That was some well-needed shut-eye. My body never felt so relaxed before.

I wanted to get up from the bed but I couldn’t. Seeing the slightly swollen eyes, I could do nothing than lend my arm under her cheek like it was a pillow. It was guilt that I felt at this moment. Although it was dumb of her to assume I was dead that fast and that gramps would do this without hesitation but maybe it was because it is gramps we are talking about.

But her Will has a high quality to it. Not as much as mine but it seems solid enough to crush normal awakened’s Will…

Man… I fucked up. If this wouldn’t have worked, I’m pretty sure she would have killed the two of us.

“The girl had it rough in her life to rely on a stranger like that… even if you aren’t a stranger now.”

“Gramps…”

“I’m sorry you had to experience this, boy. If I could have just been better at using the space element… then I’d not have sent you…”

“It’s fine. I’m the one with 100% space affinity. I do not know your affinities bu-”

“100% Time affinity. That’s what I want to talk about with you before the girl wakes up. 100% affinities. They seem great as it means you are the true king of that said element but we only get haunted by our affinities. It is usually for those with 100% affinities to have a problem one way or another with those said affinities. Yet you… you have 4 affinities with 100% so I had to tell you about it… but I guess that has to wait. Our little crazy yandere is about to wake up.”

I guess it wasn’t meant for me to hear it now. But I wasn’t mad. I didn’t feel any problems at the moment. What shocked me though was that this monster has a 100% Time affinity. He is the strongest monster all right. But my thoughts about a said monster could wait. Someone was waking up and just before I could look to the right, expecting someone to tell me what to do, my right was empty with my left fidgeting slightly.

And then she woke up. With sleepy eyes, she sat up straight while rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a mess and there were some marks on her arm and cheeks because of the way she slept. But she seems well-rested.

“Good morning, Laith…”

Oh! So we are going to behave as nothing happened?

“Good mor-THUD UGH!”

I take it back. She immediately went for a deep hug when she realised that I was there. I could feel her cheeks slightly hot from the sudden increase in blood flow to her head. But…

I could also feel my chest getting slightly wet. A warm feeling I didn’t like was now on my chest. Sighing, I hugged her back although way softer than she did.

I bet remembering the things the old man said before she went berserk hit her hard. There there. You didn’t do anything bad. It was our fault for ma-

“I hate you… both of you.”

“This shithead… Come here!”

I pulled her face away and started to pull on her cheeks. How dare you! This is supposed to be a moment where you say sorry like in all the TV Series! Or you just stay silent and hug me tighter! But hate the two of us? Hate the old man! Not me! I’m innocent! It wasn’t my idea!

“Buw… lew mi gwoooo!”

“Fine. but only because I want to!”

I never realised that I could be such a kid sometimes. Must be hard to try and handle me. I’m sorry for making trouble all this time, mum and dad.

“Haaa… but it is good that I was dumb enough to fall for it. It is better that I am too dumb than that situation to be real… I’m glad this is the case.”

And right after those words, I felt her head back on my chest. This… dumbass…

If you say stuff like that, not caring about you would be impossible for me now.

“I… We are sorry. We are sorry to make you go through that.”

“It was to awaken me so I can’t stay mad at you forever. But I don’t know about the old man…”

“Hehe~. You can stay mad at gramps. It’s no difference.”

“What’s no difference?”

BAMM

“ARGH! Do you always have to hit someone!?”

“In your case? Yes. yes, I do.”

This hateful bastard! Fuck staying mad at the old man! I’ll fully support you on that, Alyssa! So let’s take down this tyrant together! For the greater good of our mental health.

“Besides this… Girl, do you understand why I planned to do this? Why I played with your hormones and made up all this scenario?”

“You did what, gramps?”

“Because you wanted to awaken me?”

Did he just say ‘played with your hormones’? So the reason she believed this wasn’t just because she is stupid but because this old man had a hand in it as well? Or did I understand his words wrong?

