“Puh—!”

A death blow in my solar plexus made me fall to my knees, clutching it in pain while vomiting on the floor. Before I could even recover, another kick hit my side, launching me into the wall.

“Aaaargh—! Ack...”

I plopped to the ground, groaning while clutching my entire stomach.

“That’s all for today, young master Claude.”

“Gr—Ugh... At least, go easy on me for once and let me hit you! Arggh—!”

“No can do, young master. On the battlefield, it’s either kill or be killed. You need to survive the harshness of reality and adapt to it. There are no easy fights young master, everything should be taken seriously no matter how insignificant the fight is.”

“I-I—I’m sorry... Ack—!”

Clara’s statement all makes sense in this world. The world I’m residing in now is not a game anymore—It’s the reality. She has been my sparring partner, assisting me in combat, which is practically all one-sided matches. It’s been many months, but I have never landed a single strike against her.

“It’s fine, young master. Someday, you’ll be able to least land a hit on me.”

“So unfair, you’re not even using your spirit, but you’re absurdly too strong.”

“I can’t even be comparable to Madam, so you got a long way to go, young master Claude.”

“I know.”

“Here, let me assist you back.”

“Thank you, Clara.”

Clara then assisted me back to my room.

It’s been a year since I’ve acquired quintessence, the purest form of mana. All the way back when I started training, which’s the same day I got my quintessence, I’ve been grinding and training under Master Irene until now. Even living in her house too, and never leaving either, as I’m preoccupied with my determined goal to get stronger.

In reality, I only wanted to get stronger just to be part of the storyline, however, upon meeting Master Irene I learned that being strong is fun—I don’t get it, but there’s something about being powerful that I want to understand. That’s why I became obsessed with training to get stronger.

Honestly, when was the last time I got home? I think I haven’t. Since I started my training, I haven’t gone out of the mansion nor interacted with anyone outside—Although Stephanie and Ms. Jessy visited me every weekend to check my condition.

Moreover, Stephanie actually got a guardian spirit which is a fire attribute ferret and she even named it Clyde—It’s so obvious. And, she didn’t even mention or asked me about the kiss, which surprises me—Playing hard to get once again. During their visits, I can’t do anything since Stephanie would always stick to her mother like glue, which upsets me.

Right now, I’ve got a month left before my spirit ceremony. I’ve quite got a hang of my quintessence, although I still can’t control it that precisely yet—Got a lot of trouble holding back.

Across my training, the things that I did would be a workout like running with weights on my body about 300-pounds partially distributed all across my body. And, sword-swinging for at least thirty-thousand swings while using a wooden sword, weighing over two hundred pounds—I have no idea how that’s possible, but that thing exists. Of course, if I don’t have my quintessence, I wouldn’t even lift a single millimeter of that thing. But god damn, thirty-thousand swings still sound absurd. The first day of me doing that took me the entire day to finish it! And, yes, If I don’t finish my thirty-thousand swings—I’ll get obliterated by the maid name Clara.

A lot of times, I thought of giving up but Master Irene helped me in so many ways, like correcting my mindset to give me determination and massaging me... Although the last part is quite unnecessary, however, the massage is really helpful because it will always make me fall asleep no matter what, then waking up refreshed—A magical moment for me. I don’t how Master Irene does that, but it works superbly.

────────────

Currently in my room, resting on my bed as my body is still aching in pain and exhaustion. Suddenly, a loud bang came from the door.

“Claude! Let’s go to the Askar kingdom.”

Master Irene intruded into my room like always such a thing as knocking doesn’t exist in her vocabulary. I lazily glanced at her and responded. “Yeah, okay...”

But then suddenly, I heard a familiar name of a place that I’ve been wanting to go, all the way back where I first transmigrated in here. The kingdom of Askar, an elven kingdom that’s kept hidden from the outside world and one of the strongest kingdoms in the continent of Krishna, the continent where I’m currently residing in.

“Wait! The Kingdom of Askar, the elven kingdom?!”

“Yeah, and why are you reacting like that?”

“For real?!”

“Of course? Is there any kingdom name Askar?”

“O-Oh... What are we going to do in the Askar kingdom?”

“The king invited me to a social gathering later evening, so we’ll go. It’s a good way for you to explore the outside world, too. Isn’t that exciting?”

