Dense, tangible Spirit Power surged out of his master’s body, wrapping him in its warm tendrils, isolating him from the world within the canyons, bringing him to a world of its own. A world of warmth, love, and care. Even after a month, everything was the same… No, not the same. Along with the warmth, and care, the love that his master had for him had also increased. Or so Alnea believed, as he felt a strange sensation seeping into his body, into his blood, and bones. Safety, and security took hold of his Heart, refusing to let go. And why should they? He was with his master…

Enjoying the pleasure of being in his master’s embrace, Alnea did not notice how much time had passed. Maybe a few hours? Or days? No, the latter was not possible. It had been nearly a day since his last meal. Even if that meal had consisted of two Oren Beasts, most of the energy from that meal had already been digested, and absorbed. Especially after his breakthrough to the False Rank.

Though the Rotting Blood Essence did provide him with some energy, that was its secondary effect after all. The most important aspect of the blood essence of the creatures, devoured by the Bone Rotting Plants, and condensed in their fruits, was the malice, and grudges of those Oren Beasts infused in every drop of the essence. Drinking the Rotting Blood Essence, and fighting against those grudges could help him temper his Spirit, and Heart.

However, there was a reason why such a nectar, with such a miraculous effect, was named Rotting Blood Essence. While conquering the grudges of other creatures may indeed bring untold benefits to Wanderers, failure to do so would result in disastrous consequences. Especially if they were not careful enough, and drank the blood essence of creatures beyond their Ranks, or even Stages.

Even with creatures of their own Ranks, and Stages, only Wanderers with exceptionally strong wills could conquer the grudges, and malice in the blood essence. Thankfully, Alnea had never lacked in strength of his will. And he only ever drank the blood essence of the Oren Beasts he personally led to the Bone Rotting Plants.

Besides, if he wished to shorten the time needed to break through the bottleneck of a Rank, then he had to take some calculated risks. Otherwise, like Cecilia, he might have had to waste more than a month trying to break past the last barrier. Even Yuri had taken close to fifteen days when breaking through that barrier. And that was when she was training with Divine Grade Arcanas.

If he trained as he normally did, and kept Forging his Spirit, he might have broken through his bottleneck a little faster than Cecilia had, but he would have surely been slower than Yuri. He did not have a problem with Yuri’s training progressing faster than his. On the contrary, the stronger she became, the happier he would be. But, since there was a better alternative in front of him, why should he keep wasting his time?

“Whatever they want me to do, as long as it is something possible, I will do it. And even if it is not possible, I will still do it. That is my Oath.”

That was the Oath that Alnea had taken in his ignorant fearlessness, overestimating his abilities, and underestimating the shamelessness of the Lotus clan. If not for big sis Serena, and his master, he would not even have had the chance to take part in the Spirit Test, let alone complete the condition that the Lotus clan had made. Still, that was just one of the two conditions that the Lotus clan had made for him to stay with big sis Serena.

Since he had already passed his Spirit Test, next he had to represent Anneve in the Rising Wanderer Trials at the provincial level. That too, before the age of sixteen. Though the prefectural level Trials were held every year, the provincial level Trials were held every other year. Fortunately, it just so happened that the provincial level Trials had been held just a few months ago, and he was only thirteen years old, which gave him two years to prepare for the provincial Trials.

But according to his master, if he wished to perform well in the Trials, and not give the Lotus clan any chance to subdue him, then at the very least, he had to reach the Intermediate Stage of the False Rank. It would be even better if he could reach the Advanced Stage. That would make things much easier for him to handle. Yet, only two years were left before the Trials. No, he had even less than two years left to him.

Thus, he could not afford to waste time. And so, when dropping him off in the canyons to live on his own, his master had deliberately chosen a canyon with a patch of Bone Rotting Plants. Of course, she had also made it clear that if he wished to drink Rotting Blood Essence, then he had to get those Blood Essence Fruits with his own capabilities. At most, she would only direct some of the stronger Infant Stage Oren Beasts in his direction. What had happened after that all depended on him. Yet, since his master had practically served the opportunity on a platter, how could he disappoint her?