Did he ever play with my hormones? How? I didn’t feel any Will from him that was on my body nor on hers…

How?

"Partly but my true goal was always to make you realize your goal. Know where your eyes should look at. Have that goal and never let it go… You realized your goal and awakened your ability at the same time. So tell me… What is your true goal."

A goal.

Something that in the end would push everyone forward. No one will do something without a goal. Even if you enjoy the journey.

A journey is nothing without the goal at the end.

Mine was to attain independence from others’ actions. So that no one could kidnap my parents again. So that someone like Felix couldn’t make my future wishes fall to ruin.

So that I myself will be the cause of my own mistakes and hardships. So that I can learn from my mistakes and grow from them.

But Alyssa’s… I wasn’t sure what it is. I felt a mixture of her feelings during her berserk state.

It was loneliness. Anger at herself. And the frustration of not being able to do anything. But what her goal is? I am not sure. Anyone’s guess could be better than mine.

“Hope… Laith was the last sliver of hope I had but seeing it get destroyed so easily made me realise how foolish it is. How dumb it is to put my hope on anyone but myself… I want to become strong so I can be my own hope. Not anyone else… and with that hope, I will protect my friends and family. That is most likely my goal. To become my own hope.”

The old man looked satisfied. I am happy about this as well. It is a goal that in the end wishes for pride. One that one day you can be proud of yourself and not rely on others to be proud about yourself.

"Pfft… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's so funny!?"

“Yes, Gramps… why are you laughing like that?”

Did he lose another screw? Or was this goal too much to laugh at? But either way, It’s not nice to do that to your two disciples. Let me go, Alyssa! I’ll bash his head open! Don’t hold me back.

I wanted to stand up and hit that fucker on the head but this girl wouldn’t let me up. Isn’t it time to stop hugging me?

I knew it! You are enjoying it way too much!

“That the goals of my two disciples would be so high up. Who would have thunk that I had such arrogant brats as disciples?”

“We would.”

“We would.”

“Anyway… tell me, girl. What ability did you awaken with? As far as I could tell, you have high time and space affinities so I’m quite curious what your ability may be.”

“Eeeeehm~... let me think about it.”

This isn’t something you have to think about so much. It is literally a part of… stop hugging me even tighter! My body may be a weapon but my mind still can’t handle someone like you!

"Hihihi~ what? Can't even answer the question because you can't think of anything else besides this boy?"

"Yes!"

“Deny it at least!”

"Oho! Ojou-sama shows so much interest in you, boy. Maybe I’d have someone to tease you more. Hoho~..."

This fucking… Damnit! Let me hit you two on your heads!

“Could you at least answer his question? I want to know as well…”

“Hmm~ alright! But only if you hug me back just as much as I do.”

This isn’t supposed to be a cheap rom-com manga! What’s wrong with the two of them!

I feel like I’m the victim here! Let me go!

But fighting was pointless. This girl miraculously gained the strength to fight back. How come she is already so strong. And not to mention the old man was staring daggers at me. What are you doing that for? I bet he is jealous that I get to be hugged by a beautiful girl while he can’t do anything but watch.

Fine! I hugged back just as strong, making her let out a very faint sound. Don’t make this weird! This fucker will tease me for months about this, I swear!

"… daydream… To affect reality like it's a dream…"

“!!”

“!!”

Now I stopped being mad about this situation. The hell? To affect reality like it’s a dream? Isn’t this…

“Isn’t this a bit too strong?”

“You took the words out of my mouth, gramps. But isn’t the universe supposed to be fair?”

“Talk about yourself mister 6 affinities. But I get what you mean. This girl is just too much…”

“Hm? Is something wrong? I just told you what I believe my ability can do. That’s what you two wanted, right?”

No fake smile was visible on the faces of the two of us. We just had a genuine smile spread all over our faces.

"Haa… I can be the luckiest man alive now! Both my disciples are so talented and have abilities that'd be the envy of the world."

