In the middle of a camp filled with golden dust, Kim Hajin stood with his mouth open, totally dumbfounded with what was currently happening. Evandel just hatched.

 

{Oh, no… This is bad.} Looking around, I noticed that the cloud of golden dust is quite dense, so there’s no chance for any drone or anyone else to actually notice Evandel. {Rachel’s also asleep.}

With that thought, I ran towards Rachel, grabbing Evandel and pulling her towards me.

“Aa! Aang!” She embraced Rachel hard, making it hard for me to actually pull her away.

“Evandel! Evandel!” I whispered to her. “You have to let go!”

“Ah?” She turned to look at me and her eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Yeah, I was the one to raise you! But now I need you to turn back to how you looked before!” I hurriedly whispered to her.

She tilted her head in confusion, to what I looked directly at her eyes and embraced her once she let go of Rachel. She returned the hug quite strongly too.

“Daddy…”

“Um… No, look I’m not… *sigh…* I need you to turn back into a seed. You remember?” I quietly whispered at her.

“Un… A seed?” She nodded quite reluctantly, before turning to glance back at Rachel, and then turning somewhere towards the World Tree, where Cristopher was sleeping.

{Huh? Why is he sleeping?} I thought while glancing quickly at him, before turning back to Evandel.

“Can you turn back into a seed? Evandel? It would be just temporary.”

“But my other daddy and mommy…” She asked reluctantly while looking at Cristopher and Rachel.

“They’ll be okay… Trust me.”

“Uh… Okay… I’ll go to sleep a little…” Finally, Evandel, looking quite drowsy, decided to hear me out and started to shine with a golden light, turning back into a seed, which I quickly put inside my jacket. Just in time for the rest of the dust to slowly settle down.

Standing up, I could see Seo Ijin, or Boss, walking towards the corpse of the Butterfly Seedling.

{Sorry, but I can’t let you have it.} I thought while moving closer to her.

Right when she was picking up a clump of blue-glowing dust, I pointed my gun at her.

“Put it down.” I spoke with a deep voice.

“Huh…?” She turned to look at me, surprised that I was still awake, before looking around to see if anyone else was awake too. “Hello.” She said after a moment.

“That’s not something you can’t take.” I spoke once again while glancing at the Butterfly Seedling’s Dust.

“…” She quietly stared at me. And after a few moments, black magic power suddenly erupted from under her, swallowing both of us in a dark dome-shaped magical space, that sealed us inside.

{What’s she planning…} I thought to myself. Even if I pretended to be calm, I was still quite scared, this here was someone really powerful, someone, that could kill me in less than a second.

Looking around I noticed that Cristopher was still sleeping, the only guy that could actually help me is sleeping.

{You!}

It was at that moment that Boss showed her true face. Looking directly at me.

“You know me.” She said while frowning after I didn’t show any expression of surprise.

“Li Xiaopeng-ssi.” I nodded at her.

“…” She looked at me for a little moment, pondering, before nodding.

{She probably forgot the name she gave me before…}

“Right, then why I would be here?”

“To serve as an overseer for the exam, I assume.” I slightly shrugged.

“Hm…” She nodded. “When did you find out I was Li Xiaopeng?” She asked after pondering for a few seconds.

“Right now-” I tried to say, but she interrupted me.

“If you lie, I’ll kill-” She stopped for a mere second before changing her words. “I’ll hit you.”

I’m not going to lie, it sent chills up my spine.

“*kuhum* When I took your watch…” I said after calming myself. “I was looking at you from close range, it was then that I realized something was wrong…”

“How?” She lifted her eyebrow.

“I have great eyes, you see?” I smiled awkwardly.

“…” She looked at me with a deep pondering face, as if she was thinking deeply about what I said.

It wasn’t until a few moments had passed that she silently crouched down and grabbed the clump of dust that remained from the monster. But instead of taking it for herself, she got close and gave it to me.

“I’ll give this to you, but in exchange…” She said while giving me the clump of dust, but suddenly going quiet.

{Huh…?} I was quite perplexed by all of this, but it was at that moment that I noticed that Jain was talking to her thanks to my Gift.

[Don’t say strange things, Boss] Said Jain from who knows where. [If you don’t know what to say, just ask for a way to contact him. Don’t rush it and take it slowly.]

