Suddenly, the door was opened and Hiador walked in. He didn’t rushed with his work and only got here at dinnertime. He wasn’t interested in a kid who just started to cultivate. He was sure, teaching her was meaningless.

Piusz looked up and wiped off the sweat from his forehead. He smiled brightly.

„Good evening, master! I’m almost done with my task!”

Hiador nodded and was proud. Such a hardworking disciple was hard to come. See, Horác’s helper already ran away.

„It’s time to eat dinner. Don’t overwork yourself!” he said kindly.

„Okay.” he jumped up and walked behind the door. „How are you doing?”

Hiador was stunned and followed him to see who he was speaking to. When he saw Belinda sitting in the corner and sweating badly while she tried to smash a fruit he was surprised. With her low cultivation level, he didn’t think she would last for so long.

Belinda sighed and watched the fruit in the cauldron. She really wished to grab a blender and smash it in seconds! Why the hell they needed to do it this way?! These times, she really missed the high technology.

„Not bad!” Piusz praised her. „You are doing it better than most of the beginners.”

  What’s better?! It’s just mashing some fruits! Don’t go over the moon because you see me practice for half a day!

„…” Belinda opened her mouth to say something, but her stomach didn’t care about her, grumbled loudly. „Um.”

„Let’s go to eat.” Piusz smiled happily. „We can continue it tomorrow.”

„I can’t. I have lessons.” Belinda stood up. „I can come here every second day’s afternoon.”

„Oh.” Piusz was surprised. „I remember we had classes in the morning, but what are you doing in the afternoon?”

„I’m learning swords skills.” she cleared up the fruits’ remains what didn’t resemble anything anymore.

„I see. Who are you sparring with?” Piusz took it away from her and threw it into his space.

„… With Bertold.” she was speechless. Why he took away instead of throwing it out?

„Oh… Uh… WHO?!” Piusz cried out loud. He was too surprised.

„He’s my mentor.” she was shocked by his reaction. „There’s a problem with it?”

„No… nothing. Just usually the mentors let their students sparring with each other. If they had only one, then they ask one of their friends to let them train together…”

„… Friends? … Bertold’s?” Belinda felt it was funny.

„Haha. You are right.” Piusz laughed embarrassedly.

Hiador coughed loudly to let them remember he was still here!

The two of them turned to him at the same time. He was able to read from their face ’you are still here?’. He was so angry. I’m your teacher!

„Master, I’m sorry to let you wait!” Piusz bowed to him embarrassedly. He realized how disrespectful he was just now.

Belinda didn’t say anything. She didn’t care about showing any respect to a teacher who didn’t even take the time to say some words to her. She adjusted her clothes and went to the door.

Hiador watched her, then his eyes stopped on Belinda’s twists. He was shocked to see those bracelets. Elemental crystals were extremely rare, only old cultivator families had them.

They were forged into jewelry. If someone had a single root it was really useful to them. He looked at Belinda’s hair and he was sure, her root was water so the ice crystal was useless for her. He didn’t know how a kid could get something so precious, then he remembered about Horác and sighed. That man’s blood was similarly a priceless treasure, so he could easily exchange it for anything.

He watched Belinda and realized she had a yin body, so the ice crystal could help her a little during her cultivation. But the best use of it to her was that it could make her feel better during the summer… The vein jumped on his forehead. Fck it! Buying such a priceless treasure for such a stupid reason!

The cause why Horác was hated by the teachers wasn’t because of his poison root. They worked hard for years to save up for something, then they proudly showed it to the others, when they finally got it. Sometimes Horác said ’it looks good’ and after some days he casually said ’I bought one too’. He was such a show-off. He could get anything in no time and they felt hurt. They worked so hard, so why could he get it so easily?!

Hiador’s face darkened. He sent them away and went back to his room.

Belinda looked after him and felt confused. What made him so angry?

„Master’s feelings can change so fast so don’t care for him. Maybe he just remembered something unpleasant…” Piusz led the way while they left the building.

„Why are you calling him master? Aren’t helpers still call teacher?”

„Yes, helpers do that, but if you work hard and your talent is outstanding you can be accepted as a disciple.” he said proudly. „Right now, master only had me as his disciple. I didn’t know how many were there before me, but I know now in the whole academy there are still 5, no more. Even after graduation, we can come back and visit our masters. You became a helper so early. Maybe the day to become a disciple won’t be that far for you too.”

„Impossible! I’m not interested in poison!” Belinda declined.

Piusz was stunned, then laughed. „Right! Poison isn’t that popular.”

They went to the cafeteria and ate dinner together.

Belinda asked a lot of things related to internal energy control and refining. Piusz enjoyed to teach her and sometimes he said too many things, she wasn’t able to understand everything. She just sighed and let him say anything he wanted. She didn’t have the courage to tell him, she didn’t intend to learn more after making fruit candies…

After a long time, Belinda was able to escape and go back to her room. She was too tired to summon her cat and fell asleep in the bathtub. Times like this, she was really happy about being able to breathe under the water…