After a day full of events that no one could have predicted, Orion and Amelia decided to stay hidden in the dragon's nest, Ormrdivin, for a few days before departing.

Orion could determine the state of the continent at the current time.

The Apostles were most likely turning every stone in every city to find a trace of him.

Since there were no records of him in any cities, they were chasing after a ghost.

Their only luck would be Auro, but no one would expect the man to have been living in a beastman village.

If they had known Amelia was with him, then maybe they could have traced her origins and the place she was brought to, but since remained hidden, no luck there either for them.

To further complicate the matter, they didn't know his name, and while is hair color could have been helpful, someone with three different colors of hair would have been easily noticed by now.

Again, it was a false hope. There were barely any leads on Orion.

So, the only action left for them was to turn every single city upside down until they find him.

But then again, due to the 'sudden' drop of soldiers amount, this task turned out terribly slow.

Orion made a guess as to how many days he had to stay low. He just about had a full month to remain hidden before the matter settled down.

A fact that made Amelia pretty unhappy.

...

"What do you expect me to do about food now that we're here? We have less than three days of supplies right now."

He tried his best to think of something, until he looked at the dragons.

"They eat a lot too. If we just ask for some meat, we just have to look for vegetables outside."

He pointed towards the food storage of the dragon.

They both asked a dragon if it was possible to get a small amount of food from them.

"Sure, you don't eat much anyway. Just take whatever you need during your stay."

"Thank you."

They both excused themselves, and entered the cavernous tunnel. At a certain threshold, a cold breeze enveloped them, making Amelia shiver.

"I forgot you don't wear much on you. You can stay here if you'd like."

"No, don't worry. I'll keep going. I didn't expect the temperature to drop out so suddenly."

During his training, Orion became used to freezing temperatures.

Hunting at night, in the early morning, during winter. All of these experiences forged his resistance towards cold.

Swimming in ice water was unfortunately out of the question, as it was dangerous for anyone, even with resistances against coldness.

For Amelia, she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and a pair of flexible black pants. Quite unfit for ice-cold temperatures.

"Here, wear this."

As Orion still wore his black mantle even inside the dragon's territory, he took it off and gave it to Amelia.

"Thanks. I already feel better."

Amelia smiled while pressing her cheek against the soft fabric.

'It's warm.'

They moved further inside, before entering a completely frozen chamber.

The walls were blue from the frost, while some ice cubes the size of small houses were placed in various locations inside.

"Now we know why it was freezing. They store their meat here so that it doesn't spoil. That's mostly why we don't see dragons often. If not for Monolavir, this wouldn't have been possible."

The dragon's ability to use ice was a blessing for the faction. Less time outside, less opportunity to be seen by other factions.

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"You're right. Look at that pile of meat! You could have at least a thousand dinners with that alone!"

"It seems dragons don't have to eat daily either, and since most of them sleep during the years, I suppose it's normal that they gathered this much."

They walked toward a piece of meat, before Amelia cut a large chunk with Aura.

"Well, let's take this for today's meal and dinner. The troublesome part is that I don't know what type of meat I'll have on my plate."

Orion and Amelia joked around for a few minutes, before exiting the food storage with two large chunks of frozen red meat.

...

Back at the earthen houses.

Amelia knew the differences between red and white meat. It wasn't hard for her to separate both types.

"We still have a few vegetables we need to finish before they rot, so we'll have some carrot purée with the meat we gathered, and cabbage rolls for dinner."

"My, having a chef with me is certainly the greatest pleasure in the world. Thank you for your hard work every day."

Orion was training his control over his magic while Amelia was cooking near him.

"Even if you compliment me, you won't have more in your plate. But thanks anyway."

"I won't complain, since I'm able to eat your cooking every day."

Suddenly, he stopped forming arrows and stared at her.

"Maybe I should try to cook to alternate with you sometimes."

Amelia stabbed her knife into the food she was preparing, and glared at him with a vicious smile.

"No. You can just enjoy the food. There's no way I'm letting you in the kitchen ever again."

"Alright, if you say so."

The earthen houses built for them were quite comfortable, now that they had changed the inside to fit their need.