“Give me your number.” Boss finally said after a little while, hearing Jain’s advice.

After that, I basically gave Boss my number, which she accepted with a nod before disappearing from the place, leaving me quite perplexed.

“Just…” I looked at the sky. “What happened…?”

I wasn’t quite sure what had happened right now, nor why did she suddenly ask for a way to contact me.

“Oh well…” I left out a sigh. “I guess everything turned out well.” I put the clump of dust into a small pouch and then into my magic pouch.

Then I turned to look at the guy that was sleeping with a bottle of water in his hand, perfectly still and upright, not spilling even a drop of the beer I knew was inside it.

“*sigh…*” I pointed my gun at his bottle of water and shot.

But instead of hitting the target, the guy just barely lifted his arm and avoided the bullet hitting the bottle.

“Yo! Why are you shooting at my beer!?” The not-so-sleeping-now guy sat up before drinking a bit from the bottle.

“Oh, so you weren’t sleeping?”

“Of course not. What do you take me for? I just burn whatever shit goes inside my body.” He snorted while shrugging his shoulders.

“Then why didn’t you help me a few moments ago!? I thought I was going to die!”

“Look. It’s not like you were really in danger, and that girl is quite weird. I’m not crossing her if I can evade her.” He said while shaking his head. “Last time she tried to fight me for who knows why reason, and I prefer to stay out of trouble.”

“So, you instead left me alone to fight her!?”

“Relax! I had an eye on you all the time. There’s no way I would let anything happen to you.” He shrugged.

“*sigh…* Whatever… What do we do now…?” I asked him.

“Mm? I don’t know.” He shrugged before taking a sip from his beer. “But, well, I still have an appointment to fight that Jonghak five hours before the exam ends. Which means, 3:00 AM of tomorrow, in front of the goddamn Overseer Tower.”

“Huh? Why are you going to fight him?”

“Why not? It’s not like I’ll lose something.”

“You know you can’t actually take all his points, right? He’s important to the plot. You can’t make him repeat the course.”

“Oh, relax, I’ll just kick his ass and that’s it. I never planned to take his points… Well… At least not since yesterday.”

“*sigh…* I just don’t understand you sometimes…”

“Why? I’m quite simple, you know?” He smirked.

***

After all the accident happened, the rest of the day was quite easy, Cristopher took Rachel and carried her all the way back to the camp, where he let her sleep in his tent, while he and Kim Hajin talked about possible uses for the Butterfly Seedling’s Dust.

Rachel woke up after a while, but she seemed somewhat lost, thinking deeply about something. Not even asking about what happened after she fell asleep. She barely ate, and after a few hours, she started giving quick glances at Cristopher before turning red all of a sudden.

The day passed quietly, just eating and joking around until it was time for Cristopher to start moving towards the Overseer Tower.

“Are we going already?” Kim Hajin asked while putting everything into his magic pouch.

“Mm? Yeah, I was thinking about going alone. Why? Do you want to come too?” Cristopher stretched while asking.

“Oh well, I have nothing better to do.”

“Can… Can I go too?” Rachel asked at Cristopher, before turning a little bit red.

“Sure, but why are you turning red all of a sudden?” Cristopher tilted his head.

“Nothing!” Rachel said flustered, shaking her hands towards Cristopher. “Let’s go! It’s almost time!”

“Mm… If you say so…” Cristopher just shrugged, and after putting everything he brought into his backpack, they all started to move towards the central tower, where they would also have to wait for the exam to end, before going back to Cube.

***

“I thought you wouldn’t come.”

In front of the entrance to the Overseer Tower, Shin Jonghak sat with his lackeys behind him. Waiting for Cristopher to get there so they could duel again.

“Mm? Hey, what the hell with that chuuni pose you have?” Cristopher said while tilting his head at Shin Jonghak.

As Cristopher said, Shin Jonghak was really sitting like some chuuni character, resting both arms on his knees, while the spear rested itself on his right shoulder.

“What…?” Jonghak frowned.

“I’m telling you. I’m the chuuni here. Don’t ever go stealing that from me.”

“What the hell is this commoner saying…” Shin Jonghak stood up while picking his spear and rotating it, to leave the spear-tip pointing down.

