The  next day we advanced forward as we did before. But since I was done practicing, I stayed in the back and let Nikola and Garth do most of the work.
Then after an hour of watching Garth fight, Nikola finally asked the question: “Garth, what’s your level?”
“I… Ah… She made me do it!” He pointed at me. There’s a lot of stigma about men gaining levels in this world. The religion of this world was strongly against it. The religion of this world was very similar to Earth. Except God was a woman, the messiah was a woman, and instead of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, they said: the mother, the daughter, and the holy ghost.
There was a secret unit of the church that hunted men that leveled. I’m  sure they’re lurking around somewhere even now doing horrible stuff. But the bigger problem, in my opinion, was the men themselves that supported the church and looked down on men that wanted to level up. It was also true that most men just didn’t like leveling up. Even most women didn’t like leveling up because of the sheer number of men you needed to sleep with to become successful at it. Most reach somewhere between levels 5 and 15 and give up, realizing the height of the mountain ahead of them. Since I know all the men that give high  experience points, I’m somewhat of an exception, but I’ll still need to  sleep with many men to reach level 100.
“He’s level 11,” I answered Nikola’s question.
“What? You?” She was surprised.
“No, no!” He shook his head. “I was only with one guy! And she forced me.”
“One guy? How can- He’d have to give around…”
“Tell her! Tell her!” Garth was shouting at me.
It seemed even Garth was one of those men that looked down on men that leveled up. I sighed. “Yeah, he’s telling the truth. He gave 2000 points.”
“What!?” Nikola was surprised to hear it. “Who is it?” Her eyes were sparkling.
“Sorry, can’t tell you. He doesn’t want people to find out.”
“What? Ah, oh, hm.” She was upset, but she understood that I wanted to respect the man’s wishes. “Maybe if he met me.”
“I can ask him.” I shrugged. “But I can’t guarantee he’ll sleep with you.”
“Yes, yes, please do. We’re sisters, aren’t we?” She’s cute when she’s sucking up.
I nodded. “Okay, let’s keep going. We’ll talk about this later.”
“Will you continue to force Garth to gain levels? Then the church…” She was concerned.
“No. I only wanted him to level up so he could protect himself until I formed a team. I need him to come along for now, but I think if we can get one more person, we can stop bringing him along.”
“Aren’t I enough?” Nikola asked. “Men should work in the city.”
“Do you want to cook and carry luggage?” I said, and Garth moaned. You’re a butler, don’t moan about doing work.
“I’m fine with carrying luggage.” She said.
“Then we’ll have to find someone willing to cook.”
“I don’t mind cooking, but I was always told I was a bad cook.” She said.
“You look bad at cooking.”
“What does that mean?” She smiled wryly.
“Nothing.” I was just joking. “Come on, ghouls are coming.” I saw more than 10 ghouls running towards us. I activated [energy manipulation,  lightning]; a bolt of lightning floated above my hand. It sparkled, twisted, deformed, and formed in the air. It gave off the tiniest sounds of thunder like a tapping woodpecker. With a thought, I made it fly forward at light speed, passing it through one ghoul after another. Each one it passed through was electrocuted and hit the ground. I’d gotten a lot better at controlling lightning because of all the practicing yesterday. “Come on, I want to reach the first teleportation point before 6.”
Nikola looked impressed by my display of power and answered, “Yes, boss.” With a smile.
It looks like she’s finally seeing me as a leader.