“I don’t know if I should be happy my junior has such a broken ability or that this same junior is my yande-AAH!! Shtop it!…”

“I won’t if you stop calling me yandere!”

“I ghet it! …haaah…”

Pulling my cheeks is cheating! I can do that as I am your senior! What am I supposed to do when my junior is the one pulling on my cheeks?

“But now that I think about it, what is your ability, Laith? All I have seen you do is fight with the old man or try to go to forge something before just sitting on the field and do Will control training.”

This girl. She forgot that the reason I didn’t forge anything was because of her! You piece of…

No, Laith. Stay cool. Anger is just a way to let out your emotions once but destroy a bond forever. Let’s just answer. Yes. let’s just answer.

“If you stop hugging me so tightly, I might say it.”

Here we go! It’s revenge ti-

“Then never mind.”

OH, COME ON!! Old man, help me… stop with that look. You both are horrible people!

“Don’t worry, girl. I can tell you without you having to move an inch.”

“Thanks, old man!”

“Treason! You fucker! I’ll remember this!”

“And do what? I’m the strongest human alive and I only get stronger and stronger. What can you do?”

FUCK! I’m starting to think all of this was a mistake. Fuck destroy a bond. I’m ready to destroy a city at this moment! So don’t dare run away from me when I become stronger!

“Hah… I give up. I can understand weapons, armour and accessories perfectly. This includes storing those I acknowledge in my soul by giving them a name as well as creating artefacts and being able to improve them depending on what kind of potential they were created with. With this understanding, I can literally use any kind of weapon and master them faster than anyone else.”

“Broken.”

“I know, right? Even though you can affect reality, he could kill you way before you activate your ability. Yet he doesn’t want to accept that he is already a monster with just this.”

Hah? Do you want to tell me understanding weapons is stronger than affecting literal reality and change cause and effect?

“Are the two of you stupid? Being able to change cause and effect is way more powerful than understanding weapons.”

“Not necessarily. Such an ability may be overpowered but there are limitations to anything as well as possibilities. Even during her potential awakening, she couldn’t destroy time and space and only distort it by creating ripples. It can kill most people but like you and me who have a higher affinity than her, she couldn’t do much about that. Not to mention that you can just pull the trigger of a gun or pull the string of a bow and her head would already fall to the ground. I’d say the universe is always fair but with you, I’m not sure about that anymore…”

Damn… am I that strong? No no no no no. the old man just tries to make me feel better.

But I had to acknowledge my progress somehow. I did get stronger. And I will become even stronger than I am now.

“Not to mention she only made a radius of 100 metres get distorted while you summoned an infinite amount of weapons all while cutting the literal space throughout the whole forest. You, my boy, are too broken.”

“What? You were the reason the crater inside the forest happened? Your action got in the news! I knew my future husband would be amazing but so much… hehehe~ I can’t wait to see how you will be in the future.”

“Definitely by myself, thank you! And if you excuse me, I want to sleep a bit more. This conversation took a toll on my mind.”

"Alright! I'll let you two sleep for a while before we begin with your Will control training, girl. And dear, he is working hard, so please support him instead of getting in his way, okay?"

“Good night and by, gramps!”

“Got it! I won’t be a burden anymore.”

I laid back down on the bet with a too clingy girl hugging me, never even thinking to let me go. I just wanted to rest more but now I got pushed down by this crazy girl.

Whatever… not like the first time she was inside my bed. Let’s just sleep for now.

“Ah! My dear! Have you waited for me too long? I’m sorry that I made you wait.”

“I wish you’d treat me like you treat this forge…”

“Never! And besides, don’t you have Will control training?”

“Do you see any leaking Will?”

And I had to get beaten 5 days straight and she just finished all of this in 9 days with no beatings… I now understand what the old man meant when he said this girl has greater talent than I have. Wasn’t I supposed to be the never found talent? At least she still isn’t as great as I am in some aspects.

“What did you learn today?”

CLANG

“It was about affinities. The old man said that…”

CLANG

“... the old ma-”

CLANG

“... you are not listening, are you?”