“…” Meanwhile, Rachel just frowned at his attitude. “Ma- Cristopher-ssi, are you really going to fight him?”

“Mm? Yeah, I will. After all, I did agree to fight him since the first day.” Cristopher shrugged.

“But…”

“Pfft… Why is the princess of England suddenly worried about some commoner now?” Jonghak asked smirking. “I thought you would be better. Rachel.”

“You…” Rachel almost stepped in front, but Cristopher put a hand in front of her to stop her, and winked at her, making her blush.

“Relax, I’ll just teach a little mongrel that he shouldn’t be barking at the wrong person.” A deep smirk appeared on Cristopher’s face.

“Let’s see who’s the mongrel here.” Jonghak glared at him while preparing his spear.

“So, are we fighting right here?” Cristopher asked while looking around.

The lackeys of Jonghak weren’t the only ones to be standing close, a few overseers were interestingly looking at us, while other cadets were also present, presumably after finishing their own exam, or grabbing as many points they thought possible.

Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, Kim Suho, and Yi Yeonghan were there. Even Olivia was there eating popcorn that who knows from where she took it.

“Yes, why? Are you afraid they’re going to see you lose this time?” Jonghak asked.

“…” Cristopher just stared at him for a moment in silence.

“What? Thinking about backing off?”

“No. It’s just that I would love to know. Where do you take all this confidence from?”

“I’ve been training without rest all this time, just so I could beat your ass today.” He said with a serious face this time.

“Oh well, we’re dragging this too much.” Cristopher said while taking off his backpack, though this time, he didn’t drop his sword, though he didn’t also unsheathe it.

“So, you are taking me more seriously now?” Shin Jonghak smirked.

“Mm? Oh, you say it for the sword? No, it doesn’t matter whether I use it or not.” He shrugged, before taking something out of his pocket and looking at one of the overseers. “Yo, Vieri, I forgot to give you this after scanning it.” He smirked while throwing the tag at the beaten-up overseer, who barely caught it with a red face at the surprised and astonished looks everyone was giving him.

“What…?” Jonghak asked.

“Oh, it’s just that I took the guy nametag, but forgot to give it back once I scanned it. Now, ready?”

“Uh…” Jonghak looked somewhat lost. “Yes…?” The grip on his spear wasn’t as strong as it was at the start.

“Okay then.” With a shrug, Cristopher just walked towards him with a smirk on his face.

“…” Jonghak’s look now was of someone who didn’t know what to do. He gripped his spear harder but otherwise didn’t move.

“What happened? Are you suddenly afraid?” Cristopher tilted his head while smirking even deeper now.

“N-No! I’m not!” With that shout, Jonghak rushed towards Cristopher in an attempt to give the first hit.

“That’s more like it!” Only to be received by the sheathed sword of Cristopher, not being able to move one millimeter. “Don’t worry. I told you I won’t drag things that much.” With a smirk, Cristopher pushed him slightly, destabilizing him, and suddenly appearing behind him with a kick to his shin, raising his legs and leaving him in a horizontal position, right before hitting his chest with the sheathed sword.

“*GASP*” Making Jonghak let out all the air and faint from the strength of the hit.

“Mm… This looks bad…” Cristopher rubbed his chin before looking at the lackeys who all flinched. “Tell him that I won’t take his points. But that he should better train more if he really wants to have an ounce of opportunity to even challenge me again.”

“…” Without answering, and merely nodding like broken dolls, the lackeys rushed to pick Jonghak up.

The rest of the time went quite normal, while they couldn’t enter the Overseer Tower or that would be saying they were eliminated, everyone stayed close to it, and some cadets even waited from around the tower, waiting for the remaining cadets to try and take their smartwatch, which was normally unsuccessful, as the ones trying to do that, weren’t strong enough to actually do much against other cadets.

Shina went running out of the tower to look for Cristopher, who was quite happy to receive his friend in a huge, petting and rubbing her fur that felt as soft as usual.

“How have you been? Is everything good? Did they take good care of you?” Cristopher constantly asked the leopard cat while looking everywhere to see if she had any injury or something of the sort, gaining a few weird glances from the rest of the cadets that were present on the spot.

Once it was time to go, they all walked towards the shore, where boats were waiting for the cadets to take them back to the ship that would transport them back to Cube. Before boarding the boats, they had to leave their smartwatch, which would then be checked to see the total amount of points.

