Novaris. Septer. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. Waning Crescent ??. Day 1.

  Lili had taken him out of his thoughts the night before. So, Tesilim’s thoughts had not wandered too far into his past. However, the following morning, when Tesilim was relaxing in bed, waiting for inspiration to get up, he realized that it had taken him around three months to reach Mid D Rank. This made him wonder at what points his other team members were in their progression. He imagined they couldn't be too far ahead of him, since the higher someone progressed, the slower things became. And it was likely that to reach High D Rank, it would be at least another six months of constant work, or less if he pushed himself. After all, compared to others, Tesilim had spent most of his time fighting.

  Hearing Lili turn next to him, he turned to look, and their eyes met, prompting a sweet smile from her that he was happy to return.

  “Hey, gorgeous, sleep well?” He asked her, his voice slightly deeper right after waking up.

  “Mhmm,” She answered cutely, stretching and leaning over for a quick kiss before dropping her head on his chest.

  Enjoying the moment, Tesilim moved his arm around to play with her soft hair as they both lay there enjoying each other's warmth. They had plans for the day, but not of the training variety, having decided to leave off training for another day. As such, they could laze about as much as they wanted. Eventually, though, their silence was broken by Tesilim, who got curious about a particular aspect of his new world’s dating.

  “Hey, Lili, I am just realizing I don’t know many pet names. Back on Earth, we used babe, baby, sweetie, honey, doll, and a few others, but I am unsure if any of those work here.”

  “I think any of them work; I personally don’t care. I know some races have unique ones, but I have heard just about everything. So, feel free to call me whatever, as long as it doesn’t sound ugly.”

  “Hmm, okay. I do have another question: are you close to becoming a Mid C Ranker?”

  “Somewhat, probably by the time you reach High D Rank, I will be Mid C Rank, with the rest of our party very close to Low C Rank.”

  “Seriously, I am that behind?” Tesilim asked, worried he would get left behind.

  “Yes, but it's fine, you will catch up faster than you think. Catching up in rank is easy as long as you continue fighting. Of course, it helps that the higher rank one gets, the harder progress becomes.”

  “Is it really that hard? How long before we reach B Rank or higher?”

  “Well, by the time I am High C Rank, you guys would be Mid C Rank, then it won’t be long till I reach Low B Rank before you guys make it to High C Rank, and follow into Low B Rank before I am halfway to Mid B Rank. That is, as long as we keep up our current pace, and in total, it would be about two years after hitting C Rank to reach B Rank.”

  “What!?” Tesilim said, shocked, that it took such a short time. “That’s barely nothing! What about for A Rank?”

  “Well, at our pace of constant fighting, I would say about four years to reach A Rank, followed by six years for S Rank.”

  “I don’t know, that seems far-fetched. If it were that easy, wouldn’t there be S and A Rankers everywhere!?”

  “That’s the thing, there are plenty of A’s running around and a decent amount of S’s as well. The thing is, progressing requires combat, and many, many die on the way there. Even at the higher ranks, you can still run into plenty of powerful entities able to kill you.”

  “Hmm, I guess that makes sense,” Tesilim answered solemnly, remembering the Eldritch God alone had access to millions upon millions of aberrations, all at different ranks.

  After the talk about ranks and progression, the two spent more time enjoying each other's company before deciding it was time to get up and start their day. Though naturally, Tesilim, upon seeing Lili's body when she got out of bed, couldn't help himself and initiated another round of combat. Then, after their fun, they truly got out of bed and went through their morning routines before going to the inn's lobby, where they said hi to a content Drex who was leaving Jolly’s inner realm on his way to the food court. After saying hi to Drex, the two left the inn, Tesilim being a gentleman and opening the door for Lili, though he had mainly done it so he could admire her some more.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  The beautiful, obsidian-skinned elf wore a stunning white outfit for their date. The outfit had almost made Tesilim drag her back into bed, but he had held himself back, a decision he was questioning as the sexy elf walked through the door.

  She had white heels, making her a bit taller than him, though he didn’t care. Not when she was showing off her gorgeous legs through those white fishnets she had on. Then, on top of everything else she had on, she wore a short white skirt, which he would take advantage of at some point during their date. Finally, the cherry on top was her strapless V-neck top, which displayed her impressive cleavage and her gorgeous white jacket, tying everything together with her beautiful white hair.

