Soul Enchantments

Three months had passed since I entered the dimension where I was wedded to Brana, yet the solution to clear the exam remained elusive. My skills and abilities proved futile here, leaving me perplexed and frustrated.

After a week of relentless attempts, desperation drove me to a drastic measure - attempting to end my virtual life to trigger a reset to the last checkpoint. Alas, my efforts were in vain as I couldn't reduce my own HP, which meant I was imprisoned here.

Days turned into weeks, and Brana and I assumed the roles of a makeshift family - communicating, tending to the house, and taking care of our 'baby.' I even secured a job at a local store, seeking solace in the routine amidst the sudden family life I had been thrown into.

I thought for sure that I wouldn’t be able to escape from here by graduation, effectively failing the Love School. I even missed the quest our party sat the eyes on. At first, I threw tantrum - breaking random stuff in our garage or coming to the nearby lake to scream from the top of my lungs out of frustration… but I was soon forced to accept my fate.

Therefore, I gave up.

…

I must have been blind.

I thought everything was normal.

But as I was sitting by a window on a rainy say, my ‘wife’ approached me, inquiring how we should spend the evening.

I didn’t know.

It might have been then, that I truly realized that Brana’s smiles had been scarce. And that her eyes were… empty. Void of their usual spark.

Was this how a marriage was supposed to be?

It struck me that she got used to me being by her side every day. She would get up early to make breakfast before just to surprise me with something nice. Though I couldn’t actually taste the food, it was still kind of her.

But now… A gnawing fear crept in. Could my real life relationship with Laska suffer a similar fate? Would passion and affection wane over time?

Then, the revelation hit me – I’d been behaving the same way towards Brana right now! Just because she was not my crush that I had to impress, nor a girlfriend that I wanted to make stay by my side, I acted with no spark!

Our relationship just fell flat. And the longer I stayed here, the more obvious it became.

Laska… if we ever marry each other, I will never allow you to feel this way!

“Brana!”

I rose on my feet as my voice reverberated through the house.

“Leave our little NPC no. 48 with your parents and get dressed!”

“W-wha- … what’s this all of a sudden?” She was letting our baby drink milk from the bottle, sitting in a kitchen, when her face finally showed some emotion, even if it was just confusion.

"You've been the one cooking all this time. Let me return the favor with a dinner out!"

“Why? Is my cooking not to your liking anymore?

“No! I love your cooking! But it’s tiring, right? Let’s just relax for today!”

After months… her HP bar finally flickered, if only by 2%.

That’s the smallest damage I’ve seen so far but I’ll take it!

Funny thing is that we did go for a dinner before but nothing had happened. Was it because I had to clear up my intentions? And only after I fully understood my mission here, I could finally defeat my wife?

Anyways, it took another month and went really slowly, but after more dates, small gifts, and mainly paying attention to her needs, I was able to pass the exam.

[Opponent’s HP dropped to zero.]

[‘Marriage’ Exam: Cleared.]

[You are being transported back to the training grounds.]

***

[Second stage of the Soul Enchantment ‘Whisper of Hearts’ reached. ‘Thousand Voices’ unlocked.]

[You are now able to scan your surroundings to read the minds of living things.]

To my surprise and relief, Svet-sensei and some other students awaited back in the main dimension.

I almost cried tears of joys to know that the Love School hadn’t finished yet.

“Sensei… I am so glad to see you after four long months. Is it possible to retake the final exam? I don’t need a lecture if you don’t have time for it! I will think of something to clear it!” I bowed my head deeply, pleading for another chance to clear the final exam so I could graduate.

“What ya talking ‘bout, dude?”

“I was gone for four months, so I thought I missed everything…?”

“Aren’t you a little dummy, ahahah! That dimension is completely separated from our time laws. It was supposed to take you that long. Every single student ‘spent’ between two to six months on average there. So it’s all good, you’ve been gone for like 30 minutes our time, heheh.”