The travel back was quite uneventful, with all the cadets tired from the hard exam they had to go through. In the ship there were less than 700 cadets, as most of the eliminated ones went back the previous night to make things easier today.

“Hey.” While on the way back, Chae Nayun approached Kim Hajin, who was sitting down while looking at Cristopher, who was playing with Shina as if she was a normal house cat, with a dumbfounded face.

“Mm? Oh, hey.” He turned to look at her.

“So? How did it end?” She asked, before glancing at Cristopher who was still playing with Shina, not even caring to look at her.

“How did what end?”

“The fight. I don’t remember anything from the middle…” She said while scratching her head with an awkward face. “Kim Suho said your bullet destroyed the monster’s wing… He’s lying, right? I mean… I thought it was him who did something, or even Rachel…” Nayun said while nodding towards Cristopher.

“Obviously, how could anyone destroy that monster’s wing with just a gun?” Hajin shrugged.

“Mm? But I didn’t do anything.” While Cristopher stopped slightly, looking back at them. “And I’m pretty sure Rachel was stopping a few roots from kicking your ass at that time.” He tilted his head.

“S-She wasn’t! I had it all under control!”

“*snort* As if. Right? Shina? She’s just a liar…” He said while playing again with the leopard cat. “Yeah, a liar and a sore loser.”

“*sigh…* Ignore him…” For the first time in a while, Kim Hajin felt pity for Chae Nayun. “He’s just messing around with you…”

“I know! But… He’s… He’s just so…!”

“So… What?” Cristopher smirked back.

“Grr…” Chae Nayun actually growled at him.

“Dude, calm down already…” In the end, Hajin had to calm things down, before turning at Chae Nayun again. “So? Why did you use a sword instead of a bow?”

“What…? But you were the one that told me that I should use a sword instead of a bow!? How can you be that contradicting!? Is it an illness or something!?”

“Yes, it’s called lo-” Cristopher was about to speak, but was stopped by Kim Hajin’s hand.

“*kuhum* I meant…” He paused, giving a glare at Cristopher who just kept playing with Shina. “That you have to be flexible. It’s dangerous to use a weapon you haven’t practiced much in a real fight.”

“I’m not so weak that you have to worry about me.” Chae Nayun said before snorting and looking away.

“So, how did using a sword feel like?” He asked while smiling.

“It was nothing special-” She started to speak with a proud smirk, but was interrupted.

“You’re still scared, right?”

“What…!? W-Why would I be scared!? W-What are y-you talking a-about!?” She retorted, with her eyes were slightly shaking in place as if having a slight seizure.

“You’ll get better if you keep at it.” Hajin smiled. “You’re a natural-born swordsman.”

“…” She didn’t speak and just looked at him.

“Pfft… She just had an absurdly high amount of magic power to supply her style of fighting. That’s called being a brute. Not a swordsman.” Cristopher snorted beside him.

“You…!” She turned at him with a glare.

“Dude! Seriously!” Even Hajin turned to glare at him.

“What? I’m just saying the truth.” He shrugged

***

Finally, the long week of the final exam was over. And all the cadets were back at Cube Friday morning. Meaning, they had the entire weekend to rest and recover from the hellish training they’ve had.

Everyone, except for a few cadets, who had too much to think, or almost no time to train.

In one of the penthouses of the girls’ dormitories, Rachel was currently talking to the Department of Analysis of the Royal Court Guild.

[A tree elemental, you say?]

“Yes, I saw something in the pollen. Well, I saw… And felt it… As if it was real. But I’m not that sure… I think it may have been the pollen from the elemental, what do you say, Raymond-ssi?”

[Um… There’s not that much information when it comes to elementals… But there sure are cases of hallucinations caused by their powers. But, are you sure? In the first place, for your description, we’re not sure if what Princess saw was an elemental or a fairy.]

“…” Rachel pondered for a bit, thinking about what happened that day.

More precisely, about the hallucination that still remains vivid in her head, as if it was true. The warmth she felt from that embrace, and the impact of the words said by the child still resonates in her ears.

With a little bit of nervousness, Rachel suddenly thought of one question she would really like to know.

