Sitting on the floor, the two of them enjoyed a nice dinner by the fireplace. The fireplace was a much-needed asset for the brisk winter, and with a simple flick of her wrist, Eir could ignite it and warm the inside of the faction building. With the system providing so many upgrades, Bane was just waiting for the time when magic would become his own.
'Come to think of it, there were magical textbooks and grimoires at the library,' Bane thought, realizing the true power that books held.
"Ahh, that was delicious," Eir said, her voice cutting through the crackles of the fire. Falling onto her back, she put her arms behind her head and stared up at the ceiling. Bane nodded in agreement; the food was indeed delicious. For a simple soup and noodle dish, the flavors melded together perfectly.
Eir rested her eyes as she continued to lie on the floor. As soon as she heard the sound of Bane's bowl hitting the stone ground, she sat up, laser-focused on what was to come.
"You ready?" she asked eagerly.
Bane nodded. "Whenever you are."
"Yay!" Eir loved checking Bane's status for a variety of reasons. First, it was an excuse to touch Bane, even if it was only their foreheads touching—Eir loved it. Secondly, she enjoyed seeing Bane's growth laid out before her. Lastly, similar to the first reason, Eir liked the intimacy that checking a status brought. The two would touch heads and be sent to another world entirely; it was magical.
"Alright, get comfortable," Eir said.
Bane quickly shifted around until he was seated comfortably. "Alright, I'm ready." Bane wasn't the biggest fan of getting his status checked, though he thanked the system for it every day. First, he didn't like leaving his body and having his mind transported to Eir's "domain." Secondly, he always left that world freezing due to the ice shield Eir put up. Thirdly, it was a place where Eir could use all of her power. Bane was much more trusting of her now, but when they first met, he dreaded the thought of going back to her realm.
Eir knelt across from the young adventurer and slowly leaned in. She maintained eye contact for as long as she could before closing her eyes. Their heads joined, cooling Bane's forehead and warming Eir's for a split second as the two of them were encapsulated by ice.
As if waking up, Bane opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar white void. Soon, Eir entered the scene.
"Alright, I won't waste our time," Eir said simply. The goddess raised her hand, and a variety of symbols and numbers filled her view. Bane noted that there were significantly more than last time, which made sense given his new titles and skills.
"Amazing..." Eir muttered as she worked her way down the list of indecipherable characters. "So that's why you wanted to start reading..." Eir nodded as she arrived at Bane's skill, Proficient Reader, and its subsequent combination skill, Reader's Insight.
She flicked her hand and moved her arms around, causing the symbols to fly away effortlessly. She pushed them around or out of her vision when she was done and pulled one in when she found something of interest.
Even though Bane's mind was here, his body was still in the safety of the ice back in the faction building. He would allow her to look for a while longer, but soon he would have to cut her off.
Eventually, Eir pushed her hands down as if closing a box, and all the symbols and numbers disappeared into nothingness, leaving just the two of them in the white expanse.
"Thank you for letting me check," Eir said. Before Bane could answer, his vision fragmented like a mirror breaking, splitting Eir in two, and he returned to his body in the faction building. The protective ice barrier Eir had cast quickly melted away as she used fire magic to heat it up.
"I believe you could be the strongest," Eir said, avoiding eye contact with Bane after her praise. She continued, "Statuses like yours are only heard about in history books and myths. The number of skills and titles you have is nothing short of incredible."
"O-Okay..." was all Bane could muster at his tsundere goddess's praise. Bane was humble but knew he was a league above everyone else at his level. He had beaten Luna with ease, and with help from Mr. Grey and the system, he could be the best.
"Anyway! I'm going to read," Eir abruptly changed the subject and moved away from Bane, sitting on the bed.
Like an old married couple, the two of them lay in bed together, reading their own stories. Neither made a peep aside from the occasional page turn and rustle of the bed covers. Eir was having the time of her life; she never thought Bane would settle down enough to spend a night simply reading together.
Bane, on the other hand, was starting to remember why reading wasn't his thing. With the excitement of a new skill gone, the only thing keeping him going was Eir. He knew she appreciated time like this and didn't want to ruin it for his own selfish reasons.
As the moon rose and the faction building darkened, the two of them eventually had to put their books down. Or rather, Eir had to. Bane's night vision meant he could read in the dark, but Eir had to deal with lighting. She could summon a flame, but she didn't want to risk burning the book, herself, Bane, or the faction building.
"Alright, Bane, I'm going to bed," Eir said, turning and pulling the covers up to her chin.
"Okay, goodnight. I'm going to bed as well."
"Okay... Augh. Goodnight." A yawn cut through Eir's sentence as the two of them prepared for sleep. Bane wasn't very tired mentally—he'd been busy with the people he met and the reading. But physically, he was in good shape. 'It's going to be hard to fall asleep...' Bane thought as he stared up at the ceiling.
Recently, Eir had been sneaking over to Bane's side of the bed to cuddle up with him because of the cold weather. Tonight was no different. It seemed she waited a little longer or woke up and chose to make her move, because a few hours into the night, Eir whispered, "Bane..." And so, like the past few nights, Bane let Eir curl up next to him as he kept staring at the ceiling. Unable to move and left with just his thoughts, he tried a trick his mom had told him about.
"Count sheep," Bane's mother used to say. She claimed it would help him fall asleep, but every time Bane tried, it only seemed to make it worse. Nonetheless, Bane tried again, and after counting up to a few hundred sheep, he finally passed out.
Bane awoke at his usual time to the groggy, grey skies of winter in Gren. The warmth from Eir, the covers, and the fireplace made him yearn for more sleep. 'I can't skip again,' he thought.
Bane was eager for a few things today. Mainly, he wanted to see what happened with Weapon Mastery. It was a section of the system he had unlocked a short time ago and hadn't had a chance to fully understand.
With that and seeing Winter driving him, Bane carefully moved Eir off of him and reluctantly slipped out from under the covers. Dressing in his usual garb, he whispered a goodbye to his sleepy goddess and made his way to the Guild Hall.
'There's only one good thing about this time of year: snow. It's pretty and fun to play with, but we can't even get that. It's just freezing winds and leafless, ugly trees,' Bane thought as he sneered at the drab surroundings. He let out a sigh and trudged on, "Ah..."
His day got marginally better as he had his almost daily chat with Winter. The two talked briefly about nothing important, and soon they said their goodbyes. That left Bane to the reason he was here: his descent into the dungeon.
Under normal circumstances, he would have fast-traveled straight to the entrance of floor seven, but he wanted to try out his combined skill, Reader's Insight. Last night, he had made it to floor four in the book and could test it out on anyone from those floors.
But he had to account for Luna. She had been a thorn in his side recently, tracking his movements and following him around. So, Bane deemed it best to keep up appearances by letting her see him enter the dungeon. Then, he would use his combined skill and fast-travel to the entrance of floor seven.
So with a good plan thought up, Bane set it in motion as he walked down, down, down into the deep dark abyss that was the dungeon.