CLANG

“I am listening. I can listen to you and this hammering at the same time. You think I’d hammer just to drown out your voice?”

CLANG

It’s been 9 days since Alyssa awakened. She had been training her Will control like I was supposed to do while taking lessons from the old man. So tomorrow is the test day for her. Let’s help her out.

CLANG

But she did her affinity test today. I didn’t hear anything about it. Why wasn’t I called as well?

“Hey. tell me what your affinities are.”

CLANG

“We didn’t test my affinities yet.”

CLI-CLANG

I let the hammer down as I took the hand of Alyssa and went to the bigger hut. I saw the old man sitting on his favourite armchair, reading another book. You did this on purpose, didn’t you?

“I’m here so check her affinities already, gramps.”

“Hehe~. You wanted to know as well.”

“I didn’t want to be the reason she won’t know her affinities. Now take out that device already.”

“Hah… have patience, you brat. I wanted to test her but she wanted you there.”

Looking at the culprit of this situation, I could only see a red face. What? Now you decide to feel embarrassed? Stop bullshiting.

“It’s the first time you took my hand! What can I do but feel embarrassed?”

“You read my mind?”

“No, boy. It is written all over your stupid face.”

“Just begin already!”

I let go of the hand I just held a moment ago. Her hand was soft but calluses were forming slightly on her hand which was most likely from her ‘harsh’ training. It was a pity but no one has the luxury of a strong yet fair hand. You have to fight for your strength. And sacrifices are bound to be made.

The old man took out the familiar-looking stick with that one gem on its end. You got this with a woman sound, right? Remembering my test, I could think of nothing but the perverted mind that held this stick.

But before this could continue, we three felt two beings entering the barrier. But no hostility left my body. I knew those two for a bit now so feeling their aura wasn’t that hard.

But I felt someone cling to me as hard as they could while I made my way outside.

“I feel a woman…”

“This is what you are worried about?”

Seriously. Her priorities are so wrong that I can only worry about her actions in the future. But while not minding that, I still made my way out. This time with shackles on my left arm.

“Hey, Laith! How is… wait… Alyssa from school?”

"Huh? Alyssa?! What's a normal human doing here?"

"Wait! Aren't you two the Lo'oroz twins from school? WAIT! YOU GUYS ARE ELVES?"

“Let me expla-”

“Now I get why you three were so close from the start. You two already had the chance to meet my honey way before I could.”

Alyssa… I think this is something you shouldn’t say so easily. How come you can say that. But come to think about it, the old man most likely didn’t tell Alyssa about the city so she could see it for herself. And getting new friends would do wonders for her attitude. But…

This is not how you make friends.

I think.

I started to explain to the three so they could understand the situation. The twins learned about Alyssa becoming the old man’s disciple omitting the fact that she and I shared the dreamland as well as what happened on Friday. Only the old man knew about the full extent while Alyssa most likely understands part of it.

I then proceeded to explain to Alyssa about the forest city and how we were technically neighbours. Well. I tried to explain it to a girl that only stuck to me without her full attention to my words.

BAMM

“AUA!!”

“Listen!”

After finally getting her to understand it, I was mentally tired. This crazy yandere was only focused on ‘me’ and nothing else. I hope she remembers the old man’s lessons and didn’t just think about ‘me’.

Alyssa just was too close to me. Very close. And I slowly got embarrassed about it. This intimacy isn’t something common in Elven culture so it may as well look like we are already married. Their judging gazes… eeeh… stop that already! But I could do nothing but shrug my shoulders at their gazes.

"Alyssa, could you step back a bit? It's a bit embarrassing…"

"Hmmm~ … fine, honey…"

Sighing, I could feel the weight on my left arm decreasing. She started to listen to me which made me relieved to no end. She was only so forceful when I wanted to sleep. Besides that, she would keep her distance when I asked her to do so like in the forge.

I guess that plan did more wonders than I initially thought.

“I guess we can do the affinity check with some company. Welcome kids!”

