(AN:\Would ya bother rating? I keep getting 0.5s since I've got to this goddamn trending... XD Thanks in advance <3)

Commandments and the finish line

Following Lien, I got out of the water and raised my hand to cover my eyes.

“Uh, this is why I hate deserts,” I grunted while looking at the sun. I instantly started feeling hot, but a little trick solved my problem and cooled the air around us.

Looking at me, Lien pulled her hair to the side and wrung it like a flannel to get as much water out of it as possible. My eyes were automatically drawn towards her nape and her pretty face. I honestly felt that I was the luckiest guy in the world.

Seeing me staring at her, she said, “You know, long hair can be such a pain. It's annoying when it's wet and it could easily become a hindrance in a melee battle as well. This is all for you.”

“What?” I shook my head in confusion. Quickly rethinking what she just said, I asked, “Would you have short hair if I liked it more?” I raised my brows.

“Well, who knows~ But I think that long hair fits me better anyway and although it’s a bother, I prefer it this way,” she shrugged her shoulders.

“It does fit you better, I love long hair so I hope that you’re never going to cut it,” I smiled at her. Women with short hair weren’t really my type, though I had to admit it fit some of them.

Stepping closer, she pressed her body against mine and looked up at me with a small smile. Slowly caressing my chest, she said playfully, “Well, as long as you are here for me, I’ll have no objections to keeping it.”

Remembering last night, I felt tempted to just drag her back underground. Unfortunately, my morning wood wasn’t helping me in making the right decision either, but before I could do anything, she stepped back and turned around while saying, “My hair aside, I guess you don’t want to go back to the forest, so what do you have in mind?”

“We checked out this area, so if we really want to look for treasures, we should go further away from the city. Also, there are many students around so we should leave before they get a glimpse of you,” I said meaningfully, eyeing her wet clothes.

“Oh, it’s gonna dry in a few minutes,” she waved her hand and shrugged it off.

I shouldn’t say that I want to keep this sight all to myself, should I? Whatever, I’ll just make a detour and get around the students nearby.

“What are you planning again? I bet you want to make a detour,” she looked at me with suspicion, crossing her arms in front of her chest. I was so into my thoughts that I never realised she was looking at me again, but for her to find me out so easily?

…

Stumped, I didn’t know what to say.

“Seeing your reaction, I must have been right on the mark,” she shook her head. “You’ll follow me instead, I have a feeling that we should go to the south!” she pointed towards a huge dune, appointing it as her goal. She made it sound as if she picked it randomly, but both of us picked up on the signs of a few people who went that way. There must have been something going on.

“Well, Mark and company went southeast anyway, so we shouldn’t cross paths,” I sighed as I started following her. Upon leaving the small oasis, I spotted two students clad in the dark green armour of the White clan. They were battling a Sand Scorpion atop a smaller dune, the kind we killed yesterday. Under Lien’s guidance, we silently bypassed them without doing as much as greeting each other, though it wasn't like they had the time to care about us.

I found it amusing that there were barely enough stars for everyone if we hunted only monsters. If there were students who were trying hard to gather even more stars, they’d either have to start robbing other students or try their best to find the remaining monsters with yellow stars. It was only the second day and there were plenty of monsters around, so we didn’t have to worry about that for now.

“I wonder why does the White clan wants the students to fight each other over the stars, it’ll just generate unnecessary hate and rivalry,” I thought aloud.

Quickly catching up with my thoughts, Lien replied, “In my opinion, the members of the white clan won’t attack others because it’d be bad advertisement and wouldn’t do any good for their reputation. But if other clans and powerful students started taking the stars by strength, they’d get all the hate of the common students.”

“I see where you’re going with this, maybe it’s as you think,” I mused. There was a probability that they wanted to play the role of saints during this little trial. With Mary in the race, they were most probably sure of the end result. Elena told us that she was a very talented student in the First School and that every noble clan was coveting her. Given her looks, talent, and her position in the White clan, it was only natural that noble men wanted to marry her.

