The Second Son of the Marquis Wants to Laze Around
Chapter 116: Reset. Anger. Hope. Leaving

Chapter 116: Reset. Anger. Hope. Leaving

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Seraphina’s eye twitched in both annoyance and anger.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a deepening frown. "And where, exactly, are you looking?"

Seeing the irritation written all over her face, Eren casually ignored her. Instead, he pulled out his handheld gaming console and began tapping away without a word.

He opened the Valoria Legends game and navigated to the character selection screen. There she was—Seraphina. But interestingly, there were two versions of her available. One was her current sealed form, the version freed by the player after descending into the dungeon’s deepest floor. The other was her prime state—her full-powered self, standing tall and proud as the feared Demon Lord.

Or to simplify it: the current Seraphina was the ’weakened, young, and slightly annoying version,’ while her prime self was the ’tall, powerful, mature and badass version’—the kind of character fans lovingly refer to as a MILF.

Eren held up the console in front of her and compared the in-game avatar to the real one in front of him. Sure enough, the current Seraphina resembled her five-star version—not the six-star powerhouse.

"Were you always this short?" he asked plainly, sliding the console back into his inventory. "I mean... did your body shrink after getting sealed, or is this like a level regression thing?"

"..."

Seraphina didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she glanced down at herself, blinking in confusion. Something did feel... off.

Raising a hand, she summoned a slab of ice from the ground—smooth as glass, forming a mirror-like surface. She stared into her reflection.

"...This?"

Her eyes widened in shock. She looked visibly younger—noticeably so. Gently touching her own cheek, she felt a strange disconnect. She hadn’t realized the extent of the changes to her body after all those years sealed away.

Her thoughts shifted suddenly. Something Eren had said earlier echoed in her mind—about her level being different.

To confirm it, she raised two fingers and drew a downward arrow in the air with an extra horizontal line in the middle Immediately, the mark glowed and transformed into a magical, holographic interface. A floating blue screen shimmered into existence—her Signet Status Panel, something similar to Eren’s system screen.

The moment her eyes locked onto her stats, her breath caught.

Meanwhile, Eren stood nearby with his arms crossed, silent. He couldn’t see her screen. Status panels were personal to each Awakener and visible only to their owners.

He already knew that. His system, Useless, had explained how each Awakener could check their current level and state by drawing the symbol of their chosen Goddess. Doing so would project a translucent blue panel only visible to the caster.

This entire system deepened Eren’s suspicion that this world might actually in be some kind of game-like simulation or virtual reality world. It all felt too convenient—just like a certain anime of a VR world game he’d watched back on Earth.

Back to Seraphina—her fists clenched tight. Her demonic energy began to leak out, swirling around her like a storm of suppressed rage.

"H-How...?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

Her current Awakener level was 6.

She had once been Level 7—on the verge of ascending to the next stage. Now, after being sealed by the church and imprisoned for centuries, she had lost an entire level.

All that time, all those pain, sweat, and suffering, grinding EXP and achievement... gone.

Eren noticed her expression darkening further.

"I’m guessing your level really did drop," he said in his usual stoic tone, breaking the heavy silence.

He slowly walked over and stood next to her, while facing the opposite side. Seraphina didn’t respond—her head still lowered, her brows furrowed deeply. Eren already knew this outcome, of course. The in-game story had shown him of it.

His eyes turned toward the remaining ancient magic circle carved into the ground—the place where she’d been sealed.

"When I was analyzing the spell circle that held you, I noticed something interesting," he said calmly.

Seraphina lifted her head slightly, glancing at him on her side.

"The church’s seal didn’t just suppress your demonic energy—it was draining your EXP as well. It siphoned the experience stored in your Signet over time."

Her eyes widened. Her wolf’s pupils narrowed with fury.

Eren continued, walking past her as their backs now faced each other.

"That might explain your changed appearance. The seal didn’t just trapped you—it stripped you. Slowly, over the past hundred years, it drained everything you’d earned. Your strength, your stats, your hard-won achievements—all bled away little by little."

Seraphina said nothing.

But the aura around her darkened. Her demonic energy howled and coiled like a furious beast, crackling in the air with restrained fury.

She was beyond angry. This was rage born from centuries of effort, now stolen. All her victories, her growth, her level 7 achievements—gone.

"Those disgusting rats!" she snarled, her voice dripping with venom and curses.

The way she said was full of deep hatred. Much more than when yelling at Eren earlier.

Eren remained calm as he watched her seethe with anger. And honestly, he kind of understood where she was coming from. After all, Seraphina now faced an incredibly difficult road ahead if she ever wanted to return to her original level. And this time, it would take far longer than before.

