***One month ago, exactly the morning of the day Arthur departed from the Tuxi lower headquarters***

Mia struck her fists against the training pillar over and over again. 

No matter how many times she did it, there was no satisfaction in her eyes. 

The fat beads of sweat decorating her forehead bore testimony to just how hard she was working. 

‘Not enough,’ she thought, pushing herself for just one more hit, just one more combo, just one more routine. 

Every now and then, a small quality of Mia’s body would change. 

It was a minute development. A hardly noticeable difference. But as the consecutive changes started to stack, Mia’s cultivation refined. 

‘This is amazing,’ she thought, unable to contain her excitement any longer. 

There wasn’t a single troubling thing about the current stage of her growth. 

‘Ever since I reached it, training became more of a pleasure rather than the daily duty,’ she thought, taking two seconds to catch her breath. She then threw herself right back to boxing with the training pillar. 

‘Who knew that having all the cultivating resources in the world would be such a game-changer,’ she thought, taking a quick look at the stack of monster cores sitting neatly in the corner of her formation. 

With her focus broken, Mia lowered her hands and stepped out of the formation. ‘We will need to remake them quickly,’ she thought, looking down at the half-assed job that someone did when setting up the arrays. 

It was supposed to be a training field, yet it was hardly better than just training out in the open. 

‘It’s nice to see that my plans are starting to bear fruit,’ she thought, moving her eyes at the figures of her teammates. 

Outside of the girl of the young couple, everyone in her team reached the fourth stage. 

“You grew stronger,” Mia whispered under her nose as she approached Veila’s array. 

Back when the team was first created, Veila didn’t believe in her ability or usefulness. She had some tricks under her sleeve, but she generally tagged along. 

But now, a mere week after receiving proper grooming, she was now the one nearest to break into the fifth stage. 

Veila didn’t hear Mia’s remark. She was too focused on repeating exactly the same four moves that Mia taught her. 

Whenever Veila’s hands would strike the air, a small pocket of air would appear on top of her knuckles, giving testimony to the strength and speed behind the strike.

‘And outside of this surprise,’ Mia looked away from her friend, taking a glance at Sander, ‘he is doing just like I expected,’ she thought. 

Sander lagged behind Veila in terms of cultivation… But his power was on another level. 

‘It’s as if there was another kind of force behind his fists,’ Mia thought, puzzled by her unexpected findings. 

“Good afternoon, students!” Arganar shouted as he made his way through the arch decorating the entrance to the training area.

Initially, he was only interested in Mia due to her massive growth. Yet, as the elder spent more and more time with the rest of her group, he came to like the group pretty much. 

“Good morning,” Mia smiled, nodding her head with respect to the man. 

It wasn’t an expected visit, but everyone welcomed Arganar’s presence. 

“First thing first,” the elder said, rubbing the ring on his finger. 

An elegant sword appeared in his hand a moment later. 

“Sander, do you remember what I said about your predispositions?” he asked, swinging the sword’s blade down as he reversed his grip of the handle. 

“You pointed out that I’m more inclined to use weapons than my fists, elder,” Sander instantly snapped out of his training, cupping his hands together as he bowed to the elder. 

“That’s right,” Arganar smiled before throwing the sword forward. “I would recommend you start training with this from today on,” he added before shaking his head. “Sorry, kids, that’s it for the gifts for today,” he added in an apologetic tone. 

‘You can get their gratitude for practically no cost,’ Arganar thought, smiling gently. 

‘Those kids make me recall my early days in the sect,’ he thought, blinking a few times to dry his eyes. 

“Also,” Arganar shook his head as he turned his eyes towards Mia. “I looked into the matter that you asked me to,” he said, getting closer to the girl and leaning over her ear. “And there it is,” he said after hesitating a little. 

Arganar passed a small storage ring to Mia’s hand, making sure not to let the others see. 

“I don’t really know why you didn’t receive it. But the easiest explanation is that someone doesn’t like you,” he added in a soft whisper before retreating. 

If there was a single thing that everyone knew about Mia, it was just how dear she held the memory of her lover. And it was no secret that her sole motivation to grow was to return to her lover’s side. 

‘So this is what Arthur wanted to give me,’ Mia thought, tightening her fist around the ring. 

Her eyes filled with emotions. 

A wave of hot air hit the girl. Her cheeks brightened up a little as she felt itching all over her body. 

‘And if I think about it, doesn’t that mean…’ she thought, resisting the urge to look at the hidden item.

‘That he held it in his hands?’ Mia thought, her hands starting to tremble a little. 

A sudden and unexplainable urge appeared in Mia’s mind. 

Her tongue turned sore as if some kind of force was pulling it down against Mia’s will. 

‘Wait… why do I…’ the girl hesitated, taking a single step back. ‘Why do I want to lick it?’

Mia froze in her place, refusing to let her body move a single muscle. If she relaxed even a little, she couldn’t hold her strange desire back. 

‘What the hell is this,’ she thought, scared witless of her own reaction. ‘Is that just how excited I become just by thinking about him?’ she asked herself.

Mia refused to accept it.. This side to her that she never knew about before.