In the dorm room, Enrico meditated; the circles in his heart spun rapidly in red and blue, side by side. Steam began to rise from his body as his skin turned slightly red.
[Stop]
"Huff... huff..."
Enrico quickly opened his eyes, feeling it was time to stop. Holding his chest, he tried to calm his heart, which was beating rapidly.
'How did I do?'
[You really... did it. You created a unique technique that can help develop your circles faster.]
[Technique: Circular Breathing — While this technique is used during training, circle development percentage doubles. Disadvantage: may cause cardiac arrest if used for too long.]
This technique he had developed himself was far too dangerous to let others use — after all, just a few seconds ago, if the system hadn't helped him, he might have already suffered that heart attack. Of course, that didn't mean he would've died for sure, but he would've been at death's door.
'Thanks for helping me with that.'
[If I didn't help, my fun would've ended.]
Thanks to that help, he could stop before anything happened to his heart, meaning he could now use the full potential of that technique. It was difficult because he had to keep at least two circles spinning simultaneously at a certain speed.
'If I go too fast, I'll have a heart attack immediately. If I go too slow, there won't be any improvement in the percentages.'
It wasn't just that — Enrico had to force all the mana in his body to circulate within him using that magic constantly, which drastically improved his magical development.
'The problem now is keeping it active while I train.'
Standing up, Enrico decided to go back to sleep since he had stayed up too long developing that new technique. Looking at his bed, he saw three figures lying down, clinging to the pillow he used — Yumeha, Rina, and Aoi.
'I can't believe they actually let them start living here.'
[Not just that — they gave you a dorm where only you live, with several maids taking care of the place like guards.]
It was the king of Sanos who had ordered a place solely for him to live. There were other dorms for the three to sleep in, but they preferred to stay in his room since arriving yesterday.
"You have to take responsibility, my Ketsumei."
"That's right, darling."
"I don't like it, but they're right, Master."
All those words made him feel responsible, even though it had only been a kiss. They were good at twisting what had actually happened.
'If they're already like this now, imagine when we actually sleep together...'
[Wait — are you already thinking about that? Please stop with that attitude.]
'Don't worry, for now, it'll only be kisses. I'm already taking a risk here, so only when I'm the right age.'
He did all that to strengthen their bonds — rejecting them might have been bad since he needed them motivated to grow stronger.
[Tsk, using a girl's feelings like that... you're really garbage.]
'Okay, now you made me feel bad for a moment... but only for a moment.'
[I simply don't understand your personality... this is something only a virgin who's never done anything in his life would say.]
'And who said I'm a virgin? I thought I told you already. Seems to me like you're the one who's never had a relationship.'
He prepared himself for the system to throw his words back at him, but it stayed silent, as if still processing what he said.
[Wait... you really weren't lying?]
'You should know me — I don't lie about things that aren't important.'
[But that's very important to me, you idiot! How is it possible you've had relationships and I haven't had a single one yet?!]
'Maybe it's because you're annoying.'
With a playful, catlike grin, he began noting new ways to tease the system now that he knew it had never been in a relationship.
'Now I've got new weapons.'
[You damn bastard, idiot, and a bunch of other things I can't say because the constellations won't allow it!]
His grin widened at those words, satisfied. Returning to normal, he approached where the girls were sleeping and woke Rina, who opened her eyes sleepily.
"My Ketsumei, what did I hear? Is it time for class already?"
"No. It starts in an hour and a half. I woke you because I want to do the Shinketsu no Musubi with you."
"My Ketsumei!"
Rina quickly sat up and hugged him, her eyes shining. He had wanted to wait until he doubled his potential again, but with his new technique, he could move that moment forward.
"What's going on, brother?"
"I'm going to become my Ketsumei's Musubinin."
Aoi, who was starting to wake up, sat up and hugged Rina, congratulating her. The two were very happy, and even Yumeha, who had been pouting, started to show a small smile.
"Even so, I'll still be Master's first, so don't get too excited."
"You may have been the first, but that won't stop me from being the main wife."
"Please, you're way too late to compete for first place. Maybe try for second."
Aoi, seeing the argument leaving her out, turned to Enrico and hugged him, already wanting another kiss to mark her territory as the second to receive one before Yumeha.
"As if I'd let you do that before me."
"Aoi, that's not fair!"
[Looks like this will be more troublesome than you thought.]
'No, I can handle it.'
While the three argued, Enrico kept making jokes with the system, trying to annoy it as much as possible.