The laid-back days finally came. They only needed to finish the mission in November and December to complete the year and enjoyed their three months vacation from January to March.

Kai and the others were doing their own things. It might be due to Kai's perfect plan they had a sense of urgency to increase their power. Michelle realized that she only had time to assist Kai. At first, she thought it was alright, but she realized it wasn't the case.

She hoped with her power transferred to Kai, they would be able to give birth to a new kind of power. If she and Kai were one hundred respectively, she hoped they could at least become two hundred while she stayed inside his shadow. However, it wasn't the case. At most, they could only become one hundred fifty or less. This certainly disappointed Michelle.

After numerous thoughts in her mind, she realized that the problem was not the skill. Instead, it was her power that was holding Kai's back from his fullest potential. That was why she swore to get stronger as soon as she returned to the base.

She was planning to reinforce her fighting style according to Rapakha's suggestion, but that was not all. She needed to increase the weapon on her hand and a stronger one at that if she wanted to fight those protectors from now on.

At the same time, all of them had the same thought, including Kai. He wasn't satisfied with the result because she let those two protectors run away.

There were a few things in his mind that he wanted to try, and he decided to practice it now because he had gotten thirty percent of his magic power. His magic power alone was between the S rank and A rank, so it was more than enough for him to do many things.

His serious expression told everyone that he would do a bit crazy thing to get stronger. However, none of them asked him to stop because of the burden he was carrying on his shoulder.

The least they could do was to keep up with him. And the one that had that resolution after Michelle was Ayaka. She sensed an urgency to get stronger because the protectors would come back stronger than ever, so if she weren't prepared to deal with them, they would die.

And she didn't do many things in the last war, so the pressure came to her as soon as she reached her home.

When she thought about it, she realized there were many things she could explore with Fire Magic. Unlike Kai's Sound Magic, Michelle's Shadow Magic, Tasha's Space Magic, or Evan's Healing Magic, her Fire Magic was the most common and easy to learn.

She forgot that fact because she was too obsessed with the power she got from the magical beast's blood. Back then, she was only a little girl who focused on honing her fire magic, unlike the present case. In fact, the last time she created new magic was when they were in United Asia before the hunting event began.

Back to basic, she thought with a serious expression.

At the same time, Tasha had the same vigor as Michelle. However, she knew she couldn't release her Space Magic… At least until Kai's reached General Rank. But at that time, she might have graduated first. After all, Tasha was the third year now while Kai was a second year.

She closed her eyes and recalled everything Rapakha taught her as she couldn't help but mutter. "I think that is the only thing I can do right now."

"Tasha?" Kai glanced at her while frowning. He didn't know when he stopped calling her with her name instead of sister. Whether it was because he thought it was easier to call her that in front of his teammates or because he finally saw her completely as an individual that he would like to date and marry, none of that mattered because the most important thing was how she called her.

"Nothing, I just realized I couldn't do much unless I do things my way. Next year, I should have graduated and joined the army. That's why this might be the last time I can be a part of this group." Tasha looked at them with a sad expression.

The others looked down—couldn't say anything to her. Even Michelle sympathized with her to the point she suggested, "How about failing your test intentionally? You won't care that much, right?"

She was so against the idea of having the same grade as Tasha, but they seemed to have gotten closer to the point considering each other as a sister.

Tasha smiled and nodded. "It's true that I don't think anything about that, but it will make our parents sad. Even if they know about the reason, they won't let me take this path. That's why I am going to do everything I can in the last few months… Kai, you might want to increase your strength and rank quickly because you won't be able to hold me down after that."

Kai gulped down and smiled. "You are giving me all the pressure, Tasha."

"Hehe… Well, there should be no more joint operations this year, so I will use the chance well." Tasha smirked before glancing at Sofia with a thought in mind.

Sofia felt Tasha wanted to tell her something, but she didn't know what it was. She had thought about getting stronger, but she had yet to understand what it meant to get stronger for the team.

Kai was still her priority, but that's it. Neither the girls nor the team was on her list. It might sound rude to the team, but she was only an agent from the EU Base whose sole purpose was to ensure that Kai fell in love with her and the EU base.

She shook her head after finding no answer and focused on her plan for the time being. Rapakha said she needed to work on her trust with her teammates, but none of it mattered as of now. That meant the only thing she needed was to come up with a creative way of using Ice Element.

"Captain…" Evan suddenly interjected.

"Hmm? What is it?" Kai asked while furrowing his eyebrows.

"I have a request for you."

"Sure. Ask away."

"I want to join you in the front line, fighting the enemies with my own fists."

"Oh?! A rare ambition from you."

"I know, but I think I can be more useful if I am in front. Besides, I still remember where a monster almost killed me when I was healing soldiers. Let me get some experiences to enhance my combat ability."

Kai thought for a moment. His request was reasonable.

As the last person and the most useless person in the group, Evan had a big problem that he needed to overcome. It was his power. Although Kai had trained him, it wasn't to the point he would be able to fight toe to toe against a Protector. In fact, he might not be an opponent to an A rank magical beast.

That was why he needed to get something that could be used as an attack for Kai to recognize his ability and let him fight in the front himself.

However, finding the way was easier said than done. He needed to practice hand-to-hand combat. For him, who had no experience for it since young, it was hard. However, he found a way to decrease the gap by using his magic.

Ria Ross had sent him the message about it. The training would be hard, but it was feasible. There was even a weaker version of the plan, but he needed to make the right thing and study medicine. That was why during the past few days, he was reading medicinal books.

Kai didn't know whether this book was his answer, but it never hurt to let him try it. Hence, he nodded and said, "Granted. You can fi—"

*Bang!*

Suddenly, Isabelle pushed the door open as she searched for Kai, who was sitting on the corner. She walked toward him with a solemn expression.

"Isabelle…" Kai furrowed his eyebrows, thinking there was an important matter. Usually, it would be a joint operation with the group, but it seemed there was something different in today's matter.

"I am sorry for interrupting you, but there is something I need to discuss with Evan. Can I borrow him for a bit?"

"Sure." Kai nodded.

Evan's face turned pale. Every time she had this expression would be when she met a serious problem, so he knew it would be troublesome. He gulped down and greeted her. "Ya… How are you?"

"Skip the pleasantries. Follow me."

"Is it something important? Can we discuss it here?" Evan asked with an unsure tone. He was scared to leave with her alone at this point, and he thought it would be better to stay in this room because Isabelle wouldn't do anything excessive.

"Fine!" Isabelle accepted it in an instant as she handed him two documents. "You have two options."

Evan glanced at the first document and then the second document. However, his pale turned pale when he read the second one as he asked, "Are you serious?"

As if she ignored his question, Isabelle continued. "The first option is to follow me on a mission. In other words, a separate mission, and I believe this mission is hard…"

The group exchanged looks, wondering why Evan had this expression on him. If it was a mission, it should be fine, they thought. But the moment they heard the second option, they were stunned.

Isabelle bit her lips and clenched her fists as she said, "Else… We are going to get married next week. Choose your poison."

"…"