If only they knew who they were trying to control. I found it more likely that she’d get in control of Ushua and Eglon than that the nobles would be able to control her. “Actually, what if this is Mary’s plan? What if she’s going to help the other students? The commoners would definitely take a liking to a beautiful noble like her and the nobles care only about power anyway. If you think about it logically, in a few years of time she could take over the control of her clan and most likely both countries as well,” I said.

“That sounds plausible, but we’re just guessing here. We can’t be sure that she’s trying to set up some sort of crazy religion and maybe she isn’t as bright as you think either,” Lien muttered, sounding a bit bittersweet and bothered by my words.

“I’m sorry if it’s annoying you, but I can’t be too blind because of love. She is a beautiful woman, but you’re always going to be the number one for me, by far!” I said, most probably earning a bad point. She definitely didn’t want to hear me calling another woman beautiful, but I preferred to be honest with her.

“I wasn’t thinking about stuff like that and I wasn’t being jealous, I just don’t like her…” she rolled her eyes. “Just because she’s blonde and has blue eyes and has a beautiful body, I don’t think she’s a better fit for you than me, okay?”

Raising my brows, I looked at her.

“Wait, this totally sounded as if I was lying,” she frowned as she stopped in her tracks. Turning towards me, she took hold of my hand and looked into my eyes while adding, “Do you believe me? I really meant it, I’m not jealous of her.”

Amused by the scene she was making out of this, I smiled at her and nodded my head, “I do.” Although her words really sounded like the words of an envious person, the way she said it was more like despising than envious.

“Good then,” she sighed out of relief.

“By the way, you could get on my back if you want to train soul sensing. Once I enhance my body,  I can easily walk around all day with the little weight you have, even if I have to carry you,” I offered.

“Well, why not, I want to learn more anyway. I’ve got to try my best!” she raised her fist, fired up to get straight into it. I continued our travel, but it was getting more and more boring by the seconds since the scenery was the same everywhere and I couldn’t talk to anyone.

Strange, before Lien returned I was perfectly fine if I was left alone but it’s very boring this time. Wait, that’s not true. It’s more like I’ve got used to her presence and if she is here but unable to talk to me, I become bored.

It's as if I had expectations towards her, that she would entertain me in one way or the other.

Reaching the top of a dune, I was about to take another step when I felt something strange under my feet. Looking down, I realised I stepped on an unconscious person. Quickly stepping over him, I turned around and looked at the other two next to him.

“Okay, that’s strange,” I thought aloud. They were all alive and kicking, but unconscious or asleep, though the latter seemed unreal considering that the guy didn’t wake up even after I accidentally stepped on him. This wasn’t the best place to sleep at, they could have been killed by a monster if it stumbled upon them.

Looking around, I made sure that there was nobody watching and then stomped on the ground. The dune dispersed and the sand flowed towards other bumps all around us, creating a smaller crater with us in the epicenter. With another thought, I made a stone house raise out of the ground, right under our feet and then I used nature magic to make long vines grow up on the walls of the building and form a rooftop.

Without my mana supply, it would dry quite quickly in the hot desert, but I believed it’d be enough until these students regained their consciousness. All three of them had bumps on the back of their heads, so they were most likely ambushed by another group.

I wasn’t surprised to see stuff like this happening, though the cruelty of the people who did this surprised me a bit. It wasn’t like I’d have minded their death, I didn’t even know them, but leaving them to die for no reason would have been quite unreasonable.

I found it really amusing how Lien was latched onto my back the whole time I was fumbling and moving around. I definitely wouldn’t stay to babysit them, so once I laid a smaller formation around the building, I continued our travel. The formation would make these weak monsters scared of the area because I filled it with my powerful mana.

I didn’t get too far from the house when Lien started moving around on my back and groaned. I made a flat rock raise out of the ground and then sat down on its side. Feeling the ground underneath, she let go of me and crossed her legs.

Curious, I leaned closer and kept staring at her face from up close, our noses only inches away.

“I SEE IT!” she shouted all of a sudden, startling me and making me jump back.

“You are fucking crazy! Why would you burst out like that?” I caught to my heart.

“I was just really happy!” she beamed at me.

“Congratulations, but still…” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Haah- whatever, now try to sense mine as well,” I added.

