Otherworldly Trials [LITRPG Adventure]

The next few days passed by in a blink. For the otherworlders, the days came by the same as usual. However, for the ones in charge of the housing, it was a different matter.

They prepared as best they could, but eventually Clara will be heading off to the academy. Zeke, in his off time, researched what kind of academy Arcelot had in its capital.

Apparently there were several branches, the capital being the top of the line original academy that was built way before Cronus' time. In fact, before he became a lord, he was a student there, though records of his accomplishments were wiped away somehow. Zeke had a feeling that this was done so that nobody can look up to Cronus, or find out how he became this powerful from those records, so either Cronus did so willingly, or he didn't have a choice.

The academy itself is based on raising young hopeful nobles to become better nobles than before, so a quarter of the classes were based on etiquette and social norms, something that Clara was deeply against sitting through.

Considering that the academy was based solely for nobles, and not a public education, it was obvious that Clara wouldn't really belong there, belonging to no such group. Though thanks to Cronus' manipulation of records, her name would be 'Clara Arcan', a former noble house that had reinstated itself as a very, very minor house under direct supervision of Cronus. Hearing the story about how the Montreant family that Alissa and Val belonged to went down, nobles suddenly popping up out of nowhere didn't seem entirely out of the norm, at least for the nobles that had lived for longer than a generation or so.

That's why it wasn't exactly wrong to assume that Clara would be treated as a noble in the academy, hence why she got herself in the academy. But just like in most schools, they teach the usual classes like history, geography, and so on. Math was obviously included, especially since the system liked to use numbers so much.

But that wasn't all. It also taught the fundamentals of magic, advanced theories of magical energy, and all sorts of knowledge relating to mana. If Zeke was honest, he was deeply interested in that, and asked Clara to not just learn all she can, but to let him know what she learned as well.

Books made by the magical city Arcelot should have plenty more topics to study from compared to Cloud's study, and he wasn't going to let this chance slip away now that he got a little spy on the inside–something that Clara was definitely for as she nodded in approval.

Mikella did shoot him a dirty glance, but she knew that Clara would start studying magic regardless of whether she shared it with Zeke or not, so she can't really say much. And it wasn't just magic either–there was also training to become knights for those who aren't so inclined to become mages like most nobles.

Thankfully, despite the recent days, Tigger was still incredibly excited to head to the academy, which thankfully Alissa was made aware of and added him into the curriculum along with Clara, as well as Ana who would be coming by soon. Clara could not contain her excitement at the thought of her best friend finally coming over.

And she wasn't the only one. After hearing that they get to see their good friends that were coming along as well, Zeke and Mikella were also excited, at least to introduce them to the otherworlders to give them a better impression.

Because the supposed otherworlders that were giving them so much headaches were also coming, something that Zeke thought about frequently as of late. He could only imagine someone like Alex, the crazy necromancer that tried to kill them and take over the land. He was a bit messed up in the head, and he could only hope that they wouldn't end up having to kill them if they were too much to handle. If even Cloud and Valorie can't handle them…

"Zeke, hurry up and help me! I need some extra hands!"

Zeke perked up and quickly doused his thoughts as he hurried to the kitchen where he saw Mikella quickly preparing several dishes for the coming Eve Glade guests.

Right now, they were at Ali's house preparing a meal just a few hours before the Eve Glade visitors would come by. According to Ali, Cronus would be transporting them over. Zeke still felt like he owed Cronus a debt he can never repay, but he had to realize just how much he had helped them out, including adding in their comrades to keep up the workload.

So on that note, Mikella decided to make some extra meals, something with a bit of an otherworlder's touch as she made all the famous meals that were known across their world, but were never heard of in the world of Tarial.

Delectable scents wafted across the kitchen area, making him already salivate. How can he stand there and help when there was so much delicious food in front of him?

"We are getting the best ones out of all of this, right?" Zeke joked.

"Of course, but if you don't help me, you can forget getting a morsel, now move your ass!"

She lightly kicked his ass, her hands already a blur while preparing the utensils and tools to make her next feast. Her smile was still too dazzling for him to complain as he prepped the ingredients with the aid of his barriers and runes.

