ã€ŠThe Plains In Superã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Runaway

    Superhumanity was once just a thought. A fiction, that nobody expected to see in reality.

    That is why on October 11, 3018, the entirety of Earth''s population was shocked to see five people take their first flight, as superhumans, around the globe, with twice the speed of light, slicing through the air just like comets passing by.

    It was a magnificent sight, indeed.

    But more importantly, it was hope.

    It brought hope to humanity as they stood on the edge of extinction by a virus that had been devouring the Earth''s population for the last two years. Due to its severe destructive properties that cause human bodies to involuntarily fail when infected."

    The teacher took a short breath and looked around her class, checking if her students were still listening.

    "But how did we become superhumans, Ma''am?" one of the curious 11-year-old students raised her hands and asked..

    The teacher smiled upon seeing her students being attentive and participating in class, "Well, the great Scientist Lectric Jay Co, the lead researcher of Area 21''s Lab- who specialized in alien science, took it upon himself and his team of 4 other researchers to look for a solution that could help stop the threat of humanity''s extinction posed by the virus.

    Mundane ingredients were proved unsuccessful, and so, Dr. Lecric and his team decided to use both alien and normal ingredients in the hopes of saving the world from the said virus.

    This virus was called ''The CRWN'' and after several years of multiple trials and errors and a lot of people dying already from the said virus, Dr. Lectric''s team finally came up with a formula that did not only solve the threat to humanity''s extinction- but also allowed us to evolve into a much greater type of species to walk on this planet. This was the start of another era in the world''s history to which it was called--?"

    "The Super Age!" the kids shouted in unison just right after the teacher finished reading that very long passage of history to the class.

    But just as before the teacher was going to continue the lecture, her eyes darted towards the ceiling-to-floor glass window at her right, into the entrance of the forest outside, as her super senses felt that there was something strange there.

    She heard a crunch of dry leaves, a very subtle sound from almost a mile away that might be caused by a squirrel or a cat''s little footsteps. However, she felt uncomfortable, as if someone was spying on her.

    Looking back at her chattering students, a bizarre thought crossed her mind. ''What if it was a child?'' A super child can make that sound and give her the creeps at the same time- that feeling where you feel like you''re being watched over.

    So, to check if her intuition was correct, the teacher momentarily excused herself from the class and called two of the guards that were on duty to check if someone was indeed in the forest located near the fiery borders of Clandamascarene, their country.

    The fiery border of Clandamascarene was a 50-meter tall wall of artificial flames that kept the intruders such as genetically evolved beasts, monsters, and outsiders from their country for almost five centuries now since the year 3500.

    The two guards ran in full speed towards the East, where the forest and the wall beyond it were located.

    "You go on ahead. I''ll go check here." the skinnier guard said as he stopped at the entrance of the forest. Meanwhile, his chubby partner ran deeper inside the forest at full speed.

    The first guard faced the classroom, looking for traces of where the kid might have been if there was any kid lost in this forest as what the teacher was expecting.

    And indeed, there was a little girl there, trying to hide from the superman in her plain sight from up above the trees.

    Although she escaped from the guards for a while, she risked going up the tree to hide because crossing that fiery border without any equipment resulted in burns and injuries in her feet and arms.

    The girl''s name was Gemma, Gem for short. She was unaware of her real name since she was just an orphan. But her only memory of her parents was a broken gemstone necklace that was given to her before her parents abandoned her in the wastelands. Due to this broken gemstone, she got the nickname "Gem." And eventually, people found it naturally fitting to complete her name as "Gemma."

    Gem crossed the fiery borders just yesterday and had been staying in the dark forest all night, just herself, her skimpy dress, and a gray gemstone necklace that was now hanging from her neck as she tried to keep her balance in a forward diagonal position, silently observing the guy below her who was still far from noticing her.

    Gem started formulating different scenarios in her head of how she will escape this man if he stayed longer in this area and if she cannot maintain this kind of position anymore due to her fingertips slipping from the slippery branches of the tree.

    And just as when she saw the man preparing to leave the area, a slightly rocking reflection of light on the floor caught his attention, being it was the only ray of light on the floor that was moving but was only slightly noticeable.

    Gem realized that the reflection was coming from her necklace!

    So with no time to waste, Gem jumped from her position and landed on all fours, glancing at the man who was shocked to see someone completely covered in burns. Gem took this opportunity to run while the man was still in shock.

    Soon enough, the man came back to his senses and started running after her, unsure of what kind of creature he was running to capture.

    But Gem was far ahead of him already, the size of her body gave her an advantage upon navigating through the forest, unlike the man who had to exert more effort in avoiding the low branches of the trees that might hit him in the face if he does not pay full attention when running at full speed.

    Not long after, Gem saw that there were no more trees in front of her. She had reached the end of the forest. This was the place where she came from, besides the border that was made of flames.

    "Hey! You! Come back here! Stop running!" the man''s words lacked hostility but for Gem, it felt insincere.

    She was a mile away from him but the both of them knew where each other was. For superhumans, the most common distance where one''s senses would end was one kilometer. And unless the buildings were made of sense defying steel, like here in the open, Gem will need to get out of the man''s 1-kilometer radius to say that she had finally escaped him.

    "Go away! I won''t let you capture me!" Gem shouted, having some courage after remembering the fact that she was the only one who survived the flames. ''I need to value this life¡­ or else their deaths will be in vain,'' she thought.

    ''But how? How will I be able to escape from him?''

    On the other hand, the man''s speed was decreasing. He had seen the end of the forest but was lost in the wonders of how the strange creature was able to understand him and even respond to his voice!

    ''It sounded like a girl¡­ In fact, it looked like a girl! Those blue eyes that were covered by her long black messy hair, it might be a girl! But what happened to her?'' he thought, scanning the plains of where the girl might be.

    Finally, he saw her, staring at the tall flames of the border, was a girl in a dirty white dress, the lights from the sun revealed her skin that was covered in bruises and burns. She was also very skinny and short.

    ''A kid!'' he exclaimed in his mind, unaware of how he should react in this situation.

    "You are not from here, are you?"

    Slowly, he tried getting close to her but the girl looked at him and walked back to the flames of the border whenever he tried to step forward.

    "No! No! Don''t go there!" he halted, trying to convince the girl to not take any more steps.

    A message in the form of a holograph appeared in front of the man, which he could only see.

    It was a message from his other companions from the school, asking where he was and where the trespasser might be.

    Gem was confused as to why the guy''s eyes were fidgeting all while his body was frozen in that position.

    But little did Gem know, the man was actually typing a reply to his comrades, torn between telling the truth or dealing with the girl himself, he chose to stick to his duties and carefully typed his location using his eyes for his comrades.

    Gem was cautious upon moving away from near the borders and realized that the man was distracted, very distracted in fact that he did not notice that Gem had already escaped from his field of vision in that plains.

    Running along the border, Gem was glad that the man was too dumb to give her a chance to escape. But what worried her now was the fact that she had nowhere to go.

    The man finally took his eyes off the screen after sending his response, but little did he realize that Gem was nowhere to be found already!

    ''Ah! I lost her!'' he typed in the words again using his thoughts, this time faster than before because he was not contemplating whether to send the message or not anymore.

    Not long after, a swoosh was heard overhead.

    It was his supervisor, flying to catch the little girl who was not yet aware of his presence.

    "Why couldn''t you catch her!? You''re the fastest guard here right? Now look, the supervisor even came here to catch the girl himself!" the chubbier guard arrived not long after, aggravated about the fact that their supervisor even stepped up to do the job that they were assigned to.

    Gem was running with a smirk on her face upon thinking that she had outrun the man earlier.

    But when she was about to make a jump across a little canal, a hand suddenly caught her nape in the air.

    "Help!" she squeaked, unable to release her voice due to the force that was straining her neck.

    But unfortunately for Gem, there was no one to help her now.

    She was all alone in this scary and dangerous place, after all.

 Chapter 2 - Gemstone

    "What is this, and how did she get here?"

    The masculine supervisor stood firmly on his feet as he scolded his subordinates, concern was visible on his face about the fact that a little girl was able to penetrate their very first line of defense from the outside world.

    And although the girl was heavily wounded, it still did not change the fact that she came from the other side of the border while still being alive.

    No supermen or any other species from outside the fiery walls had done this before.

    "Just how did she survive walking across that flaming hell of a border barefooted!?"

    The two men straightened their bodies and gave a salute to the supervisor, after which the chubbier man stated his explanation while shaking, "We really don''t understand how she got here sir, one of the teachers just alerted us to check if her senses were right- that someone was in the woods and was looking at her. That was all, Sir."

    The supervisor nodded and said, "Well then, go check the area and see if this girl has company."

    Relieved, the two men ran as fast as they could to get away from the supervisor, afraid that they might get a scolding for he was a famous hot-headed superman in this area.

    The supervisor then flew to a new location with Gem still in his hands. He brought her near the fiery borders and took a moment to examine the state of the little girl whose body was as light as a stick in his hold.

    Gem did not bother trying to explain or be friendly with the man, his way of holding her was enough for Gem to realize that she needed to get out of his hold instantly or else her new life would end even before it started.

    To the supervisor, Gem''s way of looking at him resembled a wild dog, the skin on her face compressing on her nose as she growled at him.

    "You don''t belong here, do you?" he asked, his grip on her nape tightening as hard as steel.

    Gem swayed her feet that were suspended from the ground. She had a hard time struggling out of his hold because of her short weak arms that were not enough to inflict any influence on his arm.

    ''How do I break free from his hold?''

    While Gem was brainstorming, the man brought her closer to the border and started asking her questions.

    "Why don''t you have a little chat with me? Tell me where you came from," he started.

    His tone was not hostile or friendly, just enough to intimidate the little girl a little bit but she did not respond.

    Annoyed, the man shook Gem from his hold.

    "Did you walk through this?" he extended her even further to the flames that the border was spitting from the bubbling lava underneath it.

    Gem started to feel the sweat on her forehead as the flames of the border were less than a meter already in front of her. All she could see was fire and the heat was too much for her burnt skin and her body that was already on the verge of dehydration from all that running.

    ''I don''t want to go back there!'' she shouted in her mind but she kept her mouth shut.

    The man retreated from the border and threw Gem to the grassy meadow.

    Not long after, he followed after her and caught her again in his dithering arm.

    Gem struggled even more to get out of his hold that was now even squeezing her neck.

    While trying to prevent the man''s big hand from completely squashing her neck using her hands, an idea popped into her mind.

    One that fruited from her fidgeting feet.

    "If you won''t answer in the count of three, I will crush your vocal cords completely. How are you still alive? ANSWER ME!"

    Gem did not need to answer him to get out of his hold anymore for her plan was foul-proof.

    Or so she thought¡­

    Exerting all her strength, Gem tried to use the force in her hands to maneuver her lower body for a backflip, hitting the back of her head to the man''s hand that then caused his grip to loosen.

    A smirk escaped Gem''s lips as she landed her feet on the man''s muscular arm.

    But as she was about to launch herself from his arm to the air like a frog, the man was fast to react and caught her in the neck again, now using his other arm.

    An amused laugh was heard from behind Gem who had now lost all hope for her life, her limbs hanging in the air lifelessly like a shirt in a clothesline, waiting to be dried from either sunlight or air. But in Gem''s case, it was her ridiculously fragile body that was on the man''s mercy that she had to think about. ''Am I going to die soon? I haven''t even experienced life at this point. What''s the point of crossing that fiery border if we''ll die by the hands of the people on the other side anyway?''

    ''I underestimated this man. In fact, we all misunderstood that the people here will blindly take us in. They''re just like the monsters in the wastelands. In the end, living in this world is useless.''

    Gem closed her eyes, finally accepting the fact that she had no chance of escaping from this guy.

    Slowly, she started feeling all sorts of pain that she ignored earlier while desperately trying to fight for her life. Starting from her feet that were now being tickled by the gush of wind that was blowing loudly, a tear escaped her eye when she realized how burnt and sore it was from all that running. Little bits of debris that she unknowingly stepped on, Gem took one last deep breath of the fresh air that felt new to her to calm herself down. Actually, the air was new to her. She had been so used to the air that was full of chemicals that she was almost able to taste the sweet scent of the grass beneath her.

    If only life was as easy as breathing.

    As she finished exhaling all the air in her lungs, Gem thought that she was ready to die.

    But on Gem''s heart, there was a fire that was still burning, figuratively and literally.

    She opened her eyes, panicking to get the burning thing away from her chest using her arms who had now come back to life.

    It was her gemstone necklace, secretly giving her instructions on how to escape from the man completely.

    Gem thought that it was her idea, using her necklace- a broken crystal shard that was as big as a grown man''s thumb, dull on the inside but sharp on the outside- to strike the man in one of his eyes.

    If only she could get an angle where she can easily strike this in one of his eyes¡­

    The man was amused by the actions of the little girl in his hand, but he was far too concerned about his ''duty'' to this country that he could not let a rare incident like this go without getting to the bottom of it.

    He was planning to kill her if she attempted another escape for his patience was really short, but her actions told him otherwise.

    ''This girl looks ready to die.'' he concluded in his mind, letting his guard down and opening his gadget secretly.

    Gem noticed the man was not talking for quite a long time now.

    ''What is he waiting for? If he stays still like this for more than thirty seconds my plan could actually work!''

    Life started to fill Gem''s body again as she observed the situation, realizing that the man was distracted, she moved slowly to rip the cheap string off her necklace which was only made of straw, making her job easier.

    Now that the sharp crystal stone was in her hand, Gem tilted her head cautiously, looking for a chance to strike him.

    She thought of the different scenarios that could happen with this plan, looking for loopholes where her chances of escaping would go downhill.

    Thankfully, there were only a few moves that only a dumb person would do in this situation, which she still took note of.

    The plan was; to find a perfect timing where the man would have the least time to react, prick his arm so she could be released, and use his arm as leverage to turn her body around, just enough for her short arms to reach his eye.

    This was Gem''s last shot of escaping because the supervisor''s comrades were already on their way to their location after sending the message to them using his hidden gadget.

    Gem did not notice this distraction because the Supervisor was so subtle in typing with his eye. But the distraction that signaled Gem''s plan to start was the loud ring of the bells, coming from the city which indicated the end of their working hours.

    This caught the man''s attention, momentarily looking behind to check.

    Gem took this as her chance to win against him, she squealed and pricked his forearm as fast as she could, loosening the guy''s hold on her which she followed with a swift kick in the air using her left foot, creating a momentum that enabled her to turn around and reach for his left eyeball with the crystal on her left arm, thrusting it in with no sympathy while focusing her strength on her hold to his arm which she used as a leverage to make this all possible.

    Blood started gushing out of the man''s eye, covering Gem''s crystal and hand with its sticky red substance.

    The man saw Gem''s faint smile right before his other eye got covered in red liquid.

    Landing on all fours, Gem quickly took this opportunity to run towards the opposite direction of where she came from, afraid to be caught by the other guys there.

    She was holding the gemstone tightly in her hands with a smirk on her face as she ran through the meadow at full speed.

    ''My feet might have been hurt pretty badly but this is no reason to slack off and call it a day!''

    ''I will have a new life no matter what!''

    Soon enough, shadows began flocking in Gem''s position, she looked up and saw a swarm of superhumans. Some minding their own business and some watching her and the injured man run.

    Behind her, was the man who had now recovered from his loss, his patience completely gone as he sprinted to catch her, swearing to kill her immediately.

    This overwhelming situation caused Gem to trip on her own, the soul of her body felt like leaving already.

    ''I knew it. There''s no way I can escape this.'' she thought while her body rolled downhill, losing all the strength that she thought she had upon escaping that man. But now there''s more of him, what could a mere child do in this situation rather than accept her fate already?

    The supervisor lifted himself to the air and estimated a point to where he could catch her fall and land on her with all might. Upon finding that point, he wasted no time and exerted all his force to his supposed landing on her.

    But the girl instinctively held on to the grassy dirt before her, a loud thud followed after her but failed to crush her due to the decreased speed of her spin.

    The man had miscalculated, more like he assumed that Gem would not grab on to her life, landing on nothing but the ground, the man was more furious now than ever.

    And unlike Gem, this man had more strength in him.

    He approached her with heavy footsteps, his eye was still bleeding but he did not seem to mind. The frown on his face was enough to discourage Gem to fight. In a swift move, Gem was brought in the air again by his arm, aching to squeeze her neck with all his might.

    "You brat." he thundered with a deep voice as his hands curled even tighter.

    But just before he could finish her off, a stream of light blinded his remaining eye, including everybody else that was watching.

    Unable to see, feel, or even hear anything but a deafening silence, the man unwillingly let go of her and strangely fell weak on the floor...

    As Gem''s necklace started sucking all of his powers away from him.

 Chapter 3 - Cocoon

    Once the emptiness had enveloped every superhuman''s vision in the vicinity, Gem found herself falling weakly into the ground not far away from the man who tried to kill her.

    But unlike the man''s sudden cause of weakness, the weakness that Gem felt was due to the wounds in her strained body which had gone through a lot already at this point.

    Gem unconsciously grabbed hold of her chest out of habit, looking for comfort in her necklace but found agony instead when she realized that it was gone.

    Looking around, Gem thought that it had fallen somewhere nearby after using it as a weapon, but her vision was being blinded by the bright white light, she couldn''t see clearly where it might be.

    She couldn''t hear anything nor feel the grass that they were just standing on a minute ago.

    The coldness of the floor was the only temperature that her body could take note of. Not even a breeze of air can be felt in that place as if she had been transported into a completely different dimension.

    Slowly, her vision was starting to get used to the light. She felt the smooth surface of the white floor where she found an unconscious man not far from her..

    ''It was the man who was trying to kill me!'' She screamed in her head, her saliva building up in her throat, afraid that he would come for her if she were to make a sound.

    Tears started flooding the girl''s vision upon remembering the terrifying situation she was in just a minute ago.

    Yesterday, she was ready to die when crossing the border with several other lesser Superhumans who wanted to seek a better life on the other side.

    One by one, they started turning into ashes beside her, she could still hear their screams of pain. She had no idea how she was able to reach the other side with just a few burns.

    But she was lucky to be alive. This drove her to run into the nearest facility where she saw light and non-poisonous trees, far from what she had been used to seeing every day back at her hometown.

    And as she woke up, she heard a sound that resembled her own. Voices of children laughing and chattering, and a teacher asking them to be quiet.

    ''Superhumans!'' At last! She had found her kind!

    But it didn''t end up nicely for her. She was silently spying on the superhumans, formulating a plan in her mind of how she would approach them.

    But they didn''t give her a chance to talk, instead, they treated her like a monster.

    Upon remembering this, Gem sobbed quietly.

    Having to deal with the pain in her body and losing her friends were already enough to break her heart, but losing her necklace was the worst. It was the only memory she had of her late parents. And even though they left her in a terrible place, Gem was still eager to see them and ask them why they did it. If they had powers more advanced than normal superhumans, why would they have left her in the wastelands?

    "Hey, can you hear me?"

    Suddenly, an angel''s figure appeared in front of her. Landing softly on the ground beside her.

    ''Mom?'' She thought, accepting the possibility that the place she''s in right now might be the afterlife that she and her friends were just talking about before crossing the borders.

    "See you in the afterlife, Gem!"

    "I think I''m here now.." She said weakly, her voice hoarse from the damage that the superman did to her vocal cords.

    But the woman, however, was not her mom, an angel, spirit, or anything that''s likely from the other realms. She was just a normal superhuman who happened to have the same necklace as her, granting her the pass to enter this whole new dimension that Gem unconsciously made.

    Paying no attention to who Gem was and how she was able to piss the superhuman enough for him to want to kill her, the woman thought there was still not enough reason to justify his actions to a kid this small.

    The woman''s name was Venedette, and although she was still busy dealing with her own business in this city, she just couldn''t turn a blind eye to what was happening, especially when there was a lot of people watching yet no one tried to help the little girl or stop the superman from beating her up!

    ''If only I paid attention to what they were looking at earlier then I would''ve been able to save you from that horrible beast!'' she thought with regret, almost bursting out of tears but still managed to hold it in by biting her lip.

    Venedette was a mother of two kids, and mothers hate it the most when their kids get beaten by others for unknown reasons. ''I''m sure if your parents were here, they would do the same¡­ but for now I''ll take care of you, little one.'' She thought.

    Gem felt the hands of the woman in hers, ''she''s warm¡­''

    Confusing her if she''s really dead or is this still life?

    When her vision was cleared from the tears, she saw something familiar dangling in the woman''s neck.

    "M-my necklace."

    Venedette heard this and wondered why the girl was suddenly asking for her necklace, but despite the random comment the girl made, she still took it off and gave it to her with no hesitation.

    The girl then looked happy upon holding that thing.

    "Hang in there, I''ll get us some help," she said, trying to see just how severe Gem''s condition has been, only to find out that her case was already hopeless.

    ''Where can I find help in this empty place?'' She looked around, looking for a place to go or anyone that she could ask for help, but there was nothing. It was only the three of them in that very bright area of light.

    She looked back at Gem.

    ''Covered in bruises and burns, just what did this girl do to deserve all of this!!?'' She raged, finding the corpse of the man not far from them and looking at it without remorse.

    ''Is he dead? If not, then I''ll gladly kill him!'' Slowly, she rose, her shoes screeching along the surface of the floor and was the only sound that echoed inside that whole place.

    "You son of a-"

    The image of a floating cyan gemstone, collecting what seemed to be cyan essence from the fit man''s body, stopped her act. Her jaw-dropping from the amazing swirls and light that it offered this whole empty white space.

    Little by little, the gemstone started exerting drops of what seemed to be water with a faint cyan color that automatically connected with each other, making their way to Gem by flowing through the air smoothly like a current that was inside an invisible abstract tube.

    Gem started to feel the warmness of the liquid that was sticking to her, soon making a shape that resembled a pill, surrounding her body like a cocoon.

    This feeling made Gem smile as it was comfortable, very comfortable in the fact that her body had started to feel numb and her eyelids, heavy that she immediately fell asleep.

