The next morning, Ryan entered the Earth Training room and found himself standing in a different spot than when he trained with Terra. He was already able to take the ground in a round shape and ready to show the goddess about his progress.

However, today he was standing in a large field filled with various dummies for training after opening the door.

In the middle of the field stands a slender young woman wearing a sky-blue jacket and holding a greatsword.

The young woman called him to come to the center of the training field. "Come here, Ryan."

After Ryan approached her, he could see more clearly that the young woman was very beautiful. Her hair was blonde and her eyes were blue. However, what made Ryan choke was that she was wearing a low-cut dress. How could she move freely in such a dress? He swallowed hard.

He tried his best not to look at her chest.

"Hello, ma'am. Have you seen Lady Terra? I was supposed to practice with her today," Ryan greeted her politely.

The young woman smiled. "You take turns training with Lady Terra, me, and one other person. This is your second day of training at The Arena, right? So, you will meet Azel tomorrow."

Ryan pondered for a moment, then asked, "If with Lady Terra I learn to control the earth, seeing this training field, will you teach me swordsmanship, ma'am?"

The woman smiled, "That's right. And Azel will teach you how to control divine power tomorrow. And just call me Calantha. I am still twenty-one years old."

"Twenty-one years?" Ryan said incredulously. "But now you can teach me?"

"Well, I think everyone has their strengths and weaknesses," Calantha replied with a wink.

Ryan nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we don't have much time. Before we begin, I will show you something first," said Calantha as she swung her sword toward the dummy casually. She swung as if the sword was not heavy at all.

The dummy was perfectly split in two. Even though the distance between Calantha and the dummy was about twenty meters.

"Wow!" shouted Ryan.

"You have to be able to do that in one month," Calantha said again.

"One month?" Ryan was astonished. He had never learned martial arts in his entire life, and then had to be able to do what Calantha showed him in a month?

"Now let's practice the horse stance first. Spread your legs shoulder-width apart, and hold that position until I say stop," said Calantha.

Ryan did what Calantha ordered. After five minutes, ten minutes, Ryan began to feel soreness in his legs. Fifteen minutes later, he was already starting to feel uncomfortable. In thirty minutes, he was already drenched in sweat.

Calantha had not yet given him the signal to stop in that position. She just stood next to Ryan and leaned casually on her sword.

Suddenly, she kicked Ryan's leg. Ryan fell.

"W-What..." Ryan gasped in shock.

"If your stance is correct, you won't fall off even if you stay in that position for hours," Calantha explained. "The basic stance is very important as the foundation of footwork in swordsmanship. If your feet are well-trained, you will be able to perform any position well."

Ryan frowned, then got back up and assumed the horse stance again. Actually, he was a bit embarrassed, maybe because the one teaching him was a sexy young woman.

He gritted his teeth. He was determined to be strong after all.

And he continued doing the stance until the afternoon, interrupted by lunch time. Calantha patiently waited for him while sitting sweetly at the edge of the training ground.

Stolen novel; please report.

***

Ryan returned to his room dragging his feet after dinner. Training with a beautiful girl like Calantha could leave him exhausted.

He opened his bedroom door and saw Fenrir sitting on his bed, licking his paw.

Ryan frowned. He smelled a strong stench of blood in his room. The smell reminded him of what happened in the Savanna desert.

"Fen, why don't you take a shower before going back here? You smell really bad." Ryan wrinkled his nose.

Fenrir stopped licking and looked at Ryan with a grimace, then resumed licking his paw.

Ryan was getting more and more sulky.

"Damn... seriously, how can I sleep if the room still smells like this..." he grumbled.

Fenrir stopped licking and lowered his leg.

"Okay, Okay, Mr. Whinny. I will take a shower."

Ryan's face immediately lit up. He then ran to the bathroom while shouting, "Great! I'll prepare your bath!"

But when he passed Fenrir, suddenly Fenrir bit the collar of his shirt. Ryan stumbled backward.