“Then… Do you think an elemental could show the future?” She asked, with a little bit of embarrassment. “Even if not the future itself, but just a little bit of it, like a part of it…? Is it possible?”

[Mm… Ah, something similar has been reported before to the academia, it caused quite a stir.]

Raymond said after looking through some pieces of information.

“Really…? What was it?” Rachel suddenly asked, somewhat anxious to hear the answer.

[Mm… From what I’m reading, it was also a plant-type elemental. Someone became covered in mushroom spores, and they said they saw a portion of their future.]

“*gasp*” Rachel suddenly took a deep breath at the surprising announcement.

[*chuckle* From Princess's reaction it seems that you also saw something. What was it, Princess?]

“…” Rachel, slightly red from embarrassment, though for a little bit. Before finally speaking. “Yes… I saw a child…”

[…] Raymond-ssi stayed quiet for a little while, a little while that prolonged for minutes. [A… Child…?]

“Yes.” Rachel nodded, still a little red, but with certainty.

[Well~ It may have been any child…] Raymond tried to just disperse the thought.

“She called me mommy… Twice…” Rachel said, not letting him change the topic.

[Yes…!?] A short scream of shock scaped the analyst, making Rachel turn even redder than before.

“And she resembled me… She looked somewhat like me from where I was young… With just some differences…”

[M-Maybe it was all a m-misunderstanding, P-Princess? I m-mean… If she just resembled you a little-]

“I-I think… It might be because of her father, right…? I m-mean… Kids resemble both parents… don’t they…?” Rachel said, slouching on her chair out of embarrassment.

[…] Raymond suddenly got quiet. His mouth slightly open with a dazed face, looking as if he just heard something impossible.

“So, do you think it’s possible? Raymond-ssi? That I… Saw my future?” Rachel asked, still not noticing the weird atmosphere of her guild’s information analyst.

For her, that child was an opportunity, a way for her to finally live. She felt it that day, that if she someday saw that kid again, she could start living, if only, for that child of her.

[…]

It was after thinking for a bit, that she noticed that Raymond-ssi wasn’t answering her and suddenly got quiet.

“Um… Raymond-ssi?” So, she called him.

[Ah… Sorry. The chances of it being Princess’s future are… Very small, but… I-I j-just couldn’t i-i-imagine it…] He said, staying quiet once again, before suddenly asking with a slightly deeper voice than usual. [Did you perhaps… See the father as well…?]

“…” Rachel went red like a tomato this time. No other question would have embarrassed her as much.

Because even if she didn’t saw him in the picture. She had a slight idea. A really small idea of who the father was. After all, while the child looked a lot like her, she also had quite a definite characteristic that linked her to someone else, someone she’s been with for weeks, even months now.

“…” Still, answering Raymond’s question. She barely shook her head.

[Um. B-But, Princess, your reaction right now, it looked as if you-]

“No! I didn’t see someone like that!” She quickly interrupted him, shaking her head with all her strength. “But… I’m sure that if I saw my future… Then h-he… He m-might be somewhere…” She muttered the last part with a dazed face.

[…] Making Raymond look at her with a lost face, not knowing what to think. Except maybe, that he had to start researching more about what was happening in Cube right now around the Princess of England.

***

“Well, I did it…”

Meanwhile, in another part of Cube, two cadets were training. Well, it would be correct to say that one cadet was training another cadet.

“Yeah, I noticed. Congratulations. Now, next step, you have to actually mix that with your physical control.” Cristopher said while yawning towards Olivia, who was currently learning quick-step, or at least the first part.

“Mm? What do you mean?”

“It’s quite simple, really. You have to make a spring-effect mixing both of them.” Cristopher shrugged while taking a sip from his bottle of water.

“That’s… Quite specific? Can you PLEASE elaborate more?” She asked with a frown.

“Look, it’s literally what I’m saying. When you push both ends of a spring, or well, you push one end against a plain surface, it generates energy, which then it’s released, by launching the spring. It’s not its use, but it does help you to understand this.”

“Well, I’m not quite understanding…” Olivia tilted her head.

“Okay… Mm… Imagine if you have, I don’t know, an elastic band?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, you fix one end of the elastic band and then pull the other end. What will happen when you released any of the ends?”

“The band will go flying?”

