The day after the secretly rebelling Apostles received their letters, something happened in the fairy realm.

Orion was training while Amelia watched over him, releasing or stopping the flow of power to prevent over-exhaustion.

The current training was simple footwork, simulating his battle against past mutated beasts he fought.

He was smoothly avoiding each hit the imaginary enemies threw at him. This was how he improved his proficiency using the 'Second Gear'.

It was going well so far. This helped him push the restriction and enabled it to be used for five minutes until overheating.

A week was enough for him to extend its use from thirty seconds to five minutes, thanks to the familiarity between the two modes.

But, there was something he missed during this training: an enemy he never expected inconvenienced him when he moved.

That enemy was a pebble.

He tripped over it during a dodge and inadvertently caught Amelia in his fall.

Luckily, no one was injured. Everything began at this moment.

"Amelia, I'm sorry... Are you alright?"

Orion was lying on his stomach, confused about what had happened.

"I'm fine; don't worry. You caught me before falling, so I'm fine. I never expected you to fall on me all of a sudden, though."

"That was quite hilarious. What happened?"

He tried to stand up, but something stopped him from doing so.

"I think I tripped on a rock..."

Glancing over his shoulder at Amelia, snickering mockingly at his unfortunate fall, Orion frowned.

"Stop laughing and get off me already."

Sitting on his lower back, Amelia giggled without a care.

"I don't want to. You have the strength to lift me up, so why don't you do it?"

Forced to stay in this awkward position, Orion pondered.

'Why is she doing this? I need to train more.'

Then, he did exactly that.

"Fine, but don't complain if you get hurt."

She hugged his neck when she felt him standing up, as she was going to fall off.

"There, happy? Now get off. Why are you still clinging to my back?"

It was an uncomfortable situation for Orion. Amelia had her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.

"It's fine from time to time, right? My height is so different from yours; can't you let me enjoy the view for a minute?"

*Sigh*

Letting out a sigh, Orion's shoulders dropped.

"I never expected the wonderful Amelia to bother me during training."

She poked his right cheek with her finger.

"It's beginning to be boring watching you move around unpredictably. I've improved my control over earth magic, so I want to do something else."

Her earth magic control had greatly improved during this week.

She now had a clear ranking of her magic on a scale of 0 to 10. Water and wind magic were at a 6, earth magic was at a 4, lightning magic was at a 3, and her fire magic was at a 2.

The progress was there, but she was still far from mastering any of her elements.

"Orion, try moving around. I want to experience your speed. You haven't shown me how it feels yet."

Adjusting her position, she lifted her chest, grabbed his shoulders tightly, wrapped her legs around his hips so that she wasn't hindering her movement, and glued her stomach to his back.

"Fine, but after that, you allow me to continue. I have very little time to improve."

"Yes, my grumpy friend, I'll let you continue your boring training, so amuse me for a minute, will you?"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Orion shrugged, then proceeded to grab her thighs to tightly secure her.

"Hyaa! Where are you touching me?"

Her sudden yelp caused Orion to freeze before putting it in a corner of his brain.

"Close your mouth so that you don't bite your tongue."

He leaned forward, bringing forth the phantoms he had been fighting earlier.

'She's light; I can't even feel her weight on me. This is a strange feeling.'

He continued to hold her tight while making turns left and right.

Amelia was silent, focusing on adapting her sight to the shifting scenery.

They continued to move around the many rocks in the area for four minutes, until Orion thought it was a good stopping point. The burning was beginning to bother him.

"How is the burning?"

His eyes opened wide as Amelia's voice sounded very close to his ear.

'I had completely forgotten she was on my back.'

Glancing over his shoulder, their gazes met.

"I'm fine. I stopped before it started to hurt. How about you, not sick?"

Leaning slightly to his right, Amelia shook her head.

"At first, I was slightly frightened, but after a bit, I could almost understand what you were imagining from your movements. I can't believe you managed to move so freely with me on your back."

With a nod, Orion looked away.

"You are as light as a feather, so it wasn't a problem to run around like I usually do. I was afraid you would be somewhat of a bother, but on the contrary, I felt barely any change from usual."

A bright smile appeared on her face.

"This is the second compliment you've given to me since you've said my eyes were beautiful. Thank you."

"Let me get down now; I've promised to let you continue in peace."

She tapped on her shoulder while asking him to drop her.

'Maybe... I can use it.'

Suddenly, an idea came into Orion's mind.

"Amelia, stay on my back."