“No need, the moment I sensed my own, I could see yours as well. Man, all these strange patterns and marks, did you really learn what they mean?” she stretched out her legs and looked into my eyes.

“Well, yeah, I think I did. I can’t say for sure that everything I know is right since I learned everything by observing others, but they should be quite accurate,” I nodded.

“That’s amazing, no matter how I look at it.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. I loved when she praised me. “Now that I think about it, I’d have had to spend a lot of time with Elena if I went through with my plan. I get tired when I have to talk with people I don’t necessarily like, so I’m sure it’d have been terrible.”

“Erm, I don’t know, but you can’t be sure without spending time with her, she isn’t that bad, I mean,” she surprisingly defended Elena. Shrugging my shoulders, I didn’t say anything in turn.

“What’s next?” she added.

“What do you mean?” I asked with a knowing smile. She wanted to learn more, but she didn’t want to request me to teach her and I wanted to change that. I didn’t like asking for help either, but I wanted her to rely on me a bit more.

Puffing her cheeks, she kept looking at me in silence for a few seconds until finally giving in, “Fine! Please, teach me more about souls and techniques, I’m interested in everything you know!”

“There you go, though I need a reward first~” I mused, sticking out my lips.

“Stupid duck,” she muttered as she got on her toes and pressed her lips against mine. Once we separated, I told her more about the marks on the souls and what they meant. Although she was interested in it, when I taught her how to sense souls in a wider range and how to strengthen her mana, she became much happier.

In the meantime, we also reached our destination where we found an empty camp next to an oasis. The tents numbered in the twenties, which made me reconsider going anywhere near that place.

“I think that we should go somewhere el-”

“Bullshit, there must be some kind of good stuff if there are so many students, and I bet they’re all strong,” Lien cut into my words. I was about to object when she raised her finger and added, “And no, I don’t care about the danger. I’ll beat them up if they want to pick a fight with me and I imagine you aren’t just going to standby and watch, right?”

“Why do I see them ganging up on us already?” I sighed. Maybe I was overthinking things and they wouldn’t try to do anything to us, but most of the time I tried to avoid the inevitable and the probable if I had the chance. Running my eyes down on her once more, I shook my head. I couldn’t help it, I had a feeling we’d run into an idiot sooner or later.

“You’re too pessimistic,” she said.

“No, I’m an optimistic person whenever I can be, but I always consider every bad possibility that may come up. I can’t be caught unprepared like that and however wrong it may sound, I can't help but consider you as nothing but a 'bad possibility’ if I'm in a group with numerous guys,” I remarked.

“If you say so,” she shrugged. “Shall we visit them?”

I kept looking at her in silence for a few seconds but seeing her unblinking eyes, I gave up on the matter, “Whatever, let’s go then.”

“That's the way!” she locked arms with me and pulled me towards the camp. We were about twenty meters from the camp when two students walked out of the jungle and turned towards us as soon as they spotted us. One of them was a rather average-looking girl with short brown hair, hazel eyes, and thin lips, though her breasts were large, at least. The other one was a guy with matching attributes. He must have been her brother.

Unconsciously licking his lips, he looked up and down on Lien until he realised what he was doing.

“Hi, who are you two?” he went on as if nothing happened.

I’m your father. Just kidding, I’m your bane…

Drowning my annoyance, I was about to reply when Lien said, “I’m Lien and he’s Seth. We’re from the Fourth School, and you?”

Coming closer, the girl reached out to shake hands and introduced themselves, “He’s my brother, Max, and I’m his elder sister Rebecca. We’re from the Third School.”

Smiling at Rebecca, Lien shook hands with her while I did the same with Max, expect for that I may have put a bit more strength into my grip than I normally did.

Hissing in a low voice, he quickly pulled back his hand and said, “The others are still in the water, but they should be back soon.” He couldn’t hide his pain for too long since he quickly turned around and started massaging his right hand, thinking that I wouldn’t see him.

Pretending that she didn’t see a thing, Lien continued casually, “Oh, okay. And why’d you all come this far and then set up a camp? Is there something?” she pointed towards the stone gate at the foot of the dune. Although her soul sensing ability wasn’t good enough to notice them, I could feel about fifty monsters lurking under that huge dune where the gate led.

