As I predicted, the duel between Master and the unknown woman ended shortly after as the woman’s head flew off, thudding on the ground while Master dispersed his sword. For a moment, a strange expression crossed his face, then he turned towards me. I ran at him.

“Master, that was amazing!” I exclaimed.

Master ruffled my hair, joking, “Yeah, your master is the strongest.”

“I didn’t know you had so much mana or such an amazing concept, master.” I replied.

“I learned from my master.” Master grinned, “She was an amazing person.”

So that was how it was. Geia had passed down her knowledge and powers to Master. I was glad that she definitely found salvation after I betrayed her.

“Master, where are we going?” I asked, “This isn’t in the direction of the cabin.”

“Of course, we’re not going straight back to the cabin. I need to visit Bretan to get a new sword.” Master raised the rusted sword he had retrieved, “This is just a lump of iron now.”

“Master, how skilled is Sir Bretan in terms of smithing?” I glanced the black rings on my fingers, “His gear seems all pretty high class.”

“That’s a given. Bretan has been refining his craft for his whole career,” Master snorted, “Do you think I would buy equipment from someone without expertise in their trade?”

I went down a thought train while Master said, “Besides that, Lupus, you’ve been acting strangely nice to me today…”

Master leaned to my face, mouth split in a wide smirk, “Were you inspired by my almighty power?”

I chuckled weakly. Although Master could be considered one of the strongest alive, he was still not as powerful as Rahzan. If Master was a transcendent, Rahzan was…an untouchable existence that ruled over everything. It was like comparing the sky to the heavens. Even among unbelievable monsters, there were those that broke the boundaries of the world just by existing.

Master rapped on the wooden door with his knuckles. The village was relatively sleepy and dull today. Only the distant call of merchants and shuffling of horse hooves could be faintly heard. The door creaked open to reveal Madame Korrine, Sir Bretan’s wife.

“Zanharu! Lupus too!” She eyed us from head to toe, “Why are you covered in blood? Zanharu, did you bring the kid to a battlefield or what?”

Master coughed awkwardly, “We just went to clear a monster den. Nothing special. I need a new sword though.”

Madame Korrine sighed, “Zanharu, you clearly don’t know how to take care of a child. Come in already, you two.”

I didn’t resist as Master and I were led inside the cottage by Madame Korrine. She offered me a fresh set of clothes.

“My nephew came over once and we prepared clothes for him,” Madame Korrine said, “Don’t worry, he never wore them.”

I thanked her and fitted on the outfit. Glancing in the mirror, I flipped out the shirt collar. My height was around average, but my frame was still at most under average. My shoulders weren’t broad and no muscle could be seen on my arms despite my normal strength. My looks were only above average, now accompanied by a scar running from the right chin to the right eye.

I exited the guest bedroom, where I had been changing, and went down the stairs to where a girl waved at me.

“Lupus! Over here!” Hesna shouted.

I walked to her, raising a hand in greetings.

“It’s already been three months!” Hesna pouted, looking slightly sad, “Why didn’t you come visit sooner?”

“Ah…well I was busy.” I replied.

Hesna looked at my face, “You also got a scar! Cool!”

I touched the skin next to my scar, “Is it that cool?”

Hesna shrugged, “Anyways, you better make up for not coming earlier. Let’s go outside!”

She grabbed my hand before I could resist and we walked to the backyard. It was a partly sunny afternoon with rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds. Summer was just around the corner with the warming weather.

“It’s time for you to teach me more about mana also.” Hesna’s green eyes seemed to sparkle with anticipation, “I made a bit of progress on my own though.”

She clasped her hands together and wind started to swirl around her. Grass tilted as a mini-whirlwind appeared around her feet, lifting her up into the air.

“I can fly using this,” Hesna smiled, “Seems fun, right? I can win lots of games of tag using this.”

I was blown away by the progression. According to Master, flying was a feat, even for mages from the Kingdom of Wind, Ventus.

“That’s amazing. I’ll teach you a bit more about how to utilize your magic.” I put on an indifferent expression and started lecturing about basic mana theory. At the end, I also taught Hesna how to create air bullets.

“You can raise a palm like this,” I stretched out an arm and my hand immediately started glowing with blue mana, “You gather wind at the center of your hand and concentrate the force at the tip. Then, you release control of the bullet.”

I demonstrated the process, letting a blue air bullet streak across the air and hit a tree, snapping the trunk in half.

“Wow! Let me try.” Hesna scrunched up her face and raised a palm.

Wind immediately spiraled into a bullet shape and densified around the tip. I spotted minor flaws in the execution, but the bullet still traversed the backyard. Despite zigzagging out of trajectory and crashing into the ground, the bullet was still impressive.

“That’s a great first attempt,” I instructed, “Try a few more times.”

Hesna smiled and loaded wind onto her palm once again. It still amazed me how similar she was to my former girlfriend. I was sure that if I saw a ten-year old version of my old girlfriend, she would be identical to Hesna.