'Whoops...Forgot to tell him that fiction books were near the top of the shelves...that's an explicit one too.' Viktor thought to himself and just watched as Yue started reading. He didn't try to stop Yue from reading the book though.

He watched Yue for a while, he didn’t seem to mind as he realized the book was a novel and kept reading. Yue didn’t have any particular expression besides a focused look as he read through the book. Until he got around 15 pages in that is.

Yue’s cheeks started turning red as he read the book. Viktor could tell that he was just starting one of the many explicit scenes in the book and judging by how he turned the page and kept reading, he probably thought that kissing was as far as the scene was going to go. Yue’s face became redder and redder as he continued to read and Viktor was having trouble holding back a snicker.

Yue got to a point where he was too embarrassed to keep reading and snapped the book closed only to realize Viktor was watching him. Viktor feigned innocence and tilted his head as Yue looked at him. He looked at Viktor with a distressed look.

“T-This is a—”

“Hm?” Viktor took the book from Yue’s hands and opened it and read a few lines.

“Oh I remember this one, it's a good one,” Viktor said and smirked a little, flipping through the pages.

“I told you all of the fiction novels I read are erotic. You should’ve put the book down the second you realized it wasn’t a magic theory book.” Viktor said and closed the book and put it next to Yue.

“You chose an odd place to stop,” Viktor teased, “were you curious?”

“...Yes…” Yue murmured with bright red cheeks. Viktor was surprised to get an actual answer and felt a bit embarrassed now. He smiled sheepishly and didn’t really know what to say.

“I didn’t know how it worked…” Yue mumbled, his cheeks turning bright red.

“Are you scared now?” Viktor asked and rested his Chin on Yue’s shoulder.

“...No...” Yue murmured but still flinched a bit as Viktor got close.

“Don’t worry, this pervert won’t try to rush you too much,” Viktor said and hugged Yue.

“I’m glad that you acknowledge that you’re a pervert.” Yue suddenly laughed and Viktor rolled his eyes.

“You’re not supposed to agree with me, I haven’t even shown you the extent of how perverse I can be.” Viktor laughed and kissed Yue’s cheeks. Yue blushed but just kept giggling.

—-

Yue fixed his sword tassel as he waited for Mai to tie her hair.

“Hmm...What does that do?” Mai asked once she finished tying up her hair. She could feel magic coming from it so she was a bit confused. They had come out to the courtyard of their dorm

to spar together.

“The stone can capture negative energy and the tassel as a whole helps with balance,” Yue said and stretched, he winced a bit as he moved.

“I see...Are you sore or something?” Mai asked, raising an eyebrow as she saw Yue’s pained look.

Yue nodded, he and Viktor had sparred the day before and after practicing swordsmanship they somehow fell into testing each other’s martial arts skills. They promised to hold back as little as possible and that just led to Yue being sore. He wasn’t seriously injured but his body definitely hurt from blocking.

Viktor was invulnerable to dull force like punches and kicks because of his skin so Yue ended up hurting himself more than he hurt Viktor. He definitely hid how much it hurt in the moment though, he was determined to win without having Viktor let him go out of pity.

“Did you and Viktor—“ Mai started with a smirk.

“I didn’t lose!”

“Huh?”

“It was a tie,” Yue grumbled a bit, he was increasingly frustrated by how easily Viktor had taken every single one of his attacks and he was only more frustrated by how Viktor said it was a tie even though he clearly won. It did save his pride to call it a tie but it frustrated him. He had never sparred someone who took his hits like they were air, not since he was a child that is. After he turned around 13 or 14, Xia Guiren couldn’t bully him anymore when they sparred and no one else could either.

“Is he your rival or your lover?” Mai asked and laughed.

“Both.” Yue answered, completely serious, “As much as I like him it pisses me off that he’s better than me.”

“Well he has a 3-year advantage so…” Mai laughed and patted Yue’s back.

Yue sighed and focused on sparring with her. He would focus on getting stronger later on.

—

“I’m going to win,” Yue said with a smile and skipped happily to the training area where they would be sparring.

“You’re so sure of yourself today.” Viktor chuckled. He loved when Yue was carefree and happy like this. It reminded him of the smiling Yue he fell for when he was a child.

“Did you do something to get stronger? In just three days?” Viktor asked.

“Hehe, I took my training very seriously,” Yue said and grinned. He was wearing his expedition uniform with a sweater instead of a blazer since it was cold outside so he rolled up sleeves and showed his arms which had gotten a bit more muscle.

Viktor chuckled a bit, “I’m sure you don’t want to compare.”

“We can compare through sparring,” Yue said and rolled his eyes, if they were comparing muscles he’d definitely lose.

They started sparring and Yue was much more careful this time. Getting close to Viktor was not the best idea, He had learned this from experience. Viktor’s attacks hit hard so it was best to attack him with speedy attacks that would be hard for him to grab onto. If he grabbed onto him he would end up flipped onto the ground easily.