Musing to himself, while enjoying the pleasure of being with his master after a month, Alnea was humming a soft tune, with a smile on his face, when he felt the warmth, and care withdraw from the world. Or rather, he felt the Spirit Power surrounding him being withdrawn back into his master’s body. That disappointed him a little. If he could, he would rather stay in that warm, and comfortable world, than the cold, damp world of the Night Canyons. But that disappointment soon vanished as he recalled what the withdrawal of his master’s Spirit Power meant.

Opening his eyes in excitement, he immediately found the person he was looking for. A girl, with hair so white that even the darkness of the canyons was not able to overwhelm, dressed in a similarly white robe, was shining like a bright torch in the canyons. Had it been Alnea himself, he would have never dared to be so brazen in the Night Canyons. Especially since she was not in one of the smallest canyons, like the one he had been in.

Just from a casual glimpse, he was sure that the canyon was twice as large as his own. And a canyon so large was bound to have many Adolescent Stage Oren Beasts. There may even be some Oren Beasts who had reached the advanced phase of their Adolescent Stage. Such strong Oren Beasts… only Wanderer who had reached the Advanced Stage could handle them. But that was for average Wanderers. And the white haired girl was no average Wanderer.

It did not matter if the Oren Beasts were of the intermediate phase, or of the advanced phase. As long as they were not of the peak phase, the girl had complete confidence in herself. Not just her, even Alnea, and his master had complete confidence in her. Especially when they saw how she was toying with the intermediate phase Oren Beast.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Sitting on a boulder, with her legs, crossed over each other, hanging off of the boulder’s edge, the girl kept looking at the Beast, a Black Horned Ape, in abject boredom, while the ape itself kept beating its chest, and swinging its fist in air, as if it was fighting some mighty opponent, going so far as to even launch its Innate Ability, only to hurt itself in the process. And the more that the ape hurt itself, the more tired the girl’s face became, as if she was bearing some great burdens on her shoulders.

“It is time, I guess,” the girl said, and snapped her fingers. Right in the next moment, the ape’s body shook, as it looked around in terror, and rage, searching for its opponent that it had just been fighting with. All it could find though, was the white robed girl, looking at the Beast with pity. It was only then that the ape recalled who its true enemy was. The enemy it had first rushed against, only to be stopped midway by another enemy. The enemy which had vanished into thin air.

Even with its low intelligence, it did not take long for the ape to figure out what was happening. Roaring in indignation, the Black Horned Ape beat its chest, declaring its majesty, before rushing towards the girl. Coincidentally, or maybe intentionally, that was also when the girl chose to act, picking up the Glyph Disc she had kept by her side, before activating the Glyph she had carved on it.

Right in the next moment, before the ape could even take a couple of steps, a dark greyish fog erupted from the disc, that coalesced into the form of an arrow, and rushed straight towards the ape, stabbing directly into its chest, right where its heart was supposed to be. However, the ape felt no pain. Rather, it did not even have a wound.

The moment that the arrow struck its chest, it dematerialized back into the fog it had formed out of, without so much as a scratch on its chest. Even the ape itself was looking at its chest in confusion. Not for long. For right in the next moment, all the greyish fog hovering around its chest acted as if it had found an inlet, or a hole in the ape’s chest, and rushed into it, burrowing itself where its heart was supposed to be. Where the ape had been stuck by the arrow.

And that was when the ape felt the true dread of the arrow. In just mere moments, the ape went from rage to confusion, and then from confusion to shock, and fear, as it felt itself being eaten alive. No, not eaten alive, but simply disintegrating from the inside. Of course, that was just the ape’s illusion. The Glyph used by the girl was just an Intermediate Stage False Ranked Glyph, after all. But that was enough to deal with the Oren Beast in front of the girl.