    Venedette''s heart was racing upon seeing that this water did not leave any space for Gem''s nose to breathe! ''Oi oi oi!! How will she breathe!!?''

    She tried her best to remove Gem out of that bubble but it was ignoring her like water. Her necklace even fell from Gem''s hands as the bubble lifted her up slowly into the air.

    "Wait! Where are you bringing her!??'' Venedette was the definition of panic as of the moment, with her body fidgeting, looking at the gemstone and back to Gem''s body, her hands were combing up her hair out of frustration, not even mentioning that the bile building up of her throat was forcing her to constantly swallow her saliva to keep it inside.

    ''How do I get her out of there!?''

    Subsequently, Venedette heard a ''ding'' that came from behind her.

    It was the gemstone, indicating that its work has been done, and it will now shut down.

    The gemstone clicked to a side and then dropped at a ridiculously fast rate that Venedette almost wouldn''t be able to catch if it wasn''t for her super speed that was considered as above average already.

    "Phew"

    Venedette looked back at Gem and was flabbergasted upon seeing that the liquid around her had hardened into a jade-like material, trapping her inside of it.

    And as if the shock wasn''t enough for Venedette, crispy crackling sounds of what seemed to be glass that''s coming from several spots started crawling over the entire area.

    "What in the world-"

    Assuming that the place was soon going to crumble down, Venedette quickly wore the necklaces in her neck and started carrying the heavy stone cocoon of Gem out of a crack in the ceiling that Venedette reckoned to be the exit from that space.

    Thankfully, Venedette was strong enough to carry that heavy jade-like cocoon around Gem and fly away, unsure if the girl was still alive or not inside, but still choosing to believe the former.

    She had no choice but to bring this child back with her to her island because according to the gossip she was hearing earlier, this child was a trespasser from the outside. The first-ever superhuman to be able to walk through that border without being turned to ash.

    And the news was indeed very fast, even faster than Venedette''s flight to her floating island.

    "Miss Dette!!?" Her people complained upon seeing the thing that she was carrying, sure enough, what they''re thinking was correct.

    "Shh, I''ll take care of her."

    Inside the stone, was the girl who crossed the fiery border and killed a supervisor from a school near the borders.

    But Venedette didn''t care. In her eyes, Gem was the one who suffered the most and that guy didn''t deserve to live anyway.

    "No one is allowed to talk about her. Quickly spread this news to my people."

    "Yes, madam!"

    And with that firm order from princess Venedette, Gem''s safety was ensured to last on this island¡­ only if she was still alive inside that cocoon.

 Chapter 4 - Awake

    Darkness.

    It was the first thing that Gem noted upon regaining her consciousness.

    Where am I?

    The thought echoed in her head as she saw several rays of light piercing through the place.

    Light.

    "It hurts."

    Slowly, Gem opened her eyes, complaining from the arrogant light that was bothering her slumber.

    "Wait, where am I?" she wondered again.

    The sight of several foreign things made Gem push herself back to the soft headboard of the bed upon her awakening.

    A bed? What is this pleasant-looking room? There are flowers and expensive things all over and a human!

    Gem wrapped the blanket to herself in a defensive stance upon seeing the figure of shining armor on the right side of the room beside a cabinet.

    Slowly, she peeked outside the blanket when she felt that the human did not move even an inch from its position.

    "Weird." she thought, putting down her defenses and cautiously approached the set of shining armor.

    "It''s just an armor." she flickered the breastplate of the armor and laughed to herself as the armor resonated a bell-like sound from her flicker.

    "Whoa!" Gem shouted upon seeing the reflection on the mirror beside the armor stand, stepping back to her right feet, and raising her arms in a defensive stance, Gem was shocked to see someone completely different from what she usually sees in the mirror.

    Wearing a cute strapped dress in white with pink ribbons on the waist, was a girl with long blonde hair and big light blue eyes, shielding herself from the mirror with her perfectly cured limbs and even healthier physique.

    "W-who are you?"

    Slowly, she lowered her defenses and stared at the girl who was also staring at her.

    "Why are you copying me-" Gem ate her words when she pointed at the girl and the girl pointed back at her, their fingertips meeting at the surface of the mirror where Gem realized who it was.

    "This is me?"

    Without breaking her stare with the mirror, Gem caressed her own cheeks and pinched them hard until she saw the result that she was expecting from the pinch.

    Mesmerized, Gem went closer to the mirror to inspect her cheeks that were now red, and her face that was unfamiliar to her.

    During her time as a wastelander, Gem had always been used to seeing herself beaten and scarred with bruises and cuts from the ruthless adults and monsters alike.

    She had only seen herself dirty, wounded, and starving from not being taken care of.

    Not to mention that her hair used to be black and barely experienced getting brushed during those times but now they''re blonde, soft, and well-kept.

    "What happened to you?" she whispered to her reflection in the mirror while her tears burst out from her unintentionally.

    As Gem was occupied with her sudden thoughts, the door to her room opened with a loud swing.

    Gem looked at the person behind the noise.

    It was a boy with bright red hair cut in short bangs, exposing his dead-red-eyed look and plump lips that uttered an unamused ''tch'' before closing the door right away after seeing Gem''s startled figure on the floor that was leaning back to the mirror.

    "What''s his problem?" she held her chest, calming her heart''s wild beating upon being startled by the little boy''s sudden interruption.

    Not long after, she heard a knock three times that was followed by a long silence after.

    "What is this now?" Gem muttered under her breath as she slowly walked backwards, looking around for a weapon, and found a brass spear on the armor''s gauntlet.

    She grabbed this and continued walking back towards the window, forming a plan of escape if things went wrong with the person who was knocking.

    The door was taking too long to open so Gem wasted no time and prepared herself to jump on the window when suddenly, she was taken aback upon seeing that there was nothing there.

    No floor, no nothing, where am I going to land if I jump here!?

    Gem started hyperventilating upon realizing the situation.

    "There were clouds underneath me, this only means one thing¡­ I''m on a flying island!" she exclaimed at the same time the door opened.

    A figure of an unruly lady greeted her. She was busy dealing with the little boy with a dead-stare earlier but was now sporting a warm smile upon hugging her.

    "Mom," he called to the lady with short powdery red hair under a black cap and purple aviator glasses, she was wearing blue leggings and a partnered vest over a cream-colored button-up long sleeves.

    The lady and the boy had the same eye color of red and their smiles sent comfort and warmth to Gem while she was hugging herself beside the window''s cold breeze.

    "Okay, just come back before sunset okay?" the lady fixed the little boy''s fancy clothes and hugged him with a smile before sending him outside but the boy glared at Gem first before leaving.

    Gem saw the boy''s look at her and replied with a confused stare. She watched the boy leave with his mom but she did not expect the mom to come back immediately.

    This time, she was carrying a golden tray with dishes in different sizes which she almost spilled the contents -if there was no table on the shelf beside the door- when she saw Gem curled up beside the window with a spear lying in front of her.

    "You''re awake!" the woman said exasperatedly which made Gem tighten her clutch on the spear.

    The woman covered her mouth and her eyes suddenly became watery upon seeing Gem out of bed after three days of not breathing.

    She thought that Gem had died but her stubbornness did not let her bury the child who looked healthier than before she was coated by the hardened liquid.

    "I''m sure she''s alive!"

    "But she''s not breathing anymore madame."

    "Her heart is still beating! She''s alive! Look at her! How can a girl look so healthy while being dead!? You''re not making any sense! She''s alive! I''m sure of it!"

    "Do as you want madame but I am telling you, she''s not breathing anymore-"

    "Get out. I don''t want to hear your nonsense. This child is alive and you can''t make me believe otherwise."

    Venedette recalled her conversation with the doctor last night.

    Losing a child once had made her crazy but losing a child twice would probably make her insane.

    "I knew you were still alive! Thank gods you''re still alive!" she said and stood still while her tears fell endlessly from her eyes, she used her hands to cover up her sobs but it was not enough to hide her emotions from Gem.

    Gem failed to find a reasonable answer for the lady''s sudden actions.

    "It doesn''t make sense. Why is she acting like that?" she thought upon standing up, cautiously striding closer to the lady with the spear still in her hands.

    Gem took a closer look at the lady, "Somehow she looks familiar."

    When Gem stopped walking one foot away from the lady, the lady stopped crying and ridiculed herself instead.

    "Hahahha why am I crying? This is supposed to be a happy occasion right, Gem?" the lady smiled at Gem who was taken aback by what she heard.

    "Why does this lady know my name?" She panicked even more and decided to deal with this situation by talking it out instead of choosing violence for the lady seemed nice anyway, assuming that she was the one who put her in this nice room in the first place.

    "Who are you and why did you bring me here?" she said, raising the spear in an offensive position to intimidate the lady at least but what the lady said next was unexpected.

    "You''re so cute." she laughed which tilted Gem''s fighting spirit, making her lose her position and lowered her defenses.

    Gem cleared her throat when the lady carelessly approached her, threatening with the spear again but the lady ignored it and hugged her instead.

    "Welcome to my island," she whispered behind Gem while caressing her soft yellow hair, giving Gem the comfort that she had never known she needed the most.

    Gem dropped the spear and reluctantly looked at her arms who was aching to hug the lady back.

    "It''s okay. You''re safe here with me," she added with her soothing voice which made Gem surrender to her desire and hugged the lady back, burying her face in the lady''s shoulders.

    For the first time in her life, Gem felt like a child who needed protection. The warmth that the lady gave her was the kind of warmth that she had been longing for since forever.

    ''I don''t know who this lady is but I like her and I feel safe around her.'' she thought in her heart as they both cherished the moment that they were spending in each other''s arms.

 Chapter 5 - Yvandir

    After a moment of silence, my thoughts became clouded with all the positive and negative agenda this woman has for me.

    Trust is something precious for me.

    She wouldn''t save me without an agenda.

    "Why did you save me?" I blurted out the words in my mind as I moved away from her embrace.

    "Huh?" she looked around as if struggling to find an answer to the question.

    "You need something from me." I concluded and walked further away from her.

    "No it''s not like that...." she tried to approach me but I stood defensively to show her my distrust.

    If she won''t answer with all honesty I may as well jump over that cliff to be with my friends...

    I need her to be honest with me or else I won''t be able to trust her.

    I promised to value this life but not in the hands of the wrong people.

    After showing signs of being troubled by her thoughts, the lady finally sighed and looked at me with clenched fists.

    "I need to know how you activated your gemstone."

    I was taken aback by her sudden confession. It was straight to the point and I did not expect it! But what did she say? My gemstone? What''s with my gemstone?

    And where is my gemstone!??

    "My necklace! Where is it?!" I stood defensively again.

    "Whoa! Calm down. Here. See? It''s right here." she said while trying to calm me down. She pulled a necklace from her pocked and showed it to me.

    "What''s that? That''s not my necklace." I said and prepared myself to jump off the window this time.

    The stone in the necklace she''s holding was glowing in cyan which mesmerized me a little bit but I know for a fact that the stone in my necklace was not this!

    "My necklace is not green!" I shouted when she tried to come near me. And when she did step back a little bit, a familiar pendant from beneath her shirt popped out.

    The both of us looked at it and when I stepped forward to grab it, she stopped me, "This is not your necklace. I know it looks very the same but believe me, this is not yours. This necklace is mine and as absurd as it may sound, I think our gemstones were connected at one point in time."

    "What are you saying? My gemstone is gray not glowing."

    "This is yours. Your gemstone had activated." she simply said which confused me even more.

    Why is she lying to my face?!

    "Liar! That''s my necklace you''re wearing!"

    I was prepared to force the necklace out of her but was dumbfounded when she calmly took the necklace off her neck and offered it to me.

    "Here, j-just move away from that window please."

    I blinked and stared at her for another moment before finally deciding to move away from the window and grabbed the necklace from her hands swiftly. My eyes were still wary of her but her expression was just too friendly to ignore.

    "Can we talk?" she said and sat down on the couch.

    I followed to sit on the chair beside her while putting on my necklace but she suddenly stopped me from doing it. "Why?" I asked with piercing eyes.

    "Nothing." she said and pulled her hands back to her lap.

    I continued putting the necklace on more carefully in front of her very concerned look, feeling uncomfortable so I caressed the gemstone on my neck but felt even more uncomfortable when I realized that this texture is different from what I was used to caressing. My gemstone''s edges were sharp and rough unlike this smoother texture.

    The lady tilted her head while watching me carefully.

    "T-This feels different." I confessed.

    "Of course, it''s not yours." she said and handed me the cyan gemstone.

    I took the gemstone with doubt and closed my eyes to inspect the texture and was shocked when I felt the texture that I was looking from this other gemstone.

    "Do you now believe me?" she widened her eyes at me, probably asking for her necklace back so I gave it back to her reluctantly.

    "B-But how?" I raised the cyan one to my eye level and almost jumped from my seat when she carefully held my hands and the gemstone together.

    Her hands were soft and warm. I kind of like it.

    "I don''t exactly know what happened but I saw your gemstones powers while you were unconscious."

    "Powers?"

    "Yes powers. I believe that our gemstones have a connection and they have powers! My ancestors wouldn''t pass this on to their descendants as a tradition for decoration purposes only after all." she whispered the last sentence which I still heard.

    "And I need to know how you activated it''s powers." she added.

    I was just nodding the whole time with furrowed eyebrows as she described everything that happened from the time she saw me and witnessed my necklace''s powers and why she decided to bring me here to this floating island.

    "So, will you help me activate my gemstone like how you activated yours in exchange for living here? I heard you came from outside the borders so I''m guessing you have nowhere to go, right?"

    Her question made me think deeply about this situation and her offer. She''s right. I don''t have a place to go and she needs me.

    She saved me.

    This should be more than enough reason to trust her. I guess...

    "Okay." I said in a low voice... and then she hugged me.

    "Okay!!" she said excitedly which made my heart swell a little.

    It was awkward for me but she seemed so comfortable with me already.

    I looked at the mirror in front of me, my cheeks are all red beside her short and unruly black hair under the cap and the purple aviator goggles.

    She then held me to face her. Her maroon eyes shining from the sunlight as I saw my own reflection in them.

    "I want you to live here, with us. You''re still young and there''s still a lot for you to learn and to look forward to. I don''t want seeing your talents go to waste. And besides-" She went closer to me for a whisper "you''re actually wanted at the city."

    I didn''t really get what she meant by that, and then she realized it as quickly as she grabbed me again to get closer to her "I mean they want you dead." And then her smile turned upside down.

    Before I could say anything, she started talking again with a tone that seems like she''s really confident "But don''t worry. I won''t let them find you here. There are only dozens of my people here who can fly and they are the only ones who can go in and out of this island, and besides, they respect my rules here, those who won''t follow the rules and if caught coming in and out of this island illegally will immediately be" She lifted her right thumb to slide it across her neck. "Dead."

    I was supposed to respond but I''ve got no reaction to whatever she''s saying. "Just kidding, we just throw them in jail. Come on, I''ll show you something." She''s really talkative. I could tell that from the amount of information that I already gathered in the short amount of time that I was talking to her.

    She jumped from the bed and went to the balcony before me.

    I trailed behind her and was caught off guarded when she suddenly scooped me and carried me, bridal style, before flying towards the sky and showing me the entirety of the island where I will live.

    "Go on, take your time. This will be your new home now. Welcome to Yvandir Island, one of the great ten islands in the sky."

    The island''s shape was like a palette, a surface with plains stretching from the middle into the opposite side of the elevated lands where stone buildings are usually found, similar to the ones we were in a minute ago but only more cramped with people.

    The stone building acts like the first line of defense after the mountains where the land ends. There''s also a woodlot that was designated between the buildings and the mountains in an elevated land.

    Looking at the plains, there are three villages, each on their own separate locations. One near the lake, one nearest to the farmlands and the other one which we came from is near the castle and the woodlot..

    The castle, the most eye-catching part of them all. Built just below the elevated land near the two separate villages that''s sitting on the plains, the castle was a colossal feat. It is made of stone with a subtle mix of advanced technology especially on the topside where beacons and radars are patterned formally.

    "The castle is called Frida. Named after my great great great grandmother who made this floating island possible. Even when no one belived her crazy idea, she still pursued her dream and look at this, a crazy success. I guess having crazy ideas and bringing them to life really flows in our blood." She giggled at her thoughts.

    "Dr.Lectric is also my ancestor." She whispered in my ear that made me shiver a little, thinking that I got to spend time with the descendant of the great Scientist, and also because of the cold air that''s surrounding us from up very high.

    "Are you cold? Oops I forgot, you haven''t got flight and resistance yet. I''m sorry." She said while we go down slowly.

    When we reached the ground, I finally muttered the word that I was meaning to tell her all this time.

    "T-thank you." For saving me, for giving me a place to live a new life, for being good to me, and for making me feel everything else that''s nice.

    "No biggies" She probably thought that I was just talking about the cold judging from the big and carefree smile that she has on her face. Even her eyes look like they''re smiling.

    We landed beside the fountain that''s located in front of the manor where the garden is.

    The workers stopped momentarily from their work to greet ''Miss Dette'' who was still carrying me, which I was totally ashamed of so I told her to let me down.

    "But you don''t have slippers my dear, your feet will get dirty" She denied my request before asking one of the workers to bring us a pair of slippers.

    "You know, you''re actually lighter than I thought. I also carried you all the way from Mascarene to here. But you were in a jade cocoon then, so I expected you to be lighter than that, but you''re even lighter than what I expected!" She said in a loud voice, almost hurting my eardrums.

    "Are you usually this quiet?"

    A female servant approached us with a pair of expensive looking sandals, she placed them in front of Venedette in which she told me to put them on. "I don''t know a lot of words." I replied delatedly to her question after making a few steps on the stone path with my slippers.

    An old man in tuxedo and white gloves approached Venedette as some of the older girls fixing the garden said ''hi'' and waved at me.

    "Welcome to Yvandir" The one older lady who''s working close to me said, patting my back for a few seconds as I smell the fragrant scent of roses from her maid dress before going back to work.

    They all seem so friendly and happy with their lives here, and I''m starting to get why they feel like that too... all except for the guy who approached Venedette.

    "What''s the problem Sir Fred?"

    "The young master had gone missing again Miss Dette, I don''t know where he went and how to find him this time."

 Chapter 6 - Chamber

    "What do you mean missing, Sir Fred? I gave him permission to go out in the fields with Lei. He said they will catch dragons. And by that, I believe he meant dragonflies." Venedette giggled whilst Sir Fred''s face was just as emotionless as a statue.

    "Very well madame," he said before forfeiting to the Manor''s entrance and traveling at a speed of light away.

    "He''s really anxious like that, the butler, Sir Fred. That''s what we call him, and you can call him that too. I''ll have you move to the castle once your augmentation has been approved by Halma, but for now, I''m afraid you''ll have to stay here longer. Try to get along with these lovely ladies, for the time being, I''ll try my best to get you in the palace as soon as possible-"

    "You live in the palace?" I said, interrupting her words.

    "Oh, why yes, of course, I have told you already that every people here trust me. Because I am their princess," she whispered the last words in my ear as if the ladies here didn''t know that already..

    "Why do you want me in the palace?" I said, paying no attention to my loud voice as we walked through the open garden.

    "Because I want to keep you safe and give you the best place to study your craft. And by craft, I mean your magic," she said excitedly, and like before, she whispered the last words to me.

    I understood her intentions and that her expectations of me were set high, but "I haven''t been to school before. I know nothing of the world since I only learned how to survive in the wild." I told her honestly.

    "That is not a problem, I can give you the best tutors in town and I can even teach you things by myself if I have the time. I just hope we can study your magic even further and potentially progress in mine."

    I totally get why Venedette was so interested in the magic of the gemstones, but I am still worried about not being able to give her the help that she expect or need from me.

    "Don''t worry, I''m not going to force you into it. I know you''re still young and there''s still a lot of things for you to do and explore--"

    "I''ll do it." I cut her words.

    She looked at me with an amused smile as she jumped out of our seat from the fountain''s edges.

    "I admire your passionate offer but that''s enough talk, for now, we shall eat," she said, kindly offering me a hand that I gladly took as she pulled me inside of the huge manor to the kitchen.

    I''m glad I made the right decision at the right time by crossing the border when Venedette was also there coincidentally.

    I wonder how different my life would''ve been inside the border if it wasn''t for her.

    "Madame! The young master has been reported missing!"

    "What!?"

    Sir Fred the butler came back to the manor after only an hour or two of staying in the castle.

    It looks like the situation has gotten worse based on their reactions.

    "Lei just got back to the castle saying that he was looking for the young master for an hour already and still couldn''t find him!"

    "Where exactly did they go!?"

    "To Mt. Sana madame. Lei said that he last saw the young master following a dragonfly into the mountain and was confident that he''d go back to him so he didn''t follow."

    "Did you send guards to look for him?"

    "Yes madam, still no report from the guards and the nearby village."

    "We''ll go there."

    "I''m so sorry madame, I can''t run anymore-"

    "Come on, Gem." My eyes widened as the two of them looked at the innocent me who was not even involved in their conversation earlier but was now dragged to this chaos.

    ''What do I have to do with this? I can''t even fly..''

    I was about to complain but Venedette suddenly held my hands and carried me with her as she flew out in the open towards the setting sun.

    "I want you to tell me if you sense something out of place, something weird that doesn''t belong here," she told me while I was busy thinking about what her kid looks like.

    And then I looked down, realizing just how high up we were already in the second sky¡­

    I also noticed the difference between the clouds up here versus the thicker clouds down there. It was cool and smoother up here compared to the more turbulent air down there, or was it because Venedette is just a stable flyer?

    Suddenly, I heard a boy from below, in a well, calling out to his ''mom''.

    I really thought it was him, the boy that Venedette was looking for. But it turns out he was just a random kid from one of the villages that we have passed through, stuck in a well after failing to control his balance. So we saved him and went on our way immediately after.

    I wonder how convenient being able to fly is? Can I also fly like them in the future? I wish I could, that would be so cool to experience and train.

    When we arrived at the mountain called Mt. Sana, I immediately heard mumbles of something that I couldn''t understand.