“Thanks for having us again!”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“Now! Girl. step forward.”

I was actually interested in what kind of affinities she would have. The reason was that the affinities don’t always have to be in correlation with the abilities. Abilities were something that belonged to humans alone while affinities were something universal. Someone can have a lighting based ability with a high water affinity. This was also one of the reasons that almost all abilities were unique with each affinity.

And besides, 100% affinities had either weirder rules. Although most of them were once in a race, some were truly once. The Space and the Time affinity was an example. It was truly a miracle that those two would be seen in humans at the same time.

My affinity of [All Weapons], [All Armour],[All Accessories] and [All Materials] is even weirder since this made it that no human could have a 100% sword affinity since it belongs to my [All Weapons] affinity.

…

Alright, I admit that I’m broken. But this only meant that I will grow stronger way slower than others. The Universe is fair to all, after all. Or that’s what the old man loved to say.

Alyssa stood in front of the old man who held the same stick with a gem on its end as last time. But instead of asking the girl, that was looking at me with hearts in her eyes while staring daggers at Laetisa, to hold out her hand, he just….

BONK

"OUCH!"

"Concentrate on your circulation even when being distracted, girl. Unlike someone else, you still can't control your Will perfectly subconsciously so this will be a warning. So never stop! Now let’s see what the machine is saying."

Holding the gem on her head after hitting her on that exact spot, the old man soon became silent. This place was dead silent with only the slight pained sounds of Alyssa being audible.

But I was a bit happy. It finally paid off…

I finally saw true gender equality for a moment. My beliefs have been paid off.

The stick started to glow a bit. This took a while but no one said anything. Then the glow stopped and a high pitched noise left the device before the stick started to sound out with the same robotic female voice as when I got checked.

[Full affinity check has completed]

[Affinities of "Alyssa Regis" are as followed]

[100% Dream affinity]

[85% space affinity]

[85% time affinity]

[70% sword affinity]

[60% healing affinity]

[Appropriate Occupation would be]

[1st Occupation: Combatant/Warrior]

[2nd Occupation: Dimensional Researcher]

[3rd Occupation: Healer]

Oh, come on! She actually has so high space and time affinities? What is ‘Dream’ affinity? What is that supposed to mean?

“Boy… this girl has a 100% affinity that may as well be rarer than one of your ‘all’ type affinity…”

“WHAT!!!”

Although space and time weren’t surprising, how the hell is one 100% dream affinity rarer than my ‘All’ affinities. This doesn’t make sense! Please help! My understanding of this world is shattering bit by bit!

And this girl has a healing and sword affinity? The same girl that punched the ground while becoming berserk? I expected more of a gauntlet affinity and a ‘hurting’ affinity instead of healing.

But this great amount of affinities meant that…

I knew it! The old man was very happy. So happy, that a vein started to bulge on his forehead. It’s not our fault that our souls were born with these affinities. I never said that I wanted to be born with a diamond spoon in my soul's mouth but here I am now.

The twins were already out. They may have great affinities but this must have shocked them too much. I get it… this time I really do.

“Are these numbers bad? I thought having more than 4 affinities meant I could become a powerhouse in the future.”

“Oh no, dear. We are silent because your affinities are great. 100% Dream affinity is already enough to guarantee your future powers and next to that, you have high time and space affinities that contemplate with your ability. I can’t help much with space and healing but thankfully, the person I called for Laith’s space affinity has also healing affinity so that person can help you out greatly. For Time affinity, no one can teach you better than I can. And for your sword affinity… hehehe… ask the hottie hiding behind that tree who has a 100% [All Weapon] affinity.”

This damned old bastard! I knew he would pull me in just because! Fucker!

The three of them were looking at me with widened eyes. I understood why as well. [All Weapon] affinity was already something not heard of but 100% is just plain weird. 100% Dream affinity being rarer is most likely because there was no person compatible with it. And since abilities make this all the more complex, Alyssa most like became compatible with it through the hidden ability in her soul.