“Exactly. The same happens with a spring. If you push both ends to the maximum with equal force and release the force on one of the ends, the spring will end up flying, catapulted by the opposite force that now has cero resistance.”

“Okay, but how the hell do I apply that to use quick-step?”

“Well, you fix yourself on the ground, apply your own physical force to move forward, while your Magic Power is applying an opposite force, then you release that magic power, and you get shot forward. It’s like somehow applying Hooke’s Law and Elastic’s Force to your body.”

“Huh…? Those that even work? It looks like a pull and push game or something…”

“It is, you play pull and push with the freaking earth, and it happens in an instance, it’s not like you stood there waiting minutes, nor even seconds, to be shot forward, it all happens in an instant, you both pull, push and go flying the same instant. Of course, there’re other ways to do it, but that’s the most practical one.”

“Why?”

“Because it will help you learn to control both your physical power and your Magic Power in a balanced way, while also giving you a lot more opportunities when it comes to the use of movement techniques.” Cristopher said with furrowed brows.

“I’m already having a headache and I haven’t even started learning…”

“Okay, let’s go. I’ll first train your control.” Cristopher pulled Olivia towards a forest.

Inside Cube there’re a lot of different places that could be called artificial natural spaces, going from volcanoes to artic mountains, but one of the most common spaces that can be found are forests, as they are quite a few of them around Cube.

“So? Why a forest?” Olivia asked once they made it there.

“You see those trees?”

“…” Olivia nodded with a frown.

“Now you’ll learn how to walk on vertical surfaces, literally.”

“Walking? You mean like literally walking on the tree?”

“Yeah.” Cristopher said while walking towards a tree, before putting one foot over the trunk and turning his body horizontally, effectively walking on the tree as if it was a plain surface, before turning his head up and looking towards Olivia. “Like this.”

“Wow! I want to do that! How can I!?”

“Easy. Remember the thing about fixing yourself in the ground with your Magic Power?”

“Uhu… Wait! Do you mean that I have to do that on the tree!?”

“Exactly. And be careful. While it’s easy to do in the ground, you can’t over-exceed the amount of Magic Power that the tree can withstand, or you’ll end up breaking it.” He said, before applying an excessive amount of Magic Power, making a small crater in the tree’s trunk where he was stepping.

“Then…?”

“Just use enough so you don’t fall, that’s it. With time, you are going to learn to do it almost instinctually.” He shrugged before jumping down. “So, try it.”

“Okay…” With that, Olivia went towards the tree, and just like Cristopher, she put one foot over the trunk, using Magic Power to adhere herself to the surface. “Huh? This is quite easy…” She said while trying to move her foot from the spot and noticing that it was completely fixed there.

But, just when she went to put the other one, gravity did its thing and her upper body bent down, falling headfirst in the ground.

“AUCH!” After the hit, all her focus went away and the rest of her body followed her head.

“Pfft… Yeah, super easy…” Cristopher was trying not to laugh while texting someone on his smartwatch.

“Why did that happen!?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?” Turning up at her, Cristopher lifted an eyebrow.

“…” With a pout, she just averted her eyes. “You should have told me…”

“I mean, it’s quite obvious, right? You’re fixing your foot, not nullifying gravity, of course, it would pull your body down. You need to fight it with your physical power. I told you, you would need to practice a lot of control to use quick-step.” He shook his head before turning back to his smartwatch, before frowning with a serious face.

“What…?” Olivia, not quite used to see his serious face, asked.

“Hey, can you stay here and train by yourself?” He asked her, thinking deeply without looking away from the smartwatch.

“Um…” She hesitated for a moment, before nodding. “Sure, I just have to master this, right?”

“Precisely.” With a nod, Cristopher took his training sword and threw it towards the top of the tree. “You have to take back my sword while walking all the way there.”

While the forest was inside Cube. This one forest, in particular, was quite noticeable thanks to its trees, which could reach fifteen-meters, and sometimes even more.

“*gulp*” Olivia just gulped while looking at the position of the sword. “Can’t… Can’t I just, like, practice in the first two or three meters?”

“No. I’m going. Take care. And remember, I need that sword before Tuesday.” Cristopher said with a nod while looking once again at the message he received.

[Kim Hajin: Hey. I need you to come to my room ASAP! There’s an emergency!]