[ 3.5 hours after Round 1 started

Veinham Barrier - Day 1

Cave 3 (Behind a big boulder)]

With wide-eyed, perked ears, Benny and Henry tried to breathe as quietly as possible, the only thing separating them from the shapeshifters was the boulder they were hidden behind.

“Why are we listening to a dumb witch anyways?” a random shapeshifter monster said.

“You don’t know? She promised she could get us off this planet and unsealed from the barrier if we can get her the mages.”

“But there are a lot of them, the stupid Love Contest is going on. They already have some shields. It hasn’t even been a day yet.”

“You have a point there, but we don’t make the calls. Just look for the babies.”

“Fine, but I need to eat something first.”

“What?! We just had a bear.”

“Yes, but you ate way more.”

“Whaat?!”

The two boys listened to the two shapeshifters bantered until they could no longer hear them.

“Who is this witch? Ugh Gladmora, I hate witches. Where do you think Jamie went, try to detect her.”

Henry frowned, his eyes flashed white for less than a second. He looked at Benny disappointed. “I can’t get it to work.”

Benny gave him a comforting pat on the back. “Your mana is just unstable from the stress. We’ll try again later.”

Benny turned Henry around and removed his turtle jade necklace.

“Henry, everything will be okay. Eat a snack and rest a bit.”

Henry nodded and rifled through his small sachet of bracelets. Benny looked at the turtle jade necklace. What did mom say again? he thought. Then Benny’s jaw dropped. It was at that moment that Benny remembered, his mom never taught them how to unlock it. She was too busy gushing over how cute Henry looked with the necklace charm. I guess we’ll have to go on foot. I’ll just absorb another healing bracelet, Henry concluded.

“Henry, hand me another healing bracelet.”

Henry unlocked the bracelet.

“Actually, give me two more.”

A few minutes later….

“Are you ready to go, Henry?”

Henry’s adorable toddler eyes opened wide at a realization. “We need to get out of here! Hurry!”

“Okay, hold on, I need to pee.”

“No, let’s go.”

“Fine, but if I peed myself. I blame you.”

The two boys started to move quickly along the cave wall. Unfortunately, due to Henry’s inability to sense the direction of mana flow, he led them straight behind a witch.

Benny stared at Henry and the two retreated. Henry kept his little eyes on the witch as he hugged the wall and moved. Thump. Oddly enough, he rubbed against something…something soft. He swallowed nervously, his heart felt like it had left his body. He slowly turned around and met what he had sensed as danger.

The witch was in her transformed form, a monstrous figure with the body of a black octopus. She possessed eight arms, each covered with red suction cups from beginning to end on the underside. While her face retained a human resemblance, her eyes were replaced by many tiny, translucent, anemone-like tentacles, and her teeth appeared oddly perfect—proportionate, white, and straight.

“AHAHAHAH!” Henry screamed and the witch cackled with mocking amusement.

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[ ~30 minutes after Round 1 started

Veinham Headquarters

D1]

Master Edwards watched as the 4th unit of mages exited the room. “Is it wise to send them away and not attempt to save your brothers immediately?”

General Ames sat on an old Victorian armchair and sipped his oolong tea. “I need to assess this situation further. As it stands, the boys are safe with Jamie.”

Master Edwards looked at a crystal mana ball showing Jamie and the two boys snooping around the forest within the barrier. He looked at General Ames.“Let’s assess then. Lord Eastman sent word that two of his barrier guards were found murdered, they were killed during the last scheduled feeding given the rate of decomposition. Which is when the barrier allows for foreign entry. The guards were wrapped in black mana thread. Black magic, so they suspect witches.”

"Why this critical piece of information was delivered so late is another matter we'll have to bring up with my sister. Besides that, their inference makes sense. Alternatively, someone may be deliberately using black mana threads to mislead us."

Master Edwards tapped the crystal mana ball in front of him. “Yes, but casting black mana thread isn’t easy. That's why women or men would sacrifice so dearly to become a witch, just to attain that power.”

