I woke up, the pain was still there, but it was minimal. My gaze was fixed on the ceiling, the wood of the beam and the ceiling giving me a strange comfort I never would have expected.
"Mina!"
"You're awake! When you fell asleep, I was so scared, but luckily you somehow managed to keep your mask on. By continuing to use mana to regenerate."
I smiled at Maya, motioning for her to lie down beside me. She did so.
"Hahaha. Looks like I worried you a lot again. Sorry."
"Don't be. Anyone would have fallen asleep during the treatment too. What scared me was that you might remain crippled if your mask came off, but even though I don't know how, you managed to keep it on even in your unconscious state."
I thought for a moment and decided to reveal a small truth about why, though, of course, not everything.
"Actually, I can split my thoughts into multiple smaller thoughts. Even while asleep, a tiny part of my mind remained focused on the mask, but it was quite difficult to maintain."
"And another part on the mana for my regeneration."
"WHAT?!"
Maya looked extremely shocked!
"What?! What?! What's wrong, Maya?!"
"Do you even realize what that kind of talent means?!"
"Uh... What?"
"It's the best possible talent for magic!"
"With that, you can fight while simultaneously thinking about your next spell and even analyze your opponent to counter them effectively!"
"..."
I have a feeling I seriously underestimated this minor skill! To me, this skill was only useful for managing my characters easily while living my own life without disturbance, but it seems like I can get stronger without even enhancing anything with this ability?
"You're really incredible, Mina! This talent, plus your ability to grow stronger through battle! My girlfriend is simply amazing!"
"I think you're the incredible one, Maya. Without you, I wouldn't even be able to showcase a single one of my talents."
I truly mean it. Maya is an absolute genius. Creating a superior elemental heart for all the attributes her future Maskuomancer will have is just the beginning. An extremely powerful mask. Pentains of multiple elements—basically, Maya is an ultimate genius, and I'm clinging to her like a leech!
Speaking of which, I still need to make my romantic declaration!
After talking a bit more, she remained in my arms, both of us simply wanting to rest after all these emotions. We kept chatting, but only about lighthearted things.
I took the opportunity to check my Stellar System notifications.
[Congratulations! You helped kill your very first intermediate-lower monster! You earn 50,000 star points for this personal achievement!]
Damn… Just for helping in the kill, I got fifty thousand star points! How much would I have earned if I had killed it myself?
I'm not jealous or angry that I didn't land the final blow—after all, it was my girlfriend who did it, and I'm incredibly proud of her!
After a few more days, I had fully regenerated, allowing me to finally remove my Doll Mask!
Then, after a good meal, we talked about what happened while I was asleep.
"Not much. As for the goblins, a tamer managed to tame the goblin queen, but not the king. By the way, he put in a request at the Mage Tower."
"We also warned other regions. Some managed to counterattack in time, others were too late. I don't know much, but after you rest, we'll need to investigate."
"Alright."
I don't mind. She continued.
"We managed to interrogate one of the dark mages, but we didn't get much—he died by suicide through a curse if he revealed too much information."
"From what we do know, it seems like a master, their master, wants to take control of this country and possibly others as well. For now, we don't know more."
"Now for the good news! Do you remember our request for the Thousand-Faceted Flowers?"
"Yes?"
"In the goblin cave, there were tons of them! It seems they even help goblins achieve better rare reproduction, with evolved goblins being born directly."
"Not only does the mage from our request want them, but also the tamer!"
"Really?! How many do you have?"
"Earth protected them before the cave was destroyed, so we have plenty!"
"On top of that, the knight left behind two cores! They'll allow me to increase the power and improve the base considered extremely perfect for my pentains!"
"Whether it's for those of wood and life. And even for a future one with a bit of the death element!"
My eyes widened. Maya is really going to become even stronger with these two additional pentains!
"Incredible!"
After that, we decided to head to the Mage Tower for the two requests, bringing all our Thousand-Faceted Flowers with us.
By the way, we grabbed some snacks along the way. We couldn't help it—it looked too good! And we're both food lovers! We even laughed about it.
When we arrived at the Mage Tower's reception, the receptionist registered us before telling us something.
"The master mage and Mr. Vaelthorn are waiting for you in the master mage's office."
"Alright, we'll go right away. Thanks for letting us know."
The receptionist smiled.
"You're welcome. Have a great day!"
We took the elevator to the top of the Mage Tower, then knocked on the master mage's door.
"Enter!"