He returned to his room, feeling a little more drained than he expected, and collapsed onto this bed. He had to try his best to resist falling to sleep. He still needed to take a shower.

“[Summon Kaname].”

The ninja appeared once more, and sat on the only chair in the room.

“Before I forget, can you sneak out through the windows? The guys saw you leaving the room.”

Kaname looked at the large windows, and nodded. “Certainly, master. We're used to exiting through windows.”

“Alright. What did you learn yesterday?”

“The target, Violet Whitetower, keeps a notebook and a journal. She likes flowers, and does some light exercises in her room at night. I noticed she had a magical staff, and I overheard her mumbling about some dragon-grade core, but could not catch the details as I was outside of her room.” Kaname nodded.

“She has a dragon-grade core too?” Ethan frowned, but in his mind, it made sense. If he could receive gifts from the goddesses, the heroes surely have their own trump cards, too.

“I am not certain. It may be she was referring to someone else.”

“Can you spy on Camelia Everfrost today?”

“I will require her file, master. I don’t know what she looks like.”

“No. I can't.”

Ethan sighed.

“Darn. Then, let's just continue with Miss Whitetower and let's see if you learn anything new today.”

“As you command, master.” Kaname snuck out of the window quietly, and no one picked up on her presence. He also activated his admin ability and inserted Kaname into the student list.

He thought he would hear from her the next day, and was about to go get a shower, but about ten minutes later, he got a distress signal from Kaname.

[Summon Chat was activated]

[Kaname: Master! There are hostile parties spotted in the gardens. Permission to engage in combat!]

[Ethan: What? Where?] Ethan’s mind scrambled to understand where it was. There were far too many gardens.

[Kaname: Sending location-]

Ethan snapped out of his bed, and scrambled for his weapon. He felt a ping that indicated a general direction, and ran to one of the many gardens around the Sacred Garden.

He searched for minutes, though they felt like hours, but finally saw Violet Whitewater holding a wooden staff in a small corner not far from one of the residential blocks. She gradually backed away from five black creatures.

They looked like large feral dogs, but felt magical and were black in color.

He approached slowly, and realised Kaname was perched on a tree, waiting for his approval.

Violet spoke, seemingly to the dogs. “What do you want?”

Ethan snuck closer, there was another person present. A dark shadow stood behind the five dogs, and it it was hard to see. “Join us, Violet Whitewater. We can offer power to you, to defeat the nobles that have offended you. To undo this foolish nobility.”

Violet shook her head. “My mother once said it's not a good idea to take up offers for power. Power should be earned, not given, and what you want doesn't sound like a nice thing."

Ethan crawled a little closer, somehow undetected by the beasts or the heroine. The shadow responded. “Then you are a fool for coming out here today.”

The dogs growled and charged.

Violet stood, her staff glowed. “[Barrier].” The magical dogs slammed into a barrier of light, and frantically, they tried to break it, but to no avail. Their claws and fangs pushed and hammered the barrier.

“You can’t hide in there forever.” The shadow said while the dogs repeatedly whittled down the barrier. “The dark goddesses will have what is theirs.”

Ethan waited, and hoping the shadow would reveal more of its plans. Alas, all it did was repeated taunt Violet to surrender.

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“Your barrier won’t last forever.”

[Ethan: Kaname, do you think you can take the dogs?]

[Kaname: Yes.]

[Ethan: Then you can engage. I shall keep watch.]

Kaname burst out of her tree-hideout, and smashed one of the black magical dogs with a well-placed kick. She surged ahead and stabbed the two other magical dogs with two daggers, the dogs melted into a puddle of darkness that evaporated.

“Ugh. Meddlesome mortals.” The shadow slithered away, and vanished, as Kaname charged at the shadow. She coud not get a hit in, and it was already gone. The ninja turned back to face the remaining two dogs, and defeated them both with a well placed stab, much to Violet's relief

“Wow! That was amazing. How’d you destroy the dark-energy dogs so easily?” Violet smiled at her rescuer.

“Dark-energy dogs? Were they not shadows?" Kaname looked fairly surprised by the revelation.

“Oh. Uh. Shadows?” Violet didn’t approach as she thought for a while.

[Ethan: Kaname, don’t talk about shadow-clones.]

[Kaname: Apologies, master. Was not prepared for conversation.]

