Thoughts racing, Haruto came up with a barely plausible explanation.
He deliberately put on a shy smile and stammered, "Actually... I think I might have an incubus bloodline."
The three girls were surprised for a moment before motioning for him to continue.
As expected, not only were they all first-timers in this world, but they also knew about the existence of the hidden world—they were even students of the hidden academy themselves.
This also explained why that little punk had become their underling.
Haruto put his learning to good use, silently activating InsightfulEyes while observing them and thinking of ways to make his story more convincing.
Huh? What's this blue stuff?
Under the full power of Insightful Eyes, Haruto unexpectedly noticed a blue energy flowing continuously within the bodies of Yukina and the other two.
Now wasn't the time to be curious. After a brief pause, he put on a serious expression and said, "I was afraid I wouldn't be able to control myself and might accidentally drain a girl dry... so I never accepted anyone's confession."
Then, Haruto lowered his head, feigning embarrassment.
"After you three forced me yesterday, I realized nothing bad happened, so... heh heh heh."
"So, faced with three beautiful, cute, and well-endowed classmates, you just let your true nature show, huh?"
Ruri teased, giving Little Haruto a playful pinch with a mischievous grin.
Reina added, "Not only was there no problem, but thanks to your incubus bloodline, you fucked three of us and even became much stronger."
"Indeed, incubus can grow stronger through lovemaking. For them, sex is like food—if they go without it for too long, it's like starving, and their bodies weaken."
"Even a half-blood devil's physique is far superior to a human's," Yukina mused. "You've probably just eaten your fill and regained your original physical condition."
Haruto hadn't said much, but Reina and the other two filled in the gaps themselves, making it all perfectly logical.
They became even more convinced that Haruto's transformation was due to his incubus bloodline.
This was exactly Haruto's goal—most people were far more inclined to believe a "truth" they deduced themselves rather than one explained by others.
Having successfully fooled them, Haruto quickly found an excuse to leave alone.
***
"I'm back."
Returning to the Takamine household where he was staying, Haruto called out habitually, but no one answered.
Today was Wednesday—the Takamine mother and daughter were either at work or school. As for him... he was definitely skipping class today.
Perfect. With no one home, he could test out his newly acquired talents and skills.
In the backyard, Haruto first activated Insightful Eyes to confirm no one was around, then picked up an iron pipe he'd found in the storage shed.
Three-tenths strength, half strength, seven-tenths strength...
Before even using his full power, the three-centimeter-thick solid steel pipe had already begun to deform.
Next, he tested his speed and recovery.
At full speed, he ran 100 meters in under seven seconds.
As for recovery... Haruto wasn't into self-harm, so he kept it simple.
A scratch-level wound healed instantly, leaving no trace behind.
This talent was indeed powerful, but it also had its drawbacks—it consumed a lot of energy.
After experimenting a few times, Haruto, who had just eaten his fill, found himself hungry again.
Once he replenished his stamina, Haruto tried to explore the Mental Resistance talent.
But after studying it for a long time, he didn't find anything particularly special about it.
[Mental Resistance: Immune to or reduces the effects of mental-type abilities.]
"Could this be a purely passive skill?"
Most talents had some passive aspects to them.
Physical Activation permanently enhanced his physical constitution.
Insightful Eye permanently improved his vision—not only had his nearsightedness been cured, but he would never have to worry about it again.
If Mental Resistance truly worked as he imagined, it would mean a permanent boost to his mental strength.
Strengthening defense was still strengthening, after all!
In any world, mental-type talents were rare and precious.
And a purely passive talent meant he wouldn't have to spend extra time figuring it out.
Haruto stared at the talent description with mixed emotions. He never expected that Ruri would contribute such a small but godly skill.
After finishing his talent experiments, Haruto calmed his mind and decided to try out his one and only skill—Basic Mana Extraction.
The moment he activated Basic Mana Extraction, Haruto instinctively knew what to do.
He sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and closed his eyes in meditation.
His spirit sensed the free-floating elements in the world, and he gently guided the faint blue specks of light into his body.
The tiny blue lights slowly enveloped Haruto, seeping into him from all directions.
When the specks of light gathered into a stream inside him, it meant the first trace of mana had successfully formed.
From there, he used his mental energy to guide the mana in circulation through his body.
With each completed cycle, the mana grew slightly stronger.
After over an hour of diligent cultivation, his legs had gone numb, but the mana inside him had finally reached the thickness of a little finger.
He stopped and stood up.
"..."
Haruto rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.
Feeling the weak mana within him, Haruto decided to stick to his original plan—winning over girls.
Sitting still for so long hadn't given him as much of a power boost as a single intimate encounter.
So the blue energy flowing through Yukina and the others was mana… It didn't seem like they had much more than me.
After a brief moment of confusion, Haruto quickly dismissed his doubts.
All three of them were freshmen at Kuou Academy, so they had probably only been learning mana extraction for a little over a month.
"Insight Eye can see mana… That might be a bit troublesome."
Haruto frowned. "I wonder if naturally awakening mana through bloodline evolution would be enough to fool them."
In the end, to be safe, he dispersed the mana he had just formed.
All that effort from the past hour had gone to waste.
Before dispersing it, he tested it out and found that mana enhanced both Physical Activation and Insightful Eye.
No wonder Yukina and Reina seemed slightly stronger and more effortless when using their abilities compared to me.
Though he was missing out on that enhancement, it should still be enough to deal with that little blond punk.
Haruto thought to himself.
There's no way a mere underling like that blond guy could be much stronger than Reina, the leader of their group.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Reina and the others were brimming with excitement.
Reina's eyebrow twitched. "See, Yukina? I wasn't lying to you."
"After doing it with Haruto, my strength really improved." Yukina twirled her peach-colored hair strands, frowning slightly. "Not only did my magical power increase, but my mastery over my abilities has also grown."
"But to pass the mid-month test..." Ruri's face flushed like peach blossoms, "we'd need to do it at least five more times."
"Only five times." Reina smiled coquettishly. "Given Haruto's performance this morning, do you really think that's still an issue?"
"Besides... this way of improving strength is much more comfortable than meditation and training."
"Much more comfortable" was an understatement—it was downright heavenly.