"SHIT!" Haru jumped. "Hold on!"

"WAIT WHAT..."

He ran across the rooftops using mana to accelerate, impossible parkour, leaping between buildings, Celia clinging to him, screaming.

"STOP!" Guards ran below.

"FEMALE WING!" Lilithine shouted in his ear. "They won’t go in there!"

Haru changed direction, jumped over the inner wall, landed in the garden of the female wing. The nun-guards would notice...

Lilithine guided him from behind, into the dormitory through the windows.

They entered the room. Lilithine closed the window and locked it.

Small. Single bed. Table with books. Crucifix on the wall, simple but clean.

"They’ll look for you..." Lilithine said nervously. "If they find you here, I’ll be expelled..."

Haru looked around. "Window?"

"Watched... you must wait for the situation to calm down."

"Great." He sat on the bed, relaxed.

Lilithine stood there, unsure what to do, then looked at his hair, too long and messy.

"Your hair... needs a cut."

"It does?"

"Can I... can I cut it?"

Haru shrugged. "Of course."

She took small scissors from the drawer, a cloth to cover her shoulders, and began.

Silence as she cut, focused, her hands steady when doing something practical.

"You’re good at this," Haru commented.

"I cut the other sisters’ hair sometimes..."

More silence.

"Haru..." she said softly, "...why did you choose me? To show you the city?"

"Because I saw something in you."

"What?"

"Someone trapped. Wanting to get out but not knowing how."

She stopped cutting for a second. "I’m... scared." She confessed. "About myself, about what I can become."

"Everyone is afraid of something," he said. "The difference is who faces it."

She cut again, a single tear falling silently, unnoticed by Haru.

When she finished, Haru’s hair was neat, no longer too long and controlled.

"Thank you..." she whispered. "For today."

"We can repeat it."

She smiled through her tears. "I’d like to."

Haru waited for the guards to leave, then left through the window using mana to jump silently.

She looked back at Lilithine in the window waving tiny.

And disappeared into the night.

```

[WAIFU UNLOCKED]

◊ Lilithine: Personality breakthrough achieved

◊ Affinity: 23% > 41%

◊ Trust: Developing

```

Haru arrived home that night thinking about everything that had happened. "What could Lilithine be hiding...?" He climbed the steps slowly. "That symbol of consecration... Flavius processing everything I’ve told him... damn, I have a lot to think about."

He sighed, opening the door.

Isabela was in the living room reading books. She looked up when he entered.

"You finally arrived." She said without raising her head, only taking in Haru’s presence.

"Master!" Kira appeared from the kitchen holding paper. "Will you help me fill this out?"

Still the registration form, she hadn’t filled it out yet.

"What the hell..." Haru began.

"You cut your hair." Isabela interrupted, paying real attention now, closing the book.

Before Haru could say anything...

"Master..." Kira sniffed the air, ears twitching, "...you smell different. You smell like... a feminine scent. Where have you been?"

"A feminine scent?" Isabela stood up curiously.

"Whoever it was got a good haircut." One of the guards argued, passing through the kitchen and going up the stairs without getting involved.

"Needless to say it’s a woman... her hair is really thick," Kira murmured.

"A woman!?" Isabela turned to Haru.

The guard had already gone upstairs.

"I’m going to bed..." Haru tried to escape, heading for the stairs.

"But you didn’t eat, master!" Kira protested.

"Tomorrow. I have things to think about."

"Who is that woman, Haru?" Isabela blocked his way.

Haru sighed. "It’s Lilithine, and I ate with her at the guild." He turned to go upstairs.

"So now that you have a girlfriend, that’s how it is!? You’re going to ignore us!?" Isabela continued. "Just wait until your daughter hears this!"

"Master!" Kira followed.

Haru arrived in the room and sat on the bed, exhausted.

They entered behind him without asking permission.

He tried to discreetly open the system; he wanted to see skills, traits, or the amount of mana Lilithine had given him through the [Touch of Goddess].

But he couldn’t; they talked too much.

"Master... isn’t my food good?" Kira asked with puppy-dog eyes.

"It’s all your girlfriend’s fault!" Isabela crossed her arms. "If you hadn’t gone out with her like that without telling me, Kira wouldn’t be like this, nor would we be having this conversation!"

"She’s not even my girlfriend," Haru protested effortlessly.

"You didn’t even tell me you were going out!" Kira added. "I thought that after seeing each other naked we trusted each other..."

Isabela continued, "...but you go out with another woman and..."

"And you don’t even eat my food!" Kira interrupted.

Haru touched her temples. "My God, Kira... nudity and food in the same sentence..."

"You exploited her and now you say that!" Isabela pointed accusingly.

