The trek back to the village was a mostly silent one. Only birds and the blowing breeze dared to make a sound. Once again, it was Uchronia's orders to 'shut up'. Last thing she wanted was to lose the element of surprise. It made sense but still she could've it said it in a nicer way. Plus, if she was so worried about the element of surprise, she could've made a compound of surprise or even a mixture of surprise—for the imaginary audience living in his head who don't get it, it's a chemistry joke. A really bad one.

It was obvious when they were getting close to the young masters. A certain stench, from a certain brown substance, wafted through the air—and Alwin wasn't talking about gravy. The distressed cries of the two young masters masked their approach. Uchronia raised her tail, signaling for them to stop. Now, they just had to wait for her signal to attack.

"It's so gross. It's so gross. Hong Jian, help me get it off," the mostly yellow robed Huang Jian wailed, hopping up and down. Brown stains covered most of his outfit and he was trying desperately to get rid of it. Emphasis on trying because he just had his hands held up high, twisting and turning his body around, as if that would miraculously cause all of his problems to disappear.

"Huang Jian, Huang Jian. You help me get it off. Where are the disciples when you need them. Where's that Gu Jia. It's so gross," the mostly red robed Hong Jian wailed back. Like his companion, he was also hopping up and down, too disgusted to actually get close to the brown stains.

Alwin snickered. Serves those two humans right. They couldn't possibly be that hard to beat. They're acting like toddlers—scratch that—babies! Gus grimaced at the smell that penetrated his nose, while Uchronia glared at Alwin for daring to make a sound, even one so soft that the birds chirping overhead smothered him.

"This hunt was not worth it. Not worth it at all," wailed Hong Jian.

"Maybe the muffin monster isn't real at all. I bet this was a setup," wailed Huang Jian.

Uchronia turned around to face him, another glare shooting out of her. What did he do this time? He had been waiting like a good boy, the only sounds coming out of him were the sounds of him breathing. That wasn't anything he could control, so why was she getting upset over that.

The gears in his brain started turning, trying to figure out what blasphemous action he did to deserve another round of glaring. It was impossible. Alwin hadn't done anything wrong. Then, the dots began to connect: Uchronia glaring, the Muffin Monster. Alwin turned to look at Gus, who was putting on his best innocent face. He eyes fluttering and flashing a smile. It might have worked if not for the muffin crumbs stuck in his teeth.

It all made sense, well almost. The trail that the humans were following was Gus' trail of crumbs as he chomped on his muffins. That explains how the humans had ended up in the village. It didn't explain why they were following a Muffin Monster or whether a Muffin Monster even existed. They probably did, but would they even be a native species to the Forest of Beginnings?

So far, he’d encountered rabbit monsters, plant monsters, a caterpillar monster, and even a snake-snail hybrid. None of these hinted that a muffin monster would actually exist here.

"That useless Stew. I bet he lied to us," said Huang Jian.

"I bet he did, brother. There's no such thing as a Cookie Monster and definitely no such thing as a Muffin Monster. I can't believe we fell for his tricks," said Hong Jian.

"That's what we get for being such good people. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and look what happened to us. It's gross! Get it off me!"

That answered a few more questions. Turns out that the two young masters' did not want to make a stew out of a Muffin Monster—Stew was just the name of a person who tricked them. Talk about a funny name! Also, turns out they were brothers. Who could've guessed? Probably anyone who saw them or even heard what they're names were. Other than the different colored robes and swords they looks exactly the same. But still, who could've guessed?

"Where are those blasted disciples? Why haven't they returned with that wretched monster who dared to sully our beautiful clothes?"

"Yes, where are they? The Elder will hear about this and they'll be thoroughly punished."

Alwin let out another snicker at their complaining. For anyone who fooled by Alwin's brilliant disguise, the monster that had 'sullied' them was none other than him. Of course, he had some help from the Spirit Hands, but it was his ingenious idea that rendered these humans into nothing more than bumbling babies.

Uchronia's glare snapped from Gus to Alwin at the sound of his snicker. Seriously, they couldn’t hear him. If she kept this up, they might actually hear her glaring. It didn't make sense if he thought about it for more than a second, which is why he only gave it half a second of thought—that was the comeback he was sticking with.

