While Ana was practicing the skills listed in the Beast Encyclopaedia at the depths of the bamboo grove as usual, she suddenly sensed a strong breath. Someone was approaching. Alarmed, she immediately ceased her practice and controlled her spiritual power. Almost at the same time, a delicate shadow appeared in front of Ana.

' Master Mia! What a pleasant surprise to see you here!' Ana was slightly shocked because it was Mia who came to visit her. She didn't expect Mia to find out about that place, which was suppose to be her secret practice spot. She was certain no one would even know that they could find her there.

' How did she find out about my secret place?' Ana wondered.

' What? Are you surprised to see me?' Mia pretended to be mad at Ana and asked her as if she could read her mind.

Just then, a shadow of a beast darted out of the bamboo grove. In the blink of an eye, it approached Mia. It was Ana's war beast Ananta.

' Ananta, stop!' Ana ordered her war beast at once. She was afraid that it might hurt Mia.

Ana's surprise was boundless when she saw Ananta reach closer to Mia, because it didn't attack her at all. Instead, it was meekly walking around Mia like a pet sheep, and kept licking her jade like beautiful hand. Thinking licking was not enough to show its affection to Mia, Ananta even began to rub its head against Mia 's legs and arms. Mia, on the other hand, did not seem to be irritated by its intimate behaviour and simply allowed it to do as it wished. Rather she was patting it softly.

‘ Ana grumbled.

‘ Mia remarked narrowing her eyes. Some time ago, she had met Priest Dean. While returning, she accidentally heard a few trainees talking about what had happened to Ana recently. Mia was surprised and she came to Ana to confirm that information. She also had to talk to Ana about another important matter.

‘ Ana smiled and said.

‘ Mia asked Ana as she was filled with curiosity.

‘ Ana said, adding to the mystery.

Ana would not tell Mia the reason for Ananta 's improvement was because of the yellow spiritual crystal. She knew if Mia got to know about it, she would certainly ask her where it came from. And Ana had zero intention of revealing about Marcia. She had to keep her promise. So to change the topic, Ana immediately asked,‘

‘ Well, the dragon field is a small place, after all . It is easy for me to find anyone in this place!’ Mia had a rare smile and said,‘ As for why I was looking for you, have you forgotten that I gave you only one month off? Your holiday ended yesterday. Today, you were suppose to show up at the training place but you didn't ’,

‘ Oh! Is that so? Master Mia, you have such a good memory. Why do you care about me so much? Maybe, you do have some feelings for me!’ Ana flirted lightly and laughed. How could she not know that her one month holiday had come to an end! The fact was that she didn't wanted to start the training right away and wanted to take a few more days off. But she hadn't expected Mia to look for her.

‘ I'm not in the mood to hear your jokes. From tomorrow onwards, your training will be doubled. Next month, the Dragon Birth Festival will be held in our Empire. You and the other royal spirit manipulators will have to compete with the Magic Phoenix Empire. I don't want you to be the one who will weaken our overall power because you're a month short of training’, Mia said sternly.

Ana listened, smiled and looked at Mia, but spoke nothing. Actually her mind was racing fast,‘ If I told you that I was already at the fourth grade of mortal stage, I'm sure that you wouldn't have said those words to me. But at present, I prefer not to let you know about that. Just wait and watch. When you finally learn the fact by yourself, you'll be pleasantly surprised! Not just you! Every one will be surprised!’ Ana was lost in her thoughts.

‘ Why are you smiling?’ Mia asked suspiciously, when she saw an odd smile on Ana's face.

without waiting for Mia's reply, Ana turned to her war beast, who was still rubbing against Mia's hands, and said,‘

Ananta roared a few times and seemed to be very reluctant to leave Mia, but as a war beast, it was also aware that it should obey it's master's order. Thus, unwillingly, it began to follow Ana and left.

‘ Mia looked at the back of Ana while she walked away and whispered in dissapointment.

Ana took Ananta back to her room and saw her roommate Fiona. She immediately greeted her.

