Shortly after leaving the pig cave, the cavernous corridors became tall and wide enough for Aaron and the others to mount the ligurus again.

As before, they walked in line, Alys at the forefront, using Space Energy to sense danger, as useful as that had proven to be.

"I did sense the Psychotic Pigs ahead of time, Patriarch," she said bashfully, "but they weren't moving. I thought they were just some rocks. Since I was feeling and expecting rocks, when I saw thousands of beasts instead, the surprise was so much that I took too long to react."

Aaron nodded. "Your detection ability is faulty. Fortunately, that's easy to fix."

Though Alys shouldn't have Arcane Energy inside her, not after he had told her to get rid of it, he might as well help her do something useful with it for now. So, he told her how she just needed to add a bubble of Arcane Energy around her detection ability.

That bubble would have the sole purpose of reading the energy levels of the places it went through. It would react when it touched something with more energy, like a living thing or a magic item, allowing Alys to not confuse them with the environment.

However, she was already having difficulty even keeping both her detection and lighting skills active, and recently had also been ordered to make the pigsty levitate. She simply didn't have enough control to accomplish anything else.

"Forgive my stupidity and lack of talent, Patriarch," she said dejectedly.

Aaron shook his head. "Space Energy is difficult to master and you are the type that uses brute force, not finesse, to solve your magic issues. Keep training and in a few days or weeks, you'll succeed. That should also help you understand how different energies interact with each other."

After the pigs' episode, he had ordered her to protect her mind better. Her answer had been, "I'm not a Mind cultivator, Patriarch."

One's limits when manipulating energy had a lot to do with personal knowledge and beliefs. If someone believed with all their might that it was impossible to levitate, if that belief was part of the person's essence as much as the belief that the sky was blue or that breathing was necessary to live, that person wouldn't be able to use levitation magic. It didn't matter how powerful they were or what type of energy they used, that would be beyond them.

Alys believed it was impossible to use Arcane Energy to defend against Mind Energy. She considered both things to be completely separated and incapable of interact with each other.

Aaron had explained how it was possible for both energies to interact with each other, mainly because all nine energies in that world came from the same higher energy, called Divine Energy, but it had been no use. Alys needed time to change her energy paradigm. Until then, she would be at the mercy of mind attacks.

Tia was also having trouble accepting reality as it was, as opposed to what she thought it should be. She had turned completely silent after killing the pig, always lost in thought. Occasionally, a tear would flow for her eyes and at all times, she would look at the direction of the pigsty that Aaron had tied to his own liguru. It contained the remaining nine Psychotic Pigs.

When he had first ordered Alys and Tia to kill one of them, he had planned on waiting for the girls to eat, then disposing of the beasts himself. He would have killed them all, cleaned them swiftly, and stored them for later. That would send an obvious message of how he didn't think they were good even in that, that he had to do it himself.

However, the focus had turned into getting Tia desensitized to death, so he had brought the pigs with him so she could kill more later. Since he wouldn't be able to follow his original plan, had also extended Alys' punishment for a few extra days. It wasn't as good as the message he had planned, but it was better than nothing.

Of the women, Lana was the most relaxed about her place in the world. As a Priestess and Devout, not only was she certain of her life goal, she had also learned everything she had to learn about how to manipulate Holy Energy for her current level as soon as she had reached it.

Even Aaron couldn't audit or improve her knowledge; Holy Energy wasn't a specific energy, but the name given to any type of energy coming from Liech's deities. Each deity created their own kind of Holy Energy, and they all differed in power, quality, and forms of use, even though they had similar features.

It was as if Holy Energy were a species with several breeds, like dogs. And like dogs, each Holy Energy "breed" had its unique characteristics.

Furthermore, Holy Energy was a dog with a certain will of its own, which didn't follow rules with complete precision. Even if Lana incorrectly manipulated her energy to activate a Holy skill, there was still a possibility that it would work. Or even doing everything correctly, the skill could fail. Devouts depended on their deities to use Holy Energy, and the deities could do whatever they wanted, including increasing the power of any skill far beyond its limits or blocking the use of any skill at all.

Unfortunately, as much as the Goddess of Light claimed to be on Aaron's side, it was unlikely that she would increase the power of Lana's abilities for Aaron, even at a time of utmost need.

He knew the workings of pantheons well, deities always had rules about how much they could intervene in mortal affairs, with severe consequences for disobedience. Were it not for these types of rules, deities would interfere with mortals more and more, until they invariably fought among themselves for supremacy in wars that spanned the entire world.

Aaron had seen this happen before and had even taken part in it more than once. 'Easier times,' he thought.

While thinking about it, he walked worry-free. He had detected two distinct entities following him since his first day in the caves, thanks to an ability that improved his hearing. But instead of being afraid, he wanted them to attack so he could have some fun, maybe even teach Tia something else about death, or Alys how to battle.

While those fights didn't happen, he kept considering the various creative ways to use the energetic division of that world, as Alys planned to do with her portals to steal the Sky Splitter Sword.

That night, they ate the pork leftovers from the past slaughter.

The next morning, Aaron ordered Alys and Tia girls to kill yet another pig.

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It didn't surprise Tia when Aaron threw a dagger at her feet and ordered her to kill a pig. Nor did she hesitate. She took the dagger and walked to the cage decidedly before Alys could do anything to the pigs.

Forcing herself not to cry, she stuck the dagger deep into the body of one of the pigs, piercing its heart and killing it immediately.

Then she killed one more.

And another.

And the fourth.

She repeated the process until all nine pigs were dead, killing each of them in a single stroke. Then she removed the bloody dagger from the last pig and threw it on the ground in front of Aaron.