Uchronia had transitioned from glaring at them to preparing a spell via incantation. By all accounts, her chanting was louder than his snicker, so why did she get a free pass? Whatever. He had more important things to worry about. Important things like daydreaming about what sort of monster he'd evolve into. Now that his mana pool was filled to the brim, his brain actually worked. That meant that he could multitask! Half of his brain reserved for daydreaming, while the other half would focus on his surroundings. Uchronia wouldn't be able to find anymore fault with him!

While Alwin was fantasizing about what type of monster he might evolve into. Uchronia was preparing her spells. Gus sat there stoned, a tiny pout on his lips. He must be annoyed that he wasn't allowed to have a snack while waiting. Hong Jian and Huang Jian were still flailing about, bits of brown stuff did fly off from their robes, but it was nothing compared to the sheer amount that covered them.

At long last, Uchronia's incantations came to an end—it was less than five minutes, but it still felt like an eternity. The time to attack drew near. Alwin had to stop multitasking, he needed as much brainpower as he could to focus on the upcoming fight. Unless he had a death wish, which he did not. Okay, maybe he'd spare a teensy bit of brainpower for some commentary purposes.

Her tail glowed softly as she tapped—more like slapped—the two of them, imbuing them with Haste. Her roar that accompanied the spell alerted Hong Jian and Huang Jian. They whipped around, flinging more brown stuff everywhere, only to find themselves face-to-face with the three of them jumping out of the bush.

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"Monsters!" screamed Huang Jian.

"Where are those disciples!" shouted Hong Jian.

Uchronia rushed forward to inflict Slow on them, her tail already glowing with power. The moment Uchronia was about to slap Huang Jian with her tail, both of them leaped backwards, drawing their swords at the same time. A red hilt for Hong Jian and a yellow one for Huang Jian, matching their robes except for the additional brown stuff. Looks like these two young masters were more competent than Alwin thought. If only they were incompetent buffoons, then they would've been Slowed and this battle would've been over in an instant.

Gus and Alwin were preparing their own spells. For Alwin a nice helping of different types of Spirit Blast. While for Gus ,well... he could only report what he was doing and not what he was preparing. As Alwin launched Spirit Blasts, Spirit Scatter Blasts, and Spirit Burst Blasts. Gus had already activated Lightning Legs and Copper Body, and there were probably more skills on the way if he had to guess.

"Crimson Gold Sect's Basic Sword Technique: Golden Sweep!"

Both of their swords flashed with golden mana as they executed a wide sweep at the same time. The blasts that Alwin had launched were destroyed as they collided with the flat side of the blade. The burst of mana that normally accompanied his Spirit Burst Blast was pushed away with the sweep, while the mini Spirit Blasts hidden inside the Spirit Scatter Blast were destroyed along with the outer shell. Why did they have to be competent!

Alwin launched even more Spirit Blasts once again, taking extra care to ensure that the Spirit Scatter Blast would explode mid flight. Surely those young masters wouldn't be able to block all of them.

As usual Alwin was wrong—maybe he should keep his mouth shut next time. The young masters continued to use Golden Sweep, swinging their swords back and forth, destroying every blast that Alwin hurled their way.

Uchronia had given up on attacking, instead choosing to incant another skill. Gus had activated Fur Quills as well and charged towards the young masters. In an instant—thanks to Lightning Legs—he closed the gap between them, ready to strike them with his copper hardened quills. When Alwin saw Gus charging forward, he ceased his attacks lest he wanted to accidentally defeat the strongest guy in the squad. Okay, maybe he did want to do that, but not right now!

The two young masters' eyes widened. He bet they didn't expect Gus to get so close so quickly—truth be told neither did Alwin. Gus target Huang Jian first, using Golden Sweep, he tried to bat the Furball away, just like they did to his attacks. Too bad for him Gus was a ravenous monster, even swords were on the menu. The sword was snatched away with his mouth, chomping and grinding away the metal, before spitting out the remains onto the ground.

"M-m-monster!" Hong Jian shouted.

Well, he was right. No idea why they decided to state the obvious. Humans were such weird creatures.

Hong Jian came to the aid of his brother, sword raised above his head coated in crimson golden mana. The mana began to glow, increasing in size while still retaining the shape of his blade, growing to three times the size of his his blade. He swung down the giant mana sword onto Gus, yelling, "Crimson Gold Sect's Intermediate Sword Technique: Crimson Compound Cleave!"

