After Zoan arrived, the other soldiers went back to the usual hustle and bustle of training their skills, though the only ones who remained with a slight frown were Myra and Piker, who knew the truth.
After showing off their exploits, they left the newly-born Journeymen behind, planning to be one themselves as they head towards the Mystio household. All the while, Clara talked animatedly with Zoan about their success, including questions such as what kind of skills she plans to take for her own future.
Surprisingly, Zoan answered honestly, though a bit stoically as she advises Clara to take on fundamental skills like her Bobo and Sissy did, such as the perception skills and the mastery skills, no matter how useless they feel at the start.
Zeke couldn't agree more, but to hear it from Zoan as she teaches Clara left him feeling a bit conflicted. He noticed to his side that Mikella kept frowning while glaring at Zoan’s head from behind, but when she got caught by Zeke, she shrugged it off.
“I can’t help it,” Mikella whispered softly, ensuring that Clara doesn’t hear. She doesn’t care whether Zoan could, however. “I still can’t trust her. Who knows what she’s planning.”
“I know,” Zeke whispered back, the two hanging behind Clara and Zoan as they were talking. “Still, you’re doing great. A whole year and nothing exploded yet.”
“You make it sound like I just cause damage everywhere,” Mikella asked, her eyes lidded at him.
“Am I wrong?” Zeke raised a brow at her.
“...Well, not really, but still–ouch.”
Zeke chuckled. “Let’s just look forward to our evolution. Look, there’s the house.”
Despite the entire year of focusing on the improvement of Eve Glade, the Ashton family, Zeke included, didn’t get their own house yet. It was a bit complicated, and worse yet, Cloud and Val felt uncomfortable talking about the otherworlders to their kingdom officials, possibly asking for some sort of investigation on their part.
The fact that they managed to get away for this long either proved that the kingdom wasn’t so keen on studying every facet in Eve Glade, or perhaps they already knew and were just giving the lords the respect of privacy. Zeke knew it was totally the former, as no matter which world you came from, there are always going to be lazy people running about.
But that also meant that including another house for the otherworlders was difficult unless they ran it by the kingdom first, so they continued living in the house for another year. Zeke always thought that at the very least, it was uncomfortable to have another man besides Cloud living there, but it was proven time and time again that the Mystio family loved having them around, especially Ana as she had more people to play with.
All except for Zoan, but that was natural at this point. They arrived at the same old and homey wooden house riddled with magical runes sketched onto it to make the inside feel like a modern home. There was a pleasant garden that had some changes compared to last year thanks to Mikella and Clara’s need to freshen it up with extra fruits and vegetables rather than just flowers, to which Val was more than happy to oblige as she wasn’t the gardener type.
Entering inside the gate, they practically leapt to the door as usual, Clara in the lead as she shouted out.
“Val! Cloud! Ana! Sissy and Bobo are done! They can turn into Journeymen now!”
Her shout was loud and filled with vigor, something that the household has gotten used to as Clara became more influenced by Ana’s candid attitude over the year. Still, she at least put her shoes aside to avoid scuffling the floor boards as taught by Mikella.
“Did I hear that right?” Val’s voice echoed across the living room, her head popping out of the kitchen with a bright smile. “Congratulations, you two!”
She walked up into the living room where the otherworlders were at, revealing a smile that could outclass any supermodel in their old world. Though after two year’s worth, Zeke was glad to say that he has gotten used to it. Her lustrous black hair was tied into a simple pony tail while wearing a simple top and pants for indoor activities. It sounded like she was making a snack before readying to change before the otherworlders came by.
She walked up to the two, her smile never leaving as she grabbed both Mikella and Zeke into a tight hug, squealing like an excitable mother she usually is.
“You worked so hard, and like Myra and Piker, you both succeeded. Congratulations, truly.”
“Geez, Val, take it easy,” Mikella giggled all while Zeke tried his best not to blush after getting hugged. “It was to be expected.”
“Of course, though I’ll be honest, I feel a little envious. Do you know how long it took me before I reached Journeyman myself? That’s putting aside the stress of whether my weird body can even make it there.”
She pointed at herself, clearly joking as her smile never wavered even once. Though Zeke knew that Val, being one who was born unable to use mana at all, went through a rough road to even become an Expert, let alone a Journeyman.
That’s why his and Mikella’s respect grew even more towards Val who remained so optimistic and never gave up on her path, even if she was forced to lay low along with Cloud to take care of Eve Glade.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Well, now you gotta ramp up your progress,” Mikella teased, her grin widening. “Now that I’m reaching your level, you can’t just let me pass you by, right?”
Zeke widened her eyes in shock at her clear taunt. Even if Val was bubbly and lively didn’t mean she would take that kind of offense.
Rather than getting angry, Val only scoffed with derision. “Look at you, thinking you got better just because you reached Journeyman. I guess you want me to show you your lesson like I did two years ago?”
That got Mikella to clam up, her eyes widening as he noticed her body actually trembling, though only for a short microsecond. She quickly covered it up with a dry chuckle and shaking her head.
“Ahh, I’ll take a rain check on that. Just remembering that ‘lesson’ got me chills.”
