Trennon finished wiping down the mat, crouched down to pick up the cloth, and headed to the bucket to wring it out. He watched as the water changed its color to a dark, muddy brown. Despite his students and him diligently cleaning the mat before and after each class, as well as him doing it before the dojo opened and closed, the mat always seemed to stay dirty, dusty, sometimes with a few drops of blood.

He furrowed his brows and shook his head slightly. It wasn't a major issue, just a persistent annoyance since he opened the gym. Initially, the place was just a small room with a mat barely fitting a reception desk. Now it had expanded to three rooms: two with mats and one for functional training, in addition to the initial reception area and the changing room for his students. It was a simple wooden structure, but it was the Yglitoff family's treasure.

Trennon had spent his days serving in Cäul's army, fighting battles, exploring caves, and undertaking all sorts of quests and missions as requested by the government. He was a martial arts master monk and had trained rigorously. He couldn't recall a day in his life when he hadn't trained since he was 6 years old, and his father had decided his path for him.

"You'll be a Monk as a class," his father had said while he played in front of the fireplace. It was snowing outside. From those words, everything in his life had changed. He was sent to the monastery, where his training began. But now, at 55, all of that was behind him with retirement.

He didn't want to retire; he loved the life of training and duels. However, at 50, his master called him for a conversation.

"Trennon, you know there are no exceptions for retirement. At 50, our bodies can't handle this lifestyle much longer, and you have a beautiful family: three wives and three children. And if I'm not mistaken, Paige is pregnant, isn't she?"

Trennon nodded. They were in the master's office at the monastery, a large stone chamber, relatively dark if not for the huge stained-glass window that allowed light to enter in different colors—red, blue, yellow, green.

"They need you, and your body can't take it anymore."

"But what am I going to do?" Trennon asked. He never thought he would get this far in life. He thought he would die on some mission at 20 at the latest. But he didn't die, and now he was there, with a family to support, wives to care for.

"You must continue with your teachings. The island needs you to teach. You are one of the greatest martial arts masters we've ever trained here."

"Teach?" he asked. In the monastery, he always taught younger students; older students always taught the younger ones in tutoring and as helpers in classes. But he never thought of pursuing that career. Yet his master nodded. He was an older man, 70 years old, with wrinkles and a long white beard. He wore a gray kimono and had been a great warrior himself but retired to take care of the monastery.

"The monastery will support and assist you," he said, approaching Trennon, who was a tall, muscular man. Age hadn't changed that. His hair was already gray, and his blue eyes complemented his figure with a square jaw and a neatly trimmed beard. "I know restarts are difficult, but the time has come," he said, smiling.

And Trennon accepted.

Five years later, there he was, in his dojo. He couldn't see himself doing anything else. He loved his students of all ages and got excited about their daily achievements. He enjoyed the routine of training and how it allowed him to be close to his family. His wives helped him in classes, and his children trained when they weren't studying at the monastery. His life was peaceful and happy that way.

After wringing out the cloth, he placed it in the chest where they kept used cloths to be washed later. He left the mat wearing his slippers and turned off the light in the room. He went to the reception; the entrance door was open, revealing a day starting outside. He liked waking up early and arriving at the dojo before everyone else to set things up for the day. The reception consisted of a wooden counter with various administrative papers and folders related to students and dojo tasks behind it. In the front, there was a small, padded sofa with a red cushion, wooden chairs, and a small stone pond with various plants that he and Alicia, his first wife, had built to make everything more relaxing and cozier. He loved listening to the sound of the water fountain.

In this little pond, there were various aquatic plants, though no fish because Trennon thought it would be too much trouble to take care of those creatures. Every now and then, a frog decided to take a bath there. After that, the dojo area opened up to a small garden with some fruit trees: a tall mango tree and a small vegetable garden, where they harvested veggies for their lunches.

