Harem System In A fantasy World

"I will come back to this if I somehow find a decent teacher, or if the answer comes eventually." For the foreseeable future, he would be a mage first, and a swordsman only if the situation called for it.

He drew his attention back to his system panel.

The innate dragon race abilities were to be expected; no surprise there. He had experienced a whole lot of pain to obtain these, and he would have been bitter about it if he hadn’t gained at least this many.

And as expected, more bloodline-related abilities would come as he became stronger.

He had not even touched the true potential of this bloodline yet, and already, his current body felt like a completely different existence from the one he had before entering the trial.

Once again, seeing the dormant abilities bothered him a little, but not in a bad way; if anything, it meant there was still more to unlock, which gave him a bit of excitement and something to look forward to.

The additions to his partners as well were to be expected. But his gaze suddenly stopped at Beatrice. Honestly, he didn’t know what to make of his relationship with the school healer.

On one hand, she had been one of his better options when he desperately needed system points to grow his strength, and he hadn’t thought much about how things would proceed from there.

He didn’t even know what to think of her, much less what she thought of him. She just seemed like another playful, older woman who worked at the academy.

And the way she seemed so forward with him, he couldn’t help but imagine if she pulled that stunt often, fucking a bunch of other unassuming academy students whenever she felt like it?

If so, she wasn’t exactly the kind of woman he could see himself adding to his harem. Regardless, he would have to meet her again and speak to her to make a proper judgement.

He put those thoughts away, and his gaze lowered to his level. Level 49, and one step away from 50, one step away from becoming a High Mage.

Elion’s smile slowly faded, replaced by focus. He had been an Advanced Mage long enough. Considering everything waiting for him, it was no longer acceptable to remain at this level.

He needed to break through right now. Elion closed his eyes and leaned back into the couch, his lips curved faintly as the system panel flickered out of view.

"Let us begin."

He moved away from the plush, expensive-looking couches, lest he accidentally damage them during his breakthrough, and walked toward an open area in the lounge overlooking the balcony.

He sat in a lotus position on the cold tiled floor, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

His last breakthrough had not exactly been a pleasant experience. But after that harrowing bloodline integration following the trials, he doubted anything he experienced would ever topple the pain of that moment.

He had no doubt that his pain tolerance had risen by a reasonable amount afterward. That did not mean pain had suddenly become pleasant.

He had never been a masochist, and he certainly was not going to start today.

"Initiate my breakthrough, System."

[On it.]

[Converting System Points to Experience Points.]

[Breakthrough is now underway.]

Elion immediately braced himself for what was to come.

Inside the room, and even outside the manor, a massive amount of mana began to rush toward him. It gathered in the lounge, concentrating around him before exploding forth into his body through his pores and orifices.

Elion’s mouth opened involuntarily as mana rushed in through that entrance as well, quickly flooding his body and surging toward the radiant mana core in his plernum.

When it came to major stage breakthroughs, the most important step was compressing the mana core by filling it with an excessive amount of mana using ambient mana.

This essentially stressed the core, forcing its mass and strength to improve under the flood of pure mana.

It was simple in principle, but there was a reason stages existed. Levelling up was not just for show, and stat changes were not just for visual appeal.

They represented changes to a mage or warrior’s body in real time.

Meaning, if one attempted to undergo a breakthrough too early, one’s mana core, and in turn, one’s body exploding, would be the best-case scenario.

An excruciatingly painful and tragic death would soon follow.

The second stage, however, was just as important, even though most people never placed great importance on it.

Once the mana core had successfully been compressed, broken down repeatedly, strengthened, and reformed, it would release the excess pure mana into the body.

This controlled stream of mana would temper the body, its muscles, bones, blood, organs, and everything else, reinforcing and reforming them to an acceptable state where they could handle storing and channelling this new, higher-quality mana.

Otherwise, a mage would have a high mana cultivation stage, but a weak body that could not withstand the new power.

This process was repeated at every major stage breakthrough.

It was also the reason warriors had no choice but to follow the path of mages as well, strengthening their mana cores alongside training their sword skills.