"I won't allow you to continue mistreating beasts, innocent or not," she said, looking deeply into his black eyes that felt like an abyss. "I'm too weak-willed to sacrifice myself trying to fight for the good of these beasts, a hypocrite, as you said. Yes, you were right! But I won't let that happen anymore!" She was almost screaming at that point.

Aaron, the odious and monstrous Aaron, just looked at her impassively for a while before acting. The pigs' bodies turned into white light and disappeared into his spatial ring, except for four of them.

"Very well," he said. "But you'll cook them."

She widened her eyes in disbelief. Before she could say anything, he continued, "It's either that or getting abandoned here. You have five minutes to choose."

Tia's heart raced. Staying there alone? She had no idea how to leave the cave complex! The only way out she knew was through the Psychotic Pigs, who would kill her on sight!

The alternative was using the magic item that would teleport her back home, but that meant facing her father.

She bit her nail so deep it drew blood.

And she almost felt her soul tearing when, once again, she chose to stay.

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Aaron had to suppress a smile when Tia killed the pigs.

She had been decisive in doing something unpleasant, but that needed to be done for what she considered the greater good. Depending on the type of training she was being subjected to, her action would have different consequences.

In a submission training, he would have punished her.

In a battle training, he would have praised her for showing aggressiveness.

In a desensitizing training like hers, she had simply moved ahead to the next stage of it, cooking.

Tia's constant contact with pork would show her that it was all just part of a natural process of survival of the fittest. That it was about nourishing, not cruelty. That such deaths served a purpose in the cycle of life. That the pork she had acquired herself was just that, pork, not the evil fruit of evil pig massacre.

City kids usually felt sorry when they saw chickens being slaughtered, but farm children considered it normal. Likewise, he was bursting her bubble.

After that, her training would be complete. He could go further with it, but he only owed her so much. Even if she didn't get the point and never killed another beast in her life, that was her problem, not his.

He was repaying his debt by giving her what she needed. What she did with that was up to her.

He had held no doubt that she would obey the order to cook. Most living beings considered their safety before anything else. Rationalizing that the animals were already dead and would be cooked anyway was simple and easy, and it guaranteed that she would remain in the group's safety.

A little while later, the smell of roasted pork spread through the cave corridor where they were, but before they could eat, Aaron heard something and looked in its direction. An instant later, Alys also raised her head.

"Patriarch! Someone is approaching!" she said with surprise.

Aaron smiled. "How many are they?"

"One."

"Species?"

"Human."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you absolutely sure that they're human and not another similar race?"

Alys frowned and shook her head.

"Report it as 'humanoid' unless you are sure of the race," taught Aaron. "Does it look like they're wearing armor? Are they armed?"

"I can't say, Patriarch," she said, embarrassed.

"What do you think?"

"Perhaps?" she said with uncertainty.

Aaron sighed. "How far are they?"

Alys paused before informing. "Two hundred thirty feet."

"And how long until they get here, considering their current move speed?"

This time the pause was long while she calculated. When she answered, her tone was uncertain. "Maybe a minute?"

"Next time, you'll report incoming beings as follows: one humanoid detected two hundred thirty feet away. Unknown if armed. Unknown if wearing armor. Moving this direction. ETA sixty seconds."

She nodded and said ashamed, "Yes, Patriarch."

He gave her head a comforting pat. She hadn't been incompetent this time; she had just been ignorant, and he seldom punished ignorance. Moreover, she might be a dumb child, but that also meant she was a child. She had feelings. Telling her how much of a failure she was all the time would be just cruel and counter-productive.

"You have no reason to feel bad," he said. "I never taught you these things before. Tia, go to the rear with the ligurus. Lana and Alys, you stand in front of me."

Aaron put those two in front of him mainly because that allowed them to gain some fighting experience in case there was a battle, but he could protect them if needed. Furthermore, the two being in front of him established his status in the group well and made him the primary target. Tia, a mere One Star Qi Manipulator responsible for some riding beasts, would probably be considered a servant and unimportant as a target.

"Alys, throw some other light orbs ahead to light the way," he ordered.

She struggled to obey, but the light spell was simple enough. Soon, it was possible to clearly see a hundred feet ahead, to the point where the corridor curved to the right.

First came the footsteps, then a white humanoid wearing a black robe appeared at the end of the corridor. They approached until they were fifteen meters from the group.

They had no face, ears, hair, or any facial feature, only a white mass as their head. It reminded Aaron of the legend of the Slenderman from Earth.

They were also a Four Star Entropomancer.

Aaron got ready. Battles against beings capable of manipulating Time were always complex. Of all the energies of that world, Time was the only one he feared. It could directly affect him even without it being directly aimed at him, by changing the flow of time in the entire region he was at. If he couldn't touch the attack, it was more difficult to defend himself — but not completely impossible.

"A Four Star Mouth-Man," said Lana with fear in her voice.

Aaron frowned. "Mouth-Man?" he asked, confused,

Before she could answer, a huge mouth appeared on the being's face, right where a real mouth should be, though it was too big to look natural. It had thin lips and pointed teeth, with a black background as if it had no end.

Then they spoke in a thin, high-pitched voice that was still clearly male. "Come with me."

The mouth disappeared as soon as the Mouth-Man finished speaking, as if it had never existed. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and started walking down the corridor at a slow pace.

"Wait," said Aaron, but the Mouth-Man didn't stop. Aaron sighed. "Tia, go back to cooking. Alys and Lana, kill him."

Aaron had lived too long to follow a stranger like that, especially someone who refused dialogue in a territory that had already proved hostile.

Much less when they were trying — and failing — to hide such a cruel death aura.

The Mouth-Man was a carnifex.