“What kind of monster is that…?” Yue murmured, he could only see it’s approaching the outline...

The monster had dark Gray skin with what looked like molten cracks leading from its singular eye all over its body. Its eye was the color of fire. It had 6 arms and used the two on its left side to hold a Spear with fire burning on its tip. Its abdomen was devoid of skin as was just exposed bones and an exposed gold core.

“It's a mutated skeleton I think.” Viktor murmured, he had never seen a monster like that but the way the ribs wrapped around its core was similar to a Lich¹Skeleton Mage. 

Yue saw the long-range students started firing and Yue saw an attack that was aimed at the creature they were talking about and winced. 

‘That might not go well.’

He unsheathed his sword and carefully observed the monster, ready to go through the barrier and rush to attack. He noticed how light his sword felt, he knew it was because he had finally started cultivating again but it was the first time he’d wielded this sword with a body that wasn’t heavily injured. He had lamented the loss of his original sword for a long time, cursing himself for breaking a sword so perfect. He had considered his current sword to be a hastily made substitute that wouldn’t stand a chance against the original but as he held it now, he felt that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

The attack finally reached the monster and the sound it made afterward was able to make it through the barrier and assault everyone’s eardrums. Yue and Viktor didn’t even flinch but the rest of the students had paused what they were doing to cover their ears.

Energy the same molten color as the monster’s eye was forming in front of the monster’s face and Yue was certain that it was going to let out all of that magic energy at the long-range students. He just glanced at Viktor for a second.

“I’m going.” Yue murmured before disappearing and appearing right in front of the monster. Viktor was surprised by Yue’s sudden speed but he quickly focused on the situation as a whole and observed the battle that began to unfold.

To someone like Viktor and Mai who had watched him fight up close, Yue's movements were now completely different. He didn’t add magic to his sword and just cut through the magic energy the creature was forming before charging the monster with continuous slashes. He could almost laugh he felt like he had been fighting while hopping on one leg before and now he felt like he could actually move. He kept himself in check a bit as he fought, he certainly wasn't at 100%, and he definitely didn't want to fight without thinking because of that. His movements were structured and perfect, just as he had been taught them, completely ignoring his original style and habits that he had picked up along the way.

The monster took a couple of those slashes but then blocked Yue’s sword with his spear. Yue winced a little and braced for the heat of the spear’s burning tip. The heat never came, he only felt mana that wasn’t his own wrapping around him. He panicked for a second but the monster he was fighting against clearly had a fire affinity and the mana around him didn't feel hot. The mana around him didn't really feel like anything, just pure magic power, like the kind you feel when entering a dungeon. He was worried about it as he pushed against the spear to try to keep the monster still, watching out for the monster's arms as he did so. 

Yue managed to push both of them away from each other so he could charge through and attack and try to not get blocked by the spear. He managed to slice off two arms and was going to aim for the core in the creature’s chest when he noticed that the ‘skin’ of the creature was melting on his sword like candle wax.

He was distracted and the monster noticed and attacked him with a high-pitched screech. Yue blocked it but noticed his blade was dulled by the waxy substance.

Just as he was wondering how to get the wax off without tipping the balance of the fight, the mana around his sword started to heat up and melted the wax off. The mana that had wrapped around him earlier had merged with his mana layer but it was acting on its own accord. Yue almost faltered as a chill went through his body, the unknown mana had been trying to get him to heighten his defense and had activated a fraction of his abilities as Azure dragon. The sudden change in his senses had almost thrown him off but he completely stopped it after a second.

His sword was still enveloped in the mix of mana even after he thought he stopped it. He ended up cutting through the monster’s spear and losing his balance for a second. The monster quickly adapted and used the halves of the spear to attack Yue. Yue didn’t have his rapier but he didn’t bother trying to block both halves of the spear regardless, he used the moment between the monster’s messy swings to slice right into its core.

He quickly pulled his sword away as the monster started completely melting onto the ground, the glow leaving its body. It looked like a pile of tar and bones after a second and Yue hesitantly used magic to examine it. He had the pieces of its core float behind him as he went back into the barrier.

“Your mana is so weird,” Yue whispered to Viktor.

“Huh? You knew it was me?” Viktor murmured.

“Your mana feels like you,” Yue said and observed the core. It was a mix of a human core, a skeleton core, and the core of a monster found near Romania with similar waxy skin to the monster Yue had fought.

