extremely excited voice came from deep inside him.
Eric opened his eyes and grinned. "Success!"
Lyria and Livy's eyes brightened. Even though they did not know what this "success" was, just hearing Eric had succeeded in something he had tried so hard for completely lifted their spirits, as if they themselves had succeeded.
Eric crawled out of his bed very, very slowly. He was very conscious of his body movements, as he felt his body might fly off if he did not control it well.
He then started heading toward the kitchen next door with measured steps. "Come, let's eat. If you girls are too nervous, just drink Tier 1 sleeping potion if you need to." Tomorrow was a very important day for both girls, so they must get the necessary rest before beginning their trials.
Eric had provided Lyria and Livy with every kind of potion and pill. In fact, the entire cave did not have a room where there were no potion bottles rolling around, as the number he had created was so huge. Most of them were still kept inside Space Pouches and the Alchemy room.
As Lyria and Livy had not slept for two days, they felt they would smoothly fall asleep soon after lying on their bed—they were that tired, both mentally and physically—so they did not think they needed any sleeping potions.
After eating, Eric sent them to bed and walked to the living room.
Eric was not certain whether both girls could pass or not. It would be amazing even if one of them could pass, but he highly doubted that either of them could.
Even though most of his memory of the trial was fuzzy, he felt a person needed a completely different kind of commitment and determination to go through such an extreme level of hardship. Thus, he did not have any expectations of either of them passing.
Eric quickly shook his head to get rid of any thoughts related to squats or training. Just thinking of it made him want to puke.
After reaching the living room, Eric did not feel like sitting there, so he tried something new.
He grabbed a single-seater sofa, covered it with his Mana, and pulled it inside his ring—and it worked miraculously.
Although he had felt he might be able to do it, he had not been certain, and so he was shocked at himself. He felt his Mana Control and everything else was off the charts.
Before this day, he absolutely could not put something so big inside his ring.
Mana control depended on Intelligence but wasn't proportional to it. In other words, even if someone had high Intelligence, they did not necessarily have good Mana Control, but a person who actively used their Mana would inevitably be better at it.
This was one of the major reasons that practicing with a profession was great for training oneself, as almost all professions required constant Mana Control. Of course, Mana Wielders could also train their Mana Control in various other ways.
That single-seater sofa was also the maximum he could put inside his ring, as each "room" inside their Space Rings was not that huge. It was a pity, as many things would be left behind when they left the island in the future. Lysandra likely knew this and didn't care.
After putting a tea table into another "door" of his ring, Eric strolled toward the colorful beach.
It was already past 8 PM, and the "Make It Romantic" Array had already come alive, almost like it was the natural cycle of this island.
Eric always felt very strange about this Array—or rather, all the Arrays he could find on this island were strange. Almost as if none of the Arrays were artificial and seemed very natural, almost like that was how it should be—just like how no one feels weird about the sun rising or the planet's gravity.
Eric had long understood that this was perhaps the peak of Array mastery, which would make it seem completely natural—almost as if these Arrays had truly become the new rules of the world.
The fewer defects an Array had, the more natural-looking the Array would be.
After finding a perfect spot to enjoy the night breeze, Eric pulled out the single-seater couch along with the tea table and then sat down comfortably. He also pulled out a cup of nice, cool apple juice.
He sat silently, sipping his drink while enjoying the ever-changing colors of the island.
After a dozen minutes of serenity, he finally couldn't hold back and barged into the single woman's room uninvited.
"So?" Eric asked while sitting in front of the girl who was smiling back at him.
Riya giggled. "Have you finally decided to eat me?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "Stop harassing an underage kid. What exactly happened? Why do I feel I am this strong?"
Riya smiled and waved her hand to show Eric his new stats.
Strength - 30, (100) (+0)
Agility - 30, (100) (+0)
Intelligence - 30, (100) (+4)
Constitution - 30, (100) (+0)
Unused - 9
Eric gaped.
After a while, he stabbed a finger at the 2D screen and roared, "Are you kidding me? 100?! Have you miscalculated? How can everything be doubled?"
Though Eric wanted to ask about the new brackets and a few other things, currently, there was something far more shocking to ignore, so he asked that first.
Riya shrugged. "Do you think I will show you false information? It doubled right after your breakthrough."
Eric took deep breaths to calm himself down.
He had to accept it, as he was truly feeling too powerful ever since he woke up. Perhaps he wouldn't feel the same after a few hours of getting used to it, but as it had been too sudden, he clearly felt the difference between before and after.
Even without Riya mentioning it, if he focused, he could tell that he was nearly twice as strong—though due to the Mystical Knight's fixed natural stat, he could not properly judge exactly how much.
"Did my look change?" Eric asked. It should not have, as Lyria and Livy had not mentioned anything about it.
"No." Riya shook her head.
Eric's physical body would not change with stats, as a large part of his stats came from "Mana Space," which was the space inside the Mana Body.
"Hm... Now that I think about it... My stats are already above those of a late-stage Rank 1 Mystical Knight! Riya, what do you think are the stats of a Rank 2?" Eric asked with a tone of disbelief while staring at the blue screen.
Normally, without Training Stats, the peak stats of a Rank 1 Mystical Knight were 90 in each stat, while his current total stats in each one were 130! And he had not even broken through to mid-stage! In other words, another 60 points could easily add up when he reached late-stage Rank 1!
Riya answered with an unsure tone, "I am just guessing—I cannot really judge unless you become one. I will say, just as Rank 1 Mystical Knight has 30 basic stats in each of its stages, a Rank 2 probably has 60 basic stats in each of their minor stages."
Eric took another deep breath. His current strength was very close to that of an untrained early-stage Rank 2 Mystical Knight! Though he was still lacking, as they probably had 150 in each stat.
"Now, care to explain why there is a new bracket in stats and why my Intelligence has +4?" Eric already had an idea, though it was still better to ask the culprit directly.