Trennon and his family's house was next to the dojo, a spacious single-story wooden house with two living rooms, a kitchen, and a long hallway leading to the four bedrooms - his and his wives' room, his eldest son's room, the twins' room, and the youngest's. Behind the house, there was a huge backyard with various trees and plenty of space for the kids to play. All of this had been provided and sponsored by the monastery, a crucial institution on the small island they lived on. That's where his children studied, along with a significant portion of the island's kids. The monastery had one of the largest schools on the island, for children from the first year to the last, and for those who wanted to pursue the monk class afterward. Only his youngest attended the island's kindergarten elsewhere.

He was reflecting on all of this as he sat in the chair behind the counter, grabbed a mug from the wall, and poured the tea he had prepared earlier.

He sighed, relaxed, a perfect morning, he thought, until he heard desperate footsteps.

"DAAAAAD!"

He jumped to his feet to see what was happening.

Sawyer, the 4-year-old, came running into the reception, screaming.

"DAAAAAAAAAAD!"

He was in diapers and a yellow shirt. He had brown-blond hair and big green eyes, looking a lot like his mother, Paige.

"What's wrong, Sawyer?!" he asked, concerned.

But then, Lionardo came running after him.

"Come back here, you little rascal!" he exclaimed, but then saw that dad was listening and stopped abruptly, smiling as if he had been caught red-handed. He had hair so blond it looked white and big blue eyes. His mother was Alicia, but he hadn't inherited anything from her looks; he was just like Trennon, who had always been very blond and fair-skinned. He was 12 years old, like his twin, Yan. "It wasn't me, Dad!" he shouted.

"It was him, Dad!" Sawyer yelled, pointing at him.

"Shut up, you runt!" Lio complained.

"All right, do you want to explain yourselves and stop waking up the whole neighborhood?" Trennon said, looking at the wall clock in the reception. It had just turned 6 in the morning. He picked up Sawyer, who had rosy cheeks and teary eyes, as if about to cry. "It's okay, I'm sure we can figure this out. Tell me."

"We were doing our morning chores like good boys," Lio said, always very funny, outgoing, the complete opposite of his twin, and smiled. "Out of nowhere, we found this giant eggplant, as big as a dog. I'm not kidding, never seen anything like it. And when we approached it, the eggplant detached from its stem, came to life, and started eating the other plants. I swear by Freya!"

"I bet he used some magic he's studying at school, Dad! Just to scare me! He said he'd get me if I ate his cookies, and I did, but it was by accident!" Sawyer said, desperate.

"Shut up, I've already said it's not true!" Lio exclaimed and would definitely have flicked his brother if Dad weren't there.

"Don't talk to your brother like that, Lionardo," Trennon scolded. Lio stayed quiet, knowing it was better not to contradict Dad, who could be quite stern at times.

"Okay, but seriously, it wasn't me. You have to go see it."

"Sure, show me," Trennon said.

They left the reception together and went to the small vegetable garden in front of the dojo. It was going to be a hot day; they could feel the humidity on the island. Sweat droplets had already started forming on Sawyer's forehead. Lio showed the way to where the eggplant was. He pointed, and in its place, there was only disturbed soil. The surrounding plants did seem to have been bitten and torn.

"He enchanted the eggplant just to scare me," Sawyer whined again, convinced. Lio looked at his brother as if he wanted to throttle him.

"Enough with the teasing," Trennon said to Sawyer, very serious. "I'll investigate what's going on. Let's go home so I can talk to your mothers, see if they know anything."

They agreed, but as they started to walk away from the vegetable garden, they heard a noise. The eggplant was there, attacking, biting, and tearing the lettuces and cabbages nearby. Trennon put Sawyer down and went over there. The two boys watched him from a distance. The eggplant, upon seeing him, hurried to escape, but he conjured his Ki in his hand, a bright yellow, aimed at the eggplant, and captured it from afar, just with the energy.

He brought it back to his hand and held it firmly. A huge mouth opened in the middle of the body, biting the air, showing tiny teeth, and trying to chomp down on whoever was holding it.

