Chapter 57: Naked Misunderstandings

A week passed.

For most people, a week wasn’t very long.

For Eden, it was enough time to discover several things.

Some of them were useful.

And some of them were going to give him a headache for the foreseeable future.

The first discovery came when Eden checked his status the morning after returning from the dungeon.

He had expected the usual attributes.

Strength.

Agility.

Vitality.

Essence.

Perception.

Instead, there was something new.

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[STATUS]

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Name: Eden

Level: 146 [C-Rank]

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Attributes

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Strength: 507

Agility: 509

Vitality: 261

Essence: 321

Perception: 107

Dark Matter: 110

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Skills & Authorities

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Devour [S]

Dark Matter Manipulation [S]

Corrupted Surge [S]

Paralysis [B]

Burst Step [B]

Stealth [C]

Warrior’s Spirit [C]

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Eden stared at the sixth attribute.

Dark Matter.

He had never seen it before.

Naturally, his first instinct had been to investigate.

The System didn’t exactly provide a convenient instruction manual, but Sylvia did.

"Your Dark Matter Attribute functions differently from Essence," she explained.

They were sitting in Eden’s apartment at the time.

Well, Eden was sitting.

Sylvia was floating upside down near the ceiling.

Eden had stopped asking why.

"So putting points into it doesn’t increase my reserves?"

"No."

"Then what’s the point?"

"It strengthens the Dark Matter you already possess."

Eden frowned.

"Then how do I increase my Dark matter reserves."

"There should be scarce amounts of Dark matter spread all over the abyss."

"Though, They’re probably guarded or even hidden inside the Archdukes Territory."

Sylvia slowly rotated in the air until she was upright.

Eden had originally received ten points in the attribute, just like every other attribute back when he was level 1.

After obtaining the level ups from Obsidian’s trial, he’d had a large number of unallocated Attribute Points left over.

He’d put most of them into Dark Matter.

That brought it from 10 to 110.

And according to Sylvia, that wasn’t just some meaningless number.

The higher the attribute became, the stronger the Dark Matter already contained within Eden’s body would become.

It also strengthened the Dark Matter connected to him.

Including Obsidian.

That part had caught Eden’s attention.

"So my Dark Matter affects Obsidian too?"

"Yes."

"And you?"

"Naturally."

Eden looked at her.

"That’s convenient."

Sylvia smiled.

"We are connected on a fundamental level, Master."

Eden had quickly discovered that Sylvia had a talent for saying perfectly normal things in ways that made him deeply uncomfortable.

There was another benefit, however.

One that Eden found much more interesting.

Apparently, his Retainers weren’t merely servants.

They were connected to him through the same Dark Matter.

Which meant his buff skills could potentially affect them as well.

"For example," Sylvia had explained, "if you activate Corrupted Surge, you may extend its effect to Obsidian."

Eden’s eyes had widened.

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"What’s the catch?"

"Additional Essence would be required."

"How much?"

"That depends on the strength of the Retainer and the amount of Dark Matter involved."

Eden immediately wanted to test it.

Unfortunately, there was one small problem.

Obsidian was still recovering.

And he had not recovered nearly as quickly as Eden had expected.

"He’ll be fine, Master."

Sylvia had told him that several times.

"Retainers generally recover much faster."

"Then why is he taking so long?"

"Well someone was pretty rough on him."

Eden paused.

"...Fair enough."

Obsidian had been reduced to only five percent of his original Dark Matter reserves before Eden defeated him.

Then Eden had beaten the remaining five percent within an inch of its existence.

There was no reason to rush him.

Sylvia had made that very clear.

"Do not force his manifestation," she had warned. "If he remains in his Dark Matter state, his health will naturally replenish."

So Eden had left him alone.

It was frustrating.

But Eden wasn’t stupid enough to cripple his strongest potential Retainer simply because he was impatient.

Besides, he had other things to worry about.

Like Sylvia.

Eden had initially thought having her around would be easy.

He was wrong.

Very wrong.

The first issue was obvious.

Sylvia was noticeable.

Very noticeable.

She was tall, beautiful, had pale blonde hair, scarlet eyes, black horns, and an aura that made people instinctively look twice.

Walking through the city with her beside him would attract attention almost immediately.

