Chapter 146: Just Having Fun [3]
"I... didn’t expect that ending." Selene, who was now glowing, muttered as she closed the last book of the novel with complex expression.
I had a similar reaction regarding the end of the novel. And judging by Elara and Liora’s faces, they seemed to be the same as us.
Elara suddenly hit her head on the table and roared: "Why did the author make an open ending this early! He didn’t even make the protagonist kiss the heroine yet!"
Liora squinted her eyes. "Why do you want to see them kiss that much? That’s not even the novel’s main focus."
"Because I like romance! That’s really frustrating."
As Elara and Liora kept arguing, I shifted my gaze to my bracelet and looked at the time.
’7pm. It’s been more than 7 hours already.’
Time really passes quickly when you are deeply focused on something.
In the last hours, we finished all the novel’s volumes and had fun discussing some parts of it, which was the main reason we spent all this time reading the last volumes.
Of course, I was more invested in reading them to see if I’d see something that could tell if Ivan was a reincarnator or not.
I wanted to see something like a reference, a famous line or even a real historical event, but there were no such things unfortunately. Only the Victorian style made me keep him as a potential reincarnator.
I had already made a mental note to make an encounter with him soon. I only had to think for a way to clarify my doubts without exposing myself.
Ivan was far stronger than me currently, and I couldn’t ensure that the other reincarnators would have the same goal as me. In the worst case, he might become an enemy instead of an ally.
As I was lost in thoughts, Selene suddenly held my hand and stood up. "Let’s go out of this place, we still have 2 other places to visit before ending the day."
"Sure, boss. Lead the way, I’m all yours today." I stood up with a smile as I followed her.
We first returned the book before paying for all the coffee we bought. The owner seemed to be very happy, very likely because I almost finished all the coffee that he had.
What could I say? I really liked coffee, especially while reading novels. I admit that I was addicted to coffee, but I wasn’t planning to change this.
Afterwards, we began to move back to the Exalted Academy’s direction, which confused me slightly, but I didn’t mind — I just had to trust her for now.
As she was speaking with Elara in our way, I had no choice but to think back to my feelings toward her.
I hated to admit it but... maybe I had to ask a professional in that aspect because of how clueless I was. I needed someone that either had an understanding of emotions or love.
But did I know such a person?
I glanced at Elara, she seemed to be a good choice. From my interactions with her until now, I could say that even though she wasn’t in love with anyone, she at least might be understanding it slightly, she seemed to be open minded about love and romance.
My second option was Limitless, which was actually the best one. He already had a girlfriend that was even years older than him. Although I wasn’t very close to him, I could make an excuse to meet him and ask about his love life. I would need to give him a free meal in my store in the worst case.
As for looking for someone professional in emotions, I couldn’t think of anyone like this. There were some people with affinities about emotions, like my former therapist, Braham, who had harmony affinity, but I didn’t know such a person in the academy.
There were probably a few people like that, but I couldn’t just go around and ask everyone about their affinities.
"Oh, we have almost arrived, prepare your bracelet." Selene said, pulling me into a direction far from the academy.
I didn’t show my confusion until I finally understood after a few moments. "Cultivation Academy?"
Selene nodded. "There is a famous store there and a small event made by the students. You will understand soon."
After a few minutes of walking, we finally entered the gate that led to the Cultivation Academy and stepped into it after getting scanned — including Glutton — by the guards.
It had a similar structure to the Exalted Academy, with a forest surrounding the place and a city surrounded by long walls.
After passing through more guards, we finally stepped into the inner academy as I began to examine it.
It looked way too similar to the Exalted Academy, with buildings and stores mainly owned by students, but unlike us, they had more... public spaces.
In the Exalted Academy, I had rarely seen public spaces like the parks, but as we moved through the Cultivation Academy, I had seen them more often.
There were also a few special places like plazas, normal libraries and I had even noticed a public pool!
Seeing all that, I realized that the Exalted Academy was heavily focused on fighting and students’ independence.
Although that was a good thing to make us more focused on our personal growth, I still felt they were exaggerating on that. But who was I to decide? That was their problem.
"Haa... we have finally arrived." Elara exhaled, looking tired as she stared at the building in front of us.
’A mall?’ I stared confusedly at the large mall before us, but I still didn’t say anything, letting Selene drag me inside.
It was strange.
The place was filled with multiple stores, but they didn’t have the same quality of the stores in the Exalted Academy. The cultivators didn’t have access to mana, thus their products lacked when compared to us.
There were a few mana artifacts here and there, but they were rare.
A few moments later, we stood before a big store filled with many people. It was a clothes store.
I frowned as I looked at Selene and asked: "Is this the famous store you wanted to visit?"
Selene smiled. "Yes, it is. You always wear the same thing, so I wanted to buy something new for you and me. W-We can even match our clothes..."
"....I can help you with that if you want." Liora’s eyes glowed as she suggested, and Elara nodded while offering to help us too.
My confusion only increased after hearing them. There were many similar stores in the Exalted Academy, so why this one out of all?
Judging by the amount of people on it, I could say that it was indeed too famous, but what was so special about it?
We stepped into the store, and soon after, we were met by an elf girl, who seemed to be working there.
I noticed that her eyes scanned us rapidly from head to toes before her lips curled into a smile.
’Maybe she is taking our sizes.’ I thought as she began to talk.
"How can I help you today? Is there something specific in your mind? If you don’t, I can suggest some outfits that I think will suit you based on my experience."
"Yes, give us some suggestions!" Elara said, looking too excited,
Then Liora continued instead of her as she calmly ordered while pointing at me and Selene: "We want more than 2 suggestions for each one of us and let us choose. Additionally, the clothes of these 2 must complete each other."
The elf woman looked at us as her smile widened. "Oh my, we have a beautiful couple here? Give me a few minutes."
"We aren’t a coup—" Selene tried to say that we weren’t a couple, but the woman was already far away before she could continue.
I patted her head to comfort her while scanning the store, understanding the reason behind its fame immediately.
’It’s more focused on appearance.’
By just a simple glance on the clothes, I knew instantly their abilities by examining the hidden runes on them.
None of these clothes had good abilities inscribed on them. They had things like self repair, self clean and environment resistance, which were almost useless in a fight.
In other words, this place was selling beautiful clothes, not good artifacts. Even the customers here were all either couples or nobles.
After a few minutes, the woman returned with some beautiful outfits floating above her. Then, she pointed at many red and green doors at the end of the store and said: "The rooms there are changing rooms. If the door is red, then someone is there, and if it’s green, then it’s empty. You can enter there to try on the outfits."
The floating outfits flew to us, then she smiled playfully, looking at me and Selene, and winked: "You can also go there with your partner, you know, if you want them to help you."
Fuck that bitch!
I ignored her and acted as if I didn’t hear anything. How the hell could she say something like that without hesitation? I didn’t care that much, but what about Selene?
"Cough... I’ll try this first, you should try the one matching it." Selene said as she randomly picked an outfit and went into a room, then Liora and Elara did the same.
I took the one that matched Selene’s outfit and went into the room that was behind her.
Now, we only had to try them and pick the best ones.