"OK, this is very strange," he said and crushed the eggplant with his hand, which still glowed in yellow. It was very easy for him because he had many points in strength. The kids screamed when they saw it. Lio wrinkled his nose, and Sawyer raised his little arms, celebrating as if he had just defeated a monster.

The three walked back home, the kids unable to stop talking about what had happened.

Alicia was making breakfast. She was a tall woman with black hair, tanned skin, and bright brown eyes. Two brown ears protruded from the middle of her hair, and beneath the long black skirt she wore, her nine tails emerged. She was half kitsune, a beautiful woman.

Trennon went over there, kissed her cheek, and ruffled Yan's hair, who was sitting at the table in front of a large plate of boiled potatoes with white sauce. Unlike Lio, he had inherited the mother's skin color, brown, black hair, and brown eyes, but he was entirely human, just like Lio.

"Darling, did you do something different with the garden plants?" Trennon asked as Alicia placed a plate of turnips in the middle of the table—Sawyer's favorites, who was half-dragon, like his mother, Paige.

"Well, I think I started using a new pesticide I bought in the city," she said without paying much attention while putting Sawyer in the highchair, and Trennon served a plate for him. Lio had already gone to sit next to his brother and was talking about a new TV show they both liked, while stuffing his mouth with turnips and potatoes. Yan was much calmer and introverted, so he just listened and nodded while Leo spoke loudly, arms open, always expansive. He had inherited that from his mother, while Yan's personality was much more similar to Trennon's.

"Well, there's a problem," he said, and she looked up at him, confused. He showed what was left of the eggplant. Its mouth full of little teeth was still visible. Alicia picked it up in her hand and made a face.

"What the heck..." she said, and Sawyer reached out to her, pointing.

"Mama said a bad word, Mama said a bad word!"

Alicia seemed not to have noticed, then raised her eyebrows and covered her mouth with her hands, somewhat shocked.

"Oops," she said, while Sawyer kept shouting.

"Leave Mom alone," Lio said, grabbing a piece of bread and threatening to throw it at Sawyer. Yan took the bread from his hand, shaking his head. Alicia ignored the scene and focused on the eggplant.

"Hold on, I'll show you what I bought," she said, and went out of the kitchen toward the backyard. Meanwhile, Trennon sat at the table, preparing a plate for himself. He also liked turnips and potatoes with sauce; it was one of his favorite breakfasts. Most of the things they ate came from their own garden, so it was crucial that the vegetables there didn't have teeth.

In the meantime, Denise showed up. She was a short woman, shorter than the twelve-year-old twins. She had black eyes and hair of the same color, and her body was wide, her breasts were large, and she had two small horns protruding from the middle of her hair. She was part cow. She was wearing a black and white dress that fit tightly at the waist, showing off her curves. She was very beautiful and was the mother of the first son, Atos, who followed his mother. He was also entirely human but had inherited a bit of Denise's genes, as he was very tall, and his shoulders were broad, resembling a bit of an ox due to his strength. His hair and eyes were the same dark brown color. He was already 15 years old.

"I've told you I need to talk to your dad, Atos," Denise said, entering the kitchen and going straight to the cabinet to grab a wide ceramic mug she used for her morning milk. She went to the fridge and took out a glass bottle of milk.

"But mom, everyone knows you run the show, so just say you allowed it."

"Oh, you little scoundrel, you know things don't work that way here at home. We settle everything by consensus."

Atos didn't let the smile fade. He went to Sawyer, kissed his cheek. "Hi, my love," he said. Sawyer grabbed him around the neck and returned the kiss on his cheek, leaving it a bit messy, as all little kids always were. Atos didn't mind. They were very close. Then he went to Lio and Yan, messed up their hair, and Lio tried to slap him for it, but just in jest. After that, he went to his seat at the table, already grabbing a plate and serving himself breakfast.

"Ask what to me?" Trennon said, with a smile.

