Loreana was standing with her back against a sturdy tree as she looked into the distance, lost in her thoughts.

The moonlight illuminated the face of the mature beauty.

Her expression was neutral but Anom saw her eyelids quivering sometimes, maybe whenever she thought about something depressing.

Anom walked closer but she didn't show any reaction, as if not paying attention to anything besides her thoughts.

He stood by her side for a few seconds. But when he saw her not detecting his presence even till now, Anom smiled wryly.

She was lost in her own sad and gloomy world when Loreana felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Then, maybe because she was on the brink or maybe because this warmth contrasted her gloomy feelings, tears fell out of her eyes.

Anom was badly startled when he saw her tears. The pale moonlight illuminated the pearl-like drops as they flowed down her face, making this scene even more heart-breaking.

He first thought about calling Crystal to comfort her mother, but then he remembered Loreana suppressing her emotions, so maybe she wouldn't want her daughter to see her like that.

Nothing else came to him as he could only do something himself.

Anom grabbed her shoulders and brought her to his embrace.

Loreana didn't reject him and started crying as soon as her head touched his chest. She was weeping silently as she didn't want anyone to hear her cry.

But Anom thought it would be better if she could vent her messy emotions completely.

He closed his eyes and focused on his soul. It was relatively difficult to do so with someone crying in his arms. But Anom was becoming more proficient each time he did it.

It didn't take him long to find the familiar feeling with all the elements and energies spread all around him, looking as if waiting for his command. He knew it was an illusion, but it felt good to think of it as a goal that he would achieve someday.

But now was not the time to think about such matters. Anom focused on his spirit, now boosted by his soul, trying to connect with the flow around him.

But what he wanted to do this time was different from using different frequencies of energy to detect movements and sounds.

Anom knitted his brows as he gave his all and tried to focus. Finally, he managed to feel a connection. But the area he covered this time was small as he wasn't just simply switching between various streams of flowing energies but controlling a large volume around him.

Sweat dripped from his face as he tried to form a barrier using the energy around him. It was harder than just using it to detect changes in his surroundings. This time, he wanted to control his surroundings, more precisely, the energy in his surroundings.

His internal energy boiled as he felt pressure from within him. The situation turned even more difficult to manage because now he had to share his focus on keeping his internal energy in check. It would be too late to regret it if any accident happened due to his internal energy going haywire.

Anom struggles to maintain a connection with the energy around him, while the energy within him, despite his best efforts to keep it under control, has begun flowing even more erratically.

He racked his brains to think of something, but the only thing that seemed useful right now was the origin of his very being – his mysterious soul.

His soul was reinforcing his spirit, while his spirit was focused on the outside. His internal energy was flowing mostly on its own as his body had already gotten used to it. Only a little of his spirit was used for this task and that was also the reason for this uncontrollable flow.

Anom decided to focus on his internal energy first as he could try to create a barrier using external energies some other time, but there would be no next time if something happened to his internal energy.

But when he started reducing his focus on the outside and gathered his senses back, the energy in his surroundings followed the fluctuations of his spirit and began flowing accordingly.

Anom used this chance to manipulate the energy and formed a simple barrier.

The surprises didn't end here, as he also felt something changing within him.

Anom felt his internal energy separating into thin streams as it began flowing outside of its usual route.

Every part of his body became saturated with this energy which had always belonged to him but was not used due to him being unable to manipulate it before.

The energy flow sped up even more before its speed decreased all of a sudden. The flow was back under control but it was still faster than before.

Anom felt that this would be the new 'normal' speed from now on.

But that was not the only change that had happened to him…

Anom felt like his body had become more sturdier even though there was no change on the outside. He also felt his senses getting enhanced, which was a happy surprise for him, as it was always nice to have senses sharper than your opponents.

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He compared him with Loreana and frowned when he realized that he still hadn't reached the stage of releasing energy out of his body, not to mention the stage of controlling external energies like Gamus.

'Looks like there are more stages to this first step than I had previously thought.' But this was a good thing as he was progressing and it wouldn't be long before he arrives at the greater stages.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he once again focused on the barrier around him.

Although he called it a barrier, it was more like a cluster of various concentrated masses of energy. There were flaws everywhere and he could only hope that someone like Gamus would not hear anything.

But now that he had better control over his internal energy, Anom applied the same principle to his barrier.

He willed as the energy which the barrier was made up of, began moving. But his control was more precise as all the flaws were removed by him.

Now he was sure that even Gamus wouldn't be able to hear anything discreetly.

Anom nodded in satisfaction at his improved barrier.

Then he focused on the task on which he had spent so much effort.

Although it felt like a long time, only a few seconds had passed since he started trying to make a barrier.

Loreana was still crying and she had no idea about the change that Anom had gone through. Even though he was hugging her, the fluctuations of his internal energy were something unique to him. Only someone much stronger than him could detect them.