Which was why Sylvia had suggested dissolving into Dark Matter whenever they were outside.

It worked surprisingly well.

When dissolved, she essentially became part of Eden’s Dark Matter.

He couldn’t see her.

Nobody else could see her.

And, perhaps most importantly, she could still communicate with him through his thoughts.

The problem was that Sylvia apparently hated remaining dissolved for too long.

[Being dissolved is uncomfortable]

Eden had been walking through his apartment when her voice suddenly appeared in his head.

’How uncomfortable?’

[Imagine being trapped inside a tiny box.]

Eden paused.

’That’s not very descriptive.’

[It’s like that.]

"Helpful."

She sighed dramatically inside his mind.

[I cannot properly rest in that state.]

’Do you really need to sleep?’

[I still become tired.]

Something Eden at first had overlooked, was that Even though Sylvia was the living manifestation of his Dark matter, she was still more than a mindless servant and weapon.

She was a Peraon.

So he had simply decided to keep her dissolved whenever Mihui was around.

It was the safest option.

At least...

That’s what he thought.

Until one morning.

Eden woke up.

He felt something warm and heavy against him.

His eyes opened halfway.

For a moment, he was too tired to understand what was happening.

Then he looked down.

His brain stopped.

Sylvia was lying on top of him.

Under his blanket.

Fast asleep.

And, apparently, she had decided that clothing had become very optional.

Eden’s eyes widened.

His entire body jolted upright.

"What the hell?!"

Sylvia stirred.

"Mmm..."

Eden immediately scrambled backward, falling off the bed.

"Sylvia!"

The woman slowly opened one scarlet eye.

She looked completely unbothered.

"Good morning, Master."

"Why are you in my bed?!"

Sylvia rubbed one eye.

"I was tired."

"That doesn’t answer the question!"

She lazily sat up.

"I cannot sleep properly while dissolved."

Eden stared at her.

"So you manifested."

"Yes."

"Here."

"Yes."

"In my bed."

"Yes."

"Naked?!"

Sylvia looked down at herself.

Then back at him.

"Yes."

Eden covered his face.

"Why?!"

Sylvia tilted her head.

"I didn’t have any clothes to rest in..."

"You could’ve asked me!"

"At five in the morning?"

"Yes!"

"I didn’t want to wake you."

Eden slowly lowered his hands.

"That makes absolutely no sense."

Sylvia stretched lazily.

"I was so sleepy, though..."

She yawned.

"And your bed was comfortable."

"There’s a couch."

"It’s less comfortable."

"Besides, Mihui would see me then."

Sylvia smiled.

She gave him a playful wink.

"Did you enjoy having me here, Master?"

Eden’s face immediately flushed.

"Hell no!"

Sylvia laughed.

Eden pointed accusingly at her.

"Seriously, why didn’t you just sleep with your usual clothes on?!"

She shrugged.

"Would you enjoy sleeping in your work clothes?"

Eden opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

"...That’s not the same thing."

"It is to me."

Before Eden could come up with an answer, his bedroom door suddenly flew open.

"Eden?!"

Mihui stood there.

Still wearing her pink pajamas.

Her pink hair was a complete mess.

Her eyes were half-open from sleep.

"I heard you yelling and I came as fast as I—"

She stopped.

Silence.

Eden slowly turned toward her.

Mihui slowly looked at Sylvia.

Then at Eden.

Then back at Sylvia.

Her sleepy expression disappeared.

Not into anger.

Not even shock.

Something far worse.

Her face became completely blank.

"..."

"Mihui."

"..."

"It isn’t what it looks like."

Mihui continued staring.

Eden panicked.

"Seriously!"

Sylvia waved at Mihui.

"Good morning."

Mihui’s eyes twitched.

She slowly stepped backward.

Then closed the door.

Eden stared.

"Mihui?!"

Nothing.

"Mihui, wait!"

He quickly turned and rushed toward the door.

"It’s not what it looks like!"

From the other side came a very quiet voice.

"I know."

Eden froze.

"Really?"

"No."

"..."

Then he heard her footsteps disappear.

Eden slowly turned around.

Sylvia was still sitting comfortably on his bed.

She smiled.

Eden pointed at her.

"You are fixing this."

Sylvia blinked innocently.

"How?"

"I don’t know!"