    "fchsgja letmerostuforjga"

    It was as if they were chanting something¡­

    "Wait, I hear something," I told Venedette, making her pause for a minute before saying something.

    "Where?" she asked while we were both looking at the mountain''s face.

    "There, inside." I pointed to a bare part near the ground. I could really hear something talking from what seemed to be inside the mountain, and it''s not just one but there were a lot of them, little voices saying something in unison.

    Venedette went straight to the foot of the mountain where I pointed at and asked me if I was sure about what I''m hearing.

    "I''m sure it came from here," I told her, although she looked unconvinced.

    "But why can''t I hear anything?" she said and looked around when a guard called for her not far from us.

    When she left, I went closer to the face of the mountain that was made of pure rock. I knocked on it three times and the voices that I was hearing from earlier became louder, chanting words that I still couldn''t understand.

    "There''s an entrance here," Venedette called to me as she finished talking to one of the guards in this area. Unfortunately though, they still haven''t found Von yet despite all the efforts they put in searching for him so I decided to help.

    Venedette led me into a horizontal crack, one that seemed like a product of someone training rigorously that enlarged over time by some kind of force, which if I were to guess is from the pressure of air going inside of that crack.

    "I''ll go in." I volunteered.

    I''m not sure if Von is there but I am curious as to what''s making that noise that only I could hear.

    As I climbed up to the dark entrance of that horizontal crack, my necklace lit itself with the right amount of light that allowed me to see just exactly where I''m crawling.

    "Hello?" I said when I heard a few little footsteps from inside the cave.

    I advanced and heard a few drops of water probably coming from the inside, and the more I went deeper, I noticed how the hole I was walking in was getting bigger and bigger until I finally fell off on the chamber at the end of it.

    My necklace lit up even brighter until it filled the room where I finally found the same boy who peeked into my room earlier.

    "What are you doing here?" he said, glaring at me.

    "Uh, saving you?" I said as if it was a given already. I held back my irritation when I noticed the fancy details in the walls of this small chamber. There were carvings on the wall and text that I could not read very well.

    "What are you doing here?" I asked him while he was just sitting on the damp floor of this chamber, reading a golden book where there was a star drawn in front of it with different gemstones on the corners.

    "What are you reading?" I asked and went closer to him, trying to read what was in it too but then he suddenly shooed me away.

    "Nothing! Go out! I want to read silently." he said arrogantly.

    "So that''s why you went here? Just to read that book silently? But how did you even find this place? And that book, where did it come from?" I asked out of curiosity but then he suddenly stood while stomping his feet which surprised me a little.

    "You''re so annoying." He said and turned around, giving me a good estimation of the chamber''s height that was just the same as his and only a little bit taller than me.

    "Venedette is waiting outside, maybe you can read that later after she sees you. She''s very worried, you know?" I said and saw his expression change into a softer one.

    "Okay, I''ll go out. But first, give me your light." He said and attempted to snatch my necklace from me which I managed to evade efficiently. I was surprised by this sudden lunge that I forgot to hold back my survival instincts and harshly pinned him on the floor with only two moves.

    Thankfully, I caught the book that he accidentally threw in the air just before it got ruined by the damp floor. And damn, it was heavier than I thought.

    Is the cover really made from gold? It had some orange glitters in it that covered some of the gold. That''s why I thought it wasn''t real.

    "Fine, I''ll just go without it!" He finally surrendered after struggling to get out of my hold so I let him go.

    He went straight to the horizontal cut without looking back at me. And before he could put his other feet in, I reached my necklace out to him out of pity.

    "Here."

    He grabbed it without hesitation and continued crawling out of the chamber as I looked around to see more of the place.

    The book contains a faint orange light that I didn''t notice earlier because of my necklace.

    Suddenly, I heard damp little footsteps of little creatures that looked orange, maybe because of the orange light coming from the book? They were sneaking on the surface of the walls.

    And although they were just quiet, I could feel that they were the ones I heard talking earlier just based on my intuition.

    "Gem? Are you there? Why aren''t you coming out??" I jumped slightly when I heard Venedette calling out to me from the crack on the wall.

    Weirdly enough, I cannot hear what they were talking about outside as if this mountain''s walls could block the sounds when it''s supposed to project them.

    My hearing is very good, in fact, it''s the super sense that I''m most proud of. I managed to max it out just by living in the wild for three full months and also the reason why silence scared me ever since.

    "Coming!" I shouted.

    I took one last glance at the amphibians on the wall before I proceeded to crawl back outside through the horizontal crack.

    "There''s the book that I was talking about!" When Von saw me, he quickly grabbed the book from my hand and had a hard time carrying it with both of his hands to Venedette who in contrast, just held it so easily, making it seem so light.

    Venedette welcomed me back and helped me get out of the hole, giving me back my cyan-colored necklace.

    "I told you to never take it off." She said as if it was a threat while still smiling at everyone else.

    Venedette carried me back to the manor while his son, Devon, flew beside her.

    It turns out his son can fly but is weaker than me in physical terms because apparently, he thought flying is way more superior than fighting.

    Which is really dumb if you ask me.

    But I choose to stay quiet about it.

    After all, I was just a newcomer and a nobody in this place compared to them.

 Chapter 7 - Painting

    When we arrived back at the manor, Sir Fred was waiting for us there with a boy slightly taller and slimmer than Von.

    "You''re here Lei, I have a favor to ask you." Venedette approached him even before landing on the porch.

    Venedette''s son was carrying the heavy book with him because Venedette was carrying me, that is probably why his permanent expression to me was always snickering, if not, grumpy.

    But everytime Venedette looks at us, he''ll smile so fakely at me, giving me the creeps all over.

    "By the way Gem, this is my son Devon you can call him Von.

    Von say ''hi'' to Gem please my dear and smile, I heard you two fought inside that cave." Von looked away from me and after a moment of silence, he ran towards Venedette and hugged her legs tightly. "She hit me, mom! Why aren''t you scolding her!?" He said overdramatically that I just couldn''t help but roll my eyes.

    "She''s just new here baby, give her time and space to adjust. You should be friends with her, more so because you''re of the same age."

    "Okay!" He said so energetically, in contrast to his emotions before. What happened? One second he''s hostile and then crying because of me then suddenly he''s just willing to be friends because his mom told him to?

    "Nice to meet you Gem!" He waved his hands at me with a bigger smile. On the contrary, instead of feeling relieved, I felt more uncomfortable by his frequent shift of emotions.

    "That''s my boy." Venedette patted his head and he seems very happy whenever he''s with her.

    Venedette called me to go closer to them and so I did.

    I stood between Von and the taller boy Lei, who''s hair is shorter and darker than any of ours. Von had long light blue-gray hair, unlike his mother, while I have dark hair.

    "What is it that you want me to do madame?" said Lei.

    "Can you stay here? I need you to take care of Gem while I''m gone. Keep her safe, you know? Like what you''re always doing for Von?"

    "Mom!!?" Von whined. "You''re making Lei stay here?? Away from me!?"

    "Don''t worry honey, I''ll be with you while he''s gone."

    Like before, Von''s emotions change so fast. "Okay mom." -which I still couldn''t figure out how or why he''s doing that.

    I really don''t understand him. His sudden shifts of emotions creeps me out. He''s like a two faced person that I usually see in the wastelands. Those with mischievous intentions. Or I guess I''m just overreacting.

    Venedette turned to me, "Don''t worry Gem, Lei is Sir Fred''s grandson and he will take care of you along with the maids here. I''d like to take you to the palace but I don''t want Halma to reject you. It''s important to leave a good impression for her to let you stay there, you know? Don''t go anywhere further than the manor. If I get to clear your name on our island then you''ll be able to run free without any worries. Just stay in this place, and keep safe," she turned to Sir Fred and some of the guards beside him. "It''s getting late. We need to go."

    "Goodbye." She said lastly to me before proceeding to fly.

    Before I came here, I was totally expecting cars and other modes of transportation, but I guess I was wrong. Most people here travel through their super speed and flight, which I still wonder if I can attain someday.

    I looked at the boy who''s taller than me by at least 6 centimeters. He''s way snobbier than Von but I guess it''s better than him snickering and smiling fakely at me alternatively.

    I wonder why Venedette chose him to be my guard for five days...

    "Hello Gem." Suddenly, five maids in a formation of one in front and two lines at the back came up to me. "I''m Mathilda, the head housekeeper in this manor. Would you mind going inside now? I''m afraid it''s getting dark and the mistress told us to keep you safe and out of the eyes of unknown people." The one in the front said gently.

    I responded with a nod and they started walking behind me.. which scared me a bit that''s why I unintentionally grabbed onto Lei''s sleeves.

    Lei looked at me, raising his eyebrow for a change.

    "Sorry." I whispered nervously, I guess he didn''t like being touched.

    I followed Lei as he walked inside the mansion through a gigantic door which the other butlers opened for us.

    The maids who were trailing behind me scattered into their own groups going in different directions as we entered the place.

    The head housekeeper went in front of me leading the four ladies remaining behind her.

    "Miss Gem." The head housekeeper called my attention.

    "I was instructed to give you a tour, but I believe the young master Lei here can do me a favor as I prepare your meals." She looked at Lei and I noticed the two shorter girls at the back of the tall and composed older maids extending their necks to look at him.

    I went to see how Lei reacted to the head housekeeper''s suggestion and he seemed to not like the idea but still agreed anyway.

    "Very well ma''am." He said respectfully which pleased the head housekeeper.

    "The two of you can follow them." She gestured to the two composed maids who immediately went behind us, leaving the two younger maids behind her who seemed to be starstrucked upon seeing Lei.

    "Come." Lei said and I followed him diligently as the two maids followed us around.

    While going upstairs, I looked back at the two younger maids who were following the head housekeeper. I just felt that someone was looking at us, and when they saw me, they looked away immediately.

    I wonder why they''re twisting their necks just to see me?

    Maybe it''s because of the rumor that I''m a leech?

    I was startled when I looked ahead because Lei''s face was suddenly very close to me.

    His jet black hair almost touched my forehead as eyes were at the same level as mine.

    "Focus." He simply said and went away.

    I shook my head trying to keep my thoughts together. What was that I saw? I can''t get it out of my mind. His black iris, hiding behind his narrow eyes and a small nose that concealed his thin lips from my vision.

    I looked ahead following his advice. I need to focus!

    Lei was already far ahead when I arrived at the huge stair hall. He was impatient leaning back at the corner of the right hallway entrance.

    But I didn''t bother following him immediately. Instead, I took my time admiring the grand paintings posted in the hall.

    There were seven paintings of different men, with different characteristics, in different places, alongside statues and armor stands similar to the one in the room that I was in earlier.

    I just took a quick glance at them and when I arrived at the last painting near Lei, I couldn''t help but notice the similarities he shared with the man in the painting.

    "Is this your father?" I said intentionally, trying to get a new reaction from him but he didn''t pay attention to what I said.

    He just proceeded to walk and then stopped when we arrived at the last two rooms in the right hallway.

    He led me to the room on the left and simply said, "this is your room. We''ll continue the tour tomorrow," before proceeding to the room in front of mine.

    When I opened the door to my room, I realized that this room was the room that I was in this morning.

    The maids went ahead of me inside my room and did some things there while I didn''t move from the door.

    I recalled the painting and Lei''s similarity to the portrait, if Lei''s body was bigger I''d probably mistake him for the guy in the portrait. Both their black hair were cut so cleanly, giving way to their soft features despite Lei''s unchanging poker face the whole time.

    Maybe that''s the reason why the girls downstairs are looking at him. Because he looks a lot like the man in the painting.

    "We should get you prepared for dinner young miss." One of them said and proceeded to drag me into a door inside my room.

    It turns out to be a bathroom. And I was surprised when they came in with me and did everything for me. I felt like I didn''t need my hands because of them.

    After taking a bath, I was instructed to wait in my room with only a bathrobe while a lot of maids came inside carrying a lot of different clothes.

    Thankfully, I get to choose which one of the clothes they bring should I wear.

    I was looking to find something that looks similar to Venedette''s outfit but they only brought long skirts and dresses which gave me no choice but to choose the least bulkier one.

    When I left the orphanage at the age of 6, I only brought two things with me. My necklace, and the dress that I was wearing that day.

    And when I saw something similar to that dress, I immediately picked it up. A strapped light colored cami dress that only stretched until the end of my knees.

    The maid then made me sit on a vanity chair and started combing my very long hair.

    I wonder if I could make it short like Venedette? But I didn''t ask the maids because I''m afraid they won''t let me. Especially after seeing that they enjoyed combing my long new blonde hair. And indeed they felt smoother and less tangled after using the bubbles in the bath than before when I didn''t care about my hair at all.

    all of us in the room looked at the door when we heard three soft knocks.

    One lady opened the door for us and they pushed me softly to go to Lei.

    Lei was then very courteous, leading me into the dining room downstairs with his sleepy eyes.

    It seems like he also took a bath judging on his damp black hair.

    As we passed through the stair halls, I stopped Lei to look at the painting that looks very much like him, but more mature and older.

    He didn''t answer my question before so I changed it. "Is this you?" I said without hesitation.

    I saw Lei with a new expression today, he had this look of disbelief and a slight of ridicule and before I thought he''s going to ignore my question completely again, he answered, "in the future, yeah," mocking me.

    I heard the maids stifle their laughs as I proceeded to follow him downstairs.

    Did I get it wrong? Is the painting not the reason why they''re looking at him so intently?

    I discarded all thoughts of Lei as I tasted the wondrous meals that had been set on the table.

    I learned to have manners before we eat as I sit at a very long table on the opposite of Lei.

    I wonder why the maids are standing...

    But when I tasted the food, I forgot about any other thoughts and just focused on it. Tasty tasty food, cooked food, soup, rice, steamed meat, vegetables! I''ve never had these kinds of food in my life! I was always eating raw meat but I didn''t think cooked meat would taste even better!

    Back in the orphanage, all that the house owner was feeding us were rice with salt or rice with coffee on special days. The first time I tasted raw meat was when I encountered the ice wolves who taught me how to hunt when I left the orphanage at the age of 6.

    But then after the ice wolves left me in Wayeland, I started to live on my own, trying to survive in the harsh reality of the wastelands with no guardian to feed me or guard me or even take care of me.

    Everything there was a disaster, but I only care too much about living that I forgot the fact that I was still a kid. I learned the hard way, how to fight to survive.

    "Ahhahahaaha" I burst out laughing after taking a bite from a large beef drumstick.

    The water that built up in my eyes started to overflow like a waterfall, I tried to wipe them away but they just won''t stop.

    A maid quickly went to me and offered me a glass of water, wiping the mess in my face that I made with my dirty hands from food.

    "I''m sorry." I told her now that I realized that the dress they gave me was ruined.

    I couldn''t stop crying. It feels freeing from the heavy burden that I''ve been carrying in my heart all this time.

    "It''s okay, you can cry all you want. Take it all out. Everything. Until you feel much better." she smiled at me, making me cry even more.

 Chapter 8 - Fall

    I woke up that day with a smile on my face, feeling the sunshine through the curtains on the balcony.

    I have never felt so light and carefree after a very good night''s sleep in so long. It makes me want to stop time and stay still in this comfortable bed forever.

    "You''re awake?" I almost had a mini heart attack when Lei suddenly talked beside me. He had been standing beside the door in my room which I didn''t notice earlier while I was busy staring at the view on the balcony.

    "Uhmm," I wanted to say that I want to sleep again, but quickly changed my mind when I realized that the sun was above the horizon already.

    He gave me a cup of water and went outside to call the maids who were waiting there for me.

    Like yesterday, they assisted me through everything and then brought me to a late breakfast. Lei already had breakfast so I was left to eat alone at the big table. But I didn''t care nonetheless, the food can accompany me better..

    Venedette didn''t come today. According to Sir Fred, she traveled to another city to give the request to Halma herself, the Queen of the Island, her grandmother, about my inauguration as her pupil so I will be allowed to stay in the castle with them.

    Von, on the other hand, always visits Lei during the day.

    I was left to the maids most of the time and I learned a few important pieces of information about the island.

    Important stuff like who is Halma and facts about the royal families, the name of the villages, and sometimes they even show me images of the whole map just so that I could point out which is which.

    The maids taught me some other lessons aside from information about the island. They also told me stories about the world''s history and stories about love from several books because I can''t read.

    If only I could read then I can last in this place forever reading everything that I needed to know from school which I didn''t have the chance to attend because I ran away from the orphanage.

    During the three days that I''ve been living peacefully in this mansion, I also asked around why the young maids are always looking at Lei.

    And as it turns out, He wasn''t just Von''s best friend or a pretty butler. But moreover, he came from a prestigious family of well-known assassins. Assassins are widely respected in this era because according to the maids, they changed the insight of superhumans who used to value strength more than techniques before. His family begged to differ and promoted precision and skills, earning them a permanent position in the royal family as their trusty royal guards.

    Since then, I promised myself that I''ll work harder to achieve status if ever I grow up just so I can stay with Venedette forever.

    Remembering our promise, I trained to see what I can do with this ''magical'' necklace every day, trying to know its secrets and how it works.

    "Time to see what I can do with you today," I murmured to myself as I scanned the gemstone of any abnormalities.

    But unlike before when its powers really came out, this time I just found nothing even after trying for several days already.

    Maybe I''m doing it wrong? Maybe I need more time and knowledge to make this work? I don''t know. I just want to be of use when Venedette finally comes back.

    The gemstone is like a mix of crystal and stone of the same cyan color, in short, a semi-crystal. Almost opaque but when I raise it to the sun, some light reflects and some rays pass through obtaining the color of the gem.

    This gem, according to the maids, is an uncut gemstone that looks like a broken fraction from a whole uncut gemstone which includes Venedette''s gemstone too.

    The two completes a whole and that is why I decided to call this a fraction.

    I took off my necklace and held it tightly, trying to recall and redo the things that happened that day. I want to know what I can do with you... gemstone.

    How to use your powers, please, let me in.

    While I was busy concentrating (more like talking to the gemstone), Von let himself in my room, stomping and saying in a loud voice, "why are you still here!?"

    My brows furrowed at his rude interruption in my room, "why are YOU here?" I shot back at him.

    The door opened again and Lei went inside, following Von.

    "My family owns this place! I have every right to be here!" Von shouted at me, harshly grabbing my necklace off of my hand and threatening to fly away with it.. that just ignited another fight between us two.

    "What''s your problem!??" I said after grabbing my necklace back. I tried to not hurt him as much as I could while preventing him from holding my necklace any further.

    "You! You''re my problem! You''re so annoying and full of yourself! What made you think we''ll accept a monster like you!? You killed a general in Mascarene! What are you planning to do to my mom, huh!??" He kept on hitting me while I just focused on blocking him because even if he doesn''t like me, I respect the fact that he''s Venedette''s son and I don''t have any right to hurt him.

    I knew that our relationship wasn''t good but I didn''t know it would come to this!

    Von managed to grab my necklace by its tread and threw it outside the window to the right... the one that leads into the cliff, where the island ends.

    I lost all my practical thoughts and threw myself outside the window, following the necklace and regretting the fact that I went easy on that little brat!

    Von and Lei, on the other hand, looked at each other in shock after seeing Gem jump off the cliff by the window.

    "Von!" Lei''s voice thundered in the room, catching the attention of the maids nearby.

    "Lei do something!!" Von was on the verge of panicking while Lei tried his best to assess the situation.

    On this island, only the royals could fly, but Von is far from being able to control his flight completely. What more while carrying someone else?

    "Why did you throw her necklace there!?" Both of them panicked as the maids started to swarm in the room, asking for what happened and shouting for help from inside and outside of the manor.

    "Von follow her!!!" Lei instructed Von but the boy kept shaking his head, "I don''t want to risk my life to save that monster," he kept on insisting, "this is better! we''ll just say she jumped on her own! we didn''t know anything about it, Lei. Tell the maids she told us that she wanted to die so bad! Lei!" Von said, getting hysterical.

    "Do you want to be a killer Von!!!? This isn''t right!! You''ve got to save her! Your mom cares for her!!!" Lei tried to reason out with him but the boy was stubborn.

    "No!! She''s stealing mom away from me! I don''t want her here! It''s better if she dies!! Don''t you want what''s best for me, Lei?"

    Von is a famous bully on this island. It started a year ago when his sister died because of an outsider that put poison in her drink. Ever since then, he never talked to anyone whom he doesn''t trust and decided to push people away from him.

    "Von! You''re the only one here who can fly! You''ve got to save her! Think of your sister, do you want to be a murderer like that outsider who killed her? Tell me! Do you want to be a murderer!!?" Lei tried to shake some sense into his corrupted brain.

    Von followed his advice and thought of his sister and how he regrets so much that he didn''t get the chance to treat her right before she died. He recalled the image of his parents crying over and over again at her funeral and realized that it might happen again when his mom found out that Gem was killed.

    He was so jealous when Gem first came on the island in his mom''s arms, inside a giant stone, but more importantly, it was Venedette''s smile that made him even more jealous of her.

    He''d always try his best to make his mom smile or laugh, but Venedette can only give him a fake smile and a fake laugh despite his efforts. And seeing his mom smile so wide just by being with Gem, his jealousy took over his thoughts, making them blind and almost evil.

    Von stopped thinking and was pushed by Lei through the window following Gem. He didn''t rebel this time, he was sure of what he''s going to do despite being unsure if it''ll work or not.

    "Damn you, Lei! I''ll only do this because I don''t want to see my mom sad again!" He exclaimed, maneuvering his fall to be faster so that he could catch up to Gem in no time.

 Chapter 9 - Splash Of Blood

    Falling.

    In my time here on this island, I was told that falling could be a very great feeling.

    And I don''t disagree. It did feel good. Only if I didn''t think about how my blood will splatter on the ground once I reach it.

    They said that falling feels better when you know that someone will catch you in the end.

    But who will catch me?

    I chose to fall on my own. I didn''t have the time to think over my actions. I just did what I felt like doing and it led me to this gruesome scenario of me, free-falling from the skies after catching my gemstone, ready to die.... but with a smile on my face.

