A period of peace and quiet ensued, with Edward spending most of his time inside the city teaching basic school subjects to Violet while also working on increasing the energy inside his own source.

Violet had to go through the basic elements even if she didn’t have an affinity for them since they served as a building block for more advanced sciences. The progress was slow, in both Violet’s learning and his own energy gathering.

Minx would bring him water cores whenever he ran out of them, but the progress was still horribly slow. Echo has tried to listen to their lectures, but she got bored and only went with Minx to the dungeon from time to time.

One year after he created his source and started teaching Violet, Circe passed by to let him know of how things were in Ashes.

Kali was mostly fine, with Circe having helped him reach level 43, but he had to spend most of the time in hiding because of the dragon kingdom’s bounty on him. Eddena resumed her activities with the assassin guild after returning from her space prison, slowly feeding up her curse so that she may maintain her rationality. Mya was still with the church most of the time, but her level has also increased considerably. According to Circe, she had formed a new party and started visiting the dungeon again.

The only ones no one knew anything about were Kara and Ingvar. They had not returned to Ashes ever since they left for the elven kingdom in the far northwest. Apparently, not even Faelyn had any news about their situation.

The dragons had indeed released a bounty, and not only for Edward but for Circe and Kali as well. This made some trouble for Circe at the beginning, but after the guild leader of the magician guild stepped in, they removed all the bounties posted by the dragon kingdom from the city. There were a few people that even the city lord had to take a step back in front of, and the magician guild’s leader was one of those people.

Edward was free to go back as well, but he chose against it. Leaving Kali in Circe’s care again, he remained in Oasis for now. Not that he didn’t want to go back, but there were no water monsters dungeon close to Ashes and his progress will slow down even further. He would also lose a lot of time if he were to pause Violet’s studies to head north.

Violet, of course, remained with him so that she may continue studying in hopes of someday being of help to Edward, and Circe eventually flew back north on her own.

Assured that Circe had everything far north under her control, Edward resumed his normal routine once again. Slowly, two more years passed in this rhythm.

It’s now been three years ever since Edward created his source and started teaching Violet.

“I did it, Ed. I can feel it.”

The door to the small house sprang open and Violet charge right in, jumping into Edward’s arms. She had a wide grin on her face as she spun with him a couple of times in joy.

The years had barely left a mark on both her and Edward.

A demi-human’s lifespan was slightly longer than a human’s, usually depending on the beast whose genes they had received. For a half-wolf, half-viera like Violet, it seemed that her lifespan was even longer than a normal demi-human. Fenrir also mentioned that there is a possibility the viera bloodline assured she remained young for a long part of her lifespan and she would start to age only when he lifespan would approach its end.

“Which one?” asked Edward with a smile as she placed her back down on her own two feet.

“Guess.” Said Violet with a grin.

“From how happy you are right now, I guess it must be space. I imagine nothing else would make you that enthusiastic.”

Violet jumped up and pecked his lips before staring at him with her big eyes.

“Does this mean I can come with you to other worlds? You promised to take me with you when you leave if I have an affinity for space.” Edward has long come clean with her about pretty much everything, even his origin.

Edward sighed and nodded. “Yes, but you must first create your source. Since there are no space cores…” He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing something.

“Fenrir, there should be more temples like the ones we destroyed in the sea, right?”

[Yes. Since the barrier has not fallen yet, there are for sure more of those temples around. Do you plan on having Violet practice there?]

“Yes. Since that place is the origin of the spatial prison, it might be the best space for her to form her source. Well, only if that energy is without an owner.”

Smiling toward Violet, Edward pecked Violet’s lips before taking a piece of paper from nearby and creating a few symbols on it. After handing it to Violet, he said: “Ask Echo if her father or in-laws had seen any talisman with these symbols on it. If so, tell her to get her hands on one of them, preferably three, if possible.”

“I’m going to finally break into the third layer before you return from Echo’s place.” Turning towards Minx, he continued: “You go with her as well, Minx.”