Alexius had a sudden coughing fit after overhearing Yue and Viktor just held back a chuckle. Yue was absorbed in worrying about the core so he didn’t pay much attention to how his words were misinterpreted.

There was a possibility that the hybrid core was created by a dungeon or by a dungeon boss but it could also be something created by humans. If it was humans he knew exactly who it was and it worried him. He made a bubble around the core and turned to Viktor.

“Can you put this in your storage ring?” Yue murmured. Viktor nodded and did so. 

The rest of the night was full of just small monsters that the long-range ground dealt with. At sunrise, the short-range group switched with the long-range group and the mid-range group became the short-range group.

Monsters ended up coming for a long time. It was almost midday when they finally decided to stop and Yue wasn’t surprised to see everyone was extremely tired. He didn’t feel very physically tired and he surprisingly hadn’t exhausted his mana so he decided to stay with Viktor and the mid-range group to patrol the barrier.

He used a mana crystal as he walked with Viktor along the barrier.

“You were exposed to negative energy for a while...are you feeling alright?” Viktor asked, having his ‘leader face’ on as they walked by Ava and Annabel.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Yue muttered. He did feel a bit of discomfort in his eyes but he had already checked them on the reflection of his sword and they looked the same as usual so he wasn’t too worried.

“Your mana…” Yue murmured and looked over at Viktor, he was curious about if Viktor sensed that his mana almost made him release a lot of magic.

“My mana is very sensitive...it moves based on even the slightest thought….Me wanting to protect you made it act on its own...multiple times.” Viktor murmured with a sheepish smile.

Yue blushed and looked for his fan in his sleeve, forgetting that he didn’t place it there. 

“It’s not in there.” Viktor chuckled and Yue’s face only turned a brighter red as he remembered where he put his fan and used it to hide his face as he walked. 

—-

“Are we going to a washhouse or a river?” Ava asked, holding her clothes up to her chest, a bit embarrassed at the idea of having to bathe in a river that was out in the open.

All of the girls (and Yue) were on the way into the town with their spare uniforms. Cleaning magic was enough to keep one clean but not enough to keep you comfortable so Mai had suggested they go find somewhere to bathe. The girls would be going first and then they would switch with the boys.

“Weren’t most of the washhouses abandoned by the owners who already evacuated?” Anika murmured, also a bit worried about it.

 

“We’re going to a washhouse, we can clean the water with magic or make it if necessary,” Yue said and led the way to the nearest washhouse.

They arrived at the bathhouse and some of the people in the streets looked like they desperately wanted to go in as well, some of them hadn't bathed in a very long time and some just felt wanted a roof over their head for a while. Yue had the rest of the girls go in and then he faced the people watching them.

“We will be using the washhouse today but we will have this washhouse and the washhouse near the hospital ready for use tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.” Yue announced before bowing a little and walking into the wash house. Some people clearly rejoiced while others felt impatient and annoyed that the students would get to sue them when they hadn't seen them do any work.

The girls had already walked to the women’s area and were just standing in front of the women's swimming bath when Yue walked in.

“A-Are there more private areas?” Annabel asked, a bit embarrassed as she looked at the large swimming bath in front of her.

“There are. You don’t have to be embarrassed though, you’re a very beautiful person, Miss Annabel.” Marianne said and patted Annabel’s shoulder with a smile.

“T-That’s not why I’m asking…” Annabel whispered but no one heard.

They all started working together to cleanse water and check that all the filtration and everything still worked so they could use the facilities. They quickly cleaned up the women’s side and went to get ready to bathe.

Yue ended up bathing alone, he didn’t feel right bathing in the same place as the girls so he locked himself in a small private bath area and let himself relax. He removed his illusion and spent some time cultivating before bathing. Shortly after finishing cultivating he found his mind wandering as he entered the bath.

“Yue.”

Yue almost felt his heart stop when he suddenly heard Viktor’s voice in his head. He whipped around and looked around the room, seeing that he was alone. He turned bright red and silently scolded himself for thinking of something so improper. He cursed his body for its reaction as well, he swore such reactions rarely used to happen to him before, but there he was... "standing tall".

“Yue? Did you hear me?” 

Yue thought he had just imagined it out of built-up lust but that was definitely Viktor’s voice in his head. He moved his hands up above his head, embarrassed and a little ashamed that he had heard his voice again right when he was going to reach to try and relieve himself from his arousal.