“It is! Thank you, Master Irene!” I jumped out of the bed and gave her a tight embrace, although while embracing her; I heard her gasping, so I released her. Upon backing away, I saw saliva in the corner of Master Irene’s mouth. It gave me goosebumps.

“Ehem, then get dressed up.”

“Okay~!”

After Master Irene left my room, I promptly went to my wardrobe and wore a simple aesthetically appealing white long sleeve polo and gray pants—That’s the only decent-looking clothes I have. Later on, I then fix my long-ass hair that almost reaches armpit level, so I tied up my hair in a ponytail while leaving my fringes up-front just to make it stylish.

I’ve never been this excited in my entire life!

────────────

"Why do I need to wear a mask?"

Master Irene gave me a mask to cover my face. The mask looks familiar because it's one of those masks I've always seen around my hometown—An Inari mask. She forced me into wearing a mask.

"It's a complicated thing to talk about, but just do what I say. It's for your own good."

"Okay..."

I’m currently standing side by side with Master Irene and Clara. Master Irene was wearing a beautiful evening gown while Clara was wearing her maid dress as usual. To be honest, I’m quite curious about how we’ll go to the kingdom of Askar because it’s a hidden kingdom that only a few people can access.

And by the way, the way of transportations here are floating ships or carriages, but other than that there’s none, as it’s really unusual because technologies such as televisions exist here.

“Uhh, if I may ask, how are we going to travel to the kingdom of Askar?”

“Hm? Teleportation portal.” Master Irene responded casually.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Teleportation portal.”

“Seriously? Not on a flying ship or carriage?”

“Yes, do I look like I'm joking with you? And, I remember mentioning ‘later this evening’. How can we travel in such a short time with those? Plus, it's the only way to access the kingdom of Askar.”

“Huh—?” squinting my eyes in confusion.

“Haah... Okay, it’s already about time. I’ll just show you. Stand close to me.”

Master Irene bought a pale-looking crystal rock out of her pocket. Later on, when I heard the sound of the clock, the crystal rock shone brightly, radiating powerful mana that created a green twirling wind around us. And we’re devoured by an unknown light that blinded me.

The next thing that happened, I suddenly got transported inside the glassy dome in the middle of greenery scenery comprised of various kinds of plants, trees, and flowers—I’m baffled by my surroundings because I’m certain I’m just at the house earlier. And, the next thing I knew, I’m surrounded by these wonderful sceneries right before my eyes.

“What the...”

“Fufufu~ You’re surprised aren’t ya? Look at your face.”

“Who wouldn’t?! Anyone who experienced something like that would be surprised—!”

“Hahahaha—!” Master Irene laughed loudly.

With her laughs, I hid my face down to hide my embarrassment. A hand started patting my shoulders, so I glanced at who’s patting me and saw Clara. “That’s fine young master, just ignore Madam.”

I nodded in agreement.

Then we left the place and saw a magnificent, enormous hall. Great illuminating crystalline rock attached to each of the travertine columns lighting up the entire hall, covering the hall in warm radiance. Above, the carving of people with pointy ears symmetrically aligns across the hall. Then, down below, a red rug runs down at the magnificent limestone flooring.

“Wow~” fascinated by the wonderful sight I’m seeing.

After crossing the magnificent hall, at the end of it was an enormous door waiting for us. Opening it, a crowd of people in fancy clothing bloomed my eyes. Many people here came from different species such as elves, humans, ogres, dryads, beastmen, lizardfolk, etc.

All of their attention immediately went to us upon entering the place, especially at me as their eyes scanning my every bit of my body which was one of the most uncomfortable sensations I’ve ever felt in my life—Creepy perverts are looking at me, go look the other way for heaven’s sake!

“Creeps.” a cold sensation slithered through my spine.

“Hahaha, don’t worry about them. They’re probably curious about you.” Master Irene gave me a reassuring smile.

Then suddenly, a loud voice echoed throughout the grandiose hall.

“I shall warmly welcome you all, my dearest guests! I appreciate for taking your time to attend my daughter’s coming of age ceremony! As you may know, my daughter had just turned 15 today, which meant she finally got her own guardian spirit! We are here to celebrate the historic moment of my wonderful daughter’s ceremony! Enjoy the feast!”

The man who spoke was the king of the Askar Kingdom, Welton Blanch, the king of the Elven people as well as the father of Lilly Blanch. He was standing at the top of a platform with two Elven males and a beautiful goddess female elf.