Creak!

The door opened and Kana entered. Her black pupils scanned the wooden room until they stopped at one cat-girl, who she wasn’t expecting.

“What are you doing here?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Um, nothing. I heard a sound from Ren’s room and came to check. I, um, noticed that his shirt was dirty and I wanted to get a new pair of clothes for him tomorrow.” Lena reverted to her usual panicky self. Her eyes returned to normal and her black tail fluttered as she pointed at Ren’s shirt.

“Oh, did you notice anyone entering this cottage?” A sharp glint flashed past Kana’s eyes. Her gaze slipped past the owl as it focused on Lena alone.

“I didn’t, um, fine anyone. Um, if there were any, the guards should have noticed… right?”

“Mhmm… What’s with the sword?” Kana ogled the sheathed sword, surprised that her sister would carry a weapon.

“Um, I thought there might be an intruder.”

“Are you sure that there wasn’t any intruder?”

“No, I didn’t find anyone.”

Kana closed her eyes in contemplation.

‘If my eyes didn’t betray me… it was definitely that dagger. There are only three of them. If it wasn’t one of the daggers below then that Neyan was…’ In the end, she nodded and said.

“Lena, I’m tired. Prepare a cup of tea for me.” Lena nodded and hurried down.

After she left, Kana approached Ren and scanned his body.

‘No wounds. My initial guess was wrong…’ Shaking her head, she left.

“Well done! I’ll rewrite your memories. Just give me a moment.” Upon reaching the kitchen, the owl whispered. It didn’t dare to speak out loud, lest Kana noticed.

Lena’s eyes wandered for a moment. A dazed expression filled her face before it was replaced by panic.

‘Oh no! Why am I wasting time? Sister is waiting.’ She hurried with her preparations of tea.

“Piko! What do you want?”

Hoot! Hoot!

“Sure! I’ll grind some fish for you. Still, a fish-loving owl… Piko, you’re weird.” Lena smiled.

Hoot!

“Aww, I wasn't complaining. I’ll always love you.” Lena patted the owl and returned to her task.

Ren gaped at the recent progressions. Last night was extremely eventful. For one, he saw the limits of Azen’s power but that did not give him any relief. At the same time, he got a glimpse of the power of magic.

As Ren pondered over the battle of last night, a purple fox silently approached him.

“Pup!”

Ren nearly jumped in panic. He wasn’t expecting any guests in his mind space and the fox’s voice startled him.

“Eh… I came here to bring good news and this is your reaction?” The fox pursed its tiny mouth in displeasure.

“It’s you… Please don’t sneak up on me like that again.” Ren heaved a sigh of relief.

“Noted.”

“Anyways, what good news do you have?”

“Dead face is severely injured. His soul is suffering…” Smirking, the fox continued.

“It’ll take one week for him to recover. During this time, your body is your sole property. Use this week wisely!”

Ren froze. A moment later, he jumped up in ecstasy. He hugged the fox and shouted.

“Yes! Take that, Azen!” His muscles relaxed as he nearly cried in joy. Azen’s performance on the last night had been plaguing him. Even without sleeping, he saw horrible nightmares.

“Ugh… get lost! Leave me!” The fox displayed an expression of disgust and snarled.

“Hmph. Enjoying your rivals’ suffering. You aren’t a good pup! Anyways, I don’t think Azen is concerned. After recovery, he only needs 3 weeks to take complete possession of your body.”

Ren gaped. Like a hammer crushing a nut, the fox’s words obliterated his excitement. Adding 3 weeks to 1 week… he did the math. He only possessed a month before his demise!

“What kind of good news is this?! This is terrible news! I only have one month?!” Ren despaired.

“Well, it’s an upgrade from the original 2 weeks you had. Be glad!”

Hearing it like this, Ren shuddered. He sincerely thanked Azen for offending that powerful white-armored lion. Nevertheless, thinking of the deadline, he even doubted if he could pass the trial by then.

After witnessing Kana’s prowess, he fancied the idea of picking magic but with one month, he had to return to his original plan.

“Fox… do you know of any method to increase my strength?” Ren asked. He hoped that the fox could give him a better idea.

“Don’t call me fox! I have a name! Call me Rui! Idiotic stupid ignorant pup!” The hypocritical fox grumbled.

“Rui… can you help me?” Ren felt like the world was unfair. It gave Azen a powerful technique while he struggled with crumbs.

“Nope! Finding a path is up to you. Young pup! Remember one thing! This world has never been fair. If you don’t have the strength to survive, then you don’t deserve to live!”

Ren’s lips curved into a reversed ‘U’. His tearful eyes begged the fox. Rui avoided the tearful eyes as he departed.

“I’ll be leaving. This week is the most crucial week of your life. Use it wisely.” Rui disappeared.

Ren opened his eyes. There was still another hour till dawn but he had regained control of his body.

He took a deep breath and got out of his bed. Ignoring his naked upper body, he sat and pondered over his plans for the day, mainly over his new idea.

Ren couldn’t absorb any energy. Due to this, he could only work with the minimal energy within his meridians. However, this amount was negligible compared to a Practitioner’s requirement.

Nevertheless, to Ren, these crumbs of energy could bridge the difference between failure and success in the entry requirement of the trial. If he could utilize this minimal energy in the most efficient manner, it might be enough to help him lift an object weighing 200kg.

Despite not knowing the feasibility of his plan, he decided to proceed with it. At this stage, he couldn’t waste any time pondering. Each second spent not tackling the trial brought him one second closer to his death.