General Ames placed his porcelain teacup down on the table. “So it is more likely it is witches than not. This implies that, at the moment, there must be at least one witch inside the barrier.”

“I don’t get it, what would they gain from entering your love contest?”

General Ames stood up from his armchair and strolled to a crystal mana ball. “This was deliberately planned. Aside from taking lessons from you, myself, and their etiquette class, the boys have no other foreign interactions. Someone must have planted the seed when the boys were at etiquette school. This person must've given my brothers the tip that if they transformed using their gift, they could sneak into the barrier, on the condition they entered with a contestant.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We'll figure out the school incident later. However, I can't deny I'm impressed by this insight—a little loophole that was not foreseen. But..." Master Edwards looked at the General. "By choosing your brothers, it's obvious you are the target or at least the Veinhams are.”

“Yes, either way, they are forcing my hand. It is pointless to just have me shorten the duration, that can achieve no aim that I can conceive of. They must have a way to weaken the barrier further if I shorten the contest duration.”

“That would mean, they want to free the shapeshifters, but why? That would just bring about chaos. Why would a witch want that? I guess technically, no witch can be affected, but regular women and girls of childbearing age. This is atrocious.”

“Freeing what made the Veinham family famous. That is one easy way to damage our family’s reputation.”

“Why would a witch care?” Master Edwards rubbed his thumb and pointer finger together, and then his eyes lit up. “Don’t tell me!”

“Yes, that is what I have deduced and why I sent the mages away. Occam’s razor, the simplest explanation.”

Master Edwards shook his head. “I have to say it.”

“I don’t need you to.”

“I have to.” Master Edwards paused and smiled. “It is a terrible time to smile, but I TOLD YOU SO. I told you not to date a witch! For one, you want children BUT she cannot procreate. They give that up for power! And the biggest reason of all, they’re usually just sociopaths!”

General Ames grinned. “I liked how she was so different.”

Master Edwards gave General Ames a side-eye. “You were reckless and irresponsible! Your brothers are in this situation because you had to date the Black-Hearted Witch when everyone said it was crazy! She was a murderer too! Crazy evil women are crazy and evil, that is why you leave crazy and EVIL alone!”

“Well, at the time, I didn’t see it that way. I kill people too, well at least that was what I rationalized before I learned you know.”

Master Edwards looked up at the ceiling and released a heavy sigh. “Let’s get back to the facts. You know her best. Do you think she is willing to risk millions of innocent lives just so she can get back at you for dumping her?”

“Sounds like her.”

“She will still need a lot of mana to unlock the shapeshifter's seal to the barrier.”

“Unfortunately, if she gets hold of one of the boys, living, that would easily do. They have the same blood as the original barrier’s caster. Then again, the barrier is chock-full of contestants with high levels of mana.”

General Ames placed his hand on top of a crystal mana ball, he curled his fingertips and the crystal mana ball shattered into a million pieces. Then he took his hand and punched through the wall.

Master Edwards placed a hand on his shoulder. “We can figure this out. The boys are tougher than they look.”

“Well, we have some time before my—” General Ames stopped speaking abruptly, he raised his palm to face the walls and attempted to contain the explosive fire that blazed through the room.

“Stop this madness! This is our headquarters, MOTHER!”

“WHERE ARE MY BABIES!”

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[ Inside the Veinham Barrier

Day 1

Cave 3 (tail-end of the cave)]

“So you’re the Vaseland,” a feminine voice said matter-of-factly. Jamie frowned at the statement.

Jamie looked up to see a woman with a no-frill black blindfold; despite this, her dainty features—sharp button nose, small chin, and full rosy lips—made her appear angelic and doll-like. She possessed ghostly pale skin, almost reaching the point of translucency. Mid-length, perfectly curled silver hair framed her heart-shaped face, and an unremarkable black cloak fitted cozily against her petite figure. Like most of the women Jamie had met, she too had large blossoms.

