CHAPTER 344: COFFEE AND SKILL POINTS

"Coco, I brought you coffee." Heiren’s voice cut through the silence in the room, cutting Coco off.

Coco sat up in bed, her focus shifting to the door as she responded to Heiren’s statement a small, but loud enough, "Come in."

The door creaked open and Heiren peaked his head through the gap first.

When his eyes met Coco’s gaze, that’s when Heiren carefully stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with a quiet click.

In his hands was a plate holding a steaming cup of coffee, the enticing scent of the hot beverage filling the air with its rich and delicious aroma, scattering all over the room and scenting Coco’s space.

Heiren’s footsteps were soft as he approached the bed, his expression neutral and his movements precise.

Coco stared at the coffee with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty, watching as the steam curled and danced in the air, dissipating in a beautiful swirl of white mist.

Despite the tempting scent of the drink, she couldn’t help, but wonder how she would drink the coffee without burning her tongue and without offending Heiren— after all, she usually avoided hot drinks due to her intolerance of them.

Heiren carefully placed the coffee on the bedside table, the sound of the ceramic clinking against the tabletop echoing softly in the room.

Then he turned, noticing almost immediately that Coco’s gaze was fixed intently on the cup of coffee, her eyes holding a look of wonder, puzzlement, and doubt as she did so.

The brown haired mediator couldn’t help, but notice the hesitation in her expression, her eyes flickering between the steaming liquid and her own body as if weighing the consequences of something grave.

Heiren’s gaze lingered on Coco for a moment before he asked, his voice slightly tinged with concern. "Are you okay? Do you not drink coffee?"

Now, he normally wouldn’t ask for something as trivial as this, but Coco is a special case.

"Do you want me to make you a cup of tea instead? We bought some tea the other day." Heiren suggested upon noticing her hesitation and couldn’t stop himself from offering alternatives.

Coco shook her head, forcing a small, awkward smile to her face because the mere thought of inconveniencing the mediators made her uncomfortable.

"No— no, no, no, I’m completely fine with coffee." She replied, her voice sounding urgent, but firm.

She paused for a moment, her gaze darting toward the coffee and then back at Heiren, her expression conflicted and cleared her throat, an embarrassed expression setting on her face.

"It’s just that.." She continued, struggling to find the words to express her thoughts, "I don’t drink any hot drinks."

Coco raised a hand and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly as she let out a nervous laugh, her other hand waving in dismissal.

"Never mind. I’ll just wait for it to cool down." She said, trying to brush off the awkwardness of the situation.

She offered a slight nod of appreciation in Heiren’s direction, stiff, but grateful, as she let her hands fall to her lap and kept her gaze away from Heiren.

"Thank you for the coffee." She added, her eyes darting back to the cup again.

Coco averted her gaze, her attention quickly shifting to the skill scroll that materialized before her eyes, the piece of paper floating in the air and unrolling itself.

She tried her best to disregard Heiren’s presence, her focus slightly fixed on the scroll.

"If you don’t mind." Coco murmured, her voice soft, but with a bit of reluctance in it, "I’ll be busy with my skills, but feel free to stay.."

The words were spoken with a mix of politeness and detachment, her mind already immersed in the task at hand.

Coco’s gaze fixed on the level indicator of her skills, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise and slight disbelief upon seeing the numbers of available skill points.

[ List of Coco Coison’s (Hughes) skill:

Green Fingers [6] (+)

— Strength [21] (+)

— Stamina [16] (+)

Purification [6] (+)

Active skill points: 10 points

Passive skill points: 5 points ]

"I thought I would only receive ten active skill points as a reward for the main quest?" Coco asked out loud, her flabbergasted expression evident.

As if on cue, another scroll appeared beside the skill scroll and unrolled itself.

[ Skill points? What skill points? ]

"The recent main quest gave me ten skill points for the active skills, but for some reason, I also have skill points for the passive ones." Coco answered the question, already knowing that it was Lulu who sent her the scroll.

[ I didn’t send any quest your way! Not since when my sister asked for help to cheer you up! ]

Coco hummed, her hand grasping the floating quill beside the scroll. "Yeah, well, there’s another fairy who has been sending quests."

[ Wha— ]

The word didn’t even get spelled properly and yet, the scroll turned into dust mid-air.

"Am I about to know who’s the culprit behind these quests?" Coco asked no one in particular, her hand scribbling where she wanted the skill points on.

Tentatively, Coco put five skill points on each active skill and put the five passive skill points on to the [Stamina].

[ List of Coco Coison’s (Hughes) skill:

Green Fingers [11] (+)

— Strength [21] (+)

— Stamina [21] (+)

Purification [11] (+) ]

Seeing that the skills, active and passive, are now tied in level, Coco couldn’t help, but feel satisfied and proud.

"While I’m at it.." Coco mumbled, suddenly feeling curious as she pulled the novice’s gloves from her personal inventory, "Just how much does these gloves strengthen me whenever I wear it?"

She pulled the gloves on, the leather fitting snugly in the crook of her fingers, and looked at the skill scroll.

— Strength [21(+20)] (+)

Her jaw dropped at the numbers she saw, her eyes widening in surprise, because she was not expecting for the gloves to give her that much power.

Coco was so focused on the scroll that she failed to notice three pairs of eyes watching her reactions.