Yuki woke up and stared at the white ceiling above him. He heard the sound of soft breathing beside him and turned his head. Akira was sleeping quietly, her head resting on a desk next to the bed he was lying on.

‘I’m in the cabin,’ he thought.

Letting out a small breath, he pushed himself up, the bed creaking as he did. His body was a bit sore, as if he had been working out the night before, but not as sore as he would have thought after the major fighting.

‘The fight,’ he repeated. His mind flashed back to it. ‘I was lucky I had the elemental stones with me.’

“You’re awake,” Akira said, her voice sleepy. “How do you feel?”

“A bit sore but nothing worrying. How long did I sleep?” Yuki asked.

“It’s Thursday night,” she said. “So about a day and a half, give or take a few hours.”

“Did Zoe treat me?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, then that explains why my body doesn’t feel worse,” Yuki nodded. 

“But other than your body, are you okay?” Akira asked. She scooted closer to him. “Your mana was almost depleted. And I don’t know what could happen to your mind after…”

“My mind is fine, Akira. There’s nothing to worry about,” Yuki replied. “I won’t be damaged from emotional outbreaks. Mana depletion, however, is a problem but I didn’t use up all of my mana.”

“What do you mean? I did find it odd that you seemed to suddenly have a massive supply of mana, but it was still yours.”

“I was lucky,” he sighed. “My mana production outpaces my capacity. Because I can’t use it all, it overflows and leaks out of my body. Normally it’ll just absorbed into the environment but in my case it just got redirected. My necklace absorbed the excess mana.”

“And it’s been absorbing it since you first got it,” Akira said, her eyes widening.

“I had a large stockpile of mana within it. It was my mana so I was able to use it when the time arose. But the amount inside is substantial to say the least.”

“If you were to describe it, how much is there?”

“I could maybe destroy an entire city easily provided that I didn’t explode from the sheer amount of mana.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why I was able to heal myself and win,” Yuki continued. He started shaking his head as he spoke. “I didn’t want to use it and to be quite honest, I forgot about it. I also forgot that using elemental stones boosted the power of elemental magic.”

“So that’s how you created that building underground,” Akira said.

“Building?” he asked. He thought back and hazily remembered a room of sorts. “I must have made it when I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“It’s nothing big,” Akira smiled. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

“I’m okay but I don’t feel good,” Yuki sighed. “I won, but by luck. And I almost died.”

“You were too hasty, Yuki,” Akira said quietly. “You’re strong and growing fast, but Firestorm was just not the matchup that you were prepared for.”

“I know. That’s why I need to train more. I need to train and I need to learn. I realised that I might know the basics, but I haven’t move up from those. I don’t even really have skills or techniques. Firestorm had his Field of Flames. Even Robert back on Earth had named techniques.”

“Don’t you have your Dance of the Dragons?”

“That’s more of a style than a move. That only thing that I can say is even a combat move is Pressure but that should be a common one.”

“I see what you mean.”

“So I need to transition,” Yuki said. “I need to learn more about combat and magic. Once I’ve mastered the basics, then I can start to create a fighting style that fits me along with skills that work with it. Dance of the Dragons hasn’t reached its full potential yet. I can feel it.”

“You’re right,” Akira nodded. “But I don’t think it’s just you that needs to train. It’s all of us. Yuna, Erica, Sarah, all of us. I don’t believe I could have defeated Firestorm by myself. Maybe Tiar could, but the rest of us would stand no chance.”

“Then we need to improve. Get stronger.”

“Of course,” Akira grinned. “I heard from Uriel that you’ve almost completed the training room.”

“It’s actually functional right now.”

“Then we can start training soon.”

“I can find some books in my Ancestral Knowledge to help us with our training,” Yuki said. “Since we’re all different, we’re going to learn differently. So we’re going to have to tailor a training regimen for each of us. We can spar with each other though.”

“That would be perfect,” she replied. “Let’s have a diagnostic test later so we can find out strengths. Maybe compare UR profiles as well?”

“That’s a great idea. We should do that. Plus, our classes help us develop in some aspects so it would be good if we focused on those.”

“Great!” Akira said. Then she paused and gave Yuki an apologetic smile. “Actually, I don’t know how it slipped me, but I didn’t pick a class yet.”

“Oh,” Yuki said. He thought for a bit to himself. “Not a problem. We’ll just go into Junction and buy a class crystal for you. Then you can select on and then we can create a training plan for you.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “Then we can go tomorrow night. You have class at the Academy in the morning, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “I’m going to have to create an excuse for why I was there for a few days.”

“Isn’t being arrested a good enough excuse?” Akira teased.

“I mean, yes. If I wanted to be labeled as a troublemaker. And if I wanted to do that, then there a number of ways that I would prefer to do that.”

He slowly pulled his legs out of the bed sheets and swung them over the side. With a small exhale, he pushed himself up and stretched his back.

“Well, now that I’m awake I shouldn’t stay in bed any longer. One day was enough sleep for me,” he said. “Where are the others?”

“Um, Yuna went back to her dorm. Erica is here, I think, sleeping in the living room,” Akira replied. “Sarah is at the new main headquarters and Damian went to the workshop.”

“Zoe went back or did she stay as well?”

“She stayed here, of course. You are her patient.”

“True. Let’s go meet them then we can discuss our plans for the future.”

He walked to the wooden door and turned the brass knob when he felt a small pull on his shirt. He turned his head and gave Akira a questioning look. She turned her head away, her face a bit red.

“Yuki, just don’t push yourself too much,” she said. “Training is good and all, but I don’t want to see you consumed by it. Find time to do what you enjoy.”

“I’ll try,” he replied, his voice soft.

“And also.”

“Hmm?”

“Can we get something to eat?” she asked with an embarrassed smile.

---

 

Yuki walked out of the bedroom and told Erica and Zoe who were resting outside of the plan to out and grab a meal to eat for dinner. Erica agreed happily while Zoe told him that she planned on going back to the base now that he seemed okay.

“Don’t strain yourself for the next week or so,” she warned before leaving. “I better not be called here again to treat you the whole week.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Yuki replied.

She left the cabin, and disappeared. Since she was a dryad, she could merge with the trees around the forest and pop out from them whenever she wanted. This way, she could go in from one side and leave the other within seconds.

Yuki and the rest took the hovercraft that was hidden near by. The entire air space above the forest and the cabin was a dead zone due to its proximity to the Mason Inc. building. Mason Inc. didn’t want anyone to be spying on their operations so they received a special permit from the government that effectively stopped all monitoring and operations in the air space above the building. 

‘At least it helps me move around quietly,’ Yuki thought as he boarded the hovercraft. 

“Uriel,” he said. “Take us to Junction.”

“Welcome back, boss,” she greeted. “We’ll be on our way there~.”

The craft hummed and began to lift itself up into the air as the doors shut. Then a brief pause before it blasted forward, hurtling through the sky.

“By the way, boss,” Uriel said. “I recorded some interesting articles that I thought you’ll like during your nap. Want to see them?”

“Just give me the headlines. I’ll read them later,” he replied.

“‘Chaos in the LIA’ is one of them. ‘LIA Facility Destroyed’ is another but that one’s boring. ‘Death and Destruction! LIA Laid to Waste.’ Oooo, that one’s nice~. Death and destruction.”

“So the investigation isn’t finished yet,” Yuki said.

“Nope. Just some sensationalized headlines.”

“Great job then.”

“I try, boss,” Uriel said. “Welcome back to the land of the living by the way. How do you like it?”

He glanced over to Akira who was chatting with Erica behind him while he sat in the cockpit of the hovercraft.

“Can’t say I can complain.”