Amelia managed to recreate a kitchen area inside her house, and Orion remained plain, as he didn't have many things to begin with, and had no particular interest in anything but books.

His other hobby was his crossbow, and now that he could create one from thin air, it was easy to bring in and out.

While Amelia prepared their meal, Orion stepped outside to work on various parts of himself after being asked to leave.

There was something he needed to try, but couldn't succeed to do. He tried to 'imbue' the light element to a moving objects.

He felt something in his mind blocking his progress each time he tried, causing him frustration.

'I don't think I'll be able to do it before leaving. I need to do something else during that month.'

On the other side, Amelia wasn't just cooking, either.

During her spiritual exploration, she realized how frail her fire element was. If she hadn't noticed its state, she would have been unable to use it ever again.

That was why she decided to train her fire element during cooking. Using it would help her adjust its output. But before that, she had to overcome her fear.

The orphanage fire turned out to be a traumatic event for her.

She badly injured Orion with her three other elements, thus the reason she focused on wind and water first.

'I have to do something about that... Orion might say nothing, but I know he thinks it's a waste.'

'This power is mine, so why did I lose control of it before? Fire... Fire, right?'

'I don't need a big flame, I can start with a small one and work on it.'

Amelia focused on her index finger, and with little effort, a minuscule flame burned faintly.

'I... made it. Why do I find it cute?'

Watching the flickering flame sway at the tip of her finger, she smiled warmly.

'Alright, I'll work on the flame during cooking, and work on earth and lightning during training time. So much to do!'

With both having now clear objectives, their month of training began.

~

The days were mostly the same.

During the morning, they left the nest to forage for vegetables.

Around noon was the moment where Amelia prepared their meal, training her fire element in the process.

Orion took to sharpening his senses to find a way to break through his bottleneck at the same time.

In the afternoon, it was the moment where self training or light sparring took place. Amelia focused on using earth for half a month, while Orion worked on the 'First Gear'.

The more he trained it, the more he could surpass its previous limit. Even Amelia became able to activate the ability without it impairing her magic.

After a few days, Monolavir, Ruminona and many other dragons took interest in their training, and proposed to help them both.

They forced Orion to fight without his crossbow most of the time, afraid of the potential of his arrows.

When Monolavir or Ruminona helped Amelia, they asked to improve their respective elements. With their help, she was able to keep her control over water and wind while training other elements.

When night came, it was time to enjoy the end of the day peacefully.

There wasn't much to do until they went to sleep, but a few days after starting training, Amelia surprised Orion with something incredible.

"Since when? This is incredible."

Orion was looking at a ball of fire the size of a pebble. He was stunned, as he was persuaded Amelia had forsaken her fire element.

"Since I learned, I could combine my magic. I almost lost the possibility to use fire, so I wanted to at least improve it slowly."

"Yes, this is great news indeed. But tell me, why did you bring a barrel in here?"

They were both inside Orion's house, and Amelia brought out of nowhere a barrel that she received from the dragons. To be more specific, she asked for two, with the other one being in her house.

"I'm going to change your life."

With a smirk on her face, she approached the barrel.

'What is she saying now.'

Orion felt like laughing, but he refrained from doing so.

Amelia crouched down, and placed a few wooden sticks on the floor, created a small flat dome on top of them, and lighted the wood with her fire.

She placed the iron barrel on the earth dome, placed a round wooden plate at the bottom of the barrel, and turned to Orion with a thumbs up.

"Don't tell me! You made a bathtub?!"

"I did! I'm a woman too, I need to clean myself regularly!"

Orion left the place he was sitting on, and rushed to the new tub Amelia filled with water.

"You're using a lot of magic, are you alright?"

"The bath is enough to replenish my fatigue, don't mind it."

After waiting for fifteen minutes, the water was hot enough to bathe in it.

"It's good to go now. I'm going in mine too."

"Thanks Amelia. You're the best friend anyone can ask for."

She left the house while smiling, as Orion began stripping.

They both entered their barrel tub, and now obtained another way to relax from a tough day of training.

This cycle continued for a month, until Orion thought it was time to go look for the hidden factions.