Atos was very good at school, always got good grades, excelled in sports, and was very popular, but still, sometimes, he got into trouble.

"Your son wants to travel with the huseball team, and I told him I don't know," Denise said.

"And I told her that I always get good grades and am a good boy, and I deserve it," Atos replied with his mouth half full of turnips. "This is very good, did Mom Alicia make it?"

Trennon nodded, while Denise sat next to him, drinking her glass of milk. Usually, Alicia cooked for them, as her class was Elemental Cook, which meant she could prepare dishes with the help of element manipulation.

"Son, I'll look into it later, okay? When do you have to give an answer?"

"As soon as possible," he replied, but that didn't seem like the truth from his funny face, as if he were telling a little lie.

"I'll talk to your coach today to find out how this trip will be," Trennon said. He was close to everyone in the monastery.

"All right, Dad, thanks."

"We have a bigger problem," Lio said. "The vegetables are coming to life."

"What?" Atos asked, confused, looking at Trennon. Alicia rushed back at that moment.

"Come here, dear!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. Trennon got up and inevitably was followed by the entire table, even Sawyer, who started screaming 'get me out of here, and I want to go too,' shaking his highchair, and Atos carried him to help.

The entire garden seemed to have revolted. Cauliflowers, lettuces, and cabbages had come to life and were biting everything in sight, jumping and fighting with each other.

"Wow!" exclaimed Atos, with Sawyer still in his arms, who started to scream. Lio started laughing, and Yan didn't say anything, just stared with wide eyes.

"What do we do now?" Alicia asked, as the vegetables began to realize they had company, and that they looked delicious. They started jumping towards the family.

"Go inside, boys, now. This is dangerous!" Trennon exclaimed urgently, and Denise didn't hesitate. As soon as a cabbage jumped near her foot, she gave it a strong stomp, and it split in half. "Take them inside, Alicia!" Trennon said, as Denise and he started facing the vegetables.

Denise kicked a cauliflower, while Trennon picked up two cucumbers and smashed them with his fists. Alicia began to run inside, pushing the kids.

"I want to stay and see the evil vegetables!" Lio protested,

"No way!" Alicia said, pulling them.

Paige arrived at that moment. She was the smallest of the three women, just a little taller than Denise, but she was petite. Her face and body had some green scales, although there were human features, blue eyes, long and straight black hair. Two little wings emerged from her back, as she was half dragon. She had just woken up, had nocturnal habits, and the others took turns letting her sleep in later.

"Mom, the vegetables came to life and have teeth!" Lio shouted, while still being pushed by Alicia. Paige looked at the situation in the garden and at Denise and Trennon facing the vegetables.

Then, she didn't think twice. She took a breath and blew a large burst of fire, immediately frying the entire garden. Vegetables with teeth or without teeth, all were destroyed. The chaos stopped, and they stood there for a moment, looking at each other, breathing deeply.

"What a crazy thing," Denise said and hugged Paige. "Thanks for saving us," Denise said, but Paige had tears in her eyes.

"My vegetables!" she exclaimed, whining. She was the one who took care of the garden the most, having the Botany class. "I cultivated them with so much care, only for them to turn against my family and try to eat us! It's ironic... just because we were going to eat them... but I didn't think the vegetables cared if we ate them..." she whined, and Denise continued hugging her.

"It's okay, it's okay," Denise said, finding it a bit amusing.

"We have to figure out what caused this," Trennon said, very serious.

The three returned to the kitchen, where Lio and Atos were arguing for a place at the window, Sawyer was screaming on the floor, protesting that he also wanted to see outside, and Yan was the only one who was quiet, watching the situation. Alicia seemed nervous, standing behind them, biting one of the cat claws she had.

"This is what I bought," she told Trennon, handing him the bottle of pesticides she had bought at the market. It looked like a normal bottle, white with black writing, but there were no further indications; it seemed homemade.

"Let's go to the market, and you show me who sold this to you."