    Because I am thankful.

    Thankful for the short amount of time that I was able to experience even just a tiny little bit of happiness in my life, all thanks to Venedette.

    My sheer luck managed to save me from death twice already, and I don''t think luck can save me again this time.

    It''s all over.

    I have overextended my time here on Earth.

    I don''t even know why I was born.

    It''s ridiculous.

    Did my parents let me out into this world and left me just to suffer? Find happiness.. and then, die just when I found it?

    I don''t know.

    It seems like fate is playing with me.

    And instead of thinking of ways to survive this fall, my brain lazed down and just told me to lie on my back while falling.

    Just so I can prolong the time I''m in the air while hoping for some magic to save me again.

    I really don''t know why I thought jumping after the necklace was a good idea.

    Actually, I didn''t think it was a good idea. I really didn''t think like that at all.

    I just found myself moving out of control, went numb, and then jumped.

    The stone was calling to me.

    It cried ''help''.

    And although I''m expecting for it to save me again from death... deep inside, I know it can''t grant me my wish, this is beyond its powers.

    But how did I know that?

    It''s like... we''re communicating, without words.

    We''re just... connected. Somehow.

    And for the first time, before I died, it talked to me.

    "It''s alive!" I heard Venedette''s voice echoing in my mind.

    Turns out she was right.

    It is alive.

    <I''m so sorry master, I have failed you> A robotic voice said in my head.

    "It''s okay, I understand. I''m all you''ve got, and you''re all that I have." I reached him up to the sky, aligning him with the brightest star in my vision.

    At least, I experienced the great things in life before dying, didn''t I?

    I shut my eyes tightly as I wore the necklace in my neck, and when I opened them again, I noticed the beads of tears that had formed in my eyes lagging in the air, and a silhouette of someone, falling to me, after them.

    "HANG ON!" He shouted.

    Von was the last person I''d expect to see, let alone save me.

    And although I knew he could fly, I also knew about how he''s weak and how he''s such an asshole! Do I really expect him to save us? No! I don''t trust him and it''s entirely his fault that I''m in this position in the first place!

    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? ASSHOLE!?" I shouted.

    Venedette told me to take care of my gemstone, and her brat of a son thought that it was a good idea to throw it into the cliff!

    The audacity of this boy to jump after me!

    "UHH, SAVING YOU?" That felt like deja vu. Did he just copy what I told him in the cave??

    He was diving in the air to catch up to me, and I didn''t care!

    "JUST LET ME DIE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! DO YOU REALLY THINK I''LL BELIEVE YOU!? YOU CAN''T EVEN FLY THAT WELL SO WHO DO YOU THINK''S GONNA SAVE WHO!?" I rolled my eyes at him. I don''t want help from a plastic bag like him! He''s so noisy and annoying and unreasonable in everything that he does!

    And now that I know we''ll die sooner or later, I don''t even need to hold back my feelings anymore.

    I can just say whatever I want and he won''t give a damn because we''re both holding the wrong side of the knife.

    A superhuman may be strong but they can''t withstand the impact of a 10,000 km fall. No one can do that. Unless they''re one of the first five.

    But I am just a common supergirl, and even if Von here is a royal, he''s still too young to be able to max out his defenses. I even doubt he has any of those just by basing on his skill level and the few hits that he didn''t know how to block from me earlier.

    "JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK! I''M TRYING TO SAVE YOU HERE ALRIGHT!!?" He said, standing almost at the same level as me, trying to position his hands in my back softly to prepare for a stop.

    "Fine. Do whatever you want. This is your fault anyway, you''ve got to take responsibility." I said, to which he only replied with a "tch."

    I didn''t have the energy to complain anymore.

    I''ve got to take this thread even if it has a very slim chance of succeeding, only because I''ve got no other choice.

    I tried to look down and saw that we''re still a couple of hundred meters above the sky, and he''s really taking his time on breaking the fall.

    I guess he didn''t want to injure me by putting a full stop at once so he''s taking it slowly?

    I don''t know. I''m still not thankful to him.

    He''s just paying the price for his dumb actions.

    "Hey! Don''t move! I''m not used to flying while carrying people yet! Do you want to die!!??" He scowled at me.

    I just chose to stay silent and let him focus on his work. He already managed to break my fall and now he''s trying his best to get us back on the island.

    I still can''t believe he actually came here to help me. Of course, it''s his fault, but who would''ve thought he''ll take responsibility for it?

    I mean, I guess they had no choice but to send him after me because he''s the only royal left on the island who can fly...

    The flight was taking too long because of how slow this Von is flying. Is he running out of gas or something? He''s very slow!

    But my conscience wouldn''t let me say that out loud, instead, I just ranted about another thing that I''m concerned about in my mind to gemstone. I''m sure it''s listening.

    "Just why aren''t there any precautionary measures on the island''s cliffs! So what if someone like me were to fall? Someone who doesn''t know how to fly!? Are we just going to accept the fact that we fell out of the nest like a birdling but still died anyway because we don''t have wings!?" And by wings, I meant the ''royalty'' blood that Venedette and her family share with the first five superhumans that allows them to fly and have more attributes than normal peasants like us who are descendants of normal people with only enhanced super resistance to the virus and other lower perks.

    I''ll make sure to complain about these to Venedette if we ever manage to arrive back on the island safely. But I doubt that''ll happen, not unless the gemstone helps us. I already accepted my fate that I was going to die sooner or later in this life anyway. But what about him?

    I turned my cheek to look at him. I wonder if he realizes the fact that jumping to save me is equivalent to him risking his life? And he seems to be getting weaker and weaker the higher we soar to the sky.

    "Are we there yet?" I purposely distracted him, trying to direct his attention away from thinking about how hard it is to cut through the sky. But he didn''t respond to me.

    I guess this is what overworking is doing to his little body. He was sweating bullets, and his face is becoming paler and paler each height we ascend.

    "Are you okay!?" I shouted at him because the air turbulence was getting louder.

    "Sh-ut.. u-p." He was having difficulty breathing too whereas I was just chilling in his arms.

    Suddenly, a weird idea flashed into my mind, probably coming from Mr. gemstone.

    It told me to bite one end of the gemstone in my lips and pass it to Von''s mouth. And although I was not sure of what it was trying to do at first, I realized the point of the plan when I felt it release a soothing mist in my mouth that felt cured my thirst and depleted energy.

    I wasted no time and held Von''s face with both of my hands immediately to make sure that the gemstone would land perfectly on his mouth from my lips.

    He didn''t have the time nor the energy to complain about what I was doing.

    He looked at me like I''m some crazy woman, but he didn''t let go of the stone on his lips. He probably felt the gemstone''s magic, feeding him energy.

    I even saw the faint cyan mist coming out from the gaps in his lips when I moved away from him. But not too far away, I''m still leaning very close to him because the stone is still attached to my necklace.

    Soon enough, I felt Von''s flight becoming slightly steadier and faster. His arms also felt stronger in my back.

    And instead of being thankful, Von rolled his eyes at me and just continued flying as if nothing happened. After getting full, he let go of my necklace and I got to finally lay down comfortably in his arms again.

    Not that I''m saying his arms are comfortable, it''s just... my position earlier was very uncomfortable. I think I sprained my neck because of it.

    Von''s flight was still very slow compared to his Venedette''s. I witnessed that when I saw him falling behind her so many times when we were flying from Mt. Sana back to the manor.

    He even had to hold Venedette''s hands to keep up with her speed.

    And so as we ascend, even if the air pressure feels so heavy that you''ll think we''re flying very fast, in reality, we''re just like a bike in the sky compared to the adults who can be cars or trains or even airplanes depending on their skill level.

    That is why I had to give Von the gemstone at least twelve times more before we finally arrived back at the manor just before sunset. Everyone was waiting outside of the manor, worried about us. I still can''t believe that we really managed to survive on our own through that very dangerous situation.

    But Von is still an asshole, he just threw me carelessly into the ground when we''re already so near the floor. He could''ve just put me down gently.

    But I guess I deserve that much for being too dumb and jumping recklessly.

    The both of us collapsed on the floor after that. Me because my limbs were paralyzed from staying in the same position for too long, and him because of the exhaustion from flying waaay beyond his limits and all that other crazy stuff that we did to survive in the sky.

    However, Mr. Gemstone is the real MVP in this flight. It is all thanks to him and his endless supply of oxygen and energy mist that kept us going for so long. If it wasn''t for his powers then I''ll really be a damned splash of blood right now.

 Chapter 10 - Attention

    I spent the whole day lying in bed, not that I have a choice because my whole body hurts so much. It felt even more painful than the burns I experienced in that fiery border!

    How is that possible? I don''t know.

    I just woke up after sleeping for 12 hours but was still bedridden.

    They say my muscles are all very strained and that it was one of the most common side effects of flying. But I''m not the one who flew. I just got carried by Von. I wonder how he''s doing now?

    They weren''t even able to bring him back to the castle because he collapsed here and is in even more pain than me. Overexerting himself like that. I''m glad he got what he deserves.

    But this still hurts!

    I remembered something in the back of my mind.

    "Hey, gemstone! Can''t you cure me?" I asked as my hand held it tightly.

    It''s not responding. I tried talking to it some more but it won''t respond!

    "Shall I throw you off the cliff again?" And talking about the cliff, they actually moved me into another room. I don''t know which room but judging from the outside of the balcony, I think it''s just beside my old room.

    But wow~

    The mood is totally different! It''s much cleaner here and the walls don''t look like stone bricks. Instead, it has this smooth texture and light green color that resembles my gemstone that won''t talk to me.

    There''s no window on the right side of the bed, just tables and couches that fit the color of the room so perfectly.

    And the window to the balcony, dissipating the light into much softer lighting! This feels like heaven... again.

    Right... I felt like I''ve been to heaven... Where was that?

    The gemstone! I wonder what other power it holds? And why does it help me at random times?

    Especially when I''m about to die...

    It doesn''t want me to die...

    But why?

    Why won''t it talk to me when I''m fine? And why couldn''t it heal me completely like the last time?

    I''ve got so many questions but there''s no point in asking them here, now.

    No one knows the answer to my questions. Only me, Venedette, and her family might have some clues.

    I guess it''s a good idea to live in the castle too.

    I may be able to find the clues there...

    "If only the gemstone would just tell me everything." I sighed so loudly that I didn''t realize the door was opening until I saw a girl with big boobs leaning towards me.

    "You''re awake," she was wearing a white short and sleeveless dress with stripes of red in the ends, and a little cap with a red cross plastered in it, carrying the same gold tray that Venedette carried with her back then.

    "W-who are you?"

    "I''m the nurse here, now go drink your medicine," she said, handing me a small bowl of slightly gold liquid and a blue shiny pill.

    I looked at her skeptically. This is medicine? Which one is the medicine?

    I didn''t get the time to ask her because she shoved them both in my mouth immediately upon realizing that I can''t move. She put the pill first so I munched on it.

    My face scowled when the taste registered in my tastebuds.

    ''It''s so bitter!!''

    "Oh my! Why did you chew!?" I was as shocked as her when she said that. She then quickly put the small bowl in front of my mouth which I thought was meant for me to sip on it.

    But the golden thing did not make things better! It tasted just as acrid as the pill! If not, it made the bitter taste even stronger not just in my tongue but my whole body also felt the screeching sensation from it!

    "That''s tea.." the girl panicked upon seeing me almost cry. "I... should I get something sweet... Don''t cry, it''ll help you recover soon..." She tried to woo me but it was already too late.

    I was already crying my heart out for that whole day.

    But she was right, the medicine did help me recover sooner than I thought it would.

    At least sooner than Von who was still bedridden inside the room beside Lei''s.

    I went to visit him today. It''s day 4 and Venedette still hasn''t come back, I guess she really went somewhere very far...

    Thankfully, Von woke up the day after the incident. But he hadn''t talked to me ever since. Every time I visit him, he either ignores me or casts me out of the room.

    He''s really rude. Maybe that''s why his face turns red every time he sees me? He won''t even look at me.

    Is he that sorry and ashamed of being an a-hole to me these past few days?

    I don''t know. I just focused even more on trying to talk to my gemstone- who was very unresponsive and kinda like ignoring me. Was it upset? What did I do?? How do I talk to this!??

    I''ve got so many questions! And I need answers so badly!

    "Venedette please come back." I wished in the air, feeling like I wanted to cry like a baby again.

    I used to only care about survival and didn''t need to think about anything else, but now that I started having many questions, I felt like I entered a different level of life!

    I am hungry.

    I so need answers and food!

    ***

    "Venedette!" I exclaimed, finally after five days of misfortunes and enduring the annoying phase of having no answers to my questions, the only person who I can trust finally came back! But she was carrying another girl in her arms.

    "Who''s that, mom!?" Von approached them.

    Now I feel like I can understand why Von was so aggressive to me. This was how it felt all along, seeing your favorite person taking care of someone else. I felt a pang in my chest when I saw Venedette smiling at the girl with the most adorable smile ever and I noticed Von beside me making the same disgusted face like mine.

    "Von, Gem! What happened to you!? I''m so glad you''re okay." Venedette finally paid attention to us, but then after saying those words, she immediately went back to the girl on the sofa and completely forgot about our existence here!

    Just when I thought my day was going to be better with Venedette here, it got even worse just because of that girl!

    She was so in need of attention that Venedette had to take care of her the whole day! She didn''t even answer any of my questions because she had no time to do so!

    The girl was not even hurt anywhere! She was just over-dramatic and a sleepy-head!

    When Venedette asked us to gather in the living room, I thought she would finally be able to pay attention to us or more particularly to my questions, but she was still all about that girl!

    I mean, what''s the point of calling us if she will just take care of the girl in front of us? Was that her intention all along? To make us watch this disturbingly thick girl being taken care of by her?

    I haven''t even got the chance to know the girl personally but for some reason, I hate her already. Her interactions with Venedette are so annoying to watch! She feels like a very important person for Venedette and yet she acts like the most disabled child ever.

    "Good news everyone! We can go back to the palace now, Halma made a deal with me. In exchange for taking in Gem, I was given the task of taking this cute angel here too with us in the castle! Isn''t that great!?" she said and patted the girl''s head that was laying on her legs while the rest of her body was laying on the sofa.

    Now I can''t help but wonder, can''t she move? Is her body too heavy? Or was she too weak to move her body? Because ever since she came here, she was just laying either on the sofa or in Venedette''s arms!

    After Venedette''s announcement, I felt someone glaring at me so I looked back and found Von, still with his permanent scowl but now I think it looks worse than his usual scowl.

    "What?" I frowned back at him and he just gave me a ''tss'' before disappearing.

    Does he think it was my fault that this new girl is going to come in between him and his mommy like what he accused me of doing, and it was also because of me?

    It''s not like I wished for this to happen¡­ If only he knew how much I would like it if this girl never appeared in our lives. Especially to Venedette¡­

    But hey, at least she''s happy. She had been smiling at that girl ever since she came here and her smile was just¡­ different. It felt brighter than usual.

    Was this girl a good news for us? Definitely not. But if Venedette is happy, then so am I. I am happy for her. I should be happy for her. If only my heart would stop hurting¡­ I guess I can''t lie to myself that well.

    "Venedette, can I talk to you now?" I tried to approach her. And although she was still having a conversation with the girl, the girl smiled at her and at me, giving me one of those bright smiles that she was showcasing to everybody to entice them ever since she came here with Venedette.

    "Sure, just give us a little moment, Fily." Venedette said to the girl before coming with me outside of the manor.

    "You know when I heard about what happened to you two from my intel, I became so worried that I almost rushed to fly back here just to make you guys safe. But the news came to me too late. She said you two were both fine now and there was nothing to worry about so I continued with my mission to bring that other fellow back here with me, on the orders of the Queen!" she overshared again until we reached the small table in the manor garden.

    "The gemstone talked to me." I started, "But that was it. I can''t get it to talk to me again ever since Von saved me. It was like, it would only respond to me when I''m in trouble or when I''m on the verge of death!"

    "Scary¡­ But what did you say? It talked to you... So it can talk? Just like our stat-huts? That''s awesome! So what did it say?"

    "It said sorry. For not being able to protect me. It concluded that we were going to die from that fall and there was nothing it could do to help me but then Von stepped in. The gemstone then helped save Von so he could save me from that fall. I don''t understand what exactly happened that time but I guess I have a connection with it. It felt weird but it was there." I said in full detail.

    And as much as I didn''t want to admit that Von saved me from that fall, there was just no explanation for what he did there. And it was his fault it happened in the first place, so I could just take that as his action to fix up his mess.

    "My son is now saving people. That''s such good news to me!" she misinterpreted my words again, skipping the important details so I had to go again.

    "What do I do now? I''m confident I can make it talk to me again but I just don''t know how¡­ Maybe I can ask the gemstone how to activate yours so we can finally make progress!"

    "Well, about that¡­" Venedette trailed off. "My necklace had actually been confiscated by Halma until I could prove that you are not dangerous and the gemstone was the real cause of that Supolice''s death," she said like it was not a big deal.

    "But-" I tried to reason with her but there was nothing I could say.

    "But instead, we have this!" She tried to recover the conversation by bringing out a heavy golden book from her jacket''s pocket and slamming it on the table for a dramatic effect

    "Tada!" she exclaimed excitedly.

    The book was the same book that Von picked up from the mountain''s caves and deyum, it was heavier and shinier than the last time I saw it!

    "What about it?" I asked, since the title was written in an alien language, I didn''t think it would be more of a help to us other than her gemstone necklace.

    "Turns out, the book was about our necklaces all along! Well, that was according to her at least¡­ She can read the contents of this book from where it was written." she said, referring to the girl inside the manor in our field of view since the door to the living room was open.

 Chapter 11 - Hibernate

    "H-how can she read this?" I was overwhelmed by the sudden revelation that Venedette told me.

    So the girl on the sofa is not just a simple lazy girl after all!

    "She''s Fily, part of a well-preserved tribe of native Indios from the old country of Maharlika. They possess a great amount of knowledge that surpasses every other superhuman kind, making them the most knowledgeable superhuman beings on this planet." Venedette said as we walk away from the living room where Fily is still sleeping on a couch.

    "She can read this alien language?"

    I looked back at Fily and analyzed her appearance.

    She has this splendid caramel skin tone that makes her unique from the rest of us in this manor who were mostly fair-skin toned boys and girls.

    Her chocolate hair that was braided on both sides shined flawlessly beneath a uniquely designed red headband with small feather pins that matched the tight traditional clothing that hugged the shapes of her slightly thick body, probably the result of her sleeping too much.

    She''s even wearing big glasses that fit her big eyes perfectly, making her nose look small and her plump lips cuter with a smile.

    "Part of their great knowledge is knowing how to read many different languages and speak using them."

    "I see, but how exactly will this book help us? What does this say?" I pointed at the book that is placed in the center of the small table between us.

    "Salamandite."

    "Salamandite." I repeated after her.

    Somehow, the word rolled smoothly on my tongue, it felt very familiar, as if I''ve heard it a million times already even though I can''t remember when, and who said it.

    "Apparently, it''s a book about our gemstones. Fily told me that they are called ''Salamandite gems'' according to this book."

    "It''s a book about our gemstones!?" I repeated.

    This is a shocker! Maybe even Venedette too at some point was delighted by this news! Just how lucky she is to have found a book that contains the information that she''s looking for and even a girl who can translate it!

    Well even though Von was the one who really had found the book with the help of a dragonfly that flew into its death inside that chamber.

    "Yes, but she couldn''t read us everything just yet," Venedette answered my question as we walk away from the living room to the garden outside where she urged me to sit on the chairs of a small garden table.

    "Why??"

    "Our family has been taking care of their safety for a long time now, in exchange for the great amount of information that we can gather from them, some even serve the royal family as a consultant such as Fily''s mother who is currently serving Halma as her trusty right hand."

    "Similar to Lei''s family." I blurted, quickly covering my mouth afterward for the sudden interruption which made Venedette laugh.

    "Yes. But the problem is, Fily''s family had been disappearing lately. Some dying for random reasons and others are like disappearing in thin air." Venedette''s expression turned dark upon saying those words.

    "Fily is a very important girl and I''m glad that Halma trusted me to take care of her... we can even get to use her powers for our new discoveries about the gemstone!" she said, going back to her usual smile.

    "But I don''t get it," I decided to say my thoughts out loud this time, "If they''re so knowledgeable then why couldn''t they just protect themselves?"

    Venedette gave me a faint smile and said, "Their great talent prevents them from drawing normal ones. I mean, they can... but their body wouldn''t be able to endure it. Just look at Fily, she needs to sleep 20 hours a day to replenish her stamina."

    "That''s... a lot of sleep."

    "Yes, that is why we''ll need to wait for her to finish hibernating before we learn the rest of the contents of this book. The more stamina she stores, the more time she can stay awake, and so I told her to sleep while I bring her to Yvandir Island. And although she wakes up from time to time- to eat and do other things, I think she''ll finish hibernating in five days and we can talk to her by then."

    And so, I agreed to wait for five days, and while waiting, Venedette decided to finally bring us, newcomers, to the castle.

    ***

    It has been two days since Fily had come to the island and today is the day where we will leave the manor and move to the castle.

    "First to the castle wins!" Von announced, hastily running before them, and was followed immediately by Lei.

    I didn''t pay attention to those two, instead, I followed Venedette who was telling me and Fily to get on a weird jet-black round vehicle.

    "You need to ride this for an additional security check before being able to go back and forth from the castle with no worries." she patted me on the back and left Fily, the sleeping girl who is seated in front of me, with a blanket.

    She then closed the door and the vehicle started moving.

    I am scared of being clustered in a small space even if I''m with someone who I know wouldn''t hurt me.

    "Do you know what this thing is? Fily?"

    I asked as a joke. And I really wasn''t expecting any response from her but I was surprised when she actually answered me, still while sleeping.

