Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach looked at Nora, who was sitting opposite him in the carriage.

"Are you alright, Nora?" He asked in a whisper.

"I am fine, Young Master. How are you feeling?" She returned without looking up. Even the faint light trickling through the gaps between the curtains and the windows was enough to make her wince. The occasional bumps in the road that made the carriage jerk also drew lines on her forehead. Read new chapters at empire

The corner of Zach's lip rose slightly. She was clearly not fine. However, she was too prideful to admit that. Still, the fact that she had gone out of her way to hire someone to drive the carriage was proof that she was not in a good condition.

"I'm perfectly fine. My—" Zach's jaws snapped shut.

'Right.'

World essence energy was restricted information. It sucked he couldn't tell even Nora, considering how close she was to him. But she understood. He hadn't been able to talk about it since he got it, only being able to say that it was good energy, so she was used to Zach forgetting it and trying to talk about it with her.

"...My energy treated the alcohol like poison and neutralized it pretty quickly. It also got rid of any aftereffects." Zach shrugged.

He couldn't get drunk.

Zach was pretty sure he heard Nora curse him in her mind but that wasn't possible, so he ignored it and leaned back in his seat. He was finally returning to the Academy. His mind started wandering.

He wondered if Monolith was still standing in the ruins of Basilia, silently waiting for the world to change. He wondered if Mandra's addition would be enough to defeat him. He wondered about what the Great Ugor had planned by stationing him there.

He wondered what else they would have to face during their fourth and hopefully last year at the Academy.

He wondered how the others had done in the East and Labyrinth of Jira. Hopefully, they had seen some progress.

Zach sighed. He just wanted to be done with this whole Underworld thing and explore the world or something.

He wondered how the baby and his family were doing.

The last month or two had let Zach relax and focus on himself. He hadn't needed to think about anything else other than what was right in front of him, which, at times, had been nothing but his maids.

It would be an exaggeration to say he had found inner peace. But he had managed to organize his chaotic thoughts and prepare for another stressful year. The Empress Dowager's existential push that let him view himself from an outside perspective also helped him see what he needed to focus on and how far he had come.

Compared to three years ago, he was a completely different person, in body and mind. His current self could snap his past self in half with a wave of his hand. His muscles were dense and hard like rock and stone. His energy was powerful but subdued like a dormant volcano. His mind was sturdy and resilient like a lighthouse.

His contract skills were a little out of sync. Blessed Defense was honed to the limit of what he could do right now. Material Extraction was not yet perfect, but it consistently produced results beyond what any alchemist other than Alzara could ever hope to replicate.

Transcension was empty.

Eyes of Truth…

Zach glanced at Nora for a moment. He threw as dark a barrier as he could over her eyes as he opened the carriage door and slipped onto the roof with his familiars, who were sitting in their separate corners without exchanging a word.

However, while it looked like they were equally distant from each other, Zach could feel a pattern to the tension on the ceiling's roof. Yanael, Alzara, and Soara were united in their wariness of Mandra.

The four battle maids glanced at Zach, silently awaiting his orders or where he would sit down. There was noticeable disappointment from the other three when he sat next to Mandra.

"Master," she said. Zach stopped her from getting up. Mandra was still a freshie and cared about formality and showing respect. There was no need for that.

"Mandra, I'm curious about my contract skill."

"Eyes of Truth…"

Zach nodded.

Mandra's gaze grew distant as she looked toward the horizon.

"...That name is also one of the names of the ability that helped me finalize my transformation into an Archon."

Zach's eyes widened. If his skill was the same as Mandra's ability, it meant he could rely on it to reach a level similar to Mandra's peak without anything else.

'That's insane.' Zach didn't voice his thoughts. Mandra's expression told him there was more to it than that.

"For me, it was both a blessing and a curse, and it was only a blessing because I indulged in the practice of magic."

'There it is. The catch.' Zach nodded with a serious expression.

He wasn't a mage. If it was the same for him as it was for Mandra, that meant it would be a curse more than anything. However, no matter how a skill appeared on the surface, Zach knew that it would never be anything bad or detrimental to him.

The contract skill was a byproduct of the contract between him and his familiar. It was the manifestation of their union. The connection between a master and a familiar was anything but detrimental to the master. Naturally, the contract skill was the same.

It could be complex and difficult to use, but never bad.

"So, what does it do, this ability of yours?" Zach asked. He needed details to determine how much time he should set aside to learn it. If it was something he coulduse at once, he needed to devote a lot of time to it. If it was something more like Transcension, there were other things that were more important.

"Like the name says, Master, they are eyes that let you see the truth."

"The truth?" Zach questioned, asking for more details.

But Mandra just nodded. What more was there to say? He would see the truth of whatever he looked at with those Eyes.