“Whaaaaaaat?” I almost hit the ground with my dropped jaw.

“Yeaaaaah, heheheh.”

“Oh, hey, Kiss! You haven’t gotten any older during the two years I was gone!” Laska suddenly called out to me from behind my back.

“Two years?!”

She was supposed to be smarter than me!

***

The leader of our party, Burka, had summoned us to the forest to discuss strategy for our upcoming quest that was going to start tomorrow.

“So! Let’s review our current status!” Burka commenced the meeting. “Did everybody do their homework and become at least level 30 like we agreed?”

Oh shit. Good think I reached level 30 after that ‘Marriage’ exam, I completely forgot about this agreement!

“You know we can see what our levels actually are, Burka…” Nebo pointed out and yawned.

“Where’s the fun in that? I want everybody to present themselves properly! So you can start, Nebo!” Burka decided.

“Uhm… okay… I’m level 37, at 100 HP and 71 EP. My greatest strength is Intelligence according to my stats. My Soul Enchantment Ability is called Eternal Vow, the second stage is called Unbreakable Promise. This allows me to order something to my opponent and the order is continuously absolute.”

“Wow, that’s some broken ability! With this, we could even stop Plamen’s-“ I got a little too excited only to be halted by Nebo.

“I told you I have no intention of stopping Plamen.”

“R-right…”

“I wanna go next!” Laska raised her hand politely. “I’ve hit level 37 as of today, too, my HP is full but my EP is at 95. My strongest attributions are Emotional Intelligence and Physical Attraction!”

“Great, so none of it will be helpful in actual combat with the Brain Eater.” Burka let out a stingy remark. “So what about your Soul Enchantment?”

“My ability is called Caring Shield! I used to protect only one target but now, after reaching second stage, my ‘Infinite Wall’ can cover larger areas or multiple targets!”

“Okay, I guess that’s usable. How about you, ugly boy?”

“Stop calling me that!” I protested but it was hard to deny it matched my appearance perfectly, given the pitiful Physical Attraction stat. “I’ve reached level 30, my HP is currently 20 and EP 90. My strongest attribute is Charm. My ‘Whisper of Hearts’ ability is pretty great as it allows me to sense danger but I haven’t tested the second stage called ‘Thousand Voices’ yet. It appears I am able to read thoughts of people around me.”

“Woah, really? Scan us, Kiss! What are we thinking now?” Laska urged me to test it right away.

“Uhmmm, let’s see… ‘Whisper of Hearts, second stage: Thousand Voices’!”

[Soul Enchantment activated.]

Once I activated my ability, their voices flooded my mind. Granted, they overlapped, but I could still recognize what they were saying.

“Laska, you’re thinking about… no… you’re waiting for the right moment to throw your potion at me,” I stared her down.

“Oops, hehe…” She blushed and looked away.

“And as for you Burka and Nebo…”

“No, don’t do it!” Burka protested.

It was terrible. I couldn't possibly utter those kind of thoughts aloud.

“Your ability is kinda neat, you yourself could challenge Plamen with it and learn what his true goal is,” Nebo obviously tried to distract me from reading his thoughts.

I deactivated my Soul Enchantment to give them a break.

“You may be right but my ability doesn’t sound half as strong as Plamen’s Heartflip…”

“Okay, and as for me, your leader! I’m level 41, 100 HP, 80 EP! The strongest attributes are Charm and EQ. But get this… boys and gal. The second stage of my ‘Love Paralyze’ is actually a ‘Hypnosis’.”

“Wow, hypnosis?!” We shouted simultaneously in awe.

“Yep, hehe! We are claiming that otherworldly reward for ourselves!“

At that time, we felt invincible. Like some Champions of Romancia, ready for any challenge.

Everything was falling into place, especially with all those broken abilities we gained.

Which was exactly why… the betrayal hurt so much.

CHAPTER 16: END