New proposal

"Hmm..."

Inside his room, Mark drummed his finger on the desk thoughtfully. He had woken up relatively early and was already ready to go to the dungeon, but he had several thoughts to organize.

The party the day before could only be described as pure chaos. The various members were happy about his recovery, but Mark believed they simply wanted to celebrate by drinking barrels of alcohol.

"By mid-evening hardly anyone could stand up..." -With a bitter laugh, he thought back to the events that had occurred.

Obviously, he was fine because he hadn't been drinking. Mark had never been much of a drinker, even when he was on Earth. Occasionally at parties, he would let himself go a little, but since his reincarnation, he had not had a drop of alcohol for fear that it would interfere with his judgment.

But leaving that part out, Mark obtained several pieces of information about what happened after he was admitted, including Bete's reconciliation with the others, which did not interest him much, the conclusion of all events, and the status of the key to access Knossos.

"Although I would have liked to see that psychopath's dying face, I think it is good that the matter was concluded quickly. The problem now is the key."

Mark wanted to strangle Bete for that. During his outburst of anger, he had obliterated Valletta and the key she had in her possession, while the key that the goddess Ishtar had, there was not the slightest shadow, confirming the theory that it too had been destroyed or was in the possession of the goddess Freya.

The moral of the story was that after all the problems they had faced, they were back to square one. At the very least, with Valletta's death, Evilus was unlikely to have the chance to act outside Knossos, giving them time to devise other plans.

There was another positive fact, however, concerning Mark's status 'updated' by Loki the night before.

#########################################

[NAME]: Mark Tormeto

[AGE]: 18

[LV]: 3

[BASIC ABILITIES]:

Strength: I 0->B 810 (1300 + 1248)

Endurance: I 0 -> C 750 (1200 + 1150)

Dexterity: I 0-> A 915 (1250 + 1500)

Agility: I 0 -> A 950 (1400 + 1555)

Magic: I 0 -> A 900 (1600 + 1490)

[DEVELOPMENT ABILITIES]:

Falna perception (B)

Falna manipulation (B)

Monster perception (C)

Abnormal resistance (I)

Slayer (I)

[MAGIC]:

-electricity control: allows control over electric mana.

(electric dart O / electric explosion O / electric javelin O / flashbang O / snake shock O)

[SKILLS]:

-Golem heart:

(active) Turns off your human side and increases your statistics by 50(corruption risk) (when used in conjunction with 'limit break' double corruption) (Statistics increases by 50 for every 5% of corruption) (corruption 22%).

(passive) Makes it easier to distinguish the nature of people.

-Limit break (lv1):

(active) doubles the gains but you will suffer double the pain (it can only be activated before fighting if deactivated it will negate any kind of gain).

-Intent:

(active) you can convey your intent to others whether it is bloodlust or courage.

-Aura

(Reinforcement): uses internal energy to make the body more resistant.

(Infusion): infuses the aura into the matter in which the body interacts, increasing its performance.

#########################################

(Reminder that Loki cannot see golem's heart)

It had been a little over a month since he had leveled up and his stats had risen well, even if he had gone to the dungeon less than usual. But thanks to the events he had been forced to face, he had achieved good results.

"Considering that it took me about two months to reach level 3, I'm already at a good point. However, I now have to seriously consider how to train abnormal resistance, even though I was poisoned by the basilisk it didn't go up in rank."

[This is because in addition to being significantly weaker than before, it was not your body that disposed of it, but someone else's magic].

Besides the fact of the possibility that 'abnormal resistance' could slow down the corruption process, Mark realized the importance of this ability after almost dying from poisoning.

Of course, Mark knew that considering the deadliness of the basilisk's venom, it would be impossible at his current level to be immune to it, but he could have withstood the effects better.

"I'll see what I can come up with, but for 'slayer' I don't know what to do. It doesn't seem like someone received it before me, so I don't know the way to make it grow. Do you think I have to face boss-level monsters alone? After all, after facing Goliath I got it."

[Most probably so.]

'sigh.'

There were still many things he had to do, and the addition of his decision to start interacting better with others made him tired just thinking about it.

There were two types of rationality in Mark's head. The corrupt, coldly calculating one, which aimed at his goal regardless of the price, and the human one, which tried to keep him from becoming an apathetic psychopath towards his surroundings. And it was the latter that advised him to make a connection with someone before he forgot how to do so.

'I don't want Selene, once resurrected, to shudder every time she looks at me... I'd better think of something else.'

With his mental briefing concluded, Mark got up and left his room.

Walking through the luxurious but quieter-than-usual corridors, Mark wondered if the others were still dealing with the effects of the hangover, and as if to confirm his theory, he saw Raul hurriedly running towards the toilets while holding his mouth pale.

"Hehehe Aiz... Why are your boobs harder than usual? Hehehe."

On his way to the entrance of the building, he saw Loki hugging a half-asleep statue with a lascivious expression while murmuring strange things.

"And to believe that something like this is considered a deity." -He said with a grimace.

[...Truly disappointing.]

After a moment's hesitation, he still decided to leave a message to let her know he was going to the dungeon, and without anything else to disturb him, he left the building.

Taking a breath of fresh morning air, he felt much more energetic, and he did not seem to be the only one, as life in the city had already started to get going.

