It seemed there was another huge change from the game's story. Lucas could see how it all connected:
The Castille family surviving led to Damion's different background and thus a totally different dynamic between the main character and his supposed rival, and might have caused many other changes both big and small that he hasn't noticed yet.
"I see" Lucas said.
"Alright, time to go. Bye, Lucas." Marie said, stretching and yawning.
"What? You guys are leaving without me?" Lucas asked.
"Obviously, or did you forget our deal?" Lydia asked, laughing.
Marie nodded and said with a smile, "And besides, it's not every day I have free time to hang out with my best friend so obviously I'm gonna spend more time with her. Maybe next time."
She and Lydia then started to leave while Lucas began packing up.
As he made his way out of the library, Lucas saw the librarian again who looked just as absorbed in her book as she had been when they first came in.
This made Lucas even more curious about what she was reading so he moved closer to her and tiptoed to take a look.
Her pale fingers gripped the book really tightly but not enough to cover the title. The gold lettering on the cover read "The Handsome Duke Ravishes the Maiden" in fancy script.
Her green eyes moved quickly across the pages, getting wider at certain parts and a faint pink flush colored her cheeks as she read.
So this is what she's reading. What a waste of...wait.
Lucas remembered an event from the game where Lydia was reading the exact same book.
When the main character caught her, she got really flustered and tried to deny it but since the book was right there, there was no way she could wiggle out of it so she eventually admitted to liking romance books and always having one under her desk.
Maybe I could use this info to my advantage. It would be the perfect way to embarrass Lydia without ruining our friendship, especially since it just started.
Lucas thought as he left the building.
He then made his way across the academy grounds toward the dorms as the sun started going down.
The Araite dorm where the male noble students lived was a separate building from the regular rooms: a three-story building made from polished marble with detailed carvings of mythical beasts decorating the outside walls.
Big windows with stained glass panels caught the afternoon light, throwing colorful patterns across the well-kept gardens that surrounded the building.
Unlike the shared rooms that most students had to deal with, the rich kid dorm offered private rooms, each with its own study area, closet, and even a small sitting area with cushioned chairs.
Lucas's family wealth, whatever their business was, had gotten him one of these premium spots.
He climbed the marble steps to the second floor into the wide hallway lined with oil paintings of former academy graduates who had gone on to do great things.
Like Eras the Sharp-eyed, who was the best archer on the continent right now. Laykan Slevan, the deadliest swordsman alive and brother of the Marquis Slevan, he went missing a few years back and no one knows where he turned.
There was also, Reran Edwards, the famous right hand of Kings Darius II and Darius III and also obviously, the current king of Noclies himself, King Darius III.
Room 203 was halfway down the hall, marked with a brass nameplate with the Estellan family crest.
Lucas put in his key and pushed open the heavy oak door. The room was pretty spacious by academy standards, with tall windows that looked out over the practice fields.
A big four-poster bed took up one corner, while a mahogany desk sat under the window, covered with unused textbooks and blank paper.
A closet stood against the far wall, and a small seating area with two leather chairs took up the space near the fireplace.
Lucas pulled off his navy academy jacket, hanging it carefully on the closet door, then unbuttoned his white shirt and pulled it over his head.
His reflection in the window showed a black haired, purple eyed man with the pale, skinny body he'd inherited from his predecessor.
The original Lucas had clearly never done any serious physical training: his shoulders were narrow, his chest underdeveloped, and his arms showed no muscle at all.
His ribs were visible under the skin, and his stomach was flat not from being fit but from the soft lifestyle of a lazy rich kid.
Lucas shook his head and sat at his desk, pulling out a piece of paper to start planning.
"Alright," he muttered to himself, "first things first: the secret identity."
He started writing down everything he would need:
Disguise Stuff:
- Face covering or mask
- Dark clothes that hide body shape
- Voice changing method
- Different fighting style from Lucas Estellan
- Believable motivation and backstory
Equipment Needed:
- Weapons (nothing too fancy...yet)
- Basic armor or protective clothes
- Stealth gear
- Emergency escape tools
Physical Prep:
- Rainberry and Leklass Fruit combo
- Regular training routine
- Dragon Core formation prep
The Dragon Core was the real game-changer for Lucas and was basically what would decide if he makes it or not.
In three years, William Tarsel would discover the technique after tons of research into dragon anatomy and mana circulation.
The core formed inside the heart muscle itself, letting mana flow through the bloodstream instead of through traditional mana channels.
This created a circulation system that was way more efficient, especially during combat when adrenaline sped up heart rate and blood flow.
The trade-off was brutal though. Dragon Cores took six times longer to advance in rank, but the power output at each level was equally multiplied.
A Copper-rank Dragon Core user could match or beat Bronze-rank traditional core users in raw power.
More importantly, because the Dragon Core was in a totally different spot in the body, it could theoretically work alongside a traditional core.
Lucas had never seen this tried in the game - it was purely theoretical - but the potential was crazy. Two cores would mean even more power for Lucas, though the physical strain would be huge.
That's why he needed the fruits. Rainberries grew in rocky soil and had natural mana-boosting properties when eaten fresh.
Leklass Fruit came from trees that grew near mana-rich areas and significantly increased physical toughness when prepared right.
The game had shown that combining them in very, very specific amounts and eating them over several weeks could strengthen the body enough to survive Dragon Core formation.