    "It''s a Black Mongaute made in 4069, a multi-terrain vehicle that is mainly used for inspecting its passenger''s tissues and cells from head to toe to store information. This information is then used as your key to be able to get in and out of a certain place''s premises. For example, this vehicle is linked to the castle''s protective bubble. You won''t be able to go in and out of that bubble unless they have stored information about you in their database. This applies to all newcomers such as me and you who need to go inside the castle." she recited continuously.

    Woah! That was a lot of information than what I expected her to say. Even before, during, and after her explanation, she''s still sleeping! Wait, is she awake or is she sleep talking? Maybe I can ask her more questions while we wait for this process to end? Might as well take advantage of the situation when I''m stuck with this walking encyclopedia.

    While I was thinking about what questions would be good to ask her, green lights suddenly came out from random parts of the vehicle inside.

    "What is this green light that''s scanning my body!!??"

    "I told you, they''re scanning all your tissues and cells from head to toe. Stop moving or they won''t be able to scan you properly."

    Beams of green and red lights were shooting from everywhere inside the car.

    I really don''t like this because of some guns that I encountered that have red and green dots with them. I feel like the lasers will shoot bullets at me so I couldn''t stay still!

    "How can you sleep in a situation like this!?"

    This is maybe how her kind has been dying! She had no care whatsoever of her surroundings! She just sleeps! How easy would it be for the killer to kill them! This is so annoying!!''

    "Just sit back, relax and close your eyes, okay? This vehicle doesn''t have any weapons installed. It''s simply just for scanning."

    "How do you know that!?" and she didn''t even reply until we arrived at the castle, so I was just stuck there terrified for my life even though I do trust her words. The fear just wouldn''t go away!

 Chapter 12 - Royalties

    "Venedette!!" I was so relieved to have been released from that scary enclosed space of a vehicle!

    "Why are you crying? Did something happen?" she said, looking back at me and Fily who just got out of the vehicle after me.

    "Nothing. That was just scary." I said, wiping my small drops of tears, and was quickly mesmerized by the scenery in front of me when I looked up!

    It''s a tall castle!!

    "Welcome to Castle Frida." My eyes sparkled when Venedette said that.

    We''re finally here!!

    Outside the four walls, was a river that reflected the lights from the lanterns that were hanging from above them. I didn''t even notice that the night was already nearing when we got out of that vehicle!

    The three of us walked onto the wide bridge that was made from smooth stone bricks and has decorations such as lamp posts and benches on the sides with a small wall that separates it from the beautiful river across.

    I have never seen a place so clean and sparkly before!

    I looked around and saw the village that is surrounding the caste from the front, The castle is situated in a higher elevation than the village below it.

    This is a different village from the one where the Manor was located. The village here has more lights, houses, and roads that are more developed than the previous one.

    So this is the village around the castle.

    "Come on inside, you might not notice but here is where the protective bubble begins." she used her shoes to point out a line in the middle of the bridge between the land and the castle.

    "I don''t see anything there."

    "You won''t see anything because forcefields are made of electromagnetic waves and its primary purpose for this bubble is to collect data from the waves passing through it and send it to the control tower inside to look for your data so you could pass if you have one but get blocked when you don''t." Surprisingly, Fily was able to walk despite still sleeping.

    Is she sleepwalking-- and sleep talking at the same time? That''s a super nice skill right there!

    "Come along." Venedette was the first one to pass flawlessly through the invisible bubble like it wasn''t there.

    Fily followed and so I did too.

    I noticed that the faint glow of my necklace was blocked by the bubble which gave me an idea of how the bubble looked like from the inside and the outside.

    From the outside, it had a slightly convex curve and from the inside, a slightly concave curve. And to my surprise, the bubble is very thin! How does this prevent the intruders from coming in and out--?

    As if fate heard my question, a random bird was suddenly blocked by the bubble several times after trying to headbutt his way in.

    "Ouch," I sympathized with it after seeing it give up and changed its direction of flight.

    "How did that happ-"

    "Force field," Fily said immediately.

    Oh, okay. Poor bird.

    Inside the castle walls was another wall that looks more like a building but still a wall, and beyond that wall was a very huge building with a very huge entrance and spikey roofs.

    I''m not exactly sure what the colors of the buildings are but I do know that the spikey roofs have the color red, from being able to see it from above during the day.

    When we entered the palace, it''s like a Manor 2.0! Bigger, better, and more maids were waiting for us inside!

    "We''re going to have dinner first and then I''ll take you to your rooms," Venedette told us, grabbing our hands and ignoring the maids who were waiting for us.

    It was a lot of walk, more paintings of different handsome and pretty girls were plastered on the hallways and then we arrived at the restaurant- I mean the dining room.

    The dining room felt so warm and elegant with a lot of sophisticated crystal chandeliers hanging from up above the long wooden table that is covered with a tablecloth that screams royalty with its gold decorations. The chair did not disappoint with its quirky metallic patterns for the long rail that has pillows attached to where you''ll seat, lean your back, and armrests.

    "Where are Von and Lei? Tell them to eat with us."

    "Yes, madame."

    It felt like the three of us didn''t fit this place at all with our different styles of clothing. But Venedette doesn''t seem to care, even Fily who''s still sleeping doesn''t seem to care much, so I decided to not give a care about it too and just enjoyed being in this castle with Venedette.

    "I''m so glad to have you all here," she said with a sad smile that made me sad too.

    "If you''re glad to have us here then why are you sad?"

    Suddenly, she became happy again, is this some kind of thing with her and Von? One second they''re sad and then the next they''re happy...

    "It''s nothing," she reassured me with a smile and continued eating.

    I''m so stuffed!! Again!!

    Whenever I see delicious food I just can''t help but devour them all!

    "Come on, Fily''s already sleeping in her room." Venedette pulled me closer to her.

    It''s not like Fily stopped sleeping for her to continue sleeping... right?

    "When will I start training?" I haven''t forgotten about our promise yet and I want to help her as much as I can and as soon as possible.

    "You can start tomorrow if you''re really excited about it. That''s also great because I can help you while I stay here for a few more days."

    "You''re going somewhere far again?" she chuckled upon hearing my question.

    "You sound just like Von! But yes, I will be going away again for a few more days."

    "Where will you go?"

    "Well, I''ve got my duties as a princess and I''ve still got a lot to look into about my little Demi."

    "Who''s that?"

    "She''s my daughter, and here is your room." we stopped walking three doors away from Fily''s room.

    "So where is she? Can I see her?" I didn''t know she has another child than Von.

    "She''s in a better place now. Goodnight!" she said, ending the conversation by closing the door, leaving me inside my new room.

    I didn''t move for a few seconds, still thinking about Venedette and how my life had changed drastically because of her.

    How I wish time will go faster so Fily would be able to read us the Salamandite book already!

    I slept soundly again that night, this bed is even more comfortable than the previous one in the Manor!

    When I woke up, the scenery didn''t really change that much. The style of the room was basically the same as the room in the Manor, only the view outside changed where I can see a lot more things now than in the small village before.

    My room is probably on the third floor guessing from its distance to the floor, and I didn''t get to inspect my room completely because of the sudden interruption from my door.

    "Goodmorning!! I have just found the first few things that I need to educate you with!" Venedette barged into my room, carrying a bunch of books in her arms that she dropped on the empty floor with a loud bang.

    "A guide to Superhuman powers." I read the title of one of the books that she dropped on my floor.

    "Don''t bother about that, I just brought them here in case you want to read them all in-depth."

    "But I don''t know how to read that well--"

    "No worries! I can teach you that in a flash!"

    And she did assist me through reading all those books in a flash.

    "You''re actually a pretty fast learner!" she said and gave me a thumbs up.

    ''The basics of superhuman powers'' was the next lesson that she read for me today.

    I already knew some of these kinds of stuff but I also realized that I still have a lot to learn.

    Including the history of this world which is very important and all the levels of superhuman powers which I might encounter in the future.

    As it turned out, flight was really only for the royalties. Unlike the first four powers of superhumans, flight was the only one that they cannot buy in supermarkets.

    Here''s the list of common superhuman powers that can be bought with money back in the day.

    Vial 1 - Contains enhanced hearing

    Vial 2 - Contains enhanced vision

    Vial 3 - Contains super speed

    Vial 4 - Contains super strength

    Some of them, although taken, might have no effect depending on their compatibility with your body. Some might even disappear when not used for a long time like Fily''s.

    Apparently, the vial could be taken once and you can pass them on to your children forever because, unlike medications, this is evolution.

 Chapter 13 - Salamanders

    "Each attribute can be categorized from levels 1-10. This is what I''m going to train you for," she said, closing down the book on her lap while we''re seated in front of each other in the window bench.

    We spent the whole day in my room, trying to finish as many lessons as we possibly could.

    Von even visited one time just to glare at me and found the lessons boring so he just went outside to play with Lei while Fily slept peacefully inside her room the whole day.

    "When will I start training?"

    "Soon, maybe." Venedette looked at me with a faint smile, "I don''t want to steal your childhood away from you by making you start your training immediately. You still have a lot to see and enjoy in this world that it breaks my heart to know how you couldn''t afford to experience these things in your life before. You deserve to be happy, Gem. And I''m here you give you what you deserve. Training will come later, say when you''re 14, perhaps?"

    "I.... I don''t think I can last a day without fighting. I already got used to that kind of life and-"

    "I understand. I was raised in duty too so I know how hard it is to let go of the kind of lifestyle that you''re used to. But do note that if you ever want to rest, or have a day off training, you''re free to do so, okay?"

    "So you''re letting me join training sooner?"

    "If that''s what you want then, yes. How could I prevent you from doing the thing you want to do the most?"

    Upon hearing this, I jumped from my seat and hugged her so tightly that the book on her lap even fell to the floor.

    I couldn''t find the right words to say in response to her kindness. She''s just too warm that her words managed to melt my heart just like hot chocolate.

    This woman is more than just someone who''s looking out for me because of the necklace, the tears in her eyes were screaming love and longing for something else.

    "Why are you crying?" I was worried that I had offended her with my hug so I moved back a little bit but she held me even tighter.

    "Sorry, can we stay like this for a bit more?" she gasped for air, trying hard to suppress her sobs that I sure can hear from behind.

    After a few minutes, she finally calmed down and collected herself in front of me.

    "Thank you," she said.

    "T-Thank you too."

    I was going to tell her that first! Slow Gem!

    "Did something bad happen?" I asked.

    As if on cue, her eyes began to fill with tears again that I almost slapped myself for asking that stupid question. Stupid Gem!

    "I''ll tell you next time. Fily will finish her weekly hibernation tomorrow so we''ve got to go to sleep early or we wouldn''t be able to wake up early to hear the contents of that book!" she laughed, trying to hide the sadness that was still obvious in her eyes no matter how loud her laugh was.

    "Okay, see you tomorrow!" I took the clue and smiled weakly at her.

    It was only 6 pm but we were already done with dinner and with everything else, so I had nothing left to do except for reading books or thinking about what might happen that could make Venedette sad like that?

    I guess it was something horrible for her to have a hard time sharing it with anyone, huh?

    Maybe in the future, at the right time, or when she''s ready, maybe she''ll tell me what it is and I might understand how sadness works for her.

    But for now, I still have a promise to complete and I''ll do my best to pay her kindness back sometime in the future too when I can finally help her.

    *tik tik tik*

    I heard soft noises from outside so I glanced at the window but immediately fell on my bed when I saw a big shadow on the window, staring at me. I closed my eyes because of the horror as my breathing became ragged thinking, ''What in the world was that?'' but when I looked at it again, it was gone!

    I made my way back to the window where Venedette and I were just seated earlier and found an orange lizard sticking to my window from the outside.

    But I''m sure the black thing that I saw was bigger than this lizard''s shadow.

    I shrugged the thought and opened the window slowly, letting it crawl inside my room.

    "What are you doing here?" I greeted it.

    This lizard looks familiar, it''s one of the amphibians that I saw inside that chamber-like cave!

    I really thought that the golden-orange light from the book was the reason they looked orange to me but it was really their color all along!

    I tumbled off my feet when a battalion of them suddenly invaded my room.

    "Woah! woah! woah!! There''s a LOT of you!!" I exclaimed as I heard their slithery bodies crawl on all of the four walls of my darkroom, flashing faint glows that resemble their different skin colors such as green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and pink before they went into a halt, all at the same time.

    But among them, these seven in front of me had the brightest glow of them all.

    The orange one, which seemed to be their leader, moved closer to me and handed me a key from its slimy tongue, which I took from it reluctantly, mainly because of curiosity and fear that if I don''t do what they want me to do, they might lunge at me all at once.

    I covered my ears when the rest of them on my walls started to move again. My hearing is very clear that even their small but million slimy feet could ring in my ear as noise.

    The rest of the seven gave me each key from their tongue. Their glow became weaker after giving me the keys and when I held the seven of those in my palm, the gemstone necklace released weak cyan-colored jelly droplets that took the keys in seven separate drops and disappeared back into my necklace.

    What the hell just happened...?

    The lizards- ''Salamanders'' A random word interrupted my thoughts as it popped into my mind.

    "You''re Salamanders? Like the gemstone Salamandite..?"

    The orange one nodded to me as if it understood my words.

    -which made my eyes widen and my heart beat faster than ever!

    What in the world is this weird situation that I''m in right now??

    As if satisfied, the Salamanders left my room just like nothing had happened. Leaving me with my gemstone''s glow that became brighter than before.

    ''Did they just charge you or something?'' I tried to talk to it, but it won''t respond.

    Instead, I felt the gemstone move a little bit in my neck, giving me an impression that it wanted to talk but somehow couldn''t.

    What did the Salamanders do to my wall?

    Should I ask Venedette to go here now?

    Did she know that Salamanders and the gemstones have a connection??

    Out of curiosity, I turned on the lights to search for books about Salamanders.

    And it said here, "Extinct amphibian species" which confused the heck out of me.

    I was sure that I saw them, they looked similar to the pictures except for the colors! How are they extinct!?? I don''t understand...

    I looked at my walls, searching for the trails that they might have left, expecting it to be a slimy mess but there was nothing.

    Was I visited by dead Salamanders? But what they gave me was real! The gemstone looked healthier because of the keys that they gave it!

    I''m sure I''m not hallucinating.

    I mean even if I was, how could I know how Salamanders look like if I haven''t seen them before??

    The Salamanders according to the books, were the first amphibians to be affected by a chemical reaction from a meteorite that landed on earth, evolving their species into a much more useful one that quickly became extinct because of the large demand for their energy slimes.

    Energy slimes... the keys? It didn''t look like slimes...

    But what do they use it for?

    There''s no data here explaining where they use the Salamanders except for those ''energy slimes''. So what use does energy slimes have for the superhumans to want them so bad that they had to make Salamanders extinct even before the nuclear war??

    My mind is so boggled right now that I just wish my necklace would tell me everything.

    Or Fily? Maybe she knows something about these things.

    Ahhh! I should just wait for Fily to wake up tomorrow.

 Chapter 14 - Salamandite

    We woke up earlier than usual today.

    Why? Well, you know...

    Fily''s awake today.

    "Gem!!! Come!! Quickly!" The two of them were already waiting in the library for us, first thing in the morning.

    They even ordered the maids to serve us breakfast here.

    When I sat in the chair beside Venedette, still stretching and rubbing the dirt out of my eyes, a loud Von came inside the library and pushed me away from Venedette, forcing his way to get the seat in between us.

    "Hey!".

    "Bleeh!"

    "Von.." Venedette just shook her head and smiled at me.

    ''I was going to ask her things about Salamanders.'' I ranted in my head.

    Then I saw Fily beside her. She''s awake!

    I used to dislike her but I need answers to my questions, so I stood up from my seat and went to sit beside her.

    All before Lei was able to take the same seat. ''Ha, I got here first.'' I gave him a proud smile that he dismissed and went to sit beside Von instead.

    "Hello!" Fily greeted me with a friendly smile that I couldn''t help but be thankful for, because... I really thought she''ll hate me for bothering her sleep while we were in the vehicle that day.

    "Fily, this is Gem, and Gem as you might have known, this is Fily Dela Cruz, our new recruit," Venedette said with a smile that shined brighter than the sunlight from the windows.

    "Recruit? For what? Are we forming a squad or something like that?" Von asked purely out of curiosity that led to his permanent scowl the whole day.

    "That''s a very great idea Von! You''re really my son!"

    Poor Von. Now I think Venedette will collect more girls on the way.

    "Food!" I smelled food from far away and realized that they couldn''t smell it yet.

    "I guess the food''s coming... well, let''s fix the table. Lei, can you move the books over there?"

    We did as Venedette told us (except for Fily because she''s weak) and the food did come sooner than we thought.

    "Wow!" All of us exclaimed as we smell that sweet slightly burned smell of apple pie that the maids have brought for breakfast.

    "What a delight!" I couldn''t help but fathom about the changes in Fily''s attitude when she''s asleep and when she''s awake.

    It''s like, she doesn''t care about the world when she''s asleep, but then she sleepwalks, and sleep talks-- a lot, when you ask her questions, but whenever she''s awake she becomes the sweetest person ever.

    "Say aaaah, little Gem."

    It''s like, she was having pleasure in taking care of others.

    "Aaaah?"

    *click* A camera flashed from Venedette.

    "You two look so sweet." Venedette teased that made my cheeks hot.

    "Here." Fily handed me a handkerchief, and when I didn''t take it from her, she wiped it to my lips and flashed me a very big smile afterward.

    Just how sweet can she get!?

    This is unfair! She looks so healthy and sexy while I look just like a stick! Well, a little bit healthier than stick because of the gemstone... But still!

    "Okay! Shall we start with the discussion? Fily?"

    I felt someone was watching me so I looked around to find it and saw Von gossiping to Lei about something... that I could totally hear!

    "They should get a room," he said, to which I didn''t understand what he was referring to so I just shrugged it off.

    "Salamandite." Fily started by translating the title of the book which was written in another script, triggering my memories of those amphibians coming inside my room last night.

    ''Was it a dream?'' I looked down at my necklace, I can''t confirm if it was a dream or not by its light because the sunlight was overshining it.

    "A guide to Salamandite..." she read to us all the contents of it just until page 15.

    "What''s wrong?" Venedette asked after a long silence from Fily.

    "It''s locked," she said, and before anyone could answer, she recalled something almost immediately.

    "I remember now! I was doing some code-cracking when I was sleeping, three pages per day and that''s all I could remember. The book has a unique lock that''s connected with another source. This source makes the key and the keys open the pages of the book--"

    "Keys?"

    Fily was interrupted when I suddenly talked.

    "Yup, keys," she said, confirming my speculations.

    "I think I have seven of those," I said and the room became silent because of that.

    "Why didn''t you say so earlier?" Fily raised a brow at me.

    "Because I thought it wasn''t real. I thought it was a dream but what you said just made me understand more about what I saw last night." I said and hid my face from Fily''s prying looks.

    She almost scared the hell out of me because of that cold look, but as it turns out, it was only just a joke all along.

    "That just saved me from seven more weeks of hibernation to unlock a chapter!" she said and hugged me, rubbing her chubby chocolate cheeks with mine.

    "So, where did you get it? And what do you mean by dream?" Venedette finally spoke. Her expression was the least pleased upon hearing that from me. Did I say something wrong?

    "Y-yesterday... I can''t tell if it was a dream or not because the slimes were supposed to be there if it wasn''t a dream but there were no slimes on the wall! So I thought I was hallucinating or something."

    "Please elaborate."

    I couldn''t talk straight because of Venedette''s nervous stare but I still tried to explain as much as I can.

    "So you were saying, you saw Salamanders. And not just one but a lot of them? Enough to fill your whole room with their glows." I just nodded at whatever Venedette''s saying, or recapping what I said at least.

    "But Salamanders are extinct, you know?" Fily said with a very mellow voice while hugging me that comforted me a little, only when I don''t look at Venedette who was still fidgeting back and forth in front of us.

    "Where are the keys?" she said and halted in front of me with her right hand in front of my face, asking for the keys that I got from last night.

    "T-that''s the problem. I think the gemstone ate it yesterday."

    "What?" Fily''s mellow voice suddenly echoed in the whole room. Somehow her voice still feels calm even when shouting.

    "It was a dream. Salamanders are dead and there''s no way they could''ve been here inside the castle without our knowledge." Von concluded which made me lose hope that we can open and see the other contents of the book other than Salamandite''s origin and its structure.

    There''s even no information yet about how Salamandite gemstones work and how we can use them and their powers! If only the first fifteen pages of the book contain instructions on how to activate and draw its powers then we could''ve been saved from more trouble!

    But instead, we found trash like who first discovered Salamandites and how Salamanders had gone to evolve and make it, basically just any basic information we can find about Salamanders in any encyclopedia!

    "But at least we found out that the key to this book is within the gemstones... right?" Suddenly, the air of despair enveloping this room was over-shined by Fily''s magical mind.

    "I love you." I hugged her even tighter than before.

    "You''re right! Except, that''ll be a contradiction of the advantage that we should have acquired by getting this book." Venedette lamented, still overthinking about the fact that the book really didn''t provide any explanation whatsoever about our gemstones.

    "In conclusion, this book is pointless. Come on, Lei. I''m getting nauseous just by looking at those two." Von said, still with a scowl on his face as he grabbed Lei''s hand and walked out on us.

    "I''m sorry Venedette, Fily." I said while looking at them shyly.

    "No it''s okay," my heavy heart felt lighter just by hearing that from Venedette, "It''s already suspicious for us to have that book and even someone who can read it. I totally knew it wouldn''t be that easy."

    "I''ll try to take the keys out of the gemstone," I assured her and she just nodded at me.

    "It''s okay, you can take your time in doing that. I don''t want you to force yourself too hard. You too Fily."

    "Hai!" She said with a smile that had infected me too.

    "So what do you want to do today girls?" Venedette grabbed our hands and took us outside of the library.

    I think we could use a tour around this castle? Or even the whole village... I want to see fresh lands and--

    "Let''s go on a date!"

    Or we could do what Fily just said... whatever that is.

 Chapter 15 - Date

    "Let''s go on a date!" Fily requested with a smile that we just couldn''t refuse.