I could see Fe’liu shiver as he pointed at me. What are you shivering here for! I’m the one scared to be ripped to pieces by you three. And it seemed like he was going to ask something he would regret later. Dude! If you think that then don’t ask.

"Dude… What affinities do you have?"

"Uuuuh… Do I have to tell you?"

"YES, DUDE!"

"YES, LAITH!"

"YES, HONEY!"

Goddamn! This is hurting my head more than I wished it for…FINE!!! You wanted…

BONK

fuck…I feel something cold on my head as I was back on the field.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! I’m not ready like that!

[Full affinity check has completed]

[Affinity of "Laith Arslan" are as followed]

[100% all Weapon affinity]

[100% all Armour affinity]

[100% all Accessories affinity]

[100% Space affinity]

[80% all material affinity]

[30% all elemental affinity]

[Appropriate Occupation would be]

[First Occupation: Combatant/Warrior]

[Second Occupation: Crafter]

It’s out there! As well as the shocked expression of the three. Yes! I know! I have 6 affinities! And even an all elemental affinity, which meant I had a 30% affinity towards every basic element like fire, water, lighting, wood and so on. But please! Stop looking at me like I belong in the museum!

"See lad! This is why I was hunting you down when I saw that. A normal awakened has one affinity that most of the time is related to their ability. Geniuses have two. And those who have three and four are known to grow to be one of the strongest. Those that have touched the [Caelestia] realm before The Break have 5 and that's the most known affinities out there. The lass has five affinities meaning she has at least the same amount of talent like me and she has a full dream affinity which may put her even above my talent. But you, you are more of a monster than anyone ever could think of with 6 of which 3 are 100% affinities of combinations of different affinities and 100% space. That’s why I hunted you down."

I get it! I was designed by this world to be its ruler and so on and so on! But all I wanted was to not make it so much of a deal that those three would almost revere me.

"But enough of affinities. You three should train while you, little Alyssa, will be doing your circulation and train with me afterwards."

"What! I wanna train with Laith as we-BAMM OUCH!"

"When you can control your Will perfectly, then you can go play. Until then, you have to study with me. Good grief… what's so bad about me?"

“Hahaha. What~? You disappointed that she prefers me rather than you?”

“I’m not at all. In fact, I’m a free man and not like someone that is most likely stopped by this yandere~.”

“You fucking… I am not getting blocked by anyone! If I wanted to find someone, I could-”

“You could do what, Laith?”

“I could respectfully stay single for the rest of my life…”

That gaze… never again am I angering this girl. Any wrong words and I’d be dead.

Oh, yeah! Just laugh at my pain, you guys! Just laugh! I’ll get my revenge!

I don’t have time to waste here! I have to get back train.

190 days…

It's been so long since this little devil joined my training. And for so long, I had to endure different kinds of hardships.

…

Okay no, it was just one. My mental strength has been pushed to its limits countless times by now. And the culprit?

The girl that has been crazy about me since day one, Alyssa. Although I could forge weapons after her awakening, even getting as far as becoming a level 2 [Discipulus] stage Awakened, this would have happened way faster if she wasn’t constantly pestering me during my work.

The saving grace is that she wasn’t as clingy as before, making me able to work at least.

And this little devil only grew strong with every nap she took. Since her ability had to do with dreams, she would push her cause and effect ability to the limits while being awake and push her dreams to the limits while she slept, even being able to control which dream she wanted to have.

This meant that that one dream wasn’t happening when she doesn’t want to.

Yet she didn’t stop. Our Will became only better with each dream so stopping that dream would only slow down our progress. But with her sleeping more than me, she soon began to catch up to me. And I couldn’t progress further than level 2 for some reason. It was like something was blocking me from entering level 3…

CLANG

I was currently training swordplay with Alyssa. She was using a long sword I made just three days ago while I was using a whip with three metal ends. And yet she was now good enough to stop all three ends with minimal injuries.

I pulled back from the right, making the ends move towards her from her right.