The great part about his abilities is that he can basically prepare anything, but not actually do the cooking. In other words, he can cut a lot of time and minor errands so that the cook can do exactly what the cook needs to do–to cook meals. As for Mikella, there was a reason why she was so adamant on cooking the entire thing herself rather than just use their large wealth to buy some catering service–outside of the fact that the otherworlders were considered a pariah in the city right now.

Ever since she fused her skills together, she had a lot of vacant slots in her General Skill list, causing her powerful Clashing Energies skill to decrease in power. That's why she went back to gaining more new skills to fill up the list.

And she decided to make another fused skill, but this time, she aimed for fusing crafting skills.

Her plan was simple–she would pick up several crafting skills to make a plethora of items for her to take advantage of. That way, she can save a lot on some purchases while relying on herself to make the absolute best thing for herself.

Honestly, that was extremely ambitious even for Zeke, and rather cheeky to think she can just pick up any crafting skill so easily and fuse them together to make another damn Mythic Skill.

God, she's so damn cool.

It was like he was looking at her for the first time again, and once again he was smitten by her. He had a lot of time to figure out the sort of feelings he had for her, and realized that out of everything she had, the one thing that hooked him the most was her adamance to see things through.

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Because more than anything, even if it felt impossible to him, he knew she could somehow do it. Hell, she already did it once, so doing it again would be an easy thing for her.

"Zeke, you can stare at my ass all you want later. Right now, I need those hands moving!"

"I was not–!"

Zeke tried to argue, but gave up as soon as he saw that cheeky smile of hers. His cheeks blushing, particularly because he did take a good glanceful, he went back to helping her prepare.

Half an hour later, the meals were prepped and all placed inside the storage pack within the containers made by Zeke's barriers. Thanks to his Legendary skill, creating a container for food and placing it within the magically spatial bags was possible, thus having a lot of heavy meals that were still fresh was possible no matter where or when they decided to eat it.

Once the two were done, they left Ali's house and locked it up, all the residents in different places. Ali was working, Zoan was still asleep, and Clara was completely gone the moment morning arrived.

In other words, Clara was back at the housing spending whatever free time she had sparring with Tigger. Zeke thought Tigger would get sick of it at some point, but he was proven wrong as he kept insisting on more sparring matches.

He supposed his ego just couldn't let himself be defeated by a girl his age. He understood that feeling completely.

"Hey, you ever think Zoan would ever wake up?"

The sudden question from Mikella stumped Zeke. He wanted to keep her out of his thoughts, because the more he thought about it, the more dread he felt in his gut.

"I hope so," Zeke said, almost pleadingly. "The more she stays asleep, the more I think something bad is gonna happen. Hell, she didn't even let us know that the trial started for us. I thought we had more time, or at least at a time where we were not trying to save everyone in the tower…"

He was still bitter at how they were caught unaware from that sudden trial. Just thinking about that trial knight made his insides boil. It was unfair, and if it weren't for Ceru, they all would've died horrifically. Then Clara would've been next. Just thinking about it made his mana surge.

He felt Mikella's hand on his own, grasping it. He took it in, almost instinctively, holding it back.

"Maybe she's finally getting us some answers we need. Then, she can tell us all sorts of secrets to beat that asshole trial knight."

"What if the secret is 'just get stronger'?" Zeke said bitterly.

"Easy. Then we get stronger. In other words; 'git gud'."

Her smile made his smile reappear, evaporating his bitter thoughts completely.

He wanted to protect this smile, this peaceful time. And he'll do whatever it takes. Even if it means dealing with crazy Masters and greedy nobles.

"Yeah," Zeke grinned. "Good point."

…..

Back at the housing, it was a bit noisier than usual. While there was no training, everyone was preparing the outside of the housing with spare tables they made themselves. The housing was something Zeke periodically charges with mana, so the tables were made by the otherworlders themselves. With their stats rising higher from training their bodies and skills, it was becoming easier for them to be dexterous when it came to crafting simple items like tables and chairs.