    "Okay."

    As soon as Venedette approved, she hurriedly locked arms with us and pulled us outside of that dusty library using her weak force.

    I couldn''t help but giggle at the thought that she''s really trying her best to pull us. Despite having a slightly heavier body than me, she couldn''t even make us move an inch.

    Venedette looked at me, covering her demonic laugh with her free hand behind Fily''s face..

    After our short laugh, we decided to go along with Fily to wherever she wanted to go.

    "What is a date?" I whispered to Fily hesitantly, afraid that they might make fun of me.

    But instead, she gave me a mild squish on the cheeks saying, "A date is when people hang out together." so straightforwardly that I almost believed what she said if only Venedette didn''t interfere.

    "What are you talking about? A date is when two people who like each other romantically hang out."

    "Or it could mean the fruit or the day today which is April 19, 4016," Fily replied with a pout that made Venedette laugh even more for ruining her cover.

    I didn''t know Venedette was such a bully.

    "It''s okay girls, we can still consider this a date," she hugged the both of us that brought back the smile in Fily''s face.

    "Where do we go first?" Fily asked Venedette.

    Among the three of us, she''s the most knowledgeable about this place, taking into account that she grew up here after all. So it is only practical to ask her where we should go.

    But we should''ve known better.

    Venedette is such a troll!!

    "What are we doing here?" I asked her and Fily too who also seemed as confused as me.

    "Welcome to the plains!" Venedette posed like a bird opening her wings.

    "I don''t understand." Fily, for the first time, said words that I can totally relate to.

    Here we are, in the middle of nowhere that is surrounded by damp mud and dirt that had been formed into squares where old people with straw hats were planting with grass.

    "Aren''t you glad to smell fresh air and see the sunlight?" she continued her facade, running along the hills where we stand.

    I took a moment to appreciate the clean air that she was talking about, the breeze, cooling our body so it wouldn''t be too hot for us to stay under the direct warmth of the sun.

    "Come here!!" Venedette shouted from a distance and we saw two maids behind her setting a white blanket on the grass.

    They left two baskets of what I assume is food and something else that looked like a triangle paper in pink and white. It floated and was immediately caught by Venedette who was already seated on the white blanket.

    Fily and I approached her and she tapped the space on the blanket where we should probably seat.

    "What''s that Venedette?" I asked her, regarding the thing.

    Fily was the one who answered me despite her munching on the sandwich from the basket already, "It''s a kite."

    "What does it do?"

    "It flies."

    Somehow, Fily isn''t very descriptive when she''s awake. She just says things straight to the point with no background information whatsoever like when we were in that car.

    She even tends to forget things easily when she''s awake.

    "Where''s my glasses?" She panicked, looking for something that she''s already wearing.

    "Here" I pointed at the middle of its right lens straight to her eye... and she didn''t even blink.

    "Oh, silly me." She cracked a laugh.

    Is she okay?

    After our short sandwich time, we played with kites.

    Me and Fily running along on the ground while Venedette was flying in the sky, trying to capture our kites.

    It was fun.

    We had a lot of fun...

    Only until Lei arrived with his ''kite'' that totally destroyed ours.

    It was Von. In a string.

    He punched our kites to death!

    "It''s okay little Gem..." Fely tried to calm me down but I already decided to kill Von if he ever comes down from there.

    ''Just try to step foot here in my territory you ugly dumbass and I will kill you with my own hands!!!'' I swore to the heavens with all my might that even the gemstone agreed with me.

    "Where do you want to go next, kids?" Venedette strolled happily ahead of us to the city.

    "Can we go to the night market mom?" Von suggested while sticking behind Venedette like gum. He''s probably scared for his life after seeing my death glare huh?

    I noticed Lei when he stole a glance at me.

    "What?" I growled at him. I really need to release my anger to someone else or I might hurt Fily here who''s still clinging to me.

    "Don''t mind him too much. He''s really just like that," he said.

    That was the first time Lei actually talked to me. Usually he''s just silent in the corners, putting up to every bullshit that Von has to offer him.

    "I''m not like you." I scowled at him, trying to walk faster so I could get away from his pep talk but Fily was dragging me behind.

    "He wasn''t like that before. He only changed two years ago when his--" Lei hesitated a bit and shook his head, "Nevermind."

    "What? His what?" Now I''m interested!

    "Nothing. Forget it," he repeated and went ahead to Von and Venedette who were both running around the small stalls here in the night market already.

    "Woaaah!" Fily and I almost had the same reaction when we saw the lights opened up from the buildings, stalls and even in the castle that''s included in our field of view because of its elevation from the town.

    The place was weird. It was a mixture of very advanced gadgets and no gadgets at all. It was like time skipped in the middle of an era where the rich would only be the ones who can attain advanced gadgets and the peasants were left with nothing. Not even a simple gadget could be affordable nowadays based on what I am seeing right now.

    Most of the people who wore decent clothes have accessories and advanced suits for fighting while the peasants were not wearing anything. Yet some of them could still win the fight in one of the festival arenas in the open.

    While some stalls were with television that displays their products, others were left with stalls made of wood and cloth. Some of them don''t even have stalls.

    When we made it to the food section of the night market, the sweet scent of cooked potatoes and then grilled barbecue suddenly invaded my nose. It was pleasant.

    Good thing I have Fily beside me since she was very useful in helping me identify the kinds of products these vendors were selling tonight.

    "Today is the first Sunday of May, festival of

    "Here." Fily handed me a bag of cotton candy. And while she was paying the vendor with coins, I noticed that we were already separated from Venedette and the boys at this point.

    I closed my eyes, trying to single out Venedette-- or even Von''s voice from this crowd but I couldn''t hear them.

    "What''s wrong Gem?"

    "I think we''re lost." I said that made her laugh silently.

    "Don''t worry, I know the way home." she patted me on the back, and just before we were able to exit that stall, I heard whispers from the people that bothered me a lot.

    "Someone said the monster is here in our town."

    "Isn''t she that little girl? With the girl from Maharlika."

    "There''s a monster here?"

    "I haven''t seen her face around here before."

    "That''s probably her then,"

    "What should we do?"

    "If she''s a monster then we should kill her!"

    As if on cue they all started eyeing me, some even walking closer to corner us both.

    "But what about the Maharlikan girl?"

    "Get her out of here."

    "We''ll deal with this little one."

    "But isn''t she the Princess'' pupil?"

    "Shut up. We don''t want a criminal here."

    "But--"

    "There''s a million pog bounty for her head. We could use some of that." The people made way for the guy who said that.

    It was a dirty looking butcher that was holding a cleaver that was still reeking with pig blood.

    The crowd went silent when he sharpened his cleaver with a sharpener that ignited sparks to the ground. The sparks stunned me in my place as they reminded me of the fiery borders.

    "Stay away! Gem is a person, not a pig that you can butcher!" Fily shouted at him as she threw herself to cover me.

    But without even realizing it, I was already suffocating inside my own thoughts and horrors.

    "Gem!!!!"

    That with that, I lost my consciousness in the real world.

 Chapter 16 - Bounty

    The people from Wayeland pushed me into the corner.

    They said I was a witch.

    They were hunting me down.

    After five years of living there, suddenly, they all planned to kill me.

    They realized that I was not just a normal superhuman.

    I was something else.

    But I didn''t know that.

    Not until they showed me, and became terrified of me..

    It was already hard trying to get by the days by myself.

    I always wondered how I couldn''t die.

    Not that I didn''t want to live.

    But I was just not thankful for it. I found nothing to be thankful about.

    <Raven Gemini Wells>

    I heard a voice, somehow it''s too plain and undramatic.

    Is this a person talking?

    <It is I, the Salamandite>

    "Mr. Gemstone??"

    <Yes>

    "But why do you sound like a female now?"

    <I don''t. You just think.>

    "I don''t understand."

    <I don''t have a voice>

    "Really? But where am I by the way?"

    I scanned the whole place to make sense of where I might be but it was just white everywhere.

    <You''re still in the night market of Yuphoria master>

    "Yuphoria? The town below the castle?"

    <Yes>

    "But where are the people? And Fily? And if I''m still there then why can''t I see anything??"

    <This is solitude, one of the many abilities that have been granted to you by the Salamandite>

    "Solitude? I still don''t understand! You''re saying I''m still where I am but at the same time I''m not??"

    <Yes, you have the ability to separate yourself from everyone else and bring your opponent or ally inside, but do note that this space is surrounded by anti-superhuman logic that deems the superpowers of superhumans useless when inside>

    "You said I can bring allies and opponents with me inside, right?... Can you please bring Fily in here with me??"

    <Affirmative.>

    The sound of crystals clashing with each other enveloped the area behind me but when I looked at it, Fily was suddenly there!

    "Fily!" I exclaimed happily and threw myself to hug her.

    I was expecting her to be happy to see me too, yet I received no response from her so I called her again, "Fily?"

    Still nothing. And when I looked at her, I saw the eyes of someone in pure confusion. She was looking at me like I was some sort of a stranger yet she stayed calm the whole time.

    "Hello. Do I know you?" she said politely which almost made me trip from shock.

    "It''s me. Gem." I said, trying to see if she was just joking but her reactions were genuine.

    "Where am I?" she then started asking questions that did not help the situation at all, "Who are you? What happened to my clothes? Who am I?"

    I shut my eyes, refusing to believe that this was really happening to me, to Fily.

    ''Mr. Gemstone help!''

    I said desperately in my mind. My heart was betaing so fast and loud that I could not help but feel suffocated about this whole situation right now.

    One second I was about to get killed by that butcher man and next I was in this weird space with Fily who seemed to have forgotten everything about me already.

    <Superpowers are unavailable for use inside the Solitude.>

    "Superpowers..."

    Fily''s superpower is her super intelligence! What have you done Gem!?

    "We should find a way to get out first." I held Fily''s hands to comfort her but in reality I was the one who needed comfort the most during this situation.

    Fily just lost her memories for god''s sake! What if she couldn''t get it back after leaving this place?!

    But it''s still worth the try. I hope that''s not the case.

    "How do we get out Mr. Gemstone?" I said, gathering all my courage with a deep breath as I wished desperately for the heavens to help me.

    <Are you sure you want to exit?>

    Mr. Gemstone''s voice echoed in my head, giving me a glimpse of hope in this helpless situation as I glanced back at Fily who was now busy wondering beside me like a lost butterfly.

    I smiled at her for the last time before confirming my request to the gemstone.

    "Yes please."

    All of a sudden, my body dissatipated in the air with different colors and shapes that started from my fingertips.

    "Hang on Fily." I said and watched myself disappear from that place completely.

    And in a flash, we were back to the village.

    Still intact.

    And Fily...

    "Gem!" she called to me with eyes full of worry.

    "You''re back! I''m so glad you''re okay now!"

    "Step aside thick girl" the butcher man pushed Fily to the side as I was about to hug her which gave him an opportunity to grab my shirt''s neckline, picking me up into the air with his strength that was far more superior than mine.

    But instead of weeping, I opted to fight back to him by quickly revolving around his toned arm and landing a heavy double kick onto his face with the force that I gathered from using his toned arm.

    I may be little but being little is also one of my strengths!

    "You little-"

    Before he could even react, I used my super-speed to create a momentum that enabled me to ram my head into his stomach, pushing him back a little which gave me an opening for a punch in the small thing under his apron... between his--

    "AAAAAHHHH!!!"

    I was just about to throw my super punch to him when he suddenly grabbed my hair! He caught my hair! This damn hair!

    "Gem!" Fily screamed after seeing the way that the man grabbed my hair.

    Slowly, he lifted himself into the air, along with me in his fingertips, being pinched like a little rat.

    This guy can fly? But how--

    With all his might, he launched me back to the ground like an expert pitcher, fast and with a good amount of force.

    And that was it.

    I knew I wouldn''t be able to survive that.

    But somehow... I landed into a soft thing.

    Actually, it wasn''t a thing, but rather--

    "Super puff!"

    "Air!"

    I heard the people exclaim simeoultaneously.

    It was air, from Fily''s puff.

    "Fily!"

    Fily let go of her ''Super puff'' slowly and was able to bring me back down safely.

    The butcher growled in the sky and threatened to land on the both of us, cleaver first but then Venedette stood in his way. Her iron-like arms collided with the cleaver, creating a spark and a sharp clang that resonated through the whole area.

    She then grabbed the man''s head and hit it to her knees, deeming the man unconscious after that.

    Venedette brought his head to the ground slowly, landing in the middle of the commotion with violent air around her that screamed bad news for the people around here, her people.

    "What is the meaning of this?" she thundered with a deep voice, looking at everyone with a deathly glare that even I became afraid of.

    Everyone knew that they have crossed the line and that their Princess isn''t a bit happy about this but I did not expect Venedette to be this scary when she''s angry like this.

    "She''s scary," Fily whispered to me with that sweet voice that calmed me a little bit.

    "We''re sorry Princess!!" One of the elderly went down on her knees which was then followed by everybody else, their heads were also bowing to the ground while Fily and I just sit there, in each other''s embrace.

    "Who started this chaos?"

    "W-we heard of a rumor madame, that the monster is within our village."

    "We didn''t believe it at first but then some of them said that she has a million pog bounty on her head."

    "You don''t need that money." Venedette looked really pissed right now.

    "We don''t." someone responded with a soft voice.

    Somehow, Venedette''s expression became softer. She went to the butcher which she headbutted and checked if he was still alive.

    "Take him to the doctors." she ordered to the people and two men immediately stood up to do what she ordered them to.

    "I believe that was the fallen Sir Gordon," I heard whispers again, this time it was clearer because most of the people are still on the floor and silent.

    "He must really be desperate to try and hurt a kid like that."

    "He probably wants to regain his honor back with that bounty."

    "Too bad he destroyed himself and his reputation for the second time now. I don''t think the Princess will let this go."

    "The kid kind of looks special to her too."

    "You two, come on now, let''s go." Venedette suddenly appeared in front of us and her hands which we took immediately without complains.

    The people bowed still and went silent when we passed through them until we reached the bridge to the castle.

    "I''m sorry, Gem." Venedette said without looking at me after arriving inside the castle''s gates.

    "It''s not your fault." I said and pouted in response.

    "As the princess of this Island, somehow it is. And I can''t believe my people would do that to you. That was just disgraceful and a disgusting deed of a royalty." she ranted. Her face was sour while talking about the butcher man who almost killed me earlier.

    "It''s okay. They didn''t mean it." I tried to reason with her, trying to lift her mood a little bit but she just gave me a fake smile before going ahead of us into the castle.

 Chapter 17 - To Die

    "Gem!" I was caught off-guarded when Fily suddenly pulled me into her embrace... between her soft breasts...

    The people of Yuporia looked at us with a slight judgment but retreated their thoughts instantly and ignored us, probably remembering that fresh incident still, while we were blocking the path of the bridge to the castle.

    "Where did you go? You suddenly disappeared! A-And I thought you already left me there to die!" Fily said with little sniffs that she didn''t even give me a chance to answer.

    While Fily was ranting to me, who was still locked between her boobs, I crawled below her and took some glances at the lanterns that were now colored.

    "Fily," I stopped her from grappling me, "Is it just me or the lanterns are now colorful?"

    Fily followed my vision when I walked closer to the waters, inspecting its reflection if the colors can also be reflected, for I am sure that these were just plain lanterns before we left..

    "No. They''re just white, why?"

    My chest moved faster when I confirmed that my speculations were indeed right.

    Just like when I was the only one who could hear the salamanders in the chamber, they also couldn''t see the colors!

    "Where''s Venedette? Gem she''s left us already! Come on let''s go inside now!" Fily said and locked her arms with me again, dragging me into the castle while my mind was just floating in the air.

    ''Hey, Mr. Gemstone, can you hear me?''

    I felt like I was eating my heart when I tried to ask that question again.

    Somehow, I felt like it''s giving me answers but I can''t just figure out exactly what it''s saying and how I could understand him!

    "Fily... help me." I trailed on our tracks when my body began to sweat bullets and felt colder than normal. It''s like the effect of giving up and losing all hope for the gemstone when I realized something.

    I was stupid!

    I should''ve asked it to give me the keys while I was inside that thing...

    That thing called... ''Solitude.''

    "What''s wrong? Do you feel traumatized? Wait, I''ll bring you to the hospital wing!"

    And although I was thankful for her, I knew Fily wouldn''t be able to bring me there in time because of her weakness.

    "I just need water," I said, inhaling a large amount of air to calm myself down.

    I shouldn''t be thinking about these thoughts, but if it''s the only way that I can--

    "Miss maid! Can you please bring us some water? Thank you!" shouted Fily from across the room to the maid in the corridor.

    She sat with me in the middle of the dimmed open hall where we could see the moonlight gazing over us.

    My body was trembling and I couldn''t get a hold of myself, it''s like the cold and the heat of my body were playing with each other!

    "Gem, tell me what''s wrong" Fily forced me to look at her wide eyes, reflecting the moonlight''s gaze faintly, tainting it with the brown color of her eyes.

    "I think I need to die."

    My eyes unwillingly wept with tears that I didn''t even bother to remove as Fily watched me slowly, unmoving.

    I thought Fily was just going to stare at me for that entire moment but then, she suddenly slapped me with teary eyes.

    "What are you saying!? You need to die? After all that trouble Venedette and I had to go through just to save you but here you are, saying you need to die!" she raged in front of me whose eyes were widened by Fily''s sudden violent reactions.

    But I need to do this. I was stupid! I need to go back there so I could help them collect information!

    "I think I need to die-"

    My sentence was not yet even finished when Fily slapped me again.

    "Try saying that again and you''ll see what will happen to you," she said with a stern voice that made me cry even more.

    "I''m not even finished yet!! Can you just hear me out first!" I shouted back at her while still crying.

    "Oh... okay," she said, finally calming down.

    My eyes followed her shift her position to sit beside me, facing the moonlight while our backs were against the wall.

    She glanced innocently at me which gave me a go sign to speak.

    "The gemstone won''t let me die. But it won''t talk to me either unless I''m in the verge of death." I started while looking occasionally at her in case she gets the wrong idea again.

    The mood was awkward for both of us.

    Fily couldn''t look at me while I explained the details further to her.

    "So... it was all about the Salamandite and you don''t really mean that you want to die?" she confirmed while stealing glances at me every second which made it even more awkward.

    I nodded with a pout while wiping my tears in front of her.

    "Okay. I''m sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by that. Please don''t say that again. People will get the wrong idea like me." she said, finally being able to keep eye contact with me and even hugged me after.

    "And don''t worry about the Salamandite too much, I''ll find a way to crack that code okay? Just wait for me and when I come back we''ll get your Salamandite to work with you. You understand me?"

    I prolonged my pout and cried again in her arms. I really didn''t want to die yet. I always thought that I was ready for it, but in reality, I really didn''t really want to die yet.

    "I just want to help."

    "But this is not the way to do that little Gem," she said, rubbing my back while her sweet voice resonated inside my ears.

    After our silent moment together over there, Fily offered to carry me back into the rooms...

    but I ended up carrying her instead.

    She doesn''t even feel as heavier as she seems!

    "Don''t worry about anything, little Gem. You''ve got to value your life before you start getting regrets. Don''t even start with me, I wish I could''ve been a normal superhuman like you, with normal superpowers that don''t require me to sleep a lot just to recover. I may be just book smart but you''ve got the chance to experience life to the fullest, Gem. So go out there and be happy for me, experience the life that I wasn''t able to achieve. And value your life like no other." she mumbled while sleeping on my shoulders.

    I couldn''t focus on what she was saying but I understood some of it. She was making a mess out of my hair that even divided my focus from carrying her across the buildings when we suddenly crossed paths with Von.

    "You again!?" Von greeted us with his childish voice as always. He was blocking the way and I didn''t want to bother with him right now so I just stepped aside still while carrying Fily but got bumped to Lei instead.

    "Sorry!!" I said.

    Gosh! Lei almost gave me a heart attack with that. I didn''t notice his presence while looking down to balance Fily in my back!

    "It''s okay. Do you want help with that?" he said politely which made me blush a little.

    I looked up to him and heard Von''s "tch" on the side before saying "No thanks." And continued going our separate ways.

    "Where are they going? That''s the opposite side from the dining room." Fily said.

    I was surprised when I heard her talk because I thought she was already sleeping.

    "They look so complex on the outside but are actually easier to read on the inside compared to you," she added with a giggle to which I only responded with a nod.

    "I actually forgot to tell you guys something important. I had this information with me for a long time now before remembering it last night but your dream was so interesting that it almost slipped out of my mind again," she said, which caught my attention as we were halfway to our destination.

    "It was about a prophecy that I read in a book that was also in another history book that I had read somewhere else. The prophecy was about a person in the future generations that would harness the power to bring back the dead to life, although I doubt it''s real. Several generations had passed already since then, but no instances of the dead were reported to be brought back to life at any point." she said and shook her head.

    Come to think of it, I still have unanswered questions that I was meaning to ask her, "Why do superhumans need energy slimes, Fily?"

    "Oh? How did you know that? Wait, let me see what I''ve got in here."

    I was looking intently at her while she was thinking which I think she noticed because of her nervous laugh afterward.

    "Don''t stare at me like that. Anyway don''t judge me if this is wrong since Salamandite was just a new word in my dictionary but among the books and knowledge that I have stored in my brain over the course of lifetime reading, very few of them are related to Salamanders and they''re all buried inside the vault at the back of my mind that says ''going to trash soon''." she squinted with a smile that I unintentionally copied and duplicated like a mock to her.

    After a few more minutes of walking slowly and thinking, finally a ding was heard and I think she''s got the answer to my question.

    "How could I miss this!! Energy slimes were the vital ingredients for the Superhuman formula!"

    As I expected, she didn''t give me follow-up information about the topic... only the basic stuff like how a normal superhuman would convey information to his peers.

    Her awake state is really different from her sleeping state huh?

    Maybe it is better if I ask her questions while she''s asleep?

    "Ahhhh, I should make a folder that tackles the wonders of our topics today."

    "Thank you," I said and gave her a fake smile while continuing on carrying her to the dining room.