CLANG

Another block. Sliding a couple of metres to the side, she stood steady, not losing one bit of her balance. I guess that was too easy for her.

I lowered my centre of gravity as I took back the whip fully before pushing off the ground. I wasn’t using a [Phasing Flash Step] but rushed to her normally. Seeing me approach, Alyssa went back to a standard sword stance with the two hands on her sword.

“Your stance is strong but too stiff!”

CLANG

Whipping the middle part of the sword with the end of the whip, Alyssa’s stance got broken slightly, giving me an opening while rushing towards her. Grabbing the blade of one of the ends, I jumped up while throwing the blade towards her.

CLANG

“Great reaction time! But judgment needs more work!”

And with a kick to the face, Alyssa was sent flying after she redirected the blade with her sword, leaving her wide open for a kick. But before she could fly off, the ends of the whip tangled up her leg and grabbed her.

“SHIT!!”

I pulled her back with all of my power in my back while standing steady. She flew right towards me but swinging at the whip, she managed to loosen the grip, freeing herself from my whip.

But that was a bad decision. Because now with a couple of flicks, the moment she landed on the ground and could rush at me, she was forced to stop as three blades rushed towards her from different angles. But it seems her training wasn’t for nought as she was able to defend against all of them.

Too bad that I was now already in front of her with my arm filled with Will and pointing my fingertips at her neck.

But me thinking that she would stop was a big mistake as her swing didn’t stop with just deflecting and continued with a swing towards my neck.

“Good judgement. If you are going to die anyway, might as well make me join you. But…”

Letting go of the whip from my left hand, I used my right hand to redirect her swing, moved my right leg behind her left and threw the sword away before pushing her down on the ground with my left leg holding down her right arm, her left arm held by my right and my left hand pointing at her neck.

"Now I'd have lost a finger at most but you'd definitely be dead. But great work, Alyssa!"

"Say that to my face and not while riding me like a horse..."

"Alright..."

I jumped away from her while tidying up my clothes. This was better than before for sure. But there was something wrong…

“I guess a bastard sword isn’t quite your style suited for your body. Maybe a one-hander longsword or a Knight’s sword would suit you better. “

Taking out my notebook and pen, I started to finalise the sketch I did for her future sword. This bastard sword she used had a material called [Stone Steel] which was a very finely compressed alloy that was too heavy for normal people. This sword was about 60 Kg, making it heavy for normal people but perfect for Awakened ones.

"I liked the balance of this sword though... Felt like I could swing perfectly with this one."

"Ah Great! I was especially looking in that depart when trying to use [Stone Steel] in a much more compressed form."

"I see you two had your fun? Huuuu~... I felt so left out while you two were fighting while grinning like madmen.”

"That's your fault for not teaching but making us fight with every kind of weapon I make. You make me just do a second version of every sword I made and just fight on the same strength with Alyssa! Don't you call yourself a master after 60 days of lazine-BAMM FUCK!"

Aaaah! I got hit once again by this man that called himself my master. Pffft… never in his dreams would I call him that! But… that vein on his forehead gave me a bad forbidding.

"Don't talk too much! Women don't like a man who talks too much!"

"I don't mi-BAMM OUCH!"

Aaaah! Now my junior got hit by this man that called himself her master. Pffft… never in his dreams would she call him that! But…. that second vein on his forehead gave me an even worse forbidding.

"And you! Don't agree with everything the boy says! You have no right to complain unlike him since he is the one working and you are the one sleeping."

"But my powers are growing because of that!"

"Your Will gets better quality but your powers didn't get affected by much. Try to start having other dreams for the Abyss'’ sake! I've been telling you this for a month yet you didn't do it. It's fine to strengthen your Will but you have to strengthen your other foundations as well! Only then can you advance truly! So stop having that dream just to be with Laith!"

"FINE!"