A hint of a good time wafted about in the atmosphere, leaving Zeke to smile as everyone prepared for the coming guests. There was that giddiness he hadn't had in his chest ever since they left Eve Glade, due to being in such a foreign town filled with nobility and strict laws.

But here, it was just a tiny but cozy place for the people within. Once they arrived, everyone called out to them as though they were old friends, rather than their bosses or their strict trainers. That was something he sometimes had a tough time understanding. Certainly, they did a lot for them, but he figured they would come off as more authoritative as time moved on.

"Hey, welcome home," Lyle teased with a grin, seeing the two coming in with Janet by his side.

"Considering that everyone here is from our world, it might as well be," Mikella commented.

"I prefer if we have an actual house than just one giant place that everyone lives in, though," Zeke muttered, still wondering whether he should remake the housing to be a proper place for everyone to live in.

"Let's just take it one step at a time," Janet pointed out, then gestured to the packs by their sides. "You got the food?"

"Yep," Mikella patted her food-only pack by her hip. "You got the drinks?"

"Ooh, boy, do I!" Lyle said excitedly, patting affectionately on his own pack, which Zeke would deem a drink-only pack.

"They're not all alcohol, right?" Mikella said, raising a brow in suspicion.

"Obviously not all," Lyle blew air as though it was obvious. "I know we're getting kids here. I'm just excited to try out new drinks whenever I can. It's fun finding out what kind of effects I can bring to the table as long as it doesn't affect their channels. For example, I can make it where if you drink something, it turns your entire mouth blue!"

"Why is that ever useful?" Mikella asked, not really sure how to handle that.

"'Cuz it's funny as hell," Lyle chuckled. "Especially when you don't tell anyone that they do that."

He spoke inconspicuously, as though bringing them in to keep his dirty secret. Just to be a dick, Zeke wanted to do that–but he noticed in the corner of his eyes that both Mikella and Janet didn't seem particularly against it.

And now that he thought about it, he planned to offer such a drink to Cronus should he ever come around. A smile was plastered on his face when he thought about that.

"Haha, I knew you guys would like it. By the way, Cloud and Val left to gather up the others according to the instructions Cronus gave them."

"We saw a letter suddenly form in the air out of nowhere, and when Cloud read it, he groaned and grabbed Val out of here," Janet explained. "They'll be coming by in a while, so we're just getting everything ready."

"Alright, thanks guys," Zeke asked. "Also, I wanted to know–how are they treating everyone here? Do these guys like them?"

"They're really amazing, just like you said," Janet said, her eyes gleaming. "Especially Val. There's just something so mesmerizing about her. Even without any magic, it's like she has this spell that makes everyone like her."

"I actually thought it was a spell," Lyle said. "Especially when it's so hard to look away. Ali made it hard to do that for obvious reasons, but with Val… Ow!"

Lyle winced, only just now noticing that Janet was pinching his arm with a dirty look in her eyes.

Zeke couldn't agree more on that, but for the sake of his sorry ass, he refused to say anything in front of his girlfriend.

"Though, they tended to be… mmh, kinda smothering? Like they really wanted to cuddle them when they were struggling and asking for help."

Janet mentioned, still giving poor Lyle that pinching while he winced and begged for forgiveness already. Zeke and Mikella looked at her strangely.

"Huh, that never happened before," Mikella muttered. "Val isn't strict, but she wasn't a softy either."

"Oh, they are strict–it's just that they go overboard in ensuring that they're doing things properly, and just listening to them is enough to put them on a good path."

When Janet kept explaining, Zeke and Mikella looked back at each other in confusion. That sounded as though they were just glad people were listening to them rather than going on their own.

"Hey! I see some new folks coming through!"

Elly shouted, calling out to the Journeymen with an excited grin. She was just as excited as the rest of them to see new people coming in, particularly strong people that helped Zeke and Mikella out so much.

Zeke and Mikella looked back to see not just Cloud and Val showing up as they said, but some new folks included as well. New folks, but were familiar enough for him to call out.

But before he could even do that, one of them ran over, her spear in hand and drenched in fiery flames, and tried to spear through Mikella right in front of all of them.