    Von, Lei, and Venedette were already seated at the table when we arrived. I wonder how they got here first when we literally just saw them earlier going in a different direction than us.

    I shook the thoughts away and saw Venedette''s unchanging worried eyes.

    "Come," she while forcing a smile at me, trying her best to trick her emotions but she''s actually doing a really bad job at it.

    Venedette is the worst liar that I have ever encountered in my life.

    "You girls need to eat a lot to regain your energy." she reminded us again about the foods like a caring mother that my heart couldn''t help but get softer each day.

    There was no need for her to prepare our plates, really, but she insisted and I really felt her sincere apology for what her villagers did to us, despite not saying a word about it.

    ***

    ''Dear gemstone, please cooperate with me soon. I want to be accepted by Venedette''s people and for that to happen, I need to prove to them I''m not an enemy. Or at least show them that the rumors aren''t true--

    I paused my prayers when I realized something after saying those words,

    Actually... The rumors ARE true.

    I am a trespasser and I killed that guy unintentionally! But he was the one who tried to kill me first! I just defended myself and I''m not even the one who killed him! My necklace did. But who will believe that?

    Ughh, this situation is so unfair!

 Chapter 18 - Accessory

    "Goodmorning" Venedette suddenly invaded my room first thing in the morning, looking confused about the orderly mess that I did on the floor with the books she left me here the other day, intending to clean them.

    "Waitt!! That''s not a mess! I purposely left them there that way!"

    She stopped in the middle of squatting to reach one of them, thankfully I said those words in time before she reached them.

    "Oops. Sorry."

    Venedette approached me with a light hug after that, caressing my long hair using her hands, "were you reading this all night?" she said, which made my tension go away.

    "N-no."

    I felt my cheeks burn slightly upon hearing her remark. How did she find out?

    "I know you are.. Come, let''s eat breakfast and I''m going to give you girls something special." She said, tugging me outside with her in a playful manner while trying to not destroy the orderly mess that I made with the books.

    "Gem!!" Fily was waiting outside for us, she looked at my mess and back at me, probably trying to say that she couldn''t go inside because of the mess.

    "Nanobots huh?" Venedette said out loud the most mentioned word in the books that I was reading yesterday.

    "Nanobots? I was just also researching about that during my sleep last night!"

    I felt embarrassed hearing their conversation about nanobots. I was planning to surprise them with my newfound knowledge about those after an almost sleepless night of reading but was spoiled because I forgot to clean up my orderly mess of researching!

    "Speaking of research, I have something to give and show you guys in the library. I''m sure you will love it, I picked them personally for you." Venedette''s mood seems lighter now, compared to her furrowed eyebrows last night, she was sporting a vibrant look that matches well with her natural smile.

    She sure shifts emotions too fast, just like Von, but not as often as he does. Their emotions are too easy to read because they give them away too easily too.

    After eating breakfast with Von and Lei who immediately disappeared after finishing their foods, Venedette led me and Fily back to the library. But this time we went to the second floor where cool gadgets were scattered on different tables and a desk was situated on the far end of the room.

    The glass wall in the right brought enough light to lit the entire 2nd floor of this library, and the curtains were just enough to filter the harsh lights into softer ones, making Fily and me look healthier and even more youthful-looking.

    "Come," Venedette signaled us to come nearer to the desk that I think belongs to her, judging by the way she carelessly handles all kinds of stuff there.

    "Here." Upon sitting on a beige couch facing the windows, Venedette gave me a piece of glass that weighs heavier than it should.

    "What''s this?" I said, inspecting the edges of this clear glass that she handed me.

    She didn''t answer me but instead winked at me and said, "I think you''ll need it."

    "Ooh, a tablet!" Fily snatched the thing from me after diving into the sofa and supporting her head with her hands on her cheeks while laying stomach first.

    I stole a quick glance at Venedette who was busy with setting up the other gadgets on her table.

    I think because of the incident yesterday, she might not let me and Fily go out of the castle anymore. Poor Fily, she only had two active days but she can''t even spend them outside because of me.

    I want to do something to fix this mess between the townspeople and their impression of me. If only I know how...

    "This is a tablet, you only need your fingers for it to work." Fily suddenly interrupted my thoughts, mentioning the piece of square glass that she''s holding and is now displaying lights that make words and shapes in different colors that fascinated me because it shows pictures that resemble those in the books and she can manipulate it according to her will using her fingertips.

    "What''s it for?"

    "It''s like me. You can ask anything and it will answer your question using the endless knowledge that even surpasses mine, here try it." she handed me the glass and I started sliding and clicking the virtual buttons on its lower half, copying what she was doing earlier. I typed in, ''Nanobots.''

    And indeed in a flash, loads of articles came flashing by, stocking each other in a speed of light that freaked me out a little bit "What''s happening!"

    "Those are the results, wow you are searching about nanobots!" Fily goofed about it a little bit then helped me navigate through the sea of articles on the tablet after.

    Venedette went to us and pointed at the big window that was now colored black, the light curtains were pushed to the side and the lights in the chandelier have been turned on.

    "Help yourselves girls" She said, Fily nodded but I didn''t understand what she was referring to until Fily slid up the tablet and the articles that we were reading was now displayed on the black window screen.

    "Wow!" That''s amazing!!

    "Nanobots..." Venedette read the huge title of the article displayed in the window with an air of wonder and looked at me and Fily both with meaningful eyes.

    A lot of information about nanobots was suddenly flocking on my mind after reading those articles.

    "Can I have this?" I turned to Venedette.

    This is so much better than looking for articles in a normal book and it can even save more time and effort and even more information even with just little effort!

    "Sure, it''s all yours."

    "Here." Fily handed me the heavy glass and I smiled to thank her because of it.

    "No biggies, I don''t need them anyway when I have this," she tapped her head and I quickly understood what she meant.

    This would make my learning much more convenient for the next nights that I will spend studying!!

    "Oh, before we proceed," Venedette grabbed two boxes from the desk and gave us each accordingly.

    The bigger one for me and a smaller one for Fily.

    I opened the box and discovered that there are two accessories inside for me.

    A necklace and something that''s called...

    "Earrings!!" Fily enthusiastically shouted and went to hug Venedette upon seeing the contents of her little gift.

    I, on the other hand, was left speechless by the stunning appearance of these earrings in my little box.

    It had the shape of a teardrop in a cyan-colored gemstone similar to the color of my necklace, making it look like a pair. It was lined with silver linings and I discovered that the silver necklace had no design.

    Venedette went to me and took the necklace from the black foam in my box.

    She asked me to give her my necklace and then I understood what her gift was for.

    "Wow, it fits perfectly Gem!!" She transferred my gemstone from my long but cheap straw necklace into that shorter but more beautifully designed silver necklace that fits perfectly with my gemstone.

    Fily finished putting her gold feather-shaped earrings with a red gemstone at the bottom part of her ears that made me wonder how she did that.

    She put her old sun-shaped golden earrings in the box and I can say that this feather one matches her better, considering that her traditional inspired dress was also red and gold in color, but with more intricate black patterns.

    "This is too pretty." I saw Fily hugging Venedette again and she handed me her hands to join in so I took it.

    "But what are these for and where do I put it," I remembered seeing this kind of accessory in most of the people that I previously encountered here in Clandamascarene.

    Even Von and Lei were also wearing these kinds of things in their ears, but I don''t quite know how they put it there so easily, whereas I can''t seem to do it right.

    "You don''t have a piercing in your ears?" Fily was surprised to find this out. I even realized that she knows too little about me except being Venedette''s pupil and a trespasser from the outside.

    But somehow she''s already a special person for me.

    But about that piercing, is that something that needs to be done in their culture to be considered a part of this civilization?

    "Hmm.. If she doesn''t have it then we must make it for her." Fily''s horrified expression about what Venedette said made me choke on my saliva.

    W-why? Is it that scary?

    Why are they looking at me like that?

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" NO!!!!

    "It''s finee! It''ll be just quick, come on Gem! You need to do it!" This is not fair!!! I did not sign up for this!!

    "It''s just like a mosquito bite okay??" Venedette was holding a device with a needle on it, she''s going to pierce my earlobes!!

    "Breathe Gem, breathe, inhale, exhale, relax, it''ll just pass in a flash you won''t even feel it." Fily tried to comfort me but I still can''t find the reason to if Venedette''s going to pierce me with needles! I hate needles more than anything! I''d rather take a punch than being pierced with a needle!

    "Do I really need to go through that!!?"

    Venedette''s expression told me that there''s another alternative for it but instead, she said, "no, this is better," and pinched my ears so tightly with her fingernails that I didn''t even feel the needle piercing its way through my earlobes after.

    "And then another one." She used the same method and pierced my earlobes after pinching it with her fingernails first, drowning the pain of the needles with her pinch that hurt more than it should''ve!

    "Done!" She rubbed my back after I stopped protesting and cleaned the blood in my ears with tissue.

    "OH WAIT!"

    "w-what is it?" Her shout made me panic a little bit too, she was looking for something and found them in my hands.

    "Fily assist me please?" She called Fily who immediately walked behind me, holding the healing water in her hands that they used to clean after Venedette was done inserting the earrings in my ears.

    "Done, next."

    "Phew" I managed to survive that torture without dying but the weight of the earrings is itching me.

    "They are so pretty!! Thank you Venedette." I didn''t mention the weight but still gave my thanks anyway because of how pretty these are in my ears, matching my necklace beneath my light hair.

    Venedette really has a very good eye for these kinds of things.

 Chapter 19 - Stat-hut

    "The puff is normal, it will subdue in time." Vendette patted my head and proceeded to the big crystal screen, searching for articles about the earrings and showing us their purpose.

    "These earrings are more than just accessories. I gave them for you so you can track your progress of training while I''m gone."

    "This is a gadget?" I whispered to myself which Fily heard and answered,

    "Yes, it''s called a Stat-hut. These are very popular nowadays, especially for rich families and new guilds because of the upcoming new season for the Dekadalaw tournament."

    I was waiting for Fily to explain the last words that she mentioned but it never came.

    "And what is that--?"

    "Shhh." She shushed me....

    A gadget that is popular for rich families and guilds, huh?

    So that explains why Von and Lei were also wearing these. I thought they might''ve been forced by Venedette to wear her gift to them but there was a reason after all!

    "So what does it do?" Venedette''s question caught my attention once more. I want to know how these works and how can I use them for the training!

    "It tracks your training progress. It saves your progress data and if you want, you can also share them with your team."

    "The gadget can only help you that much with your training. And despite attaching itself to your neurons, it is not programmed to control what you are thinking. Basically this will be your personal assistant in the superhuman world. We have been keeping a nice and peaceful environment thanks to this gadget but we must use it more offensively now for the time has come."

    Venedette started to blabber her thoughts out loud that even Fily seems to be in confusion.

    "Wait, are you saying...?"

    "Yes. I will train all of you then we will participate in the upcoming Dekadalaw Tournament. One that can surely help me get back what I had lost." Venedette''s face turned dark as if remembering something in her past that was bitter.

    "No. Wait, super strength negative 1!???" It seems like Fily can now access her stats through the device.

    "H-how did you make it work?" I asked her, really eager to see my stats and just how far I am from being someone that Venedette can rely on.

    "You long-press it at the same time." She guided both of my hands to touch my ears and let them stay there for at least three seconds then Venedette suddenly made us jump by shouting "WAIIIT!"

    But I already heard some ding that must indicate that the device is now working.

    As if Fily had been woken up, she looked at me with a ghostly regret that didn''t fail to make me worry about her sudden expression.

    "What''s wrong?"

    "Hang on it''ll hurt!" Venedette rushed to get some things from the cabinet behind our seat and Fily was suddenly curled up in a corner looking all guilty about her careless actions.

    "It is not hurting at all--" As if on cue, a flat line of noise invaded my head from all corners, shifting from the left and into the right, and then it suddenly stopped.

    [Loading....]

    I can see Venedette and Fily opening their mouths but I couldn''t hear a thing that they''re saying.

    [Starting Stat-hut...]

    Instead, the voice that seemed programmed and soul-less, that''s even more colder than my Salamandite resonated in my brain.

    It was coming from all kinds of direction that I couldn''t help but follow it with my eyes.

    [Thank you for purchasing Stat-hut, we will now proceed with the installation]

    It didn''t give me enough time to recover my hearing when suddenly, I was bombarded with that same flat noise that''s now being mixed with the sound of crystals crashing and rubbing with each other, creating a screech that sounded worse than that flat line!

    "AAAHHHHH!!!!"

    I tried to cover my ears and shake my head to stop it but it won''t stop! I can''t even hear my own screams!!!

    Tears suddenly started flooding my vision that I just chose to close my eyes and hugged my knees because of the extreme pain it inflicted in my brain!

    [Loading data...]

    [Looking for connection...]

    The voice was heard again but it was now unclear unlike the previous one, with the screeching and crystals clashing, I''m sure no one would understand what it just said.

    As I closed my eyes, I started to imagine my veins, being invaded by these weird small things that flowed like water, giving more pressure to my veins than they normally should because they don''t belong here!!

    "Venedette!! Help me!!" Venedette and Fily were looking pity at me. Did they plan to kill me?

    They were saying something but the noise was too loud that I heard nothing from what they were saying!

    The noise was becoming louder and louder. I could see my feet curling from the cringe and my fingertips were bleeding because I squeezed my fist too much.

    [Stat-hut connection established...]

    [Downloading data...]

    I took deep breaths when it slowly subdued.

    The pressure they left on my brain did more pain than what a normal lump from banging on a wall could.

    "I''m really really sorry, I should''ve at least warned you." I can now hear Fily''s voice faintly and Venedette hastily gave me a glass of slightly blue water that I innocently gulped despite my trembling hands.

    It tasted like cold water but I didn''t feel a cold temperature by the glass and through my mouth. It just had that refreshing taste of tasteless but still tasty cold water.

    I can feel the movement of the things that went inside my brain, sucking things from my neurons that tickled me every now and then.

    "How do you feel?" Fily winced at me, I know she didn''t mean it. I trust her.

    "Still dizzy from that horrible horrible noise." Their voice was still muffled but I can manage, after all, I wouldn''t be praised by my expressive hearing if I couldn''t even handle this light inconvenience.

    But I''m afraid that the noise may have done something to damage my ears and I might not be able to repair them because my gemstone is not cooperating.

    I was called by another ding again and a screen-like message appeared in my vision.

    What is this? "Can you see this??" I asked the two while looking at the coffee table where the message follows my line of vision.

    "This device connects itself directly to your brain, but it''s merely for long-distance communications within party members and viewing your or your opponent''s status only. You can manipulate your memories using this but I advise you not to. It may fail miserably and rot in your brain forever..."

    That installation was already scary enough! I wouldn''t want this to be stuck in my head like a broken gadget!!

    Venedette went on and on about the precautions that I must know when using this device called Stat-hut.

    Apparently, it will need some time to travel around my body, observing every muscle, neurons, and energy that I have to be able to make an accurate training routine for me.

    "In this time, superpowers were passed by the older generations, and the more frequent they pass it, the lesser powers it holds. That''s why we were advised to train at such a young age to fulfill our duties for the Island." Venette lamented that caused me to feel better somehow.

    "It also hurt like that when I first Stat-hut. But I was just a baby then! I just cried and cried all day and night until I got tired of crying and read a lot of books instead! I was able to reach level 8 super knowledge at the age of 14, surpassing all previous high scores of my ancestors."

    "But isn''t Super Puff your power?"

    "No, Super Puff is a skill that can be learned. I just happen to be blessed with the ancient techniques of how to use Super Puff effectively, since it was the only one that required less physical training and rather just breathing techniques, I was able to learn and practice them regularly even while sleeping."

    "Can I also learn these skills?"

    "Well, that depends on the skillset that you will choose. Since a lot of skills cost a lot of time and energy to master, superhumans usually only stick to one skill."

    "Like Von choosing to prioritize his flight rather than his combat skills?"

    "No. He is just being lazy." Venedette laughed at the thought of her kid being lazy.

    I knew Venedette wasn''t just any normal parent, but sometimes I can''t help but think if she''s still okay in the head.

    I have seen parents from Wayeland scold their kids for being tardy in class, yet here is Venedette, just laughing at her child''s laziness.

    "I have chosen to be a woman of steel, the role that I chose is a fighter. This skillset is practical for close combat, a very fitting option for me because I have trained to max out my physical level. Although I still have more to go."

    Venedette transferred the data that she was only seeing by herself a moment ago to the black glass in front of us.

    [Name: Venedette Lorestifa [Title: Princess of Yvandir

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Engua

    [Class: Royal [Rank: Princess

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Fighter

    [Level: 8

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 20/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 7 [Smell: 6

    [Agility: 24/30 [Strength: 9 [Speed:7 [Resistance: 8

    [Flight: 10/10

    [Skills:]

    [Iron skin Lvl.7]

    Then, Fily also showed us her stats;

    [Name: Fily Dela Cruz [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Indio

    [Class: Maharlika [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Sage

    [Level: 10

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 5 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 5

    [Agility: 9/30 [Strength: -1 [Speed: 0 [Resistance: 10

    [Skills:]

    [Super Puff Lvl.5]

    [Knowledge Lvl.10]

    I tried to look at mine but it only showed [Loading data...] and nothing else.

    "Don''t worry you''ll be able to see yours tomorrow" Venedette patted my back and they compared their stats that Fily was so ashamed of.

    Upon looking at their status, a realization dawned on me,

    ''They''re too far ahead, I need to catch up fast!''

    "You will use this to make your training even more productive and effective especially when we''re gone okay Gem?"

    "Okay!" god, I really want to see my stats already and start my training as soon as possible...

 Chapter 20 - Overthinker

    "So, what you''re saying is, I was supposed to turn this on before I sleep?"

    Fily smiled awkwardly at me which made me roll my eyes at her.

    "I''m sorry" All of a sudden, she went in front of me, begging for forgiveness.

    "I didn''t mean it." She continued, catching my eyes wherever I turn my cheeks, trying to ignore her.

    "Your stat-hut said that your Knowledge is Level 10. How can you forget something so important!?" I tried pushing her away but she won''t give up! She''s even rubbing her cheeks on me.

    "You''re just too cute.."

    "Venedette!!" I cried, calling for help..

    "But still Fily, you''re still not supposed to experience flaws with perfect knowledge stats like that."

    "Ahhh, hehe, my old Stat-hut is actually broken. I was meaning to replace it but you already gave me one. So thank you!"

    "It''s broken? You didn''t fix it?"

    "I can''t... I think it got overloaded due to my overprocessing mind."

    "Ah! Thank goodness I bought you special ones! One that can withstand over-thinkers like you!"

    "Really!? That''s great!! Thank you again Venedette!" Finally, she let go of me and went to hug Venedette instead.

    "Speaking about special stat-huts, I didn''t buy you these for free. You need to pay them back."

    "What!?" It was Fily who first complained while I was left dumbfounded.

    I don''t even have a single penny in me!

    I have been living off of Venedette''s riches for almost two weeks now that I forgot my own status and got used to this kind of life even though in reality, I am just a penniless nobody!

    "H-how much are these?"

    Venedette looked like she''s having fun upon seeing us suffer.

    But after some time, she dropped the act and went back to her original attitude.

    "I won''t expect you to pay me money. But instead, I want you to work hard on maximizing your abilities. I want to see you both exert effort and be among the greatest, like me." I was surprised about Venedette''s conditions, I wasn''t expecting that ''condition'' to be something that I''ll be glad to do so!

    "I''ll really work hard! I promise!" I jumped from my seat even though my head was still dizzy. Venedette is really the best one of the best and I will try my best to be like her someday.

    "I''ll be looking forward to that, Gem."

    The two of us looked at Fily who was hesitant but still pitched in, "I''ll also do my best!"

    And then the three of us laughed.

    Not long after, Sir Fred interrupted our chitchat by telling Venedette that someone had arrived in the palace and was waiting for her.

    "I understand Sir Fred, is it the visitor that I was expecting since yesterday?"

    "Yes madame, it is him indeed."

    "Who''s he?" I asked Fily silently but she didn''t answer.

    "Ah! I would need to talk to you after this kids," Venedette looked at us and stopped momentarily, "can you go and fetch the boys, Gem and Fily?" she''s asking us to get Von and Lei?

    "And then ask them to wait for me here. I have something important to discuss with you all."

    "About what?" Fily seemed nervous.

    "About the event."

    "The event... You mean--?"

    Venedette nodded her head, immediately confirming her speculation. "I don''t have much time, kindly bring them here please," she said and hurriedly went out of the library with Sir Fred.

    Fily''s face turned pale after that confirmation.

    "What were you guys talking about?"

    "I-i-it''s t-the.." Fily was stuttering so much that I didn''t understand a word that she was saying!

    "Fily? You okay?"

    "Huh?? Sorry! I''m just.. I-i can''t believe Ven tricked me into this.." Her eyes opened wider and the corner of her mouth slightly turned up, but her face was dark.

    "What''s happening?"

    "It''s nothing."

    "Then let''s go find Von and Lei?" I pulled her in the hands without moderating my strength, which was my mistake coz I almost led made her bones fractured.

    "Ouch!!"

    "I''m sorry"

    I want to hear the news already!

    "Do you know where they are? Come on I''ll just carry you!" Unlike Fily, I''m slowly feeling so energetic after recovering from my dizziness. Probably because of the thought that I could train to be like Venedette someday.

    I wish time would go faster.

    "They''re in the courtyard but--" And as soon as I heard where those two are, I wasted no time and carried Fily in my back, running to the courtyard as fast as I can... but when we arrived, they were not there.

    "They''re not here."

    "Maybe they went to get some water?" I was about to carry her again but she stopped me.

    "Let''s just wait for them here..."

    I noticed a weird expression on Fily that I have not seen on her before. Unlike her nervous expression earlier, her face looked like she lost the will to live, tears building up in her eyes that I didn''t fail to notice.

    "Are you sad?"

    "What? N-no! Of course not!" She tried her hardest to smile but her sniffs told me otherwise.

