Max watched Sophie leave, the smile still present on his face.
Perhaps because she was cold and indifferent unlike Natalie and Emily, hence difficult to impress and make his, he wanted her comparatively more.
However, apart from the first time in her room, he hadn’t made any move on her, mainly because he was busy savoring Natalie and other women and because just like Emily, he wanted her to take initiative.
So, seeing she really cared about him, he felt happy.
A moment later, he refocused and looked at Jamie. "Let’s rest for ten minutes. Then, we’ll start the second round."
As his servant, even though Jamie was unwilling to continue, because it frustrated him when no matter what he did, Max would brute force his way out of it if he could not win with technique, he still nodded.
Max plopped in the stone chair and drank some water.
Then, he pulled up his status screen once again and focused on the [Mana], [Physical], and [Spiritual].
Soon, he found out that the stat limit for Mana, at his current level, was around 40-50. As for Physical and Spiritual, it was more or less 100.
He thought for a while and decided to proceed with his initial plan of increasing his physical stat to the limit.
The main reason for this decision was that he only had 108 Harem Points left, nowhere enough to level up, and another reason was that he had a feeling that the higher his stats when he levelled up to the next level, the better it was for him.
As for how, apart from that his pain endurance would be higher with better stats, he had no idea.
’Do I increase it now or a while later?’ He mused.
When sparring, he had realized—though he already knew this was going to be the case when he leveled up so quickly—that he couldn’t utilize his complete strength properly. To do this, he would need to spar more and get used to it slowly.
He took a look at the quest timer.
[Time Left: 4 Days, 5 Hours, 29 Minutes]
After thinking for a few seconds, he looked at Jamie, who was sitting in front of him with his eyes closed, and asked, "I want to take control of this city within 4 days. How should I go about it?"
Jamie wasn’t surprised at him asking for his advice as he had already understood Max was quite inexperienced about worldly things.
Even though this had made him think if it was the right choice to become his subordinate, he didn’t regret it because there was nothing to regret.
If he hadn’t agreed, Max would have killed him.
Besides...
With him, although not much, he had the hope of taking his revenge on Samuel Brown.
He thought for a bit and said, "Master, since you want to do it within 4 days, you should gather some strong people first because if just you and me were to do it, it would take a lot more time, not to mention effort."
"Hmm." Max nodded, "I understand that. But what about my strength? Do I need to be a little stronger?"
His question surprised Jamie. "You can become stronger within a short time?"
Max didn’t answer, but it was already an answer.
Jamie took a breath. ’No wonder he became stronger overnight.’
After a moment, he shook his head, "From what I know, there are no Martial Artists living in this city apart from your grandfather and perhaps your uncles. So, whether you are stronger or not doesn’t really matter."
After a pause, he added, "But I would suggest that you become as strong as you can and as soon as possible. And if you can, break through and reach the Bronze Rank. That way, even if you haven’t mastered any defensive martial art technique, you wouldn’t have to fear guns."
Max nodded in understanding before he eyed him and asked, "You used a martial art technique to defend from assault rifles yesterday?"
"Yes," Jamie nodded. "It’s a damaged Bronze Martial Art technique. If you want, I can teach it to you. But you’ll not be able to master it anytime soon because it needs several supplementary medicines and some rare materials that this city, and most of the other cities for that matter, most likely do not have."
"Only other martial artists possess them?" Max asked to which Jamie nodded and said, "You can try asking your grandfather. Perhaps he has some or knows where to find them."
"I’ll try. After returning, you write the martial arts technique down for me and include your experience and everything else that I would need to keep in mind when practicing it." Max ordered.
"Yes, Master." Jamie nodded.
"You have any other technique?" Max probed.
Jamie shook his head, "No. I only have this one."
"Okay." Max nodded and began increasing his Physical stat by one point at a time so the pain wouldn’t be much.
Five minutes later, he had used up 100 Harem Points from the remaining 108 and increased his Physical by 10 points.
[Physical: 66→76]
[Harem Points: 8]
After feeling the increase in his overall strength, he stood up, "Let’s continue."
"Yes." Jamie nodded.
And thus the second round of sparring began and it lasted for an hour. In between, Max let Jamie rest for a few minutes and catch his breath three times.
Haa~ Haa~
When they were done, Jamie was lying flat on the ground, his chest heaving up and down. He was thoroughly drained.
As for Max, while he was also out of breath, he was in better condition thanks to his higher stats.
"Here, eat this." Max gave him a slice of Nutritious Bread before eating one.
Jamie sat up and took the bread, looking at it with furrowed brows.
"Just eat it. It’s good stuff. You’ll feel better." Max urged.
Jamie nodded and devoured the slice in two bites. A minute later, he felt his energy slowly return and couldn’t help but look at Max in surprise.
’Just what’s wrong with him? He doesn’t have things he should have, but has what he shouldn’t have.’ He thought.
Max, unaware of his thoughts, just smiled at him.
After a while, he stood up before saying, "Now, after you have recovered your energy, go find any of the two who were carrying rifles last night and tell them to gather all able bodied men two hours later."
"Yes, Master." Jamie nodded in acknowledgement.