Val giggled, as though her earlier threat was just a figment of Zeke’s imagination.
“Still, with Eve Glade as it is, maybe it is time for you to really start training,” Despite the false threat, Mikella still spoke up. The way her eyes seemed to gleam looked like she wanted Val to come back into leveling seriously into Master-stage. “With Ana growing up nicely too, wouldn’t this be a great chance?”
“Mmh…” Val, however, lowered her brows with a conflicted look. “That’s hard to say. There’s still plenty of things I need to do here, and I can’t just leave Cloud alone. Even if I take Cloud with me, who’s going to take care of Eve Glade’s every day duties? I can’t just leave Myra and Piker in charge just so soon after reaching Journeyman. And I know you two won’t be available for long.”
“Aww…” Mikella deflated, her shoulders hunching forward. “I guess that’s true.”
“Still, if you ever want a sparring partner, you know where to find me,” Val winked, then turned to Zeke. “That goes for you as well.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready to be in any sparring matches against you.”
Zeke was honest when he said that. He and Val did indeed spar once, and while he did his best, he felt like he was way out of his league. The way Val fought felt like there was weight on her fighting style compared to Mikella’s destructive force. Each blow felt like trucks slamming at him at every turn, squashing him and his barriers with ease.
Still, that did increase his fighting skills quite a bit, though after every spar, Zeke had to recover for a while which proved to be a little too much for his buddening combat style.
“Oh, that reminds me!” Val clapped her hands together, but before she spoke, she turned to Clara and Zoan. “Can you two help out in making some snacks? I was just about ready to make them, so everything should be ready in the kitchen.”
“Okay!” Clara nodded eagerly. “Let’s go make some yummy snacks, Zoan.”
Zoan let out a breath. “If you insist.”
She clearly wasn’t amused to be put at the level of making snacks, but Zoan just as easily went along with Clara into the kitchen while Val, totally not caring at all that she just ordered an angel to make snacks, looked at the two with gleaming eyes.
“Did you make any decisions? I promise I won’t try to suggest anything–I just really want to know!”
“Val, any suggestion from you is always good,” Mikella smiled. “I plan on taking something like a fae race. Zeke, you’re planning one too, right?”
“That, or anything along the lines that helps me with magic,” Zeke said, getting Val to nod eagerly. He wondered whether mentioning this to Val would feel like a slap to the face for her, but clearly Val was a big enough person not to care about such things anymore.
“Now that we’re on the topic, Val,” Mikella turned to their kind host. “What race did you choose? I’m guessing it’s something like a beastkin, right?”
“Precisely,” Val nodded. “It was a race called a Tarrasque, a beast that’s famous for eating monsters and people alike and gaining power from them. Considering my special attunement, it was a pretty good race that synergized well with me.”
The two nodded, finally having their answer after it was completely forgotten throughout the year. There was a reason why, despite Val and Cloud being Journeymen, they never mentioned any race changes and looked entirely human.
Journeymen who first advanced does have their race changed, including in a sub race of some amazing creature under the system’s guidance. They tend to show features like Myra’s Fire Fairy wings and Piker’s Ice Giant frost scales. But as they grow some more and get more used to their bodies, Journeymen can actually alter their appearance to look more human. If Myra had more time, she could eventually put aside her wings and only reveal them to use whenever she wanted to.
For Val, it was proven that despite looking like a hot super model, she can transform into a ferocious creature with a giant mouth meant for consuming when she was truly put into a harsh battle. Right now, she looked nothing like the Val who had her mouth open up to swallow a giant-ass heart from a colossal Master-rank boss almost a year ago.
There was also something else that stopped them from asking the question. Zeke and Mikella had a sort of game of guessing what race Cloud and Val got. While they were truly curious to what Val chose, as a beastkin can have several different races, they had fun guessing what kind of fae race Cloud chose, and even joked that he can turn into a pretty pink fairy with strong magical powers.
They didn’t mean any offense, but it was just funny. But now their curiosity got the best of them when the day finally arrived for their own race change.
Speaking of which, the door opened rather abruptly as Cloud himself came around, his once usually cool and striking face now riddled with a sense of panic. The others in the house turned back in a start to find him suddenly appearing and walking over to them.
“Good, you’re all here,” Cloud said, his tone sounding rushed. “Listen, I got something to tell you–”
“Cloud! There you are,” Val put her fists to her shapely hips with a raised brow. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you and Ana. What happened?”
On that note, Ana herself came rushing by, acting the same as usual as she greeted Clara and completely ignored Zoan. However, Cloud still had that troubled look on his face, which made Zeke feel dread clutching at his stomach.He didn’t like the mood of this at all.
“I got some bad news,” Cloud said, interrupting whatever else Val was planning on saying. “Cronus is coming. He’s coming here.”
It felt like a bomb dropped in the house. The entire room went silent as Val’s eyes widened in alarm, her earlier bubbly nature disappearing without a trace.
All the while, the otherworlders looked at Cloud with puzzlement.
“Cronus…?” Mikella asked.
“Who’s that?” Zeke asked, though he knew he wouldn’t like it no matter what as Cloud turned to him, his face twisting further into a grimace.
“...My master. He’s coming here to check up on us.”