Yue started fighting immediately with quick attacks, he was definitely stronger than he had been a few days ago but it didn’t make Viktor’s hit hurt any less. Viktor would wince every time he hurt him but he wouldn’t go easy on him. Both of them would consider it quite offensive if they went easy on each other.

“Ow...” Viktor mumbled and winced, as he blocked Yue’s kick with his arm. Yue smiled brightly at this and got more confidence in himself as he continued to attack. Viktor kept at it as well. He also didn’t want to lose.

They both ended up actually having a tie after they fought for a long time and got basically nowhere.

“You got stronger very quickly...” Viktor murmured and rolled up his sleeve. His arm was actually a little bruised where he had blocked most of Yue’s attacks.

“Ugh...I wanted to win…” Yue whined and rubbed his sides and his arms, he was definitely bruised as well. He had trained while using his mana as added weight to his body for the last few days and it had helped him get stronger and faster but it was not enough to surpass Viktor who was still impossible to knock down.

“My skin is a huge advantage, if I didn’t have it you’d probably be able to beat me easily,” Viktor said and hugged Yue from behind while using healing magic on him.

“Yeah… I didn’t even think you could bruise…” Yue murmured and looked at Viktor’s bruised arm. It was healing pretty quickly because of the healing magic but it had been pretty noticeable beforehand.

“It takes a lot of force but yeah I can bruise,” Viktor murmured and slid his hand into Yue’s sweater, getting a squeak from Yue.

“You gained muscle here too…” Viktor murmured.

Yue’s cheeks were bright red as Viktor’s cold hands slid over his abdomen.

“W-What was that about not rushing me?” Yue murmured.

“Hmm? Is this rushing you? I’m just innocently curious about your muscle mass,” Viktor said and smirked, “Do you think I’m rushing you because you’re exci—“

“Young master. A letter came for you.” Anya interrupted and saved Yue from further embarrassment.

“...From who?” Viktor asked and sighed as he let go of Yue. Yue fanned his face with his hands, his face was bright red, it was like he was caught red-handed.

“Mr. Anderson,” Anya said and handed Viktor the letter. Viktor opened the letter and read through it before turning to Yue.

“He wants to meet with us in his office about what happened in London and the next expedition,” Viktor said and handed the letter to Yue.

“O-Oh okay. When?” Yue murmured and pulled his sweater down a bit.

“In a few hours,” Viktor said and pulled out his pocket watch.

“I-I’ll meet you there…” Yue murmured, eager to leave to hide his embarrassment.

Viktor was reluctant but he let him go with a sigh.

—-

It was a bit nostalgic for Yue and Viktor to sit in front of Mr. Anderson again after so many months. There had definitely been a lot of changes since then. In their relationship and also in the situation.

“I wanted to ask you about the arrows that Mr. Wagner mentioned in his report about the expedition in London… and about the mage you fought.” Mr. Anderson said and turned to Yue.

Yue looked down a bit, thinking about what he should say for a second.

“The mage was the one who created the magic arrows. He was also the one who created skeletons that came to London and Northampton. His magic is similar to yours.” Yue explained.

Mr. Anderson was surprised and looked to be deep in thought for a while.

“Necromancy...is incredibly rare,” Mr. Anderson started.

“The magic requires extensive exposure to death, natural mana, and a high core type. It’s a balance that is usually impossible because negative energy from dead bodies usually destroys the body before you can properly learn to control it.” Mr. Anderson explained and turned around in his seat.

“I only learned it because I grew up in SilverPine around wartime.” Mr. Anderson added.

SilverPine was a giant mana crystal mine so it was full of pure natural mana. It was one of the most plentiful mana sources in the world outside of dungeons and ruined areas.

“They weren’t just a mage though… they had been human but they turned into Lich.”

Mr. Anderson turned to Yue and stared at him with a shocked look.

“Then that means...they successfully revived someone perfectly…” Mr. Anderson’s expression shifted multiple times as he spoke. For one second he was shocked and for another, he looked like he had been enchanted by the very idea, and then he looked almost guilty.

“Revival is—” Yue started, perhaps it was his natural response as a being meant to rule over the natural world but he didn’t even realize he was speaking.

“The main rule of necromancy is to never tip the balance,” Mr. Anderson interrupted, “You can raise the dead as long as you don’t intend it to truly be alive. It cannot have too much thought and it cannot have too much self-control. Too much in either direction would mean that you seek to desecrate the will of nature and fate.”

“I’m sure time will catch up to that mage but getting rid of them would be best...I’ll figure it out.” Mr. Anderson said and decided to change the subject.

“Your next expedition will be in Austria, The Wyverns are still terrorizing the mountainside… There have been very few casualties but we can’t seem to get a grasp of why they’re acting out suddenly, they usually stay hidden and only hunt animals from the forest. ”

Yue felt bad for Mai, she would not be happy to hear this. She seriously didn’t want to get sent to Austria.

“You’ll be alone and won’t really have to deal with citizens often so do as you please.” Mr. Anderson said and smirked, sending them off.

“Just don't forget to report the official stuff.”