25 Knowledge

"So ready to talk?" Reyna asked.

Riku stared at her and said, "You are going to get me killed, you know that."

"Oh? how so?" She said.

"If people know I just kissed royalty, ill die!" Riku Whispered.

"Oh calm down, it wasn't a kiss, I just gave you a peck on the cheek. And who decided for me who I can be close to?" Reyna said.

"As long as it wasn't on the lips you are fine. otherwise, you'd have to marry me. Unless my parents don't like you, then you'll die."

"But I can give you one on the lips if you want?" She said in a teasing tone.

"N-No thank you!" Riku replied.

"Man your no fun." She said.

"Now what did you mean by you absorb things?" She asked.

"It's like I said, I can absorb mana from objects," Riku said.

"Really?" Reyna said.

She then pulled a mana bloom flower out of nowhere.

"Absorb this then," she said.

"Where did you get that?" Riku asked.

"Spatial Ring," Reyna said while showing a white and blue ring.

"You don't have one?" she asked.

"No i don't" Riku said.

"Weird I swear I saw you pull something out of mid-air." She said.

'She must be talking about the inventory. I should get a spatial ring to cover that up.' Riku thought to himself.

"I can give you one if you want." She said while pulling out another ring from her pocket.

"You have more? Why is that one in your pocket, and not the ring?" Riku asked.

"Putting a spatial ring inside a spatial ring can cause a collapse, making both of them not work properly." She said.

"Ah, that makes sense. But can I have it?" Riku asked.

"Sure, but this has my family insignia on it. meaning you'd have to swear to never be enemies with my family." Reyna said.

There were a couple more restrictions on it, but Reyna kept it secret.

"I couldn't be enemies with my friend," Riku said.

Reyna smiled when she hear that.

"Then here you go," Reyna said while handing the ring to Riku.

Riku slid the ring on his finger and was greeted with a system message.

<The spatial ring has been disabled to keep the inventory safe.>

Riku thought that was fine since the inventory was better, and he only grabbed the ring so he wouldn't look suspicious.

"Now you owe me," Reyna said.

"That I u do," Riku replied.

"Now show me this absorption thing, I want to see it!" Reyna said.

"Fine..." Riku replied.

He then picked up the mana bloom and tried to absorb it, but the system stopped him.

<Absorbing any more mana will hurt the host.>

'Ah right forgot about that. Increase my endurance and intelligence by 10' Riku said to the system

<Intelligence: 36 -> 46>

<Endurance: 35 -> 45>

<Remaining AP: 36 -> 16>

Riku then tried to absorb the flower again

<Mana +20>

The mana bloom then lost its glow and shriveled up.

"Woah amazing! You really absorbed it!" Reyna said as she grabbed the shriveled flower out of Rikus's hand.

She stared at it for a second then turned to Riku.

"This is amazing...But I won't lose! I'll get stronger too you'll see!"

She then bolted out of the library with a smile on her face.

'She's a strange one...' Riku thought to himself.

He then walked up to the books and gathered a few such as a book of Botany, a monster encyclopedia, and a guide about dungeons, and sat back down.

'So how does this work do I just tell you to scan it?'

<Yes.>

'You know I never got to ask, but did that system upgrade give you emotions or something?'

<Yes, but not all of them. The system needs another upgrade for that.>

'what emotions do you have?'

<Anger, sadness, annoyance.>

'True that's pretty obvious.'

Riku then placed his hand over the botany book and asked the system to scan it.

<Do not remove your hand. This will take a while.>

'How long?' Riku asked.

<10 Minutes minimum.>

'Why so long!' Riku shouted in his head.

<Because the host has very low intelligence.>

'Did you just call me dumb?'

<You said it.>

Riku couldn't come back with a remark so he just stayed silent while the system scanned the book.

After about 15 minutes the system notified him.

<Scan complete, Do you wish to put the knowledge in your head now or later?>

'Now of course.'

<The system will impart the knowledge later>

'Wait I said now!'

<The system is doing you a favor. All that information at once will hurt. And you will scream.>

'Huh, then why did you give me the option?'

<The system wanted to test the host's intelligence.>

"You!" Riku said aloud.

"SHHHHHH!" Said the people in the library.

"Sorry!" Riku said softly.

'This system update made you annoying.'

<Then hit the next update to solve this.>

Riku grumbled and proceeded to put his hand over the monster encyclopedia and asked it to scan.

After about 20 minutes it finished.

He then did the same for the dungeon guide which only took 10 minutes.

After that, he left the library, grabbed some food at the cafeteria, then headed back to his room.

Once inside he sat on his bed and asked the system "Can we start now?"

<Yes.>

Suddenly without warning, a bunch of knowledge started running into Riku's head.

The system wasn't lying about the pain. Riku was on the bed screaming.

He was glad that the dorm rooms were soundproof.

Riku was on the verge of passing out.

<Do not pass out, or we have to do this again when you wake up.>

"THIS IS TORTURE!" Riku screamed.

<Would you like me to make it less painful?>

"YES PLEASE!"

<Using Remaining Ap into control>

<Control: 32 -> 48>

<Remaining AP: 0>

The pain Riku felt was still extremely painful, but he wasn't screaming anymore.

The system finally finished after about 3 more minutes.