Anom used his hand to rub her back while his other hand held her in his embrace.

"You can cry loudly…" Anom whispered. "Don’t worry, no one will hear you."

Loreana was like a kid as she followed his instructions and began bawling her heart out.

Anom felt his chest tightening as he now understood the reason for her weird behaviour.

He didn’t notice it when he first hugged her, but after his body underwent a change, all his senses also went through a transformation.

As he was touching her body directly, Anom felt Loreana's energy.

Her energy was flowing just like his, but it looked even more refined as it felt as if it could pass through her body and come out. And he had seen her do just that.

But the thing that bothered him was that her energy was flowing chaotically. And even more surprising was the presence of another energy. This new energy was suppressing the chaotic fluctuations within her, but this also made her unable to utilize her energy to the fullest. This results in her emotions becoming unstable as the flow of internal energy is directly tied to a person's spirit.

'It feels like she took some kind of drug… something like an anti-depressant…' Anom speculated.

He felt that her energy right now was weaker than when he had sparred with her. That means that she had consumed the drug after she had left his place.

His expression changed as he realized that maybe he was the reason for her acting like that. Maybe the merciless blows he gave her with his harsh words against her family made her depressed, which, along with someone from her family trying to poison her daughter, made her feel even worse.

He felt guilty as his grip on Loreana tightened.

Loreana, who was crying her heart out, stopped when she felt this sudden force.

Her eyes opened wide as she regained her senses. The first thing that she saw was Anoms face, which was just in front of her, allowing her to feel his warmth.

Loreana panicked as she remembered her daughter being nearby.

She tried to get out of his arms but her struggle was futile. She didn’t even remember to use her energy as she just thrashed around in Anom's embrace.

But Anom felt like he had to help Loreana calm her emotions as he might be the reason for her having to take medicine to cure her depression.

"I'm sorry," Anom said. His voice was sincere as he really meant it.

His intent was so intense that even Loreana's soul could feel it. Although she had no idea about what kind of existence a soul was, she could still feel the sincere feeling conveyed by his words.

She stopped struggling and looked into his eyes.

"Thank you." Everything became clear to her after she had calmed herself. She thanked him for letting her vent her emotions, but even more for not letting her daughter know anything.

She could feel that he had somehow sealed the energy around them and was surprised.

Anom saw her curious expression and knew that she was trying to feel his barrier as it was not visible to the naked eye. And although her control was better than his when it came to internal energy, she was still unable to do anything like connect with the external energies.

They remained like that for a while before Loreana spoke, "… When are you going to stop hugging me?" She tried to make herself sound angry but it was clear that she was unable to do so.

Anom just chuckled as he spoke shamelessly, "No can do. I have to make sure you are perfectly fine before I let you go… I even made this barrier just for you."

'Just for you.' Anom had no other intentions, but his casual reply sounded too much for her.

Loreana shook her head and sighed. She knew that he had no bad intentions and only wanted to help her. But she couldn’t be like this anymore as she was beginning to feel weird. That was normal considering how close they were to each other.

Seeing him not moving, Loreana decided to go on the offensive. But what she did was too violent for Anom to bear…

Loreana moved her face near Anom, and before he could react, she kissed him…

Of course it was a kiss on his cheek… but that was enough to make him stunned as his grip around her loosened. Loreana took advantage of that and got out of his embrace.

Anom rubbed his cheek as he stared at her blankly for a moment. He was not surprised by the kiss, but by the absurdity of the fact that the woman who had kissed him might become his mother-in-law in the future.

All this time, he flirted with her to probe into her nature and make her realize some things. Well, it being fun was another reason, but he had never thought of her like he would think of Crystal.

Loreana tried to hide her blushing face and spoke while keeping a haughty expression, "You're still too naïve to stand against me, kid. Just a kiss was enough to make you lose your bearings? Is this how you are going to take care of my daughter? Looks like I would have to warn her about keeping you away from other girls as they might seduce you easily with that naïve nature of yours."

Anom was speechless when he saw her acting so haughtily.

"Are you saying that you were trying to seduce me?" Anom asked with a grin.

"Rubbish! I was just testing your character… Although you're a bit naïve, your character isn’t bad. You'll do fine as a husband after some training." She continued to be aggressive to hide her emotions.

"That's fine." Anom nodded. "You can give me as much training as you want…"

Loreana nodded, as she hadn’t thought that he would become so obedient all of a sudden. But…

"…when you come with me."

"Huh?" she exclaimed in surprise, as she had forgotten about the bet she had made with him.

Anom explained about the plan he had made with Gamus and also how he had successfully gained his permission to take her with him.

Loreana listened to everything about the plan seriously. But her expression turned complicated when she heard him talk about their bet.

She sighed. "…Let's talk about it after we get out of this mess."

Anom nodded and said, "We should go." He removed the barrier as it was easier to disperse the energies than connect them together.

Loreana nodded as they made their way towards the others.