“There are many monsters underground, enough for almost everyone to finish the task, but it’d be suicidal to go in alone, so we’ve been waiting for a few people to come. Only stupid and weak students went towards the crowded forest anyway,” Rebecca smiled at her.

True enough, only idiots would have continued travelling through the forest when almost everyone went that way on the first day. Although the number of the school didn’t mean that either was more powerful, the First School had the most powerful students and elites in the city. This was most likely because Mary’s father was the Principal in that school.

“Fifty-five monsters to be exact and there are only twenty-seven students, us included. Well, that’s not enough for everyone to get seven stars, but you’re most likely going for something else,” I smiled at her.

Her face stiffened as she realised she wouldn’t be able to hide it from me. Thinking about something for a few seconds, her eyes suddenly lit up as she looked at me, “Could it be that you know what’s down there?”

She was implying that we had a treasure already and that we knew what would we find down there. “How would I know? I’m not some medium, I was just able to sense the monsters and I imagine you wouldn’t get in a risky raid where most of you’d have to fight one against two if there were only yellow stars.”

“Well, you surely heard Jonathan White. He said that they hid a few treasures which are guarded by many monsters. This must be that kind of place,” Max replied.

“Are there any nobles in this group?” I asked. “I’m just asking because you probably won’t be able to wipe out the monsters without a few nobles,” I explained myself. I wouldn’t tell them that one of those monsters was above the E rank, which meant they’d have to run away sooner or later, unless they had a noble.

“There are three nobles, so we have nothing to fear,” she said with a smile.

“And do you think they’d share with you?” Lien pointed out a problem.

“Heh, I’m not worried about that,” Max replied, saying no more. They seemed to have some kind of plan if it came to that.

“Will you join?” Rebecca asked.

Looking at me, Lien shrugged, “Well? Why not?”

“I’m okay with it,” I nodded my head.

“Yay! The more the merrier. Now that you two have come as well, we might just go in today or tomorrow. By the way, you can set up your tents anywhere,” she said.

Nodding our heads, we moved about ten meters away from the others and set up our tent. We didn’t want to look like complete outsiders so we made sure not to go too far from the others, but I didn’t want to get too close to them either. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the night like that~

“No sex tonight,” Lien whispered when Max and Rebecca left us alone.

“You bet.”

“I said no,” she glared at me.

“You said the same thing last night, it mattered little,” I chuckled.

Massaging her temples, she said, “I swear I’ll sleep in the forest or something. I should have brought a tent for myself instead of leaving it to you. You just had to buy the smallest one for two people, didn’t you?”

“You’re right and it was worth every penny,” I nodded with a bright smile.

“You pig.”

“But I’m not even fat,” I laughed.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re a pig.”

“Hahaha, I love you, dear,” I hugged her with all the strength in my body.

“Ugh- you’re crushing me again!”

After kissing her forehead, I let go of her and made my way towards the forestry area. About a minute later, we reached the lake in the middle. It was much larger than the oasis from before and the lake was rather deep as well. Some students were standing guard on the side while others were playing in the water.

I had to admit it was a beautiful place, one I wouldn't mind visiting if I ever went on a holiday. The water was clear blue and the trees surrounding it just made the scenery even more beautiful. Not far away from where we stood, a wooden platform arched over the water, giving a foundation to a stylish and beautiful wooden house. It was definitely the doing of a noble or someone with incredible control over nature magic.

“How beautiful! Not even I could make something like this carelessly,” Lien clapped upon seeing it.

“Yea, now I kind of feel like making one for ourselves, I bet it'd be nice,” I said.

“Ah, I'd love that,” she said happily.

Unfortunately for her, I had different plans, “I'm sorry but we'll be staying in the tent tonight. We can make it tomorrow if you still want it.”

“Although I'd like to hear why it's so important to stay in the tent tonight, I'm okay with it as long as you really plan to stay here tomorrow,” she replied.

Finally noticing us, the students standing on the side called out, “Hey, you, who are you?”