After the girls left, Edward sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. He had been ready for a breakthrough for quite a while, but he had delayed it until Violet had finally sensed a type of energy.

[Be careful. It’s already growing stronger with each one of your breakthroughs.]

“I know.” Replied Edward with a sigh and started breaking through the second layer. It took him about two hours before he heard the second layer crack inside his source.

As his eyes opened, he noticed that all the walls of the small house had gotten wet from all the energy he had released. With a single thought, all the water in the surroundings left the walls and created a small sphere of water in his arms. Making the sphere disappear, he next tried to change his body into water form, but it failed again.

When he stepped into the second layer, he had already discovered that he could control water energy even away from his body and hoped that in the third he might finally be able to change his body’s form.

After a few more tests, he was disappointed to discover that the only change the third layer brought him was the ability to control water at will, not only energy, even the water in nature.

“I wonder how long will it be until I can return to my peak.” Edward asked himself with a sigh before frowning and asking Fenrir: “How is it?”

[It has grown stronger again, and it appears to be attracted by the divinity in your soul. I think you should let him take control of your body soon or things might turn bad. It’s been starved since you broke through to the second layer.]

“After I make some arrangements for Violet, I’ll leave Oasis and let it free for a while. Speaking about Violet, how come she isn’t back yet?”

[And who should I ask?]

Sighing, Edward closed his eyes and sat down while thinking about what to do next. He had to send Minx with Violet to the time prison since it was not safe otherwise. As for him, he had to go check on Kali and Circe before searching for an alternative source of water cores. The best place he could think of would be the ocean's depths surrounding the continent.

A few hours later, Violet, Minx, and Echo returned with radiant smiles on their faces. Echo was now almost level 50 and one could feel the divine energy radiating from her from afar.

She came to Edward and gave him a hug before showing him a handful of talismans.

“We got quite a lot of them from the merchants around the city. They used to sell easily to the people looking for a safety line while going into the dungeon, but after people who disappeared never came back again, words started spreading that these things will kill them and no one bought them anymore. Do you know what they do?”

Edward nodded and took the talismans before saying: “They teleport you to a space prison of sorts. It would be the ideal place for Violet to form her space source.”

After saying his piece, Edward turned toward Minx with a smile. Minx understood and took her human form before walking next to Violet. “Don’t worry, Edward. I’ll protect her.”

Edward gave them the talismans, only keeping two for himself, before saying: “I’m going to head to Ashes and check on everything over there. You two take as much food as you can carry and use the talismans. I’ll teleport to you in exactly three months, so have enough food to last until then.”

Turning towards Echo, Edward had a wry smile on his face as he asked: “So, what do you plan to do?”

“I think I’ll stay here and gain a few levels. Don’t forget to visit and let me know if you need any help. Take care.” Replied Echo, having long understood that whatever Edward’s plans were, they were too big for her to be a part of them.

“Alright. You take care of yourself as well.” Said Edward before sharing a small hug with Echo. Minx and Violet did the same before everyone left the small house they had lived in for the past three years.

Edward walked with Violet and Minx until they reached the marketplace and stopped at the entrance.

“I’m going now.”, said Edward, his eyes reddening at the corners. He had gotten used to spending every day in their company and wished that they could have continued like that, but he had stayed in one place for far too long.

Violet and Minx were also slightly emotional as all three of them shared a small hug in the middle of the street. Edward kissed Violet’s lips and Minx’s forehead before turning around and walking towards the northern gate of the city.

“Take care.” He heard the girls’ voices from the back, but Edward just lifted one hand and told them to take care as well before quickening his pace.

He couldn’t turn around right now and let them see his tear-stained face. With heavy footsteps, he reached the northern gate and walked to a small store over there.

There was an old man manning the store and his face brightened as he saw a customer walk up to him.

“Where does the young man wish to go?”

It was a store renting beasts for long-distance travel out of the city and was quite popular in the south. With Minx taking care of Violet and no wolf form anymore, he had no way of reaching the City of Ashes in time, so he needed to rent a beast to take him there.

“The City of Ashes.”