"I didn’t exploit anyone!" Haru retorted.

"Yes, you did! She told me you were eyeing her up!"

"I was just..."

"You did this, master... we demi-humans pay close attention."

"And now you’re going to do the same with this Lilithine!?" Isabela added without giving him time to speak.

"ENOUGH!" Haru stood up, his voice too loud.

Silence fell.

They both looked at him in surprise; now that he was standing before them, he seemed much taller.

He took a deep breath, controlling his tone. "It’s alright. You two... are important. Each in your own way."

He looked at Kira. "Your food is great. I’ll eat it tomorrow. I promise."

He looked at Isabela. "And you... you’re irreplaceable. Nobody is." He paused. "But I also need space sometimes, to think. To... live. Do you understand?"

Kira lowered her ears but nodded.

Isabela slowly uncrossed her arms. "...I understand."

"Now..." Haru pointed to the door, "...go rest, because I have to study before bed."

They left, Kira dragging her feet, Isabela turning around once before leaving.

Haru closed the door, locked it, breathed a sigh of relief, sat on the bed and opened the system completely.

He searched for information about Lilithine.

Nothing.

He tried to access skills copied through the Touch of Goddess.

```

[TOUCH OF GODDESS: FAILED]

◊ Target: Lilithine (Unknown)

◊ Link attempt: UNSUCCESSFUL

◊ Reason: Incompatible spiritual signature

```

"What the hell..." Haru murmured. "But I remember touching her several times..."

```

[ANALYSIS]

◊ Target possesses dual nature

◊ Spiritual interference detected

◊ User must establish deeper contact

◊ Recommendation: Increase physical interaction frequency

```

"It must be because of what the Hunter’s Eye showed...?"

```

◊ User must touch target more extensively

◊ Current contact: INSUFFICIENT

```

"Damn..." he sighed. "I thought that way I’d gain Saint skill... something that would allow me to better control the spirits that inhabit me..."

He stood up, went to the table, opened the drawer and took out Vandris’s diary. He flipped through it halfway, where it said: ’NECROMANCIA TENEBRIS’

Complex runes that Vandris drew, summoning circles, containment symbols.

"Not to mention the consecration circle... until the Academy opens..." he thought, "...a place where I know it will be packed with gamers... I can prepare better."

He opened the system again, checking.

```

[CURSE STATUS]

◊ Chronia’s Slave: TEMPORARY DISABLED (penalty active)

```

"Now I can’t even afford to play around... any carelessness and I die, and that’s not my plan.

He went back to the diary, then to the system.

"About class... I haven’t chosen yet."

Opened interface:

```

[CLASS PROGRESS]

◊ Hacker: 93%

◊ Necromancer’s Path: 2%

```

Haru had been tinkering with the system ever since he discovered this Hacker skill.

"The problem is that they put a hacker in the game..." he smiled slightly.

He navigated to: [START MODULES].

A giant interface opened, several tabs that he had forced open over the days when he had time:

- [Gamer Information]

- [Advanced Status]

- [Class and [Progression]

- [Unlockable Modules]

- [Combat System]

- [Economy and Inventory]

Clicked on Class.

```

[CLASS SELECTION]

◊ Current options based on skill progress:

- Hacker (93%) - AVAILABLE SOON

- Necromancer (2%) - LOCKED

◊ Other classes: LOCKED (requirements not met)

```

He leaned back in his chair, thinking.

"I have to choose my class carefully..."

He smiled.

"If I were a normal Gamer playing properly... but it turns out I’ve always played as a Hacker."

He looked at the system tabs, access that no normal Gamer would have, controls that broke the game’s rules.

"And I know exactly what to do until the day of the Academy."

Clicked on Unlockable Modules.

List appeared:

```

[AVAILABLE MODULES - HACKER] [PATH]

◊ System Override (Unlocks at 95%)

◊ Code Injection (Unlocks at 97%)

◊ Core Breach (Unlocks at 100%)

◊ ???

```

"Just 7% more and I’ll have access to things I don’t even know what they do..."

He looked out the window, Capital sleeping outside.

"Normal gamers play the game." "I’m going to break him."

He closed the system, picked up Vandris’s diary again. He had a lot to study, a lot to prepare.

And now... a nun to completely unlock.

He smiled wearily and began to read.

```

[STATUS UPDATE]

◊ Hacker Skill: 93% (7% to class unlock)

◊ Lilithine: Touch of Goddess FAILED (need more contact)

◊ Isabela: Jealous but trusting

◊ Kira: Jealous but loyal (100%)

◊ Death: PERMANENT if it occurs

◊ Next goal: Reach 100% Hacker before Academy

◊ Hidden goal: Unlock Lilithine’s secrets

```