The ape, aware of its impending doom, let out a defiant roar, before rushing towards its enemy, trying to take it down with itself. An overestimation of its capabilities. And an underestimation of the might of the Glyph that it had been attacked with. Before it even reached half of its way to the girl, it lost all its strength in its body, moving forward with just pure momentum of its massive weight. But even that momentum was not enough to carry its body to the girl, causing it to crash right in front of the boulder that the girl was sitting on, just as it lost the last light of life from its eyes.

“I do not wish to do this either,” the girl said, sighing as she shook her head, before jumping down on the ape’s body. “But this is the way of the world… As an Oren Beast you should understand what I am talking about, right?”

“Oh? Does that mean that I am forcing you to do this?”

“Huh?”

Hearing the voice, the girl instantly put on her guard, as she turned around hastily, while urging her Aspects, glowing in a faint bluish white light, getting ready for a fight. Only when she saw who it was that had spoken did she lower her guard, letting go of her Aspects, as she sighed in relied.

“I did not know that you would be coming today, big sis Nyssa. Did something happen?”

“…That was a nice act that you put up,” his master said, shaking her head.

“Act? What kind of act, big sis Nyssa?”

“Stop trying to play dumb. You two need more than a thousand years of practice if even wish to think about deceiving me.”

“I do not understand what you are talking about, big sis Nyssa.”

“Give up, Yuri,” Alnea said, looking at his white haired friend with a wry smile. “Master sensed me using the Ring earlier.”

Listening to his persuasion, Yuri dropped the innocent look from her face, and looked at him with a pout.

“…Fool. She was just trying to make you accept. As long as you did not admit, then she would have ignored it in the end.”

“I did ignore her… but you overdid it with your acting. Going so far as to pretending to not notice when we have arrived despite the connection of the Rings of Fate… And that look on your face as you killed the ape… Even children would be able to tell that you were acting.”

“…Don’t talk as if you are all grown up. You are still shorter than me, kid.”

“…Master, can we leave her here, and go pick up Cecilia?”

“Big sis Nyssa would never leave me here, traitor.”

“Why? Because she needs to teach you how to act?”

“You—

“Alright, stop it you two. Neither of you are going to fool me with this act of yours.”

Both Alnea, and Yuri stopped, looking at his master with innocent eyes, until they saw the amusement on her face. In the end, they just turned towards each other, and shook their heads with smiles on their faces.

“I told you it would never work,” Alnea said. “She is a Grand Wanderer. Her Spirit is too strong.”

“We would not have known until we tried, right?” Yuri said, letting out soft giggles, as she walked over to his side, stopping only when she was just a hand’s distance from him.

“Still, this means that I won the bet, right?”

“Since I bet, then I can also afford to lose,” Yuri said, blushing at the mention of the bet. “We will talk about that later. Before that, congratulations on becoming a False Wanderer, Alnea.”

“Just a simple congratulations?” Alnea said with a laugh, before pulling Yuri into a hug. “At least give me a congratulatory hug.”

“…Your shameless has increased in the past month.”

“It increased before that,” Alnea said. “It was just that you did not have time to experience my shamelessness.”

“I think you may be mistaken,” Yuri said, pulling away from the hug, and looking at him with weird eyes. “I experienced your shamelessness aplenty. And so did everyone else.”

“What are you talking about?” Alnea asked, completely oblivious to what she was trying to imply. “What shameless thing did I do?”

“…At least there is something about you that has not changed.”

“Now, if you two have had your reunion, then can we go pick up Cecilia? Or she might end up feeling lonely, and ignored once again.”

“We are not ignoring her,” Alnea said with a cough, trying to hide his flushed face, while Yuri kept laughing at his embarrassment. Only when she had had enough of her laugh, did she turn to his master.

“Let’s go, big sis Nyssa,” Yuri said. “It’s time to pick up Cecilia.”