Kaname rubbed her hair. “Never mind. Are you alright?”

“Yes! Thanks to you! I didn’t expect these things to be so bold! I must let the Grandmaster know of their attack.” Violet’s eyes darted to Kaname. “Miss, can you come with me as my witness? Please?”

Ethan panicked. In his initial plan, he didn’t want anyone to know he had access to goddess-granted powers. He was fairly certain his powers are imperceptible to most people, but the Grandmaster was not most people.

[Ethan: Kaname, don’t go with her. Tell her you have something to do.]

The ninja complied and responded to the heroine. “I can’t. I’ll escort you to the building, but I’ve got to go.”

“Aww man.” Violet pouted. “What’s your name, by the way? I’m Violet Whitetower, and you saved my life, so that puts you in the group of people I consider friends. If we meet again, you can call me Violet, and I owe you one for what you did.”

Kaname wasn’t sure whether she should introduce herself and asked her master. Ethan tried his best to follow them from a distance, but he also needed to check his own surroundings, just to make sure no one was following him too. The shadows may target him instead.

[Ethan: You are Kaname Kaga. You can introduce yourself, I added you to the student list.]

“I’m Kaname Kaga. I’ve got to go.”

The two girls shook hands briefly. “You really don’t want to come with me and see the Grandmaster? I really want to report this to him, and it’ll help if I have witnesses.”

Kaname shook her head. “No thanks. I’m... not keen on meeting the Grandmaster.”

“Aww... okay. He’s scary, right.”

“Yes.” Kaname added and they were now back at the largest of the garden's buildings. “I’ve got to go now.”

"Wait, so fast?" Violet turned around, and then-

Kaname had vanished.

***

Back in his own room, his quota for the day was almost up, so Kaname didn’t have much time.

“Master. I collected this from the dogs.” Kaname placed a few small black crystal balls on the table, resembling marbles. Ethan hesitated for a moment, but when he touched them, they vanished.

[Fragment of divine energy obtained. 5 fragments obtained. 10 fragments will create 1 complete shard. You may use the shards to upgrade the goddesses’ powers.]

“Whooooooooooah.” Ethan exclaimed. “Kaname, I’ll need you to hunt these dogs more often.”

“As you wish... tomorrow. I feel my time is up.” Kaname vanished in a poof, and Ethan slumped into his bed.

He was sure the goddesses said the dark goddesses won’t move so quickly.

***

Violet Whitetower knocked on the door to the Grandmaster’s office. She wasn’t sure he would be there, but it felt like he would. Though late at night, it didn’t take long for the door to open magically. “Miss Violet Whitetower. What brings you to my office at this hour?”

“Please forgive me for the interruption, but I was threatened and attacked by some suspicious monsters, Grandmaster Plagos.”

The Grandmaster’s imposing aura flooded the room. “That is a serious accusation, Miss Whitetower. Who dares to attack my students in my compound? Who and what exactly attacked you?”

“I was attacked by dogs made of dark energy. A shadow of a similar energy threatened me too.” The Grandmaster’s eyes arched, suspicious.

“And why would they do that?”

Miss Violet paused, “Uh... they asked me to join them, and they claim to be servants of the dark goddess.”

"And what happened?"

"Someone helped me defeat them, but the shadow got away. Immediately after that, I came here to report this incident."

The Grandmaster’s aura vanished just as abruptly, and the doors all shut magically. “I see. Miss Whitetower, I must ask you to never speak of them to anyone else, and remember, never agree to their request. The dark forces promise power, but the price will kill you.”

She nodded. One of the chests on the cabinets floated and landed on the Grandmaster’s massive oak table, and then opened. It revealed a green gem in a bracelet.

“Take this. They approached you before, so they will try again. This is a bracelet of greater protection. If you are attacked, activate it and run.”

Violet thought briefly, 'run?' She looked at the Grandmaster, and instead asked, “To where?”

“Anyone you trust.” The Grandmaster said. “Remember, never speak of these forces in the dark. The more we speak of them, the stronger they become. If they approach you again, let me know immediately. Now, I will go search for them, if they are still here."

Violet paused. "Is there anything I should do now?"

"I'll patrols the surroundings for their presence. The residential buildings are warded, and they should not be able to get in. Go back to your room, through the protected corridors."

She nodded.