“I’m Seth and this is Lien, we plan to join. We’ve talked things over with Rebecca and Max,” I raised my hands to show that we were no threat.

“Oh, feel free to join the others in that case. I’m not sure how much she told you, but you have to take care of your own food and your own stuff, obviously. We’ve secured this area so you don’t have to fear running into monsters. You may hear more later when you meet the leader,” one of them replied.

“Leader?” I raised my brows.

“Well, he was the one who found this place first and then organised everything.”

“I suppose he’s a noble?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s from the Fourth School.”

“Oh, we’re from there as well, what’s his name?” I felt like laughing, thinking that maybe it was Asuma. Even if he decided to leave, it happened only a day before the start of this trial, so he was still a student of our school.

“Leo,” the guy replied.

What?

Looking at me, Lien raised her brows, “Isn’t he your friend? You never told me he was a noble.”

“So you know him,” the guy said. “Whatever, I’ve got to patrol the area, so see you later.”

With that, he turned around while I stood there in confusion. When we first met he introduced himself to be a commoner, but now it turned out he was lying to me all along. “I’ve got no clue about this either,” I replied.

“Oh? Did he fool you?” she laughed at me.

“It seems,” I scratched the back of my head. “But I have no idea why you’re happy about it,” I added, rolling my eyes.

“I’m not happy about it, I just laughed at you,” she defended herself.

“That’s the point!”

“Laughing doesn’t necessarily mean happiness, you know?” she asked.

“Seeing you, that doesn’t seem to be true,” I muttered.

“Aww, stop whining,” she patted my shoulder and then turned around.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Well, there is a safe and beautiful place like this and I accidentally brought my swimsuit with me. Guess what I’m going to do! It’s not like we’re in a hurry, we finished the task already anyway,” she replied.

“Also, could you stop looking at me so lewdly? You pervert,” she frowned.

“Who says?” I laughed. “Also, how come you bring a bikini but you don’t bring thin clothes when you knew there’d be a desert as well? Are you doing this intentionally?” I mused.

Averting her eyes, she went back to our tent in a hurry, with me in tow. Normally I wouldn’t be so careless to start playing around in a place like this, but with three nobles, me, and a group of students around, it seemed stupid to worry about a few weak monsters. Not to mention that these things wouldn’t be able to threaten Lien.

About half a minute later, she came out of the tent and stood up in front of me, wearing a white bikini. Looking down, she fixed the rolled up hem of the lower piece and then put her breasts in their place, not even minding my presence. Her dark brown hair flowed down behind her back, creating a perfect contrast to her white set. Although she was damn hot, for some reason I felt more stunned than anything. It felt as if I was looking at an angel which created a conflict between my heart and my lower half. I had to say, it was one weird feeling.

Smiling at her, I said, “You’re beautiful.”

Happy to hear my words, she smiled back and then took hold of my hand, “Thanks~”

“Honestly, though, are you trying to cause trouble by dressing like this?” I couldn’t help but shake my head.

“Look, I know it’s going to be my fault if anything happens, but I won’t give up on my own comfort and what I like just because others can’t control what’s in their pants. I wore this for you, not for them, and if it comes to that, I’ll deal with them myself!” she stuck out her chest proudly.

“Hahaha, your father was right, you’re a real troublemaker. But I don’t care, especially not when you say something like that to me,” I mused. She probably didn’t realise how happy her words made me. Sure enough, she could have dressed up in long clothes that covered everything, even in the desert, but why would I ever request her something like that? If others could swim in their swimsuits and enjoy the scenery, why could she not?

If we were weak, I’d understand if she tried to avoid conflict and stopped enjoying herself, but then her life would be boring. I was the incarnation of a god anyway, and if I wasn’t able to provide her with this much happiness, I wouldn’t be worthy of her. Out of nowhere, she turned around as she spread her arms and stood on her toes, saying, “I love it when you look at me like that, do it more, please?”

A bit confused by her words, I asked as I received her big hug, “Why? I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Haha, were you seriously doing it unconsciously? I thought you'd melt with that kind of look on your face, I almost imagined hearts in your pupils,” she laughed. Sometimes I was still surprised by her outspoken personality, I was quite sure that most of the girls wouldn’t say something like this. Well, I could be wrong as well, I only knew Lien.

