After chasing Chuck out of the room, Alex immediately started absorbing the magic crystals he harvested from the maze, only stopping when he reached his limit.
That was the total magic points that Alex gained.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Job Class: Oathkeeper
Subclass: Demon Slayer
Intelligence - 30 [+3]
Constitution - 76 [+4]
Available Stat Points: 0
Active Skills: Oathkeeper’s Duty, Shield [EX], Shield Bash, Unyielding Pact, Echo of the Sworn, Balance Breaker, Shield Charge, Rear-Ender Thrust, Enchant Fire, Enchant Holy, Culling Blade, Grand Cross
Passive Skills: Improved Stone Throw, Head Shot, Rebuke of Steel, Shield of Thorns
[Difficulty Level: Hell Mode]
His combined stat points was 309, excluding the item bonuses and the stat points for Magic and Luck.
He was now in the middle stages of being a Rank 2 Oathkeeper.
Once he broke through the threshold of 500 combined Stat Points, he would become a Rank 3 Oathkeeper and gain new abilities that came with leveling up.
’We’re getting there,’ Alex thought as he examined his character profile. ’Having 306 mana is good, but it’s still nothing compared to real mages.’
The young man sighed internally, painfully aware that this was the limit of his mana pool. Unless... he gained equipment that boosted his magic stat or have enough luck to get a legendary-grade magic crystal.
Of course, getting that magic crystal would require Alex to fight against Rank 8 to Rank 9 Monsters, something impossible at this point in time.
There was also the divine-grade magic crystal, which hadn’t appeared in the game ever.
If Alex was able to absorb a divine-grade magic crystal, he wouldn’t have to worry about his mana pool ever again. After all, it would give a whopping 20,000 to 50,000 magic points!
Also absorbing the divine-grade magic crystal would also give him a passive buff of 200% mana regeneration.
Alex could spam countless shields and make them attack his enemy like a boss if he were lucky enough to get such an item.
Of course, Alex wasn’t really expecting to get something like that.
However, he had set his sights on the legendary-grade magic crystals, which were more attainable.
’I just hope that Xenia will not really use this fishing trip to eliminate her fiancé,’ Alex thought. ’After all, there are many strong monsters in that river, and it’s very easy for her to engineer Chuck’s death by misadventure if she wants to.’
Xenia might be a good character in the game, but she had one fatal flaw.
She was a very moody person.
Her mood swings were unpredictable.
One moment she could be giggling at a joke, and the very next, she could be cursing for you to die a dog’s death under her foot.
That was one of the reasons why Alex didn’t like her.
Compared to Fran, who was like a breath of fresh air that made Alex feel at peace, and Latifa, who liked to cuddle in her sleep, Princess Xenia’s unpredictability was a concern.
There was even an arc in the story where she became a demon worshiper and ended up one of the scariest Last Boss in the game.
Alex’s fully-geared team had been wiped out by her in that story arc, making him dislike her even more.
’I really hope that nothing will happen tomorrow.’ Alex sighed in his heart.
"I didn’t expect you would bring a friend along, Chuck," commented Princess Xenia, seated in a carriage that would take them to where her personal airship was on standby.
"H-Hahaha!" Chuck laughed. "My roommate is not busy today, so I decided to invite him. You know what they say—the more the merrier!"
"I suppose..." Princess Xenia gave Alex a sideways glance before looking out of the carriage window. "Having two baits instead of one," she murmured, "will make the fishes merrier."
She spoke so softly that Alex and Chuck couldn’t catch what she said, so they assumed that she was just clearing her throat.
Alex observed the princess, admiring her long red hair that resembled flowing strands of fire. When the sunlight illuminated her from behind, her hair looked like a halo.
Her pose as she looked outside of the carriage was a delicate balance of royal elegance and unshakable will.
The princess’s eyes were a deep amber-gold and held a flicker of defiance, as if they remembered every injustice ever done to her.
Though her features were noble, there was nothing fragile about her. Her posture was great, and she was definitely heroine material.
But this beautiful rose was a very thorny flower.
So thorny that Alex didn’t dare to touch her lest he got pricked.
Aside from the three of them, there was another person inside the carriage. It was none other than Princess Xenia’s handmaiden, Mary.
Alex didn’t know much about her aside from the fact that she was a trained Assassin who quietly served the fourth princess of the kingdom of Avalon by pretending to be a normal handmaiden.
Both of them were First Years, just like Chuck and Alex. However, unlike the two young men, they were in Class A.
Mary paid close attention to Alex and Dim Dim, whom she was seeing for the first time.
Chuck was her employer’s fiancé, so this wasn’t their first meeting. They had gone on other outings before.
However, Alex and Dim Dim were new faces to her, so she couldn’t trust them completely.
If the two did anything towards the princess in any way, she wouldn’t hesitate to go for the kill.
After traveling for twenty minutes, they finally arrived at the airport and boarded Princess Xenia’s flying ship.
In addition to the sailors manning the ship, there were a dozen royal guards stationed.
At a glance, Alex could vaguely tell that those tasked with protecting the princess were at least Rank 4 or Rank 5 knights.
However, the person who caught his attention was the middle-aged man serving as the captain of these knights.
’If I remember correctly, his name is Alphonse,’ Alex thought. ’The Steel Knight.’
The knight had gray hair and a gray beard that showed his age.
But his gaze was sharp like a sword. It was as if he could cut anything in existence.
He was a Rank 5 Steel Knight. He was loyal to Princess Xenia’s mother, the third wife of the King of Avalon.
Behind closed doors, Princess Xenia referred to him as "Godfather," and he was also one of the people whom she trusted the most in the world.
"It’s good to see you again, Sir Chuck," Alphonse greeted the teenage boy with a smile before shifting his attention to Alex. "And this is?"
"He is my roommate and best friend, Alex Stratos," Chuck replied. "And the little bun on top of his head is the Nature Spirit, Dim Dim."
"Ahem!" Dim Dim raised its body proudly, as if to make sure that Alphonse and the other Royal Knights didn’t look down on it.
"An interesting creature." Alphonse smiled faintly. "So, are you now ready for your fishing trip?"
"Even if I’m not," Chuck replied as he scratched his cheek sheepishly, "do I really have a choice?" His honesty elicited hearty chuckles from Alphonse.
Seeing this exchange, Alex believed that he was just overthinking things.
The princess seemed to be in a good mood, and the knights looked like they were all righteous men.
In the end, Alex decided to relax because he had been on edge since meeting the princess earlier.
But there was still a nagging feeling at the back of his head telling him that he shouldn’t lower his guard, or else, he wouldn’t be able to react in time if danger came knocking on their door.