"First, I should... what is she doing there?"

As he walked towards the fence surrounding the base, he saw someone familiar repeatedly walking from side to side in front of the gate.

'clank'

"!"

The figure, who was deep in thought, only noticed Mark's presence once she heard the sound of the gate opening, catching her off guard.

"To what do I owe the visit Zoe?" -With a relaxed expression he greeted Zoe.

The figure, or rather Zoe, seemed to recover quickly from her panic once she was called by name and answered him, albeit awkwardly.

"I actually came to tell you something... do you mind if we move to a more secluded area, though?"

"...Ok." -Although confused, Mark had no reason to refuse.

The two moved to a quieter area, not far from where they had been before, and there, Zoe handed him a box he had noticed before.

"This is?"

"A box containing potions. There are ten of them and all grade E, including seven healing and three pain resistance... it's a gift." -Zoe said after a deep breath.

More than a week had passed since the incident between her and Mark, and she had finally worked up the courage to apologize for her behavior.

Zoe actually felt quite uncomfortable about it. She had never been in a situation where she had to apologize to someone for something she had done. She sought advice from her mother, who simply told her that if she understood the mistake she had made, all she had to do was sincerely apologize and the gift was nothing more than a manifestation of her sincerity.

"I am sorry for how I behaved last time and how it made you uncomfortable, but I still hope you will accept my apology and our relationship will return to how it was before."

She emptied everything in her mind with the utmost sincerity, hoping that her words would reach him as she looked at him intently.

Contrary to her expectations, however, Mark looked at her confusedly.

"Zoe, sorry, but what are you talking about?"

"Hah?" -Zoe was momentarily speechless, but recovered quickly, replying to him by stammering.

"W-What do you mean you don't understand, I-I'm talking about that night and the thing with Haruhime!"

"...Oh, that, completely forgotten." -Said Mark with a shrug.

If it wasn't for the fact that Zoe had reminded him of it, he would surely have erased it from his memory, but it wasn't his fault. First of all, he had never given too much weight to the conversation, and then with everything that had happened and with what was still to come, that event fell into the background.

Zoe was once again speechless, but she would not give up.

"T-then why did you look so angry?!"

"I would say more annoyed, but even then, I was thinking mostly about something else."

"I-Impossible... wait, then why haven't you shown up the last few days?" -She looked at him suspiciously.

"I was in a coma."

"Coma?!"

Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Mark explained what had happened, trying to get as little specific as possible, and confirmed that he was not avoiding her because he was angry, he simply could not because he was in a coma.

"I think today is the most embarrassing day of my life..."

Crouching on the floor, Zoe hoped she would sink to the ground out of embarrassment. She had misunderstood everything from the start, and as an addition, she had given away ten potions unnecessarily.

"See the bright side." -Said Mark, trying to cheer her up.

"...Which one?" - Zoe asked, still crouching.

"Now I have ten potions and I saw a pretty funny scene. A nice way to start the day, don't you think?"

Zoe glared at him, but after a sigh, she returned to normal. There was no point in remaining dejected, the important thing was that the relationship between the two would continue.

"As I told you in the past, sooner or later, you will enrage even a saint." -She said with a sigh.

"I doubt it." -He had met the Saint and didn't think he looked bad.

"If you say so. Anyway, I was curious about something."

"What?"

"The opponent you faced had to be strong to put you in a coma for a week."

Although Mark sometimes seemed frivolous, Zoe knew he was not weak, which was why she became curious.

"It was actually because of the bad luck of the situation I found myself in and not because of my opponent. That piece of shit poisoned me, that's why I ended up in a coma." -Just thinking about that infuriated him.

"What kind of poison?"

Ignoring Mark's frowning, Zoe's eyes sparkled with interest at the mention of poison, making Mark uncomfortable as well.

"...An old and powerful one, personally I don't want to talk about it." -The memory of his blood that seemed to have caught fire was enough to give him nightmares for a long time.

Seeing Mark's expression, Zoe realized it was better not to ask any more. She had already made the mistake of going too far with her approach.

"From what I understand, you know something about poisons."

Hearing Mark's question, Zoe nodded.

"Of course. As a potions alchemist, I need to recognize poisons and how to treat them." -She said proudly.

"And do you also know how to create them?"

"Yes, but I don't want to become a tool for your revenge." -She said seriously.

"Revenge? No, nothing like that. The poison is for me."

"??"

Unlike Zoe's confusion, a light bulb lit up over Mark's head once he discovered that she could create poisons.

Abnormal resistance' did not only offer resistance against poison, but against any form of abnormal state, be it heat, cold, or even paralysis, and in front of him, there was the existence that could subject him to all of them, speeding up the process.

"Let me explain what I have in mind and what I can offer you."

Mark explained what he intended to do and what Zoe's role would be, and the more she listened, the stranger her expression became until she could no longer resist.

"You know this sounds really stupid, right?"

"I am aware of that. So, do you accept?"

After a moment of reflection and looking into Mark's enigmatic eyes, she accepted the offer and shook his hand. That would have been the perfect opportunity to improve the trust between the two, making it easier to talk to him about her problem.

It seemed that the next few days would be quite busy.