To put it in perspective: if it had taken her around fifty years to rise from level 6 to the peak of level 7 before, now it might take her a hundred years—or even more—to reach that same point again.

Why?

Because of the nature of EXP in this world, and the unique way Awakeners gain it.

It had been explained before—both in his system and in game lore—that to gain EXP and level up, an Awakener needed to challenge themselves, achieve new feats, and overcome increasing obstacles. But the catch was cruelly simple: you couldn’t repeat the same achievement twice. Once you had overcome a specific challenge and earned EXP from it, that path was permanently closed.

It was eerily similar to Eren’s system-generated quests: one-time accomplishments with a set reward. No do-overs. No farming the same grind.

And Seraphina?

She was a former Demon Lord who had lived for centuries, battling monsters, armies, and strong demons. She had likely conquered dungeons, won wars, and maybe killed legendary beings. Her Signet had already recorded all those achievements.

Now that she was reset to level 6, the same actions would give her no EXP at all. The system had already acknowledged them once. Doing the same thing again would be meaningless in terms of growth.

In other words, to regain her former power, she would have to complete even greater feats than before—challenges that rivaled or exceeded the difficulty of reaching level 8.

It was like a seasoned gamer playing a fantasy RPG, only for their account to get corrupted mid-mission. One minute they were level 100 deep into a high-end quest, and the next—bam—their level was reset to 50. And worst of all, they couldn’t restart the game or undo the bug. They could only keep playing as a weak character... stuck in a high-level zone.

That was exactly the unfair situation the half-fox, half-wolf demon girl was now trapped in.

Just as Seraphina was mentally drafting a hundred-year revenge plan against everyone who had betrayed her and reduced her to this pathetic state, Eren’s voice cut in again.

"If you want," he said casually, "I can help you regain everything you lost and reach level 7 again—much faster."

Her fox ears twitched.

She turned to him with surprise in her eyes. "R-Really?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful—but failing just a bit.

Eren gave her a calm nod, as if to reassure her. "It’s possible. But... you’re going to need to be a lot smarter about it. Gaining EXP from this point forward will be much harder than before."

There was no hint of a joke or lying in his voice. Despite his usual deadpan, stoic expression, he sounded seriously genuine.

"And not just harder," he added. "It’ll be more painful too. You’ll need to have a strong will. You’ll suffer a lot more than you did before."

Seraphina scoffed when she heard that.

"Hah! You think I can’t handle a little suffering?" she said with a wide, toothy grin. Her gloomy, rage-filled aura faded, replaced by her usual arrogant and prideful energy. "You forget, human. I was a Demon Lord. I endured countless battles, betrayals, and torture to reach where I was. Even in this weakened state, if I have to fight a hundred level-6 monsters alone just to crawl my way back up, I’d gladly do it!"

Seeing her regain her confidence so quickly, Eren smiled faintly.

"We’ll see," he murmured under his breath.

Without another word, he walked over to the wall on the right side of the chamber. He placed his hand on one of the bricks and pushed firmly.

–Click–

The brick sank inward with a low clunk. A moment later, the wall trembled slightly and then shifted to the side, revealing a hidden doorway.

–Drummm–

Seraphina’s eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t noticed any hidden mechanism in the room. "A secret door?" she muttered.

Eren stepped through the opening, and Seraphina followed close behind. On the other side was a narrow, dimly lit chamber. At its center, a large magic circle was engraved on the floor, glowing faintly with magic energy.

Seraphina’s eyes locked onto it instantly. She recognized the runes immediately.

A teleportation circle? she thought, blinking.

"Can you activate it?" Eren asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I said, can you activate it?" he repeated, half-lidded eyes filled with mild annoyance.

"Y-Yeah! Of course I can," she said quickly, straightening herself.

Eren gestured, and she stepped forward. With a quick motion, she began channeling mana into the circle. The runes along its edges lit up and began to rotate—each layer spinning in a different direction, building power with every second.

As they stood within the glowing pattern, a soft hum filled the air. Seraphina couldn’t help but glance sideways at the human, who stood beside her with his arms folded and a completely bored expression. He even yawned.

So many questions circled in her mind. Who is this boy, really? Why did he save me? What’s his real goal? And yet, none of them were answered.

But the biggest question of all lingered heavily in her heart:

Is he truly human...?

–Vooooom–

The teleportation circle flared with light.

A moment later, a brilliant flash consumed the entire room—and in an instant, they were gone.

Teleported out of the dungeon...

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