“Y-Yes?” Yue said through telepathy trying to not sound embarrassed. He ended up stuttering and silently cursed himself for it.

“...? There’s a crack in the barrier near the center of the city.” Viktor sounded curious but he didn’t ask any questions.

“Oh o-okay. I’ll deal with it.” Yue responded and used magic to float his towel over to him.

Yue figured the conversation was over and looked at his towel and then at his ‘unfortunate situation’. A crack in the barrier was something that should be dealt with quickly so it wouldn’t harm anyone and he could easily just put his illusion back on and ignore his ‘problem’. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away though and there would be no other time where he’d get enough privacy to deal with it.

There were no windows in the room so he had no way of casting the spell from afar so he sighed and gave up. He dried himself off and put his illusion back on. Slipping on a simple white hanfu to walk to the locker room where he had left his uniform. He was going to change when he remembered that there was a window in the small lounge area near the main swimming bath. 

“You’re done already?” Mai asked from the swimming bath as she watched him walk by. The girls in the swimming bath were dressed in Chemises or similar garments despite it being all girls but hey seemed pretty comfortable regardless.

“...No. I’m fixing the barrier,” Yue said and quickly walked by so Mai wouldn’t notice his bright red cheeks and the shame that was clear on his face.

Yue opened the window in the lounge and peeked his head out, hoping that no one was watching since he was dressed very lightly. He could see the crack on the barrier from there so he just locked the door and stepped back from the window a bit, to make sure no one saw him.

He used a mana crystal before taking a deep breath and gathering his mana. His eyes became sharper and more dragon-like, the tips of his hair also became the same blue-green color as his eyes. He was a bit worried that someone would sense his power but it was less likely that he’d be exposed since he wasn’t in a very public space and there weren't many mages that were close enough to feel it.

The spell he cast looked like a glowing blue-green thread was sewing up the crack in the barrier and mending it but if you looked very closely you could see that the glowing thread was actually magic in the shape of a dragon. Yue stared at his reflection in the mirror that was in the lounge until he saw that he looked almost completely normal, save for his hair which still had some tints of blue and green. He tied up his hair loosely so the colored tips were hidden and walked back to his private room to relieve himself.

—-

“I was going to say earlier that you seemed like you had a lot more energy than usual but you look exhausted now,” Mai said to Yue as they walked back to the camp.

“I used a lot of magic.” Yue murmured, his cheeks were a bit red.

“I have mana crystals,” Mai said and gave Yue one from her pocket.

“...Thank You.” Yue murmured, his cheeks only turning redder as he felt more and more ashamed.

The boys were all ready to go to the wash house themselves when the girls and Yue arrived at the camp. Yue hid some of his face with his fan as he went to Viktor to hand off the keys to the wash house.

“Sorry for interrupting you,” Viktor said with an apologetic look, and Yue just robotically said it was alright, hiding his blush to keep anyone from making assumptions.

The boys went off to the wash house while the girls watched the barrier and had something to eat.

“You’re going to expand the barrier the day after tomorrow right?” Mai asked after finishing her meal.

“Yeah. You’re gonna have to be in charge from 12 pm to 6 pm. We’re gonna set up the waypoint as far as we can and then over the next week we’ll slowly expand the barrier here until we reach it.” Yue explained what he and Viktor had planned out.

“What if the monsters get here early…” Mai’s confidence had disappeared for a second and she worried about what would happen and about the possibility of people dying.

“The six hours we’ll be away account for the trip and back so we should be on our way back by 4:30. If something happens just tell us and we can rush. But I’m pretty sure you can all handle most things.” Yue said and smiled.

Mai took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. Somehow Yue always seemed so credible. Mai had been surprised by how the 2nd tier class was constantly praising Yue to the point it seemed excessive. She knew he definitely deserved the praise but it was disappointing to know that their praise came from how little they thought of him in the beginning and how much they underestimated him. 

She watched Yue look out to the barrier and she let out a quiet exhale. She wished Yue would confide in her enough to tell her he wasn’t a girl. She wanted to talk to him when he didn’t need to hold anything back and she was also just curious if the Yue she knew now was an act to fit into his role as a young woman or if he had really changed so much from who he was in the memory she saw in Wolfsstadt.

—

“If they say anything improper just tell me,” Viktor said to Walter and Alexius after they had finished getting the men’s side of the wash house ready for use.

Alexius and Walter just nodded and watched him walk away.

“Captain? You’re going to a private room?” Alejandro asked when he noticed Viktor leaving.