“I don’t know, I just felt fluffy inside while looking at you,” I smiled at her once we separated.

“Aww, come,” she pulled on my hand.

Upon reaching the lake, I scanned the area once again to make sure there was nothing to threaten Lien. Knowing that everything would be alright, I took off my shirt and entered the lake as I was. Since I came to the trial in shorts, I didn’t have to mind stuff like this and I’d be able to dry anything in the blink of an eye anyway. Naturally, I wouldn’t dry Lien’s clothes even if she asked me. It wasn’t like she’d catch a cold in a desert, but I’d enjoy every moment of the sight her wet clothes provided!

Okay, that was a lie, if she asked me seriously, I wouldn’t have the heart to refuse. As the guys from earlier spotted us, their eyes instantly moved to focus on Lien’s body. I honestly felt like laughing at it at this point, it was a phenomena, no matter where we went. Well, it wasn’t like I wouldn’t check her out even she wasn’t my girlfriend, so I could relate with them, though it still annoyed me a bit.

Ignoring their gazes, Lien was already in the water by the time I looked towards her. Turning towards me, she motioned for me to come in, “The temperature of the water is perfect. It’s not too cold and it’s not too hot, hurry up and enter!”

Following her advice, I went after her until the water reached my neck, even though I barely made a few steps. The middle of the lake was about twenty meters deep, so I wasn’t surprised by the steep ground underwater. Taking another step, I had to start swimming.

“My, a god incarnation who’s still swimming, what a shame,” Lien started joking.

“It’s more fun than swimming with water magic, could it be that you can’t swim? Should I teach you?” I retorted.

“Haha, as if,” she stopped wasting her mana and started moving her arms and legs instead.

“Aww, even though I wanted to teach you,” I faked disappointment.

“You’re so transparent when you say stuff like this, I bet you just wanted to grope me or something.”

“What? I’m a pure person, I wouldn’t do something like that!” I gasped.

“Yes, and I’m Jonathan White,” she rolled her eyes, ignoring my sneaky hands. While she was talking, I swam over to her and put my left hand around her waist, slowly moving towards her bottom. Feeling that I was getting dangerously close, she used a weak Water Blast to push both of us back.

“Stay. Your. Hand,” she said slowly and meaningfully.

“Oh? I don’t plan to do anything for now, you don’t have to mind me. But wait, you know that which means you stopped me because of yourself,” I mused, swimming back to her. Our faces only inches away, I whispered into her ear, “Could it be you were getting horny and didn’t want to suffer until evening?”

“No, I-”

“Let’s swim to the others or they’ll handle us like outcasts,” I cut into her words. She was about to make up something anyway. Reaching the group of students, I questioned whether this was a holiday or a trial. Some guys and girls were having a grill party on the shore while others was either sunbathing or playing in the water. It honestly made no sense to me, though they definitely knew how to make use of this beautiful place.

Still… where the fuck is that grill coming from? It’s visibly something you could normally buy only in the city.

“Ah, it smells so go- ~growl~ -od…” her own belly interrupted her. Peering at me from the corner of her eye, she slowly went underwater in her shame. We ate on the way here, but we burnt the calories easily with so much walking, so she had nothing to feel embarrassed about. It wasn’t like she ate a lot. What made me laugh was the sound her belly gave out since she was underwater, it was honestly hilarious.

“Let’s check it out, we may get a slack,” I said when she came back to the surface. Not much to my surprise, I found Leo sitting on the side of the wooden platform, soaking his legs in the water.

Noticing me, he waved his hand, “Yo! So you came here, after all. I thought you turned stupid for a moment,” he laughed.

“Nah,” I shook my head.

“What took you so long, though? I bet it’s because of someone,” he looked at Lien with a smile. “You are like hamsters, no, rabbits,” he shook his head.

“I beg your pardon, it’s all his doing!” Lien gasped as she pointed at me.

“Of course, he’s a closet pervert,” Leo nodded.

“Closet what?” Lien asked confused.

