System vs Rebirth

Noel gritted his teeth as the pain started numbing his body. If he continued, he would have passed out sooner or later.

'How should I answer this?' Noel attempted to find the answer that could make him escape this situation, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing came into his mind.

'As expected, there's no way to get around this. In that case, I should avoid the worst case scenario.'

Noel had resigned to his fate as he said, "It can be tomorrow, it can be a few weeks from now on. Who knows."

Although the system had told him the time limit, two weeks had passed. So, there were only two to three weeks left. Luckily, he could still say a few weeks since two weeks could still be considered more than one. At least, this play of words was enough to make him look like he didn't know anything.

As soon as he answered, he could feel the power that attached both Spirit Seals became loose. Without hesitation, he pulled out and glared at her, thinking, 'As expected, that woman wants to trap me. She's truly a manipulative evil woman.'

"So, a few weeks, eh?" Anna smirked. "How do you even know the time limit? Maybe you know something about the rune?"

Noel didn't want to lose to her, so he said, "What about you? How do you know about Runes? The knowledge itself shouldn't be passed on since if the effect is like you said, there will be many people learning it already."

Anna and Noel ended up glaring at each other, knowing that they were poking each other.

"Since you are not planning to ask another question, then I'm going to sleep. I've wasted too much time for this." Anna harrumphed and returned to the tent.

When she lied down, she thought, 'As expected, Noel knows something about the Ancient Demon Tree and the rune. There are many questions that I want to ask, but he won't fall for the same traps twice. How do I acquire the information from him?

'Anyway, the Ancient Demon Tree will wake up soon. Its power will be extremely weak, probably only around Mid Level Demon or a bit higher, but it definitely doesn't reach Advanced Level Demon. I need to prepare a few things to fight against that tree…

'And since Noel knows something about the time of the awakening, I should follow him within the next few weeks. I bet he's going to fight this demon secretly. Sorry, but the Ancient Demon Tree is a huge temptation even for me.' Anna smirked.

On the other hand, Noel was looking at the tent with a complicated expression.

'How does she know about runes? I haven't read any records, but if the world knows about such a technique, they'll become famous already. After all, their reputation will become higher than any other Spirit Users. Even the ignorant me would have heard about them.

'That's why it doesn't make sense. Should I ask her about the author of that book? Was my ancestor the last person to use it? I wanted to ask Ardagan, but I knew that he wouldn't give me any answer.

'At the same time, Anna Stargaze managed to turn around the situation this whole time. Whether it was my trap or trick, she somehow used it against me. How smart is she?'

Noel didn't realize that he was the smarter one among them. The only reason she could turn around the situation was due to him using that particular trick in the previous life.

'Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to get her to answer that. In that case, I should focus on another thing.' Noel opened the system again. Looking at the Rune Mastery, he was planning to use it because it looked extremely useful.

After making his decision, he stood up and pulled Ardagan out. "Well, looking out is boring, so I should spend it training. As long as I don't lower my guard down, I should be able to see any demons around us."

Without hesitation, Noel started swinging his sword. Obviously, he couldn't run around because of the situation, but swinging his sword wouldn't take much movement and attention, allowing him to progress his training faster than his original plan.

After another few hours, Anna woke up. She thought Noel didn't wake her up, but it seemed she was a bit too early for her shift.

When she took a peak at the outside, she saw Noel swinging his sword, shocked.

'What? Did he use all this time to train his body? Does he not know that rest is important as well?' Anna wanted to stop him, not knowing that Noel's body followed the system's enhancement instead of natural human body's progress.

Although rest was good, Noel didn't need to bother with it too much.

As soon as Anna came out of the tent, he said, "Since you're up, it's time for me to sleep."

"Y-yeah?" Anna saw Noel passing her nonchalantly without even waiting for her answer. Before he entered the tent, Anna shouted, "Wait a minute. Wash your body first. You reeks of sweat!"

"Does it bother you?" Noel smirked as if planning to use it to annoy her.

"You don't want a good meal, don't you?" Anna narrowed her eyes, not scared of Noel's threat.

"…" Noel's eyebrows twitched as he eventually snorted and walked to the lake.

Before going to the tent, Noel said, "Listen. I didn't wash my body because I was scared of your threat. I just wanted to make you work for me like a chef. It sure feels like you're my maid. Hahaha!"

Anna chuckled, not caring about Noel's petty thoughts. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"…" Annoyed by Anna's uninterested reaction, Noel went to the tent with a frown. The moment he lied down, a sweet smell somehow entered his nose.

'What is this?' Noel thought while closing his eyes. 'The sweet smell… somehow feels a bit too relaxing… That woman must have used a perfume or something to make her sleep well. I'll take advantage of it too.'

Noel didn't realize that Anna never had something like that as his consciousness had gradually faded, wandering to the dreamland.