Gus looked up at the incoming attack, stretching his jaws as wide as he could. He chomped down onto in the incoming blade, the mana sword cracking into a million pieces between the strength of his mighty teeth. The blade was still intact and coming down on Gus. A smile beamed across Hong Jian's face as he watched Gus chew on the pieces of mana fragments.

Hong Jian struck Gus and that smile was instantly wiped off his face, replaced with a scowl of disbelief. Gus was still chewing on the pieces of mana that he had gnawed off. The blade was caught in between all of his hardened quills. Hong Jian pressed down on his weapon but it didn't budge.

Gus was nonchalant about a man with a sharp piece of metal inches away from his face. He cared more about chewing that piece of compound cleave he broke off, spending more effort using his tongue to get chunks of mana blade that were stuck in his teeth rather than dealing with the man trying his hardest to kill him.

Huang Jian stared on, his mouth open wider than his eyes. His shock overpowered him to the point that he was incapable of assisting his brother—then again with his only weapon being a broken sword, the only thing he would've been good for was as a meat shield. Hong Jian backed off, pulling his sword with him.

He raised his blade up in the air again, channeling mana into it. Crimson and gold colored mana swirled together, coating the weapon. That mana coating grew larger and larger, become a giant blade of crimson gold five times the size of his regular one.

"Take this you filthy mongrel! Crimson Gold Sect's Intermediate Sword Technique: Crimson Gold Microburst Compound Cleave!"

Sheesh, talk about a mouthful. Couldn't they have come up with a shorter name or even use an acronym? Then again shouting out "CGSIST: CGMCC!" didn't have the same ring to it. It sounded like someone having a stroke.

Hong Jian slammed his weapon down. Even from a distance, that gigantic blade of mana was able to reach Gus. He had finished digging out the scraps of food in his teeth and looked up at the giant blade descending upon him. For reasons unknown to Alwin, Gus chose to dodge the attack.

Electricity trailed behind him as he ran to Hong Jian's side. The blade smashed onto the ground, followed by an enormous burst of wind that came crashing down along the length of the blade. Leaves, twigs, dirt, were sent flying in the air. If Alwin was any closer that would've been his faith too. Even from where he stood, the powerful gust of wind buffeted him, forcing him to hold his position. Was it instinct that told Gus to move out of the way?

Hong Jian joined his brother, competing to see who could open their mouths the widest. The mana blade dissipated giving Gus the opportunity to chomp on his blade, instead of the mana that coated. Considering that Gus only grimaced when he chomped down on the sword, Alwin could conclude that mana tasted better than metal. Probably.

Gus was about to charge into Hong Jian, skewering him with a multitude of quills, but he suddenly stopped right in front of him. Hong Jian still had his mouth agape and staring at his shattered sword, not even registering that he was inches away from death, if Gus actually decided to hit him.

"What are you doing? Finish him!" shouted Uchronia. She had long given up on her incantation after watching Gus singlehandedly handle the two young masters. Why waste the mana?

"But!" Gus paused to look at Uchronia then turned back to face Hong Jian. "He has poop on him."

Looks like Alwin's ingenious plan wasn't as brilliant as he thought. It was understandable. He wouldn't want to touch the fecal matter of a dead guy either, not even with gloves!

"Of for the love of Cor! Just hit them from the back, that side is clean!" Uchronia shouted.

Gus zipped behind Hong Jian, a trial of lightning in his wake. Once he confirmed that his behind was indeed clean, Gus zoomed away skidding to a stop a safe distance away, ample space for a ready for a running start.

Alwin did wonder why Gus retreated so far away just to run back and slam Hong Jian with his body. Was it impractical? Yes. Would it look cool? Also, yes. It was then did Alwin understood his intentions and could empathize with him— a finishing move had to look cool. Did Uchronia understand? Nope. She joined the brothers slack-jawed and it looked like she was winning.

Gus charged back at Hong Jian. Hopping faster and faster as he approached the young master, turning into a blur. Lightning crackled around him, small sparks danced about him. Gus leaped, gaining even more speed from the power of the jump. He twisted himself midair, lightning spinning around with him, smashing his head into a frying pan.

What?