"Dad is going to deal with him," said Sawyer, celebrating.

"Can I come too? Can I come too?" Lio asked, jumping in place, and Trennon shook his head.

"You have class. Get ready, or you'll be late."

"Damn," Lio muttered. Trennon gave him a warning look, so he hurried to his room, followed by Yan.

The good thing about having many adults in the house was that they could divide tasks and take care of the children. Denise offered to take them to the monastery for classes. Paige said she would clean up the mess outside and the morning dishes, while Alicia and Trennon went to the market to find out who had sold them that stuff.

To get there, they took the family's mount, which was in the backyard stable. It was a furry green tiger, with lush fur and long fangs sticking out of its mouth, like a saber-toothed tiger. It was as big as a horse, very agile, and had been in the family since it was just a cub. Its name was Leaf, and Trennon went to him, petting behind his ear and opening the stable where he stayed.

They knew how to ride without reins, so the two climbed onto Leaf's back, grabbed his fur, and Trennon said, "Let's go to the Village, please."

Leaf was already trained to know where to go, so he started his route with agility, running. There was no asphalt, and the roads were basically dirt and sand, which was a problem when it rained, but fortunately, they were in the summer, and they weren't having issues with that at the moment. There were several trees and native vegetation of the island, quite dense, but they went around without having to go through the middle of a forest trail until they got close to the Village.

The Village was paved with small cobblestones and made up of small stone houses with thatched roofs. Several people and creatures were already there at that hour, in the shops, or making their way to work. This was usually how the Village's work was organized: there was a central Post that took the necessary tasks, determined the required adventurer level, whether a specific class was needed or not, and the reward. Whoever registered the task paid, and the Post passed it on to the adventurers - of course, keeping a part for themselves. There were other fixed careers, such as shop owners or, like Trennon, who ran an establishment. But many adventurers lived only on those quests and lined up in front of the Village's largest building, a two-story wooden structure like a cozy cabin in the forest, the mission Post.

Trennon and Alicia passed by it, slowing down, and went to where the market was. It was a closed street only for various stalls of traveling vendors. They sat on the ground or makeshift stools, or on wooden stands, displaying their items and products. Sometimes, the adventurers themselves went there to sell what they had found on their quests.

Alicia went to the stall where she had bought the pesticide, and they realized they weren't the only ones complaining. There was a small crowd in front of the merchant who tried to explain himself, but people were very upset.

A man with pig ears and a protruding belly, wearing brown overalls, was shaking a cage in front of the vendor whose interior had a radio, and the radio had teeth and was trying to bite him. Beside him, a human lady with gray hair, glasses, and a hump, was complaining about a bag. The bag also tried to bite her, but she had managed to use clothespins to keep it closed. In addition, but at least a dozen people were complaining about something similar, and the vendor, a guy in his 30s with blond hair, in puffy clothes, was trying to talk.

"Calm down, people, calm down. There's no need to panic."

"I want my coins back!" a man shouted, shaking his wallet.

"I don't just want the coins; what about my finger that this creature almost tore off? How irresponsible!" a bear woman spoke. She was short and followed by 3 smaller bear cubs at her feet, probably her children. Everyone started talking at the same time.

"So, it wasn't just the pesticide," Trennon said to Alicia as they dismounted. "You can explore the village, buddy, but be careful and come back soon," he told Leaf, while stroking the side of his cat-like cheek. Leaf meowed and walked away to graze. Surprisingly, he was herbivorous, and those teeth served only as protection.

Trennon approached the crowd. He was well-known in the Village. Several families had their children training with him in martial arts, and he was also respected as a great warrior. So, when he appeared, people looked at him, stopping talking, and Alicia followed him with the pesticide in hand.

"Looks like you got into a big mess," he said to the merchant. "Where did you get these items? This is not normal."

"These were loots I got after defeating a mimic in the cave," the merchant said.