Because unmatched skill with the sword could only do so much without a powerful body to support and complement those sword skills, or any other weapon skill, for that matter.

And so, as Elion’s vibrant white mana core compressed, cracked, and reformed multiple times, an unimaginable amount of pain flooded his nerves.

He bit his lip and growled, a pained frown marring his face as his hands balled into fists. It felt like someone was repeatedly hammering his chest.

Each impact stole his breath, and each time, he released a trembling exhale through his mouth and nostrils.

’This is nothing!’

He told himself that again and again, and in a way, it was true.

Compared to the pain he had experienced when gaining the Dragon Bloodline, this really was nothing.

At the same time, Zenith’s form flickered into the room. She had sensed what was happening, so naturally, she had come to make sure nothing went wrong.

Elion could not sense her since she had erased her presence completely.

Zenith crossed her arms and leaned against the wall near the entrance, watching her man battle through his breakthrough with calm eyes.

This body she had sent to watch over him was only a copy made in haste.

Even so, she could see everything through it while her main body remained seated with the other ladies in one of the bedrooms.

Yes, they had not gone to sleep after leaving Elion. After they left him alone in the lounge, Mira had proposed a ladies’ talk without him.

And now, the five of them were sitting together in one of the bedrooms, four of them completely unaware of what was happening outside that room.

After all, Zenith had formed a barrier around the lounge. So even with all the turbulent mana gathering there, none of them noticed a thing.

Inside the lounge, Elion’s breakthrough continued. His mana core pulsed like a miniature star inside his body, and each pulse sent waves of pain and power through him.

The first compression made his shoulders tremble, the second sent a sharp pain through his spine, the third made blood bead at the corner of his mouth.

Still, Elion did not stop.

He could feel the threshold. That wall between Advanced Mage and High Mage: It was right there.

His core cracked again, and then reformed multiple times. Each time, it became smaller, denser, and stronger; however, since the mana kept coming, the moment it became small, the new flood of mana pumped it back up to its original size.

This created the illusion that nothing was changing, which was true of its size, but not its innate quality.

This went on for a while, and the mana rushing into him did not slow down. If anything, it became even more violent, as though the world itself had noticed his absurd foundation and decided to test whether he could truly contain it.

Elion’s skin began to glow faintly in several colors. Water-blue, a flaming red, brown, illusory silver, a bloody crimson, and a wispy white like colours. Beneath all of them, a faint golden-red glow began to permeate into all the others, creating a muddy combination that swiftly vanished under his skin.

Zenith’s eyes narrowed slightly from the doorway as the air around Elion suddenly became heavy.

How is it that she could feel a faint suppression coming off him and trying to push down on her presence?

’How is that even possible!?’

She wasn’t saying this to disrespect Elion; he had gained her utmost respect and devotion ages ago. His potential was certainly unmatched, but he hadn’t reached that potential yet; this was only a breakthrough into the high mage rank, and yet....

The mana gathering around him trembled as his dragon bloodline began to act up.

Elion’s breathing became rougher. His pupils, hidden behind closed eyelids, shifted into vertical slits, and a few faint scales flickered across his cheeks before disappearing again.

The Dragon Bloodline did not like pressure, and it did not like being restrained. It wanted the breakthrough to happen now: To crush the boundary, to shatter the limits, and to seize the higher rank by force, but Elion held it back, just barely.

He needed power, yes, but uncontrolled power would only hurt him. The Origin Core bonded to the system pulsed, lulling the raging bloodline.

The reckless arrogance of the Dragon Bloodline calmed slightly.

Elion clenched his teeth, gathered all the mana in his core into a single point, and the rushing mana seemed to pause for a fraction of a second.

He opened his eyes and drove everything forward.

Booom!

The boundary shattered as a wave of mana erupted from his body, sweeping across the lounge like an invisible storm.

The floor trembled, the windows rattled, and the balcony curtains snapped violently in the air. Several pieces of furniture scraped across the tiles, though they did not break.

The barrier Zenith had placed around the room rippled once, but with a single wave of her hand, it solidified once again.

[Breakthrough successful!]