"What the...!"

"Why do I have to bathe in a small human bathtub?" Fenrir said while releasing his bite from Ryan's collar.

"What do you mean by that? Then where are you going to bathe? You can't bathe in the river or anything like that, it's freezing outside!" Ryan half-shouted, somewhat offended by Fenrir's arrogance.

Fenrir grinned. "I will take you to a beautiful place."

Ryan crossed his arms in front of his chest with annoyance. "Like where?"

Still grinning, Fen said, "A place with a view, of course. And maybe with a hot spring."

Ryan hesitated. "You shouldn't lie this time."

Fenrir chuckled. "Calm down, there is no trick. No Savanna. No hunt."

Ryan considered Fenrir's words for a moment, and said, "Alright. But you have to make sure that the place doesn't smell like you."

Fenrir laughed. "Deal!"

***

They then teleported to a beautiful place. The place had turquoise pools with crystal-clear water in basins made of limestone. Small waterfalls flow from one pool to another. Its sound was like the music of nature.

There was a formation of travertine deposits as well, white-like cotton, stretching along the basins. Hills and green pastures stretched around it, and in the distance, there are the Taurus Mountains.

The place is Hierapolis Pamukkale, located in Denizli, Turkey.

Ryan was mesmerized by the sight.

Fenrir, grinning at the sight of the astonished Ryan, stepped into one of the basins and washed his body.

Seeing Fenrir already in the warm water basin, Ryan took off his clothes and getting into another basin.

"Ah... really relaxing..." he said while submerging his body into the warm water. It feels nice after spending a few days in tensed state.

After a few moments of silence, he asked Fenrir at sudden, "Fen, have you ever heard about the legend of this place?"

"Do you mean the legend that the goddesses bathe in this place?" Fenrir replied with a question.

"That's right. What goddesses have bathed here?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Iore, Cleopatra, Aphrodite," replied Fenrir, "Artemis, they still often enjoy therapeutic water here."

"What do you mean by still? Do they still often bathe here?"

Fenrir looked at Ryan suspiciously, unsure of where their conversation was headed to. "Yes," he replied.

Ryan lost in thought. Thinking about the beautiful and strong goddesses soaking in the same place felt unreal.

"Wow! Goddesses of love and beauty..." he murmured.

Fenrir smiled mischievously while looking at him. "You can also imagine the goddesses chatting while they bathe and splashing water at each other."

"Imagining..." Ryan suddenly felt his blood boil, hotter than the water he was soaking in now.

Fenrir laughed and said. "Maybe, Ryan, you will also be able to see those who are bathing under the moonlight today."

Ryan startled and then glared at Fenrir. He tried to change the subject by saying, "You know, Fen, if you had the skill to clean up your body as you boast about your hunting skills, we wouldn't be here now."

Fenrir chuckled, "Oh, please. The smell of blood on my body proves my prowess. You don't want me to smell like flowers, do you?"

Ryan raised one of his eyebrows. "Honestly, I thought the flowers would run away if they could smell you."

He splashed water on Fenrir, which he immediately regretted.

Fenrir retaliated by splashing a wave of water at Ryan, causing him to fall backward.

Fenrir laughed loudly and howled. His voice echoed everywhere.

Ryan emerged from the water and raised both hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! But promise me one thing. If we ever encounter a dragon, never use me as your shield because of the bloodstains on your body."

Fenrir pretended to think and dramatically tilted his head to the side. "Hmmm. That's a difficult choice. But it seems like I will end up making the dragons stay away from me because of my charm."

Ryan couldn't say anything anymore, he gave up on Fenrir's narcissism.

***

They returned to their room after Fenrir finished with his bath.

Fenrir immediately fell asleep on his bed and snored softly.

Ryan sat in the armchair next to the bed and opened a book with illustrations about earth elementals: the golems, the sylphs, and the terra spirits.

He engrossed in reading every page of the book.

Time passes quickly, it was almost midnight, but right now Ryan feels at peace.