Viktor just nodded silently, he was a bit annoyed by how loudly Alejandro said that because now a certain nuisance was listening.

“Are you worried that your body is lacking, Captain?” William cackled, he had earned some new lackeys within the 2nd tier group but he knew they weren’t very loyal. He was shirtless and seemed awfully confident over his body for someone who was only a little more muscular than the average mage.

“Even if I were lacking I certainly wouldn’t lose to you,” Viktor said and rolled his eyes removing his shirt as he walked into the private room he would be in. Just the sight of Viktor’s back was enough to silence William. His hope for Viktor’s body to be unimpressive had been crushed.

“What did you even expect…?” Walter murmured, it was only logical for a master swordsman from a strict family like the Ivanov's to be incredibly fit. It was only more obvious when you hear the rumors that Viktor mastered Russian Martial Arts before he was even 12.

Viktor entered the private bath and relaxed for a while. He had watched Yue’s magic fix the barrier and had been surprised that Yue used a spell that pretty much exposed him but he figured that Yue didn’t think that he would be watching. It made him a bit excited regardless, if he asked Yue if he was Azure Dragon, how would he react? What would his answer be?

It was fine if Yue lied, he’d definitely feel disappointed but he knew he might be pushing too much by asking such a question.

“Though maybe making it a surprise wouldn’t be bad..” Viktor quietly murmured to himself.

—

The night flew by without any disturbances or strong monsters and the monsters left early so Yue took the chance to get some sleep. Viktor stayed up and watched over the students who were patrolling.

“Ack! It’s her again.” Ava exclaimed and pointed at little Alice who was running to the barrier at full speed. Viktor was confused by the little girl running toward the barrier and was even more confused when he noticed that Ava and Anika seemed exhausted before they even started running after the girl.

He watched them chase Alice all around and saw that Ava was nearly catching up to her and almost just turned around to go patrol other areas, figuring they had it under control.  Fortunately, he noticed that Ava was about to trip over the barrier and appeared right next to her to catch her before she fell.

Ava was bright red, she had definitely misunderstood. Viktor was actually just trying to keep Alice from leaving the barrier because she was a child who would probably be killed by even a little negative energy. Viktor placed the two of them fully inside the barrier and then let go.

“Who is this child?” Viktor asked and lifted Alice who had almost immediately tried to run out of Ava’s arms and out of the barrier. Alice had completely stilled in Viktor's arms, she noticed a similar intimidating strength from Viktor that he had felt from Yue.

“I-I d-don’t k-know her n-name.” Ava stuttered.

“She came here a few days ago and tried to leave the barrier and we just barely caught her. Miss Yue sent her back to the city. But as you can see...She returned.” Anika murmured and wiped the dirt off her clothes and helped Ava up.

“...She’ll probably slip out of your arms if I give her back to you right?” Viktor murmured and looked toward both Ava and Anika.

They both nodded sheepishly.

Viktor sighed, “I’ll be back.”

Viktor arrived in the city so fast that Alice was a bit dizzy. He cleaned her up with magic and just looked around for anyone who seemed like they were looking for a child. Alice observed him silently, He didn't seem scary or unapproachable but he was clearly very different from Yue who immediately warmed up to her just because she was a child. The older woman who Yue had met looked alarmed and apologetic when she saw him and Alice in town, she had looked away for a second again and Alice disappeared.

“I’m so sorry sir! She tends to slip away.” 

“... It’s fine..” Viktor murmured, he looked at Alice as he passed her to the woman and was curious about why she continued to try and escape.

“Are her parents…?”

“Yes...She wants to go back to them but… they’ve already passed on out there…” The woman murmured sadly and stroked Alice’s hair.

Viktor looked at Alice for a second before he went back on his way to the camp. He debated the idea of making a wall but he feared that she might quietly climb it while someone wasn't paying attention and get more hurt than she would if she left the barrier. 

-

When Viktor returned to the tent Yue was already awake and putting his blazer on.

“Are you sure you slept enough?” Viktor asked. Yue had only slept for a few hours and was yawning as he got ready.

“I have to open both wash houses.” Yue murmured.

“I’ll open the one near the hospital, just open the other one and go back to sleep.” Viktor and furrowed his brow.

Yue shook his head and pushed Viktor lightly in the direction of his cot.

“You haven't slept at all so just let me do this okay?” Yue didn't give Viktor a chance to answer before leaving the tent.