“It just means that I look like a pure person based on demeanor and personality but I’m actually doing perverted things all the time I’m alone. Obviously, that’s not even true,” I explained.

Furrowing her brows, she seemed to be deep in thought for a few seconds. “Erm, you don’t check out other girls in an obvious way, except for me. You seemingly don’t lust after other women and you don’t even talk to other girls, other than saying ‘hi’ and a few other short sentences. But you’re definitely a pervert when we’re alone. I’m sorry, dear, but that explanation fits you perfectly. You were also a virgin until you met me and now look at yourself.”

“Oh? Well, well, who is talking?” I said with a smirk. Realising that the same could be told about her, she looked at me with a panicked face. Brushing her hair to the side, I smiled at her as I asked, “But you love me like that, don’t you?”

“I do~” she replied, happy that I didn’t mention her own pervertedness in front of Leo, though he definitely knew about it even without me saying a word.

“Hey, stop before you start an adult scene in front of me,” Leo cut into the lovely mood that was forming between us.

“I’d never do stuff like that in front of others,” Lien muttered. “Right, we heard you’re the boss here, right? Can we eat from that?” she pointed towards the grilled meat.

“Of course, of course, go ahead and have some,” he waved his hand.

Letting go of her hand, I said, “Go ahead, I’ll be over in a bit.” Looking back and forth between me and Leo, she nodded her head. She surely knew what I wanted to talk with him in ‘private’ so she didn’t stick around, even if I’d tell her everything later.

“Are you surprised?” he asked, looking after Lien and then turning towards me.

“I am. Why have you been hiding it all this time?” I asked.

“There is no special cause-”

“Not your nobility. You’re a god incarnation, aren’t you?”

His face turned angry all of a sudden, but his smile returned in the blink of an eye. “My, I’ve been caught. You’ve become stronger once again, it seems. She’s rather dangerous,” he looked after Lien once again, frowning this time.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” I furrowed my brows.

“No, I wouldn’t dare to,” he raised his hands with a smile on his face.

“Since when did you know?” I asked.

“Since the moment I’ve laid my eyes on you,” he replied, pulling up his right leg.

“So for three years now, you’ve been watching over me, knowing about my secret,” I said.

“Mhm.”

“Could you stop looking at her?” I said with a frown.

“Now, now, I was just watching her eating happily, isn’t she cute? I wonder why have you become so much stronger in such a short amount of time. You didn’t even realise before that I was an incarnation as well and now you suddenly see right through me. You must be the incarnation of an interesting god, I wonder who is it,” he said.

“I wonder about that as well,” I replied playfully.

“Oh, well, it’s not like I’m dying to find out. It’s just that I don’t like when something unexpected interrupts my plans. I can’t help but try my best to find out the truth when that happens, and then get rid of my obstacles,” he said with a smile.

“Unless you want to randomly start murdering people or hurt the people close to me, you don’t have to care about me,” I replied in a similar manner.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. But if you do have plans like that, especially the latter…”

“Now, now, don’t be so mean, I had no such plans,” he raised his hands.

“Had? Why not have?” I frowned.

Rolling his eyes, he said, “Come on, you get the point. Are you really going to pick a fight because of the tense I used? I never had such plans and I don’t have anything like that right now either. Are you happy now?”

I can’t say that I’m happy, but…

“It’s fine then. Now let me go before she gets picked on again,” I rolled my eyes, seeing a few guys encircling her already.

“Okay, see you later,” he smiled at me.

Charging straight into the group, I had to push everyone aside one by one to get to her. I was about to take hold of Lien’s hand when a guy reached after me and wanted to grab my arm, “Hey, who are you? What are you doing?”

Before he could incur my wrath, Lien got between us and locked arms with me. “Sorry, but we’re going, and he’s my boyfriend,” she winked at him. Since she was beautiful and ‘new’, the students obviously wanted to get to know her to some degree, but I was still amazed by her popularity. If I left her alone for a moment, guys would start flocking her, though there were girls in the group as well.

“Where are you going? You said you’d join us,” a black haired girl asked when we turned around to leave.

“We will join you, we’re just going into the water,” Lien chuckled.

