Adrin woke up in the early morning and found Aela cuddling in his arms.

After getting his [Life] affinity, an insight had popped out inside his head on how to control his scandalous ability. The interaction between the ability and affinity should have been obvious, and he didn’t know why it had never occurred to him before.

But the success of taming the ability had given him a clue about the critical role of affinities. He couldn’t wait to explore it but he had to deal with the present situations first. Adrin didn’t want to reveal more than what he already had told Aela for an obvious reason.

Last night, the poor girl had opened up to him after their warm meal. They were sitting on the bed together when she told him about her boyfriend who had suddenly skipped town. This had happened more than three months ago and she still couldn’t let it go.

The man’s excuse was to seek better opportunities, but of course, Aela knew better. She had to secretly get an abortion, and to this day, she hadn’t told anyone, not even her best friends.

This place used to be their love nest like he had assumed. Adrin was just trying to cheer her up by highlighting her qualities and flirting a bit, but in the heat of the moment, the girl tried to kiss him. He tried to refuse but he was trapped by his own words.

One kiss led to another, and before he knew it, the girl was already crying in his arms. He thought it would kill the mood, and gratefully, he was right. The girl cried her heart out until she fell asleep in a stranger’s arms.

What a foolish girl she was trusting a stranger so willingly. Luckily, this stranger was wise enough to not take advantage of her.

Adrin sighed, ‘should I work on getting wisdom attributes?’ he mused.

His lack of foresight had brought him to another troublesome pickle. In a world governed by attributes, wisdom would have been the key to stay out of trouble. He shouldn’t have flirted with the girl just to make her feel better about herself.

She reminded him that most of the people in this world grew up in a harsh and dangerous environment. This unforgiving world was nothing like the old world, a world where learning how to fight was a mere sport. And unlike the old world, only a short inglorious life awaited those who didn't think critically or feeling entitled.

Aela knew that she wouldn't be able to survive for long with a huge belly. There was no one, no government big daddy who would back her up.

Adrin took out and held on to the mysterious cube in one hand while he enjoyed the offered warmth. He knew the girl would let her if he wanted more but he also knew that she wouldn’t heal if he had done more than this.

And as the wise old man had noted, girls would only become a distraction if he let them. No rule said he couldn’t work on something while in bed.

The cube had been a frustrating puzzle to him, and after spending the night sharing bodily warmth with Aela, he could confirm that Alfred was right about the fresh perspective. The cube wouldn’t move if he pushed with his hand, and only now he could see the answer clearly.

He pushed a strand of mana into the cube and something clicked as it turned. A treasured puzzle of a hedge mage was of course needed [Mana Meld] to solve.

After determining the center of the first face, Adrin began to work on the cube while enjoying the girl’s quiet moans. Aela had scars on her body, the physical proof of the dangerous life she had chosen for herself. She probably didn’t have much choice as this world didn’t have mega cooperation to feed on consumer-based society.

The cube continued to let out soft clicks as he worked on it. He was never an expert at Rubik's cube and even struggled to solve the three by three puzzle. However, the five-by-five cube in his hand didn’t feel impossible as it should be.

Was it because of his [Intelligence] stat?

Instead of the feeling of frustration and crushing defeat, he was intrigued instead. A challenge he loved to overcome. Whatever spell glyphs each side of the cube offered was a plus. Hours had passed like it was mere minutes.

[Mana Sense] levels up!

[Mana Sense] levels up!

[Mana Sense] levels up!

[Mana Meld] levels up!

[Mana Meld] levels up!

A list of announcements had come up by the time he realized it. The glyph puzzle cube reset on its own when his concentration wavered. No wonder it had stayed unresolved.

Morning light came sooner than he had expected and Adrin slipped off the bed. He then continued to read the journal entries and worked on the magitech version of EMG. The best outcome was a synaptic link, a direct connection to his mind, but he had to start small.

‘One step at a time,’ he mused.

He switched to work on the [Animate Object] when he grew tired of reading someone else’s thoughts on a paper. Alfred’s shortsighted failures can be frustrating at times.

Aela’s friends came knocking right before afternoon. He could tell because of the clamoring of the girls right outside the door. Adrin made sure he was properly clothed before he opened the door as he didn’t want to be in those cliche moments.

“Aela- “ the girls gasped when she saw him.

“She’s still asleep,” Adrin said to the other girl. “Feel free to come in, but it might be a little cramped.”