Fiona's eyes fell upon Ananta. With eyes wide open, she looked at Ana and then again at Ananta. She looked surprised and stammered,‘ Is it really your Ananta?’

‘ Yes, it is. Is there a problem?’ Ana replied, raising her eyebrows.

‘ So, all those rumor about your war beast are true! Every one is talking about your war beast’, Fiona added and still couldn't believe her own eyes.

‘ It turns out that I'm a celebrity now’, Ana murmured to herself in a sarcastic way.

‘ By the way, I hope you remember the promise you made yesterday. So can I borrow your cloud tiger now?’ she asked Fiona.

‘ All right! But just for three days ’, Fiona stressed on the number, as she replied to Ana.

Ana exclaimed at once and nodded her head.

When the evening fell, Ana took Ananta and Fiona's cloud tiger to the bamboo grove and began to use cloud tiger to practice the Magical Evaluation skill.

‘ Ana said . As time passed a triangular mark appeared at the foot of the cloud tiger.

Suddenly Ana noticed that among all the rays of light which were reflected on cloud tiger. The brightest and thickest of them was a cloud of silver white light.

Among all the nature and qualities which the spirit manipulated beast had. Ana recognised a special one which was a silvery ray. It was usually owned by spiritual beasts, dragons or other extremely rare species. The silver ray stood for ice, which was the same as the ice of dragon spiritual power owned by a royal spirit manipulator. Generally, a war beast couldn't have such a property.

‘ Ana grinned.

Ana softly patted it's head.

Cloud tiger howled as if replying to Ana.

‘Ana patted cloud tiger's head. Then she summoned Ananta.

Seeing cloud tiger, Ananta was not modest at all and rushed at her with eagerness. Cloud tiger was too scared to react and got beaten off the ground, rolling back a few meters. At a respectable distance she was able to stand up. She was so irritated that she roared at Ananta, staring at it angrily.

‘ Ana firmly commanded.

Ananta howled furiously and rushed at cloud tiger again.

After an hour long fight, cloud tiger was on the ground, wounded and panting, while Ananta was crouched on the other side, expecting another attack. After a moment's hesitation, it licked cloud tiger's wound, which healed instantly like nothing happened before.

‘ Ana returned cloud tiger back to the room.

Seeing them return, Fiona checked out cloud tiger. She calmly asked Ana,‘

Ana joked.

After returning cloud tiger to Fiona. Ana went back to the bamboo forest to practice the mysterious dragon skill.

Everything had been going well until she reached the fourth grade of mortal stage where the progress was not so obvious.

‘ Ana decided after considering the situation.

So, Ana skipped the fourth grade of mysterious dragon skill and started fifth grade. That was theoretically impossible because the higher the grade of mysterious dragon skill was, more complex the refinement would become, and more spiritual power would be needed.

Since Ana had the magical saliva which helped to circulate her spiritual power several times faster. She didn't need to worry about her insufficient spiritual power.

It was no problem at all for her.

Ana was probably the only person who could do this. This would definitely shock people who once disdained her.

The next morning, she had to go to the dragon field for practice. She went to her room and changed her uniform and reached the dragon field as instructed by Mia. Seeing Ana, the young candidates began to point towards her and started whispering around.

Ana looked coldly at them. The young candidates timidly lowered thier heads out of fear. Everyone knew she had a war beast that had defeated Bear's three star Lion Eagle, so offending Ana now was surely like asking for trouble.

But there were still a few arrogant royal spirit manipulators who kept looking at Ana satirically .

Ana didn't care about them at all because she was busy thinking of ways to activate cloud tiger.

Ana sensed a malicious gaze on her. She was sure it was Bear. So she casually snubbed him.

After the young manipulators gathered together, Mia appeared in front of them.

‘ Mia advised.

Her words caused a bustle and every one was excited. Excitement was in the air because the Dragon Birth Festival was a national celebration. Moreover, the person who would stand out in the Dragon Birth Festival would get favours from the royalty. And a bright future was assured. Everyone waited for such an opportunity and wanted to test thier luck and destiny.

A/n: Hey there gorgeous! Today my question for you is...

What is your favourite season?