The woman’s right hand held onto a mage staff made of wood interwoven with mithril, featuring a roaring lion as the handle. The staff itself bore intricate carvings of farmers working in a field. Also on her right hand, the number #13 was prominently displayed.

13! I knew it! Wow, I actually got that right, Jamie thought before she was slapped in the face.

Owwww, Jamie whimpered in her head in silence. Master Edwards’ face came to her mind. “Let’s see, he would say some ‘Art of War’ saying right about now. ‘Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.’ Yup, but how on Earth do I do that? Let’s see, I thought I had sensed Blinka, which is why I figured running was my best option, but I guess I have no choice but to fight now… she thought.

“How dare you look upon her royal highness,” Emo said and withdrew her hand.

“She’s pinned down,” Contestant #21 said.

“Yeah, but look at how defiantly annoying she looks,” Emo said.

But this is my 'try-not-to-look-like-it-hurts' face, Jamie thought.

“Before you is the most beautiful, most precious, most noble princess of all the districts. Princess Blinka Kneevdale of D3. Bow insolent elf,” Emo proclaimed.

“She’s an elf?” Contestant #21 asked.

Emo rolled her eyes.

“Not exactly. Her flesh is pure human, but her soul and mana are Vaseland. There’s no denying that,” Blinka said.

Jamie looked at Blinka, the adopted daughter of the King of Dwarves of D3. Her voice is beyond enchanting, she’s what I would imagine Odysseus’s sirens to sound like, Jamie thought. I wonder if her blindness has anything to do with it.

Jamie pouted her lips. Stop it! Think Jamie. List it all out. I’m surrounded. Blinka is far superior to me in skill, experience, and boob size. I can’t move. Wait, I can move my pinkie! So what Master Edwards said was really true…

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[ Day 61 in Mander

Veinham Training Zone ]

“Assumptions, you make way too many assumptions and you’re too indecisive. Stop thinking. Right now. Stop!”

Master Edwards walked over to Jamie, he placed his tough yet delicate hand on her face. Jamie’s body tingled by his touch. With his hand on her cheek, he playfully slapped her. Jamie, as if in a play rehearsal, flung her head to accommodate the act.

Just then, her two protectors appeared and started to mercilessly pinch Master Edwards.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class? Where is your mother?”

Benny laughed. “We finished early. And mom is away so you have to take care of us!”

“You two are a menace. Go make your mana balls, if they’re bigger than mine, then you can join us today.”

Benny turned to hug Jamie. “No fair, how can we do that?”

“Well, you never can if you don’t practice.”

Master Edwards turned to Jamie, “Today, we’ll finally test your tolerance for poison.”

“Well-”

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that already. However, you failed to take into account your pure ignorance of Mander. You assume, because your way of life is peaceful, that you have no tolerance.”

He turned to her. And took a lock of her hair. “It’s very soft. What do you think?”

She looked at him and blushed. Despite getting closer, he’s still too dreamy to look at head-on, Jamie thought.

“Yes, I’ve noticed that my hair is more lush, soft, silky…”

“What else have you observed?”

He whipped out a mirror.

“My skin, my blemishes, they're all gone,” Jamie said in amazement.

“Why do you think that’s so?”

“Is Mander’s air quality more pure or something?”

“Exactly, you have more tolerance to poison because your body is used to a climate of more toxins from living on Pure Earth. A contradiction, given its name.”

As he walked back to his coffee table and chair, he continued to talk. “On Pure Earth, you probably ate food with toxins in it as well. Your poison tolerance is high. Think about it like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. The less you use it, the weaker it is. Your body, since birth, has grown tougher to protect itself against the various toxins of your world. You are more resilient to the common poisons used in Mander.”

“How are you going to test me?”

“We are going to pay a visit to a witch.”

“A witch?”

“Yes, a witch.”

“No, when I say it like that, you’re supposed to explain what a witch is.”

“That’s you assuming again.”