For this purpose, Ren ignored the potential of his path. Maybe, after the trial, he could abandon this path and choose magic instead.

Gaining a proper goal, Ren decided to dig deeper into methods to manipulate his energy. However, books could no longer solve that problem. He needed a hands-on experience in the field.

Ren settled his mind and waited for sunrise. Despite the flaws, this method was the most viable one amongst the ones he had seen. After all, he wasn’t a prodigy blessed with an Elemental Conversion Technique unlike some others.

Achoo!

His sneeze reminded him of the cold morning weather. Looking around, he couldn’t find his shirt.

‘Hm… Azen threw my shirt… It should be somewhere over here… But, where is it?’ Frowning, he questioned his memory.

In the end, he shrugged and decided to search below. Maybe, he misremembered and Azen dropped it while returning the dagger.

“Ren? You woke up early.” Reaching the ground floor, he saw both the sisters together. Seeing Kana, Ren instinctively shuddered. He still possessed a vivid memory of her prowess.

Only upon remembering the fact that Kana hadn’t seen his face, did he feel better.

“Did you see my shirt?” He asked Lena.

“Wait for me. I’ll bring you a new set of clothes. It’s a cold morning!” Lena attributed Ren’s shivering to the cold weather. She dashed towards her room.

He nodded and prepared to return when Kana called him.

“Ren, can you come here for a moment?” Unlike usual, she didn’t refer to him by ‘Honored Guest’. Instead, she directly referred to his name.

Ren’s heart skipped a beat. Nevertheless, he obediently approached Kana.

“Did you go out last night?” Her eyes narrowed as she met gazes with Ren.

“No.” Ren answered with a straight face.

‘It was Azen who left the previous night! So, it isn’t a lie.’ He inwardly convinced himself.

“Oh.” Kana nodded. No one knew what thoughts went through her mind.

A few minutes later, the small ‘family’ of three decided to have an early breakfast.

“Honored Guest, I have good news for you. The commotion over your status has settled down. If you want, you can travel outside. Still, you must wear a disguise for now. It’ll prevent any unwanted incidents.” Kana casually said while sipping on a cup of tea.

Before Ren could reply, it was Lena’s turn to get excited.

“That’s great! Ren, is there any place you’d like to visit?”

Ren hesitated. He thought for a moment before replying.

“I want to learn energy manipulation. Is there any place where…”

“That’ll be Learner’s Fall! Umm, Sister, can I take him there?” Lena excitedly proclaimed before staring at her sister with eyes that shone stars.

Kana smiled wryly. Seeing her excited sister, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse her.

“Fine. Lena, I’ll leave the Honored Guest in your hands. But don’t forget the disguise! If there’s any trouble, search for me… Never mind, I’ll arrange a secret protection team.”

“What is Learner’s Fall?” While Lena victoriously smiled, the clueless Ren didn’t know what to feel with others deciding his schedule without his permission.

“Ren, you don’t remember? You’ve been there before. It’s the waterfall where you met my sister.”

Ren instantly remembered the location. Thinking of the place, he remembered the shape-shifting cat and the lion cub.

“Then it’s decided. We’ll leave after breakfast!” Lena smiled.

Many hours later.

Chirp! Chirp!

The birds sang, the trees danced with the wind, and the sunflowers presented their beautiful petals to the sun. Kana enjoyed the stroll in nature. At moments like these, she felt alive and free.

Splash! “Aaahh!”

A splash followed by a loud shout surprised Kana. She strode out of the forest and arrived next to the river.

Lena sat beside the river, reading a book. She was too engrossed in her book that she didn’t notice Kana’s arrival.

Huffing and puffing, Ren soon appeared on the cliff next to a waterfall. He ran to a tree and jumped onto its bark. Shouting, he kicked the bark and flew up. Like a ninja, he travelled further above the tree.

Thump!

Catching a leaf, he fell on the ground, nearly breaking his legs.

Gritting his teeth, he repeated the process. This time, he failed to get the required elevation and fell on his knees. Ignoring the pain, he jumped at the tree and repeated the same process until he obtained another leaf.

After possessing two leaves, he approached the river. He placed the two leaves onto the river and jumped onto them. Unfortunately, his weight sunk him and he fell down the waterfall with a shout.

Kana involuntarily gaped. After regaining her composure, she stormed to Lena.

“Lena, what are you doing?! I demand an explanation!” Lena finally noticed Kana. She put her book aside and smiled at her sister.

“Sister? Don’t worry. He asked for this! If he’s truly interested in manipulating energy, he must at least conquer this course.”

Kana facepalmed. Her sister’s bar was a little too high for the poor Ren. Seeing him climb the cliff, she hesitated and said.

“Isn’t it time for lunch?”

“Oh! I almost forgot! Let’s go.” Lena happily dusted her clothes and prepared to leave.

“Wait! What about him?” Kana pointed at Ren.

“Oh! He’s staying here until he perfects this course. I gave him energy pills for food. As for water… there’s plenty here. I’m sure he’ll manage.” She gave a sweet smile and strolled towards the teleportation spot.

Kana inwardly shuddered.

‘What in Edahi is going on here? Where did my sweet Lena go? She’s turned into a Demon!’ She almost didn’t recognize her sister anymore. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to disturb their training routine.

Seeing Ren’s pitiful state, she couldn’t help but wonder how the situation devolved to such a pathetic state.