“Haaa… seriously! I thought after more than half a year, the two of you would have grown more mature and stopped annoying me. But guess having such expectations from the two of you was a mistake, to begin with. The only saving grace here is the boy growing in character and you slowing down with your obsession with the boy… no, I take the last part back. If you had done that, you’d have already pushed your dreams instead of having that one dream over and over again!”

I guess the old man really had it rough in his own right. But he was right. Although it didn’t look like much, I could tell Alyssa slowed down with the obsession. This started on the day she awakened but it became only more obvious when she asked me about Friday’s dream.

Why was I so furious? Why was I crying? Why was I desperate to use my powers and let out all of my piled up emotions? And I thought it was alright to tell her what happened since I was already screaming half of the contents on that day.

About my friendship with Felix. About my two-year-long platonic crush on Gina, which Alyssa didn’t take as well as the other things. And of course, Friday. When I saw my future plans and my previous efforts shatter as well as my ‘best friend’ betraying my trust just like that.

That day wasn’t about my crush anymore and neither was it about the betrayal. If Felix comes to me and explains everything, I’d be willing to forgive him. That is if he can show me how mentally strong he is. I won’t accept a half-assed apology but one that explains everything to me. Because who hurt me the most on that day…

…was me.

I, who was someone that hated to be late for anything, was late way before I knew it. I hated that fact. The fact that my plans, my wishes and my hopes for the future were destroyed because I was too late. If I acted before, I am sure all this would have ended differently. Even if I’d be rejected, I’d at least have found closure.

But not now anymore. There is nothing I can do with only ‘what if’s. Every time though… every time I was in the forge working, thinking about why Felix didn’t tell me was the only thing I could do. That motherfucker was so worried about me and talked with me continuously but…

I just couldn’t help myself. I had to think about it when my mind was empty. And it plagued me even now. Why? Were you so weak-willed that you couldn’t see your best friend sad for one moment so you can be happy for a longer time? Did you think my friendship with you was something that could break so easily? Well, now you did actually break it…

But now no matter. I’d rather focus on my own life for the moment. What comes later will come later.

And now seeing the old man with… a gentle smile…was scaring me. And obviously, I was right once again as the old man dropped a big bomb right at this moment.

"Alright now here comes what we will be doing the last 5 days. You two need to learn teamwork. So with that in mind, you'll fight me for 5 days straight. Every good teamwork combination will shorten your time by an hour. And every bad combination will lengthen it. But it will stay at 5 days. You have 5 days to prepare yourself. Now if you excuse me, I'll be going out for a bit. I'll return when it is time to fight the two of you. Now see ya~."

And just like that, the old man vanished into thin air. My and Alyssa’s mouths were wide open. We? Fight you? For five days straight? You want to kill us?

“No-not again!”

“What again?”

“I had to do a survival game for five days to get perfect Will control but that was just a one-sided beatdown! Fuck… I’ll head back to the forge while you will go sleep. I’ll be spending most of the time in the forge for these five days. So don’t wait for me whenever you want to eat dinner or something similar. See ya!”

"Wait! What about our training?"

"It's nice to train before the fight, but I'll have to finish something before that which may take me longer. So I'm sorry but I'll be in the forge."

I headed back to the forge while feeling the strong gaze from Alyssa on my back. Even if you beg me, I won’t stop now. This is too important.

"...what are you going to make?"

Looking back at Alyssa, I could see her face with slight seriousness over it. I guess she could tell that this time, I was too serious for this.

I looked at her. Not just into her eyes but ‘her’ from the tips of her black wavy hair to her beautiful face all the way to the end of her tempting body. Those slender arms that had the might to crush rocks, those strong yet slightly slender legs that could crack the ground, the chest and stomach that could withstand any impact I’d do to her while training.

She was a fighter now. Even if looking at her so closely made her embarrassed. She was a fighter now. Those instincts have been engraved in her mind thanks to the old man and me.

So I smiled gently back at her. My smile wasn’t fake nor was it a simple wry smile. It was a genuine smile filled with something I’d call care.

"I'm thinking about... A one-handed longsword with perfect balance."