Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

"……Um."

Ivina's voice was barely audible, and she spoke in a hushed, whispered manner.

"Enough, enough! Now that you're awake, my care for you is over. See you tomorrow..."

She hurriedly scrambled off Rod, frantically stuffing her feet into her shoes—not even properly putting them on—and stumbled to the door.

At this moment, Rhodes spoke up:

"See you tomorrow, my friend."

She didn't respond, but instead ran out the door in embarrassment.

boom!

The door slammed shut in an instant, and Rod smiled helplessly.

The person he saved this time was the right one.

"So much fun," he commented wickedly, but his eyes quickly returned to calm, and the corners of his lips curled up.

"But things probably won't end that simply."

Since Cecilia had the courage to ask me to be her friend, it means there must be something wrong with this matter.

"Is it that even if Ivina has friends, she can't leave the Duke's mansion, or perhaps..."

His eyes flashed with deep thought, but he could never quite grasp the truth.

But he only understood one thing—

That means his relationship with Ivina has improved significantly, and the first condition for being able to spend time with her has been met.

The next step was to gain her trust and eventually successfully lead her out of the Duke's mansion.

To put it bluntly, as long as we really take her away, then whatever Cecilia's thoughts or schemes may be, it will all be meaningless.

Within the realm of academia, Professor Merrick is an invincible figure.

"Well, the rest is already clear. Now we might as well see how much I will improve after killing that old thing that has been upgraded three times."

Rod thought for a moment, and in an instant, the panel appeared before his eyes—

[Rhodes]

[Upgrade Level: Three times]

【property】:

Physical Fitness: 58→115

[Agility]: 41 → 101

[Physical Constitution]: 44→103

[Spirit]: 53 → 110

[Faith Deity: Outer God (Unique) (Abnormal)]

[Talent: You can fuse the characteristics of all other divine species to create entirely new talent skills.]

[Currently possesses the following divine seeds: God of Soul Evolution, God of Sky-Soaring Dragons, God of Life's Radiance]

【当前技能——【聆听巨龙之歌LV.1】【龙之心LV.1】【魂体增幅LV.1】【龙之剑LV.1】【生之力LV.1】【天眼.LV1】】

The gaze attribute made Rhodes clench his fist in disbelief.

"Upgraded three times?" He tilted his head and rubbed his eyes again as if he had misread it.

"No way? Her original attributes doubled... Just how strong is Daphne after her third upgrade?"

But upon closer reflection, one can imagine how horrific she was.

Putting everything else aside, even considering Felicity, who also leveled up three times, only suffered severe injuries from the close-range explosion of her seven super-powerful [Magic Crystals].

Even with her skin ulcerated and muscle fibers fused together, exposing her skeleton, she could still unleash a power level three times higher to fight him, and her strength was still greater than Rod's...

Thinking about it this way, he did indeed kill a terrible enemy, and it was only natural that he could break through to the third level by killing her.

It can be said that surviving a great calamity is sure to bring good fortune...

wrong.

The key point isn't that after three ascensions, does it mean he can fuse with a completely new divine seed?

Chapter 44 What Friends Should Talk About (Please read on! Meow~)

Rod came to his senses slightly, and his curiosity suddenly arose.

In fact, after fusing with three divine seeds, the descriptions of his skills were almost a hundred words each. If he were to fuse with more later, wouldn't it mean that he would have to write about ten or more effects for each skill...? How long would that be to describe?

"It feels very abstract, but the key question is... what should I fuse with for the next divine seed?"

At this moment, his eyes narrowed slightly, his hand supporting his chin, lost in thought.

The Twelve Gods.

If we truly expand on the names, aside from those already known, then there are these—

【God of the Wasteland】, 【God of the Dead】, 【God of Skill】, 【God of Elves】, 【God of Mystic Arts】, 【God of Dreams】, 【God of the Sea】, 【God of Ingenuity】.

The gods of this world are not fixed. As long as they have special characteristics, they are qualified to become gods once they obtain a divine position.

Therefore, it can be seen from the names of the gods that some gods are related to races, while others are simply special skills. In fact, everything depends on the characteristics of the god himself.

What kind of person is God, and what is the name of the divine position? That's all.

Ultimately, however, the remaining gods were almost all those with strong characteristics, so Rhodes was indeed in a dilemma when it came to making a choice.

"If there's no other choice, then let's choose this one."

【The Spirit God】.

Professor Merrick's divine seed—[Elf God].

Although elves must be of the elven divine race, not all elven divine races are elves. Due to regional characteristics, even among humans, there are many who worship elven gods.

The most distinctive feature of this divine race is its extreme antiquity and diversity.

Like the clay figure Professor Merrick used when repairing his apartment, it was a trivial creation of the divine.

However, precisely because of this diversity, it's impossible to know which aspect of skills can be acquired, such as [immortality], [creation], or [forest]. Therefore, this is a gamble-like upgrade, to see if Rhodes' skills can be improved after fusion.

Rhodes had already decided on his direction and began to activate his body's senses.

But suddenly,

dong dong dong-

Suddenly, the knocking on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly came back to his senses;

He was slightly taken aback. "Who is it?"

The person outside seemed a little embarrassed, but still knocked on the door, leaned against it, and said in a muffled voice:

“It’s me… Ivina.”

Rod raised an eyebrow.

This guy just ran away shyly, why is he back now?

Although he was puzzled, he still spoke up:

"Come in."

Naturally, every extra minute he spent with Ivina meant a greater chance of taking her away from here.

Although the barrier between him and Ivina has been broken, it doesn't mean that Ivina can overcome her inner problems and leave the Duke's mansion.

What Rhodes did was like a patient going from distrusting the doctor to trusting the doctor, but the patient's illness still existed.

Therefore, he now has to take action to solve this disease.

click-

The wooden door had just been opened and closed by Ivina two minutes ago, but now it's open again.

Her petite figure came into Rhodes's view. Her fingertips gripped the wooden door, only half of them visible. She looked a little timid. "Um... um, can I sleep here with you?"

Rhodes' eyes narrowed slightly.

Why?

"You blew up my room."

"cough."

Rhodes initially thought that Ivina, this little girl, really harbored some filthy thoughts, being so lustful even with a new friend, but after hearing the truth, he coughed.

"There are still so many empty rooms."

“My room is my domain! I can’t sleep in unfamiliar spaces,” Ivina shook her head like a kitten in denial. “I can only sleep if there are familiar things in the room.”

“But there’s nothing you’re familiar with in this room, is there?” Rhodes thought to himself.

Then, Ivina turned her face away and hid behind the door, pointing a finger at Rhodes—

Rod's face was blank as he pointed at himself.

"I?"

"you."

"……I?"

"You're the only one who's somewhat familiar with this stuff. I don't know if I can sleep, but I have to give it a try, right?! I don't want to stay up all night..." Her tone suddenly became a bit harsher.

"Ha... okay, it's nothing," Rhodes replied with a smile.

"Don't worry, I'm just sleeping in a chair. Don't think I'll actually sleep with you."

Ivina's sweet yet haughty voice rang out, and then she took small steps to the chair and sat down properly.

As Rhodes watched Ivina run over on her own, he only thought she was a bit clumsy, and that was all.

After all, she had said that, so how could I refuse?