"Huh? But I thought-"

He cut her comment short and continued speaking his idea out loud.

"Bring your daggers out, and try to stay balanced without grabbing my neck. I'll keep my grip on you to avoid you falling off. Try to create an earth dagger this time too."

Confusion clearly appeared on her face as she did as asked.

'What is he thinking about? Well, he won't hear me complain, but where is he going with this strange idea?'

Amelia focused on her element, and her magic activated. A sphere of dirt with a ring of rocks the size of a ball appeared in her right hand.

"It seems like this element is way more complex than the wind and the water elements. I can't control much of the rock surrounding the main sphere."

She closed her eyes and imagined that sphere taking the shape of her usual daggers. Orion watched the process quietly, amazed by Amelia's manipulation of her own magic.

'She might have a specific ability for that; I should ask the tree after we secure the ring. Perhaps it can describe our abilities in detail.'

He internally nodded, planning to have a discussion with Tiohr-nam about their power.

Amelia continued to focus on her magic as he fell into deep thoughts.

The dirt sphere began to morph into a hilt, and the stone merged into the form of a sharp blade.

Everything seamlessly glued itself together, and her new dagger was finished.

Sweat glistened on her forehead, as the concentration needed to create a new dagger was massive.

"So, what is its name? You have 'Dan'a for the water element, 'Aura' for the wind element; what's this one's name?"

Amelia pondered his question while staring at the dagger in her hand.

"I wonder. Give me a second."

Many names popped up and passed through her mind.

From those countless names, only one caught her attention. The dagger itself reacted by vibrating, showing its approval.

When she acknowledged her own element's request, she decided to give that name to it.

"Ceres."

Orion nodded, imprinting that name in his brain.

"Another beautiful name. I don't know how you keep finding those names, but maybe they represent a part of you? I can't know for sure, since I don't understand the meaning of those names."

A blush appeared on her face; luckily enough, she was hidden behind him, so he was unable to notice.

The next dagger she created with ease was her first greatest element, the water dagger, Dana.

"I sensed that these two wanted to be used together, so I went with it."

Orion looked at his surroundings and turned his head as much as he could to observe Amelia's posture.

"I'm going to go full 'First Gear'. You better stay straight."

"Don't do anything silly. You just have to get used to this posture. Bring your daggers like you do when you get ready for a fight."

She did as asked and placed her hands like she does when ready to strike an enemy. The two arms crossed each other, and her daggers switched sides while doing so over Orion's head.

"Good, you're ready? Focus; only get used to the speed for now."

Amelia nodded, still unsure of this whole thing.

"I'm ready, though I still don't understand what you're going to do."

He closed his eyes and felt the energy of the 'Second Gear' dissipate, replaced by the steady flow of the 'First Gear' in his left leg.

He exhaled and leaned on his leg, moving in an '8' pattern around the many rocks in the area.

During this first session, which took twenty minutes, Amelia had a hard time maintaining her posture on Orion's back.

The sudden turns and U-turns he took made it difficult to stay upright.

A breathless Amelia was now on all fours in the grass, coughing as her throat was closed up.

"Here, have a drink."

Extending a water bottle that was in his bag to her, Orion smiled.

She took it and drank a third of it slowly.

"You did way better than I was expecting. In twenty minutes of intense movement, you lost your posture three times, and you remained straight for most of it. Maybe this idea will not be a worthless one for once."

"What... do you mean?"

She was still breathing heavily, but the coughing had stopped. The air pressure she was constantly subjected to on his back dried her throat.

After drinking, she felt better. Orion explained at that moment.

"It's simple; I'm going to train with you on my back for a few days, and I'll bring you with me on the ring retrieval mission."

Shock painted her entire face. Since Orion was adamant about not bringing her along, this was her only reaction.

"While on my back, I can easily protect you. I'll need you to slash at any enemies in sight, though, and this will require training."

Orion had already thought of the problems he would encounter in the underground tunnels. This solution was perfect to counterbalance it.

"Using my crossbows underground where tunnels are not necessarily straight is not a decent idea, and I needed something to combat that fact."

"Having you do the attacking and me do the dodging is way smarter. Still, it all depends on how fast you can adapt to my movement speed."

This was a very strange concept. A piggyback battle stance.

"Once you are ready enough, we're going to Karteira for a fight. We'll see if you can hit her while I focus on dodging."

And thus, another hellish training began, when all she wanted was a bit of fun.

"You're joking? This is an outrageous idea!"

Her yell echoed in the empty field as Orion continued to train with her on his back all afternoon.