  Of course, Tesilim still had some ways to go compared to his beautiful girlfriend. He wore a tight white shirt showing off his nice physique, dark pants, and the dress shoes Lili had gotten for him. Apparently, Lili liked his wild hair, so there hadn’t been much stylizing in that department. After all, he didn’t care much what he wore, as long as Lili found it attractive.

  With that being said, the two headed off into the city. The plan was to grab a quick bite to eat since it was late in the morning. Then from there, Lili wanted to watch one of the plays as recommended by Jasmine, and afterwards, the two would see where the wind took them.

  Stopping at a cute restaurant near one of the forest parks. The two had a quick breakfast of little sandwiches that resembled sliders from Earth, along with some cold drinks. From there, they headed to the theater to watch the play.

  The theater amazed Tesilim because it used a variety of practical effects, like how plays were performed on Earth, but it also added magic to the mix. This gave the entire experience a new feel, akin to a 3D movie theater with practical effects that simulated the movie's scenes. The whole thing was great, and Tesilim was happy to have experienced it even if he didn’t care much for the story. The story had been one of romance, and Tesilim was not too interested in it. He was an elf of action and adventure, not of four love interests fighting for the love of a dragon, that turned out to be a fey in disguise. Admittedly, that had been quite the reveal, and maybe if there had been some slaying of creatures, he would have been on board. Instead, it was a hot mess of she did this, they did that, with betrayals and other nonsense.

  The play lasted about two hours, so they got out around one in the afternoon. However, considering they had snacked on his new world's equivalent of yellow popcorn and a few other sweets, the two were still relatively full. So instead, they decided to head to a park.

  In their walk through the park, they enjoyed nature as they talked. Well, Tesilim talked, sharing more about his time on Earth, including details about life before and after the war. That being said, Lili did share some of her past, albeit just of her time in Wildwood, and only some fun stories at that. Not that Tesilim noticed this, he was happy to enjoy time with her and the sights of the park. Plenty of people walked around, all of various species, and all enjoying nature. Of course, then they saw another couple making out, this time a dryad and a satyr. This sight had their eyes meet as they smiled, both seeing the gleam in the other’s eyes.

  It wasn’t long after this that Lili dragged Tesilim through the forest. Finally, she stopped when they were well out of sight, and she quickly gave him a kiss, which soon turned into a full-on make-out session. Now, Tesilim thought it would stop at kissing, but boy, was he wrong. Needless to say, he was not surprised to find that Lili was not wearing anything under her skirt.

  Leaving the park, Tesilim was thankful that Lili had cleaning magic since they didn’t need to go back to the inn or her shop to change. Instead, they decided to head to the arena and spend a few hours there watching a few fights.

  The arena was as big and loud as it had been the previous time, and just like last time, the fights were always great to see.

  Tesilim watched as a large minotaur swung a two-bladed axe at a scrawny elf. Though appearing thin compared to the bull man, the elf was actually a normal-looking elf with blond hair. He wore very little armor, supposedly to let him move more freely. Something that seemed to be working as he smoothly dodged the minotaur's attack. The axe passed right by the elf’s body with only a breath’s hair to spare and slammed into the ground with force, sending dust everywhere.

  The dust caused the minotaur to lose sight of the elf, and before he knew it, the agile elf was behind him, two daggers stabbing deep into the hide of his opponent. Feeling the two daggers dig into his back, the minotaur let go of the axe and twisted, attempting to hit the elf with his large, hairy elbow. Of course, that failed, the blond elf having moved out of the way right as his dagger sank into his opponent's flesh.

  Finding that his elbow struck nothing and seeing no elf behind him, the minotaur turned back around to try and grab his axe, but only received two daggers in the chest. At that point, the referee, to the crowd's disappointment, had decided the fight was done and called the match. Even so, the fight had been great, and the boos eventually turned to cheers, Tesilim and Lili joining in as well.

  A few hours of fights later, Tesilim and Lili decided that they had had enough. Granted, it helped that their stomachs were rumbling, so they left the arena. The two decide to head to Rusty Boar to get something to eat and have some fun with the people there. Then, when their bellies were full, the two felt it was time to call it a day, and they headed to the inn. Obviously, at the inn, they showered, which only led to some more sexy times, until they were too exhausted and fell asleep.