“Ah, em, David, right?” said the girl, “I’m Jacey.”

“Nice to meet you, Jacey, I’m Adrin, David is just a moniker,” he explained as he had told Aela last night. Adrin felt bad for lying to the girl who had opened up to him, and not telling her friends would only make things needlessly complicated.

“I’ve told you David doesn't match with him,” another girl pushed Jacey in from behind. “I’m Julia, make sure to remember my name, Adrin,” the older blond girl grinned.

Adrin chuckled, “I’ll try.”

“Are you a runaway noble?” came a question from Julia’s back. “Aela said you looked too clean all the time.”

“Yeah, sort of,” he answered with a shrug and closed the journal.

He probably shouldn’t have used [Cleanse] almost all the time, but who knows what kind of infection he could get in this alien world. The realization had turned him a little germ-phobic on top of everything else.

“Julia, move away, it’s my turn,” two dainty hands tried to push the well-built girl forward.

“Tch, fine, the small one is Sara and the tiny one is Carrie.”

“Hey!” Both of the other girls shouted at Julia and she just chuckled at them.

“Mmmm, no, I can’t anymore, just let me sleep,” Aela complained while her eyes closed as Jacey shook her body.

“Give her this,” Adrin gave a cup of water he had prepared beforehand.

“This- this is, watered stamina potion? But one vial cost a few silvers at least,” said Julia as Jacey took the cup of water from him.

“A silver slate drink,” the small Sara gasped. “How luxurious.”

“Don’t worry, it didn’t taste like a slate's worth of drink,” Adrin chuckled. “It will wake her up instantly because of the taste alone.”

“Can you buy us lunch?” The smallest girl suddenly said.

Adrin turned towards the tiny voice. “Sure, Carrie right?”

“Yes!” the little girl perked up.

“Are you going to ask for an orgy?”

“Sara!” Jacey yelled and almost spilled the drink. Her face turned bright red as she exchanged glances with him.

“Papa said so,” the girl pouted.

Adrin sighed inside. The red faces meant the girls probably think he had had sex with Aela while they had only slept together. They probably wouldn’t believe it if he corrected them.

The exchange had reminded him that these girls were just clueless teenagers, maybe except for Aela and Julia, who should be the eldest. Carrie was the only one he saw for the first time and he didn’t think the girl had even awakened.

These girls knew nothing about the world other than how to fight and not get maimed in the process. Without books or general education available, he didn’t think commoners even knew what to expect about their future. They just took it one day at a time.

He imagined the boys would be similar if not the same troublemaking youth. Not everyone, it seemed, was blessed with an old grumpy soul.

“No, I won’t ask for anything like that,” Adrin said and Jacey breathed in relief. “But I don’t think other young masters will act the same.”

The girls gasped and looked at each other.

“So it’s true,” said Julia, and Adrin shrugged.

Aela yelped on the bed, “what you guys doing here!” The girl squeaked with a red face. In her hand was an empty ceramic mug he had made.

“Aela, we are starving, and you promised to bring us to hunt but you were nowhere to be found this morning,” Carrie complained.

“Yeah, we have nothing to eat until dinner!” Sara added.

Adrin sighed inside. He didn’t think any teenagers in the old world were required to procure their own breakfast. These girls’ parents might be very harsh, but it was a survival skill every youth needed to learn if they were to survive on their own. Also, there was no convenient store to buy groceries and money was very hard to come by.

It might sound harsh, but the parents in this town were smarter. They didn’t pamper their children but still provided enough nutritious food to ensure they grow healthy. These girls didn’t appear skinny at all, far from the one who had been in the wagons with him.

But it made him want to pamper them a little bit, “how about two slates, will that be enough?”

“Yay! Roasted bird here we come!” Sara cheered before Jacey cleared her throat and stared the girl down.

Adrin took the silver slates out from his ring and handed it over to Julia, “you are the leader, right? It’s okay to spend it all, just this once.”

“Sto- storage ring,” Jacey muttered.

Everyone else gasped when they realized the same. He could see the exchange of looks that only the girls could understand. They wanted to talk about it but didn’t want him to listen.

Adrin didn’t worry about his secret getting out because the girls would lose the most if they told anyone about it. They should be smart enough to figure that out.

After a quiet commotion, the girls filtered out one by one until only Aela was left.

“Thanks,” she kissed his cheek before running to join her friends. The girls waved as they walked away from the hut and Adrin waved back.