"A mimic!" Trennon repeated. "Now it all makes sense. These must be its offspring. It kept them dormant for a while, but now they woke up and returned to their natural form. This wasn't loot; these were monsters! Probably smaller mimics that should have been inside the boss mimic."

The merchant's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know," he spoke, as the crowd resumed complaining and yelling at him.

Having been a teacher for a long time, controlling that kind of crowd was easy for Trennon. So, he positioned himself in front of everyone, raised his hands, waiting for them to give him the floor. As he did so, he looked at everyone with a serious look, just as he did in his classes when the kids didn't want to listen. He knew it was better than shouting, as shouting only generated more noise. Slowly, people began to realize what was happening and fell silent.

"Let's sort this out. How many items did you roughly sell?”

"Oh! About 80," he said.

"My Freya!" a woman shouted, but Trennon gave her a stern look before the uproar began again. Then, no one said anything, and they remained quiet to hear him.

"Okay, I have a skill where I can manipulate my Ki to scan places for monster Ki, which is a bit different from the usual. I'll use it across the island to try to find the items and destroy them because they're not items; they're monsters. And, meanwhile, you can refund the money to these people.”

"But, my lord, you see, it's not my fault they bought a mimic..." he said, in a typical charlatan speech. But Trennon gave him a stern look, and that serious look made anyone freeze. "Of course, I'll refund the money," the vendor said, changing his mind.

"Very well," Trennon said and addressed the crowd. "If possible, can you help me by finding more people who were affected by the items? Do you know anyone?"

"My neighbor bought a spoon from him, and it tried to eat dinner!" a woman spoke.

"He sold a necklace to my wife, and that necklace tried to attack me when I kissed her," another guy said.

Trennon smiled. "Anyone who can destroy the items may destroy them, but those who can't, bring them to me, and I will destroy them. Okay?" he said, and everyone agreed, applauding him and rushing to start the search.

Trennon spent the rest of the day using his radar skill, where he raised his hand, his energy pulsed scanning the surroundings, and he could sense where there was a monster's energy modification. Then, he went there, and sure enough, it was the item.

Fortunately, the island wasn't very large, and there weren't many residents, only about 400. Soon, they managed to recover most, if not all, of the items.

"See if you're more careful next time," Trennon complained to the merchant at the end of the search. The merchant was in a terrible mood, handing out gold coins to a line of people who had bought from him.

"Sorry," he mumbled, upset.

"Well, there weren't any major incidents, so it's okay," Trennon said. The only problem was that he had lost a day of training at the gym. Denise was also a Monk like him, so she covered him in some classes, but there were others that only he could teach to the more advanced master levels.

When he was heading home at the end of the day, he felt a different energy, the same as the mimics, coming from his house. He looked at the garden, and it was still covered in ashes, thanks to Paige's earlier attack, but everything was normal. At dinner, the boys talked about their days and also had fun playing a family board game before going to their rooms. The boys still had homework to do, then take a bath and sleep. That lingering energy still bothered Trennon; he could feel it, but he decided that he had probably used too much energy searching the entire island all day, so maybe it was a side effect that sometimes occurred. He let it go and went to sleep with his three wives in his room.

 

"Lio, for the love of Freya, if Dad finds out about this..." Yan said, serious, running his hand through his short, low hair. He was much more obedient than Lio.

"When I found out it was just a harmless mimic causing such a stir on the island, I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass," Lio said. He was holding a pencil with teeth on the tip.

"How did you get that?" Yan asked.

"I've already told you, Lutz sold it to me at school for four bars of honeycomb. He said he bought it from a merchant, and then rumors started that our dad was looking for mimics, and that the same merchant had sold them to everyone. Everyone at school was interested in buying this, but I gave the highest bid."

The pencil tried to bite the tip of his finger. It was long and black, but Lio closed its mouth with duct tape, wrapping it several times around its mouth.

"It's going to be hilarious lending this to the bullies," he said, closing the mimic pencil in his pencil case and going to sleep.