“Oh, okay,” the girl nodded. “I think I’ll also enter the water a bit later.”

I could feel the guys’ eyes on my back throwing daggers at me. A bit annoyed, I put my arm around her back and then moved down to her bottom. Although Lien didn’t say anything, I could see her looking at me from the corner of her eye. Knowing that most likely even more guys were glaring at my back by now, I groped her ass, filling my core with satisfaction. Reaching behind her back, Lien pulled my hand up to her waist and squeezed my hand, also looking at me with meaningful eyes.

For some reason, I found her reaction so funny that I almost started laughing loudly. Luckily, I managed to hold it in by turning to the side and looking at a piece of rock. I really had to try my best to suppress my laughter. Rolling her eyes, she just shook her head in silence. During the rest of the day, we got to know most of the students to some degree, though we didn’t mix with them for too long because of obvious reasons.

Despite being in a desert with nothing but the dunes as a cover, the students made a bonfire which attracted every monster towards us in the area. They also brought out a large cauldron and started cooking the meat of the monsters they killed during the day. All these little things made me understand that everyone present in this camp would be able to finish the task in one or two days even if they were all alone.

It was understandable why they gave a chance to themselves to get a treasure instead of bothering with the stars, not to mention that a good part of them were done with it by now because of all the noise they were making.

Well, killing seven monsters was indeed no big deal. The only thing that could make some of the students fail this simple trial would be their fear of monsters or blood or anything of the sort. I had no trouble watching a gory scene and Lien also had experience with monsters, so we could kill them with ease.

“What’s the time? I left my phone in the tent,” Lien’s words drowned out the voice of the guy that was talking. We were sitting around the bonfire, listening to some of the students who were chatting about their schools and their own abilities. We heard a few life stories as well, but Lien seemed to be getting tired of it, not that I blamed her.

“It’s eight to eleven, I think that we should retire for today,” I peeked at my phone. Raising my head, I noticed most of the students were entering their tents and the few that were awake were all around the bonfire consumed by the current topic. Leo spent all his time next to the lake and didn’t mix with the other students, which I found a bit weird.

Maybe I couldn’t sense his true strength in the past and even when I sparred with him, I felt a slight fluctuation of his power only for a moment. I paid no heed to it at that time, but a few days passed since then and now that I met him again, I was able to see through him. Lien’s existence had some amazing effects on me, though I expected that much. I always knew how powerful my commandment was, but I was a very moral person and it’d take a lot of effort to deviate me from them. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone or anything could make me deviate from them.

Lien stood up from the fallen log we were using as a chair and stretched her body, turning a few pairs of eyes towards her. She could have changed back into her clothes instead of loitering in her bikini since the temperature cooled down by now, but the others were still clothed lightly and I didn’t ask her to change either. She must have felt more comfortable in her bikini.

“Good night, everyone,” she yawned and then made her way towards our tent. I quickly stood up and ‘accidentally’ blocked the curious eyes that were drawn towards her round bottom. Turning my head around, I smiled at them and was glad to receive all the glares and clicking tongues, while the girls just shook their heads, looking at the guys scornfully.

“You’re all perverts,” one of them said.

“Haha, you could provide us with a nice scene as well,” a guy replied.

It’s good that we left, I don’t enjoy listening to others flirting anyway. I knew that I did the same from time to time, but it always bugged us only if it was someone else doing it…

Upon reaching the tent, Lien got on her knees and pulled down the zipper. Peering at me from the corner of her eye, she quickly entered and then laid down on the side. Going after her, I pulled her into my embrace and gave a kiss on her forehead.

“Seth, I love you, but could we sleep now? I’m really tired after being on guard all day because of-”

“Shh- I know, I wouldn’t force it and the mood is kind of unfit anyway,” I hushed her, kissing her forehead once again.

Returning my hug, she closed her eyes and said in a low voice, “Thank you.” Caressing her back, I closed my eyes as well and enjoyed her warmth. Since the temperature went down quite a lot during the night, the warmth of her body made me feel comfy.

“Ah, this feels good,” she muttered, creeping even closer to me.

It was totally worth coming to the desert, I thought as a smile formed on my face and I slowly fell asleep.