He wondered if these girls’ chance of surviving until old age was better than Alfred and his friends. It was grim to think that, if left alone, not even half of the cheerful girls would live to old age or have kids of their own.

Well, not when he could do something about it. They could thank their lucky stars if they wanted. He might not be able to help everyone but he would help them if they asked. There must be a reason why his spirit was awakened in this world. He just didn't know it yet.

But first things first. A fake arm for Blake. Alfred's journal had taught him a lot, so at least, he could make the hedge mage’s dream come true.

His right arm though still a little sore, maybe because Aela had slept on it all night? But what gave? His attribute boosted body should have no issue with it.

Adrin moved it around before he was back engrossed in the journal.

----

Time passed quickly when he had a clear objective in mind and the space to work on his problems. Adrin spent most of his days in the hut doing research and testing. Other times he practiced Martial Arts with Aela and Julia.

Both of them had become Blake’s students for many years already. They were more than qualified to teach him and tumbling with them in the dirt reminded him of the good old days.

Adrin decided to gain all affinities he could on the third day’s morning while in bed with Aela. He was able to control his ability thanks to the new [Life] affinity, and it made him realize that gaining all affinity had its hidden perk after all.

[Fire] affinity was easy with [Lightning Flux] as he only needed his mana to turn into fuel to gain the [Flaming Hand]. He had to admit, it was bizarre and outlandish to see his hand on fire and didn’t feel any pain at all.

[Air] and [Water] had taken some brain cells to figure out, but he realized that he had only needed to manipulate these fluid affinities to gain the elemental skills. A spinning fan made out of mana solved both of those problems and awarded him with two more affinity skills.

Adrin had to thank his knowledge in science or he didn’t think it would be this effortless to get the affinity skills. He couldn’t imagine how anyone else in this world could develop affinity skills without such knowledge. No one could tell mana to mimic forces of nature proficiently if they didn’t have a good grasp of how things worked in the world.

His elemental experiments came next and he was surprised by what he had figured out.

On the fourth day, the girls had asked and he decided to help to speed level the girls by joining them in a dungeon dive. Adrin had only used personal [Shells] to protect them while they did all the work themselves. He also tipped them on how to steal the invaluable skills with [Inspiration] points and how to train for the rest.

Aela decided to risk her body to trick a visiting hedge mage to show off his best skill, and Adrin had only addressed his concerns. He knew that he had no right to say more than that.

He was worried, but the girls pulled it off by coaxing jealous boys to bust the door of the inn room at the right moment. Aela ran off while the clueless hedge mage became a hero by teaching the boys a lesson. The other [Alchemist] in town was also tricked similarly, and it was entertaining to see the girls in action. It was cruel, but this was a cruel world.

Of course, he could just give them the skills and abilities they wanted, but as the wise man said, it was better to teach the girls how to fish. If someone asked why he hadn’t helped any boys, he would say that he had no interest in boys. That was just who he was.

It took him a week to perfect the modified [Animate Object] to be paired with a simple glyph to read the human body’s nerve’s electrical pulses. These two combined would make it possible for Blake and the good clerk to move fake limbs made of grown wood. He had made them by tuning into the [Life] affinity by hastening and shaping a sapling’s growth.

But like he had suspected, the [Animate Object] had its own flaws. The set of glyphs couldn’t be used with complex mechanical builds or exhibit superhuman strength. It was next to useless for his ultimate goal of fighting giant monsters with giant robots.

Adrin chuckled as he thought about his childhood dreams.

On the next day, Blake received his wooden arm and he was more than happy with it. Lana tried to hug him and he avoided it with the [Martial Art] moves he had been practicing. He just couldn’t risk ruining someone else’s marriage even if he was able to reign in the ability's side effects.

Adrin found the clerk on his way back from work, and the good man had cried when his wooden leg moved on command. Both of these men would need time to adapt, but it wouldn’t take as long as the old world counterpart. Over time, their fake limbs would feel and move like their own flesh and bone.

Adrin smiled as he continued towards the Delver’s association. His control system was at an early stage, but he was on his way towards the ultimate goal. Now he needed other things to distract himself.

There was a huge commotion when he arrived at the building. He was going to ignore everything but something still caught his ears.

“...half-elven mage was kidnapped from the academy? But how?”

Adrin reacted before he could think. The air crackled with a thunderous echo just behind the building, but no one could see what had just happened.