    "What is it? What''s the problem?"

    "N-nothing." Her lips were trembling as if she''s scared of something.

    "Fily..."

    "I-it''s the tournament... I think Venedette wants us to join the tournament."

    "That tournament you were talking about earlier?"

    "Yes, the Dekadalaw Tournament."

    "What''s wrong with it?"

    "I-i can''t fight! If I join I will only be a burden to all of you." I watched her tears make their way down her chin.

    I could tell from her eyes that she wants to join, but I still cannot find a reason for her not to.

    "You''re really an overthinker, Fily. You''re not weak. You''re special." I don''t know where these words came from but I think it helped her calm down a little.

    "By the way, what''s the tournament for?" My curious mind could not wait any longer and my mouth obliged.

    Fily pouted at me as I moved closer to her, sitting in the bleachers that are facing the vast field of grass where I think superhumans have their training.

    "Dekadalaw Tournament is the most anticipated tournament around the world. It happens every 10 years, which will be 5 years from now. But this is survival of the fittest and I am not fit!"

    I looked at her, getting annoyed about why she was thinking like that.

    "You have maxed your super knowledge... how are you not fit? It''s me who is not fit on joining this event. I''m just weak and have no special powers. I am a nobody."

    "You have your Salamandite you just need to figure out how to use it. But me? I''ll only be an inconvenience for you. Do you want a sleepyhead in your team?"

    "If that sleepyhead is intelligent then why not? I think your powers would be a great help for Venedette."

    "You think so?"

    "I know so."

    I saw Fily smile a little bit because of that. I''m really glad I could help influence her decisions even if she was a genius already.

    "Do you know who was the man earlier?"

    "I''m guessing it''s the organizer for the event. Venedette is planning to make her guild."

    "With us?"

    "I guess so."

    "For what?"

    "That''s what we''re going to find out later." Fily stood up and so I did too.

    "But what is this tournament for?"

    "It''s a long story. Come on, let''s go look for Von and Lei."

    "Okay!" Right.... we were supposed to look for them!

    "Where are they?" Fily went ahead of me but I caught up to her immediately.

    "The fountain."

    "Where is that?" I''m glad Venedette asked us to look for them together. Without Fily I''d probably be lost, and without me, it would take Fily forever to reach them.

    "Let''s go!" I carried her by surprise and I''m glad that she''s feeling okay now than overthinking about not being enough to join Venedette''s guild. Even I don''t think I''m fit enough to join that tournament but my experience made me confident.

    And besides, the powers of the Salamandite would be too much of a waste if I cannot serve Venedette with it!

    "We''ll do great." I took an oath under my breath to work hard and achieve my dream of becoming like Venedette.

    I just really hope I can use the Salamandite''s powers already to be useful for Venedette.

    I think it''s one of the reasons she kept me and I will not disappoint her!

 Chapter 21 - Throne Room

    Von and Lei were very hard to catch, I could even assume that they were running away from us!

    If it''s not only for my super speed and Fily''s super knowledge we wouldn''t be able to outrun them!

    "Why were you running away from us!??" I scowled, not really happy about the running unlike them who was seemingly having fun.

    "How are you still so fast even while carrying Fily? I didn''t know your thin limbs had some hidden muscles in them." I was unsure if I should take Von''s remark as an insult or a compliment but the former would be easier to believe.

    "Want a taste of this!?" I showed him my fist, confident that even if they''re slim, I could still exert more damage than his lame punches!

    "Venedette asked us to look for the both of you." Fily butted in. "She wants to tell us something important after her talk with a visitor."

    "A visitor?" Lei opened his mouth which took me back a little, I''ve totally forgotten the fact that he could still talk but just chooses not to, making me unfamiliar with his heavy but bright voice that felt fresher than a breeze of cold air.

    "Yes, I''m guessing an organizer from the association.."

    "By association- you mean..." Von stiffened and was alarmed, his chunky laughs were replaced by a frown that looked worse than when he decided to save me from falling down.

    "Where are they?"

    "In the throne ro-" My sentence was still undone but Von already ran ahead of us.

    "Who else thinks that he''s going to make a fuss?" Fily tried to smile despite the worry while I was caught staring at Lei''s earrings too much.

    "You''re wearing a Stat-hut." He stated after glancing at me who was then woken up from being mesmerized to his uniquely designed Stat-hut.

    "Y-yeah." I looked away from him, my cheeks blushing from the embarrassment as we took our time, walking through the corridors to the throne room.

    "Venedette told us to wait at the library but Von went straight to the throne room. Should we really follow him or go straight to the library instead?" It was me who broke the silence between us while arriving at the hallway that separates the direction between where the throne room was and the library.

    Lei shrugged and Fily looked at me with confusion. "T-to the throne room?" She awkwardly pointed at the archway on the right where the throne room would be.

    "Aaaah, I think Venedette won''t like this but we need to take Von with us."

    Lei was the first one to walk towards the throne room and opened the door as we follow from behind.

    This is the first time ever that I''ll get to visit the throne room because this place was strictly for business purposes only.

    After the tall gates, was a wide red carpet that was stretched until the end of the room where three seats are located.

    Venedette was seated on the largest golden throne with stunning details of fire and dragons in a red accent. To her side was a slightly smaller throne where Von was seated like a king.

    I zoomed in my vision to see their expressions from where I was standing and saw a slightly exasperated Venedette forcing a laugh that contrasted her child''s discontent attitude.

    Lei was confident upon walking through the carpets which made me look very little and overwhelmed compared to him for hiding behind Fily.

    "F-Fily... I don''t think we''re supposed to be here." I wandered my eyes to the corinthian columns on the side that has medieval wall lights in between each column and other intricate decorations in red and gold respectively, making this spacious room look so full and elegant.

    Lei bowed down upon reaching the end of the carpets and went to stand beside Von.

    I was tugging Fily''s sleeves to make her come with me outside but she insisted on walking continuously as a ''courtesy to the room'', expanding more on the ''manners'' subject and what we should do when we arrive at the end of the carpet.

    Venedette was not wearing proper clothes. Well, that is according to what I feel like. Even Von was wearing casual clothes while sitting on his throne.

    The maids who were standing in a line for the left and right looked very poised and wearing proper maid attires, unlike the two who were seated on the throne.

    "What are you doing here kids?" I think Venedette didn''t like our presence here at all.

    "Fily, let''s go out.."

    "We can''t. Now bow down." Fily crossed her legs and held her skirt as she bowed down gracefully.

    I was confused if I should be copying her style of bowing down or just bend my body forwards as Lei did?

    "Come on bow down." Fily went to me and guided my hands to my skirt, she also kicked my left foot to cross it to my other foot and then pushed my back to make me bend my right knees slightly.

    The maids were looking at me like I was doing something disrespectful but Venedette was lenient on me.

    "That''s okay you may pass."

    Fily shook her head and urged me to follow the direction where Venedette swung her hands. It was to the right of Venedette, which is where Lei is standing beside where Von was seated.

    I didn''t notice it from the ground but the man that was talking to Venedette was actually on the left side of the carpet, bowing down as he slowly read the contents of the scroll that he was holding.

    I didn''t understand anything that he was saying because it was in another language so I looked at Fily to translate for me.

    But Fily was silent. Actually, everybody was silent.

    I guess it is not allowed to talk while someone is reading something here?

    After the man ended his speech, Von stood up and got into an argument with Venedette who was still calm and composed while answering his whims.

    "Mom what is this!? You don''t need to join that tournament! We are safe here! I promise you!"

    "No. I need to take back what''s ours Von. It is only right. No more questions I will discuss this later on with you and the kids at the library. Now if you must please, get out of this room with your friends. This is not a place for children."

    "I am a prince I have the right to be here." He slouched lazily on his throne with arms crossed.

    And a series of Venedette trying to get him out of that room continued until she finally asked Lei and the other men to take him out of there forcefully, also telling us to accompany him to the library.

    "I am the prince here! You have no right to bring me out like this!!" He really is stubborn.

    "Our deepest apologies young master but we need to follow the Princess'' orders."

    Lei helped the guards in taking Von out which finally made him go out on his own.

    "Tch I can''t believe mom did this without even consulting us first!" The guards locked the door of the throne room from the four of us, which I really didn''t mind because I want to know what the heck is going on already.

    "Fily? Please..." After a series of begging and Fily sighing heavily, she finally decided to let me in on what is happening.

    "Remember the tournament?" She finally talked while we were strolling behind Lei and Von to the library.

    "The Deka-"

    "Yes, that. The man just read the letter of confirmation for Venedette''s guild."

    "A guild? What is it for?"

    "It seems like Venedette really is creating a squad for the upcoming tournament which will happen in 5 years."

    "She already told this to us, didn''t she?"

    "But that was just a speculation. Now that it''s confirmed, I don''t know how to react to this."

    "Do you still think you''re not fit to be part of Venedette''s guild?"

    "N-no... It''s not that... You don''t understand." I was slightly hurt by what she said but I didn''t take it to the heart deeply.

    "Then make me," I told her, reaching my right hand to her left hand, as if trying to tell her to trust me and that I need her.

    "O-okay..."

    I don''t know what the problem might be Fily, but you are now my friend and I won''t let my friends turn into ashes again. Not again.

 Chapter 22 - Emerald

    "Mom!!" Von jumped from his seat on the couch beside where Fily, Lei, and I were seated upon hearing the doors of the library open up.

    It was not Venedette but a maid whom she instructed to bring us food. But I didn''t tell this to Von. I kind of want to tease him a little and give him a taste of his own medicine. Particularly his sin to me yesterday when he pretended to be a kite and started punching our kites in the air.

    "Ahh! It''s not her!" Von threw himself from the stairs into his couch upon seeing the maid who was carrying food.

    It seems like Venedette had a lot to discuss with that visitor of hers that even after 4 long hours of waiting, she''s still not here. I''m guessing she''ll be too tired to discuss this ''important'' thing with us by now.

    "No matter how I think about it, us joining the tournament still doesn''t make sense to me! What about you Lei, do you think it makes sense? Fily?" Von really hates me huh? He didn''t even bother to look at me but managed to ask Fily about her opinion even though she''s already sleeping in my lap!?

    Well, it kind of makes sense that he won''t ask for my opinion because I am just a newbie here, but Fily is a newbie too! But I guess her knowledge makes up for it?

    Ahh! This guy is really getting on my nerves!.

    Just wait until training I''ll crush you with no mercy Von!

    "Maybe she has plans for us. Miss Dette is not the kind who does things for no reason."

    "But what could that reason be!? I already thought of every possible reason for us to join that tournament but there''s nothing popping out of my brain!"

    "Maybe it''s because your brain has nothing to pop out in the first place."

    Von glared at me while I was just sipping on my orange juice. "What? Did I said something wrong?"

    "You''re not included here. Go away!"

    Von threatened to hit me with a throw pillow but I gestured him to shush. "Wait I think she''s here," I said, observing the creaking sound that I was hearing from downstairs, then I heard a sigh that I would not mistake for anybody else.

    It was Venedette, "yup she''s here."

    Von looked at me weirdly, also trying to listen to the sounds downstairs but I doubt he could hear them. My estimation told me that Von''s super sense was far below mine because of this.

    "Venedette!" I greeted her.

    Venedette wasted no time and went straight to the point immediately, explaining everything in one go that even I was able to understand.

    She showed us pictures of two different women, one who seemed very famous because Lei, Fily, and even Von recognized her immediately.

    "Is that the woman who killed Demi!?" Fily spilled the words that none of them dared to speak.

    "How did you know that?" Venedette was not surprised but Lei seemed very concerned about it.

    "I just know." Fily avoided their eyes.

    "But mom! Why are you showing us that monster! Can we save this for later? Like... when those two are gone!?" Somehow, I agreed with Von for the first time.

    It felt like we were being told information that must only stay between their family but Venedette continued anyway. "They need to hear this." was the only words she said to shut Von''s concern down.

    But I could still hear him mumbling words like "why do they need to hear these? they are not family they should have no rights!" that only made me feel guiltier about this whole situation.

    If only I were brave enough to voice my opinion then maybe I can save myself from being guilty about this. But instead, I chose to shut my mouth.

    Venedette must have a reason for doing this.

    "Two years ago, this woman flew secretly into our country." She focused the screen on the picture of the woman who was wearing expensive clothes and jewelry, then another picture of her with tight clothes that made her look like a superhero. "She went around, pretending to be somebody else and stealing jewelry from high-profile superhumans. Even killing my daughter in the process."

    ''Killed my daughter''

    V-venedette''s daughter is dead? I looked at Venedette, impressed by how she was able to handle telling us such sensitive topics in a courageous tone.

    So, they were saying a maid killed her daughter!?

    That kind-looking woman did? I-i can''t believe this.

    "She''s the well-known spider-thief!? How did you find this out!? But she looks totally different from the maid who killed my sister!" Von was also surprised by the revelation.

    The two looked different indeed.

    "At first I was also having doubts about my theory. But look! The real maid did not have this but I clearly saw this ring took the life out of my Demi!" She showed us several pictures of the woman, zooming in on one particular piece of jewelry that she was always wearing even in different fashions, and even the blurry picture of the castle servant.

    It was a golden ring, holding a bright emerald gemstone that glowed even in the dark.

    "A Salamandite!" Fily exclaimed which I couldn''t agree or disagree with immediately.

    "Are you saying they''re somehow connected?" Lei was now participating.

    "I''m saying, they''re the same person!"

    "But that maid was Demi''s favorite! She had been kind to us all her life and just suddenly--"

    "Exactly!" Venedette cut Von''s words off. "At the last minute, she was acting all weird as if she''s not herself anymore. I also noticed the ring on her little finger and even asked her where she got it from. She said it was from a suitor so I did not mind it, and the next thing I know, my poor little Demi was being sucked out of life." Venedette''s voice cracked at her last sentence.

    "She stole the maid''s identity," Fily concluded.

    Venedette''s tears flowed like a faucet as her head nodded aggressively. She tried to cover her sobs with her hands but they were still not enough.

    "Salamandites can be easily disguised as another kind of gemstone because of their diverse color-"

    "But I didn''t see a salamander with a dark green color." I cut her off. I want to go to Venedette right now but I still can''t.

    Instead, I pitched in whatever I know about the Salamandites. The color of the emerald was darker than a Salamandite! Even the book''s front page did not have a gemstone in that color! They resembled the salamanders that I saw that night.

    "That is true..." Fily went to thinking again, I''m sure she was having a hard time because of the lack of information that she has about Salamandites.

    "But I saw its powers! It''s similar to what your gemstone did Gem. It sucked the life out of my Demi."

    "It sucked the life out of-" Von looked at me with wide eyes, shifting it back and forth from my necklace to my face.

    "You mean the gemstone is what killed my sister!? I shouldn''t have saved you and that necklace that day! If only I knew!!"

    "B-but the gemstone saved us. It saved me from the fires and from that guy too..." my voice was very little, afraid of the possibility that he might be right.

    Venedette had now calmed down a little after sitting on a stool near the window screen. "It''s not about the gemstone. It''s about who uses it. You said that it does not make decisions on its own unless you''re on the verge of death, right? You will be fine as long as you learn how to use it properly."

    "Why are you letting her use it, mom!? That thing is dangerous!" Von complained even more, slowly increasing his distance from me. But Fily and Lei were both unbothered by it. I wonder how they still managed to sit beside me knowing that I might be carrying something dangerous with me?

    "Salamandites only serve one master, the one who activates it. We also have a Salamandite Von, the one that is being held by Halma in exchange for Gem staying here. Activating a Salamandite is hard in itself, even rarely practiced within our family. But Gem here has activated hers and I don''t want to waste this opportunity to see its powers." Venedette came back to her composed self. I could not fathom how hard it must have been for her. All this time, being guilty of something she did not have control of.

    "But what does this have to do with joining the tournament!??" Von looked on the verge of crying already. I''m guessing he wants to get as far away from me, now that he knows the truth about this gemstone on my neck.

    "This woman is the previous winner of the Dekadalaw tournament and I''m sure she will participate in this one too! She won the last season using cheats! That was why she rampaged in our country as the well-known spider-thief because she wanted to collect more of these Salamandites."

    "How many of those had she collected already?" Fily was taking notes in her Stat-hut. I could see her eyes moving like they were reading something.

    "I''d say four." Venedette scanned through the pictures of the woman who was labeled as ''Hanako Yumeki'' in every article.

    She had this sharp eyes that contrasts her soft nose and moderately plump lips, her skin was as white as milk and she had different hairstyles in every article, but the most common one was her black straight hair with shorter cuts on the front that was slightly above her chin on both sides.

    Her superhero attire was a black leather suit which she partnered with a different slightly pink-red color on her hair.

    She looked like a superstar and was praised by almost everyone in the world for winning the last tournament, according to the articles on my tablet and also on the big window screen.

    "There are more Salamandites than five?" Fily asked, making me ask the same question to myself.

    How many colors did the salamanders who came into my room have? They gave me seven keys, and each of them in different colors. "I remember seeing seven."

    "And including her emerald, we can assume that there are only eight known Salamandites at this point," Fily concluded.

    "She has four out of eight? And we have two... we''re still very far from her!" Von cried out of frustration.

    "That is why we must train." Venedette tried to persuade Von in joining her Party but he was still indecisive.

    Now I really want to learn how to use these powers to beat that Yumeki!

 Chapter 23 - Vault

    Hanako Yumeki, the spider thief, the woman who killed Venedette''s daughter, also the current owner of four Salamandites and the previous champion of the Dekadalaw Tournament.

    Just how did she know about the Salamandite''s powers?

    "Do you think she had gone past the locked chapters of the books?" I pitched in their discussion.

    Von and Venedette were still arguing about the tournament whilst Fily was now frustratedly asleep. Even Lei who always seemed like he didn''t care started asking questions.

    "So you''re saying she has a copy of that book?" Von growled at me even though I just asked.

    "You''re right! It''s either she was able to obtain information by talking to the gemstone or having a book like ours!" Venedette went closer to me.

    "But this book has only one copy. It''s even a miracle that it was found in this floating island after so many years." Fily''s eyebrows were still furrowed, her eyes were slightly opened again as if she was trying to fight the drowsiness..

    Venedette and I simultaneously looked at Von, also asking the same question of how did he find it?

    "It was the dragon! It led me there."

    As if not convinced, Venedette moved her face closer to Von, her eyes at the same level as his.

    "Sus..." Fily mumbled.

    "That''s not the point! Aren''t you glad we have the book!?" Von avoided his mother''s gaze and shouted at Fily- whose drowsiness was eliminated by his sudden rage.

    "Why are you angry??" Fily''s voice cracked, she looked like she was on the verge of crying.

    "Calm down Von." It was Lei, trying to stop Von from his reckless acts.

    We all heard Venedette''s loud sigh as she walked back to her previous position near the black window screen.

    "Kids, please. Settle down. I know this was a lot to take in one go but I need to know your decision right now. I will be forming a guild. One that will take me to the top in order to face Yumeki."

    "Mom..." Von was still worried but he had now calmed down. I kind of understand where he''s coming from. After losing my friends and finding new ones, I don''t want to experience that kind of pain again especially if I could do something about it.

    "Please Von, I can''t let that crazy woman run around just like what she''s doing right now!"

    "You might lose! I know you''re strong, mom, but she''s so much stronger than you! I can''t let you do something this dangerous especially when I know that it might lead you to the same death as Demi!" Their argument was both valid. I don''t know which side to agree on.

    "I... I know. But I just can''t turn a blind eye on this especially after finding out the truth. Von, I totally understand if you won''t let me do this but my decision is firm. I will join the tournament. I''m sorry son."

    "You''re just like them! You promised you won''t leave me!" Von''s voice was shaky and his eyes were filling up with tears. I had never seen Von cry like this before. Actually, this is the first time that I''ve seen him cry.

    Venedette was standing still in her position, but her eyes turned red from wiping too hard. "I have to do this." I heard her whisper while Von walked out of the library, which was then followed by Lei.

    "Ven..." Fily was wide awake and was the first one to approach her, "give this some more thought okay? You have to be there for Von, he''s been deprived of family and you''re the last straw he has. Give him some time to adjust to this. I believe you can resolve this in your own way."

    My heart felt like there was something burning in it. Something... I can''t explain.

    Am I angry? It hurts. It''s suffocating.

    I''ve never had a family before, is this how it feels to have a family?

    "Venedette!" I ran to hug her. "I don''t want you to die." I buried my face in her arms, my tears drenching the front of her dress.

    "I won''t die. I promise. But you''ve got to trust me. I know what I''m doing, and I know what I must do. I can''t just sit here and do nothing when I know that there''s a monster running around, just waiting for its right time to devour us. Who knows how many Demi will end up in the news if I don''t do anything right now. My guilt will kill me Gem, Fily. I don''t want that to happen, I can never be happy like that." She said between her sobs.

    "If only I were strong enough, then you wouldn''t need to be the one to fight her!" I moved away from them, my eyes shooting daggers at the image of the cold-blooded killer on the screen.

    ''Just wait for me, Hanako Yumeki. I will kill you with my own hands!''

    I heard Venedette chuckle a little, "I''m glad you think that way." the both of them looked at me.

    "Then I''m going to expect a hell lot of progress from your training Gem." She met me with a big smile, that contagious one that had already reached my heart long ago.

    "Eung!" My yes got eaten by my aggressive nod.

    I''ll do my best to help you Venedette!

    And with that, the day ended.

    But still! I couldn''t sleep!

    Even if I''m very excited about seeing my stats tomorrow, the amount of information that I gathered just from that one meeting keept bothering me.

    And tomorrow, Venedette and Fily will be leaving.

    Just what can I do with those two boys especially Von now that I had agreed to join Venedette''s guild! I''m sure he''ll hate me even more because of that!

    Aaaaahhh! I can''t sleep!!

    That spider-lady... why were they calling her the ''spider-thief''?

    She didn''t look like a spider to me... Oh nevermind.

    I stared at the image of a woman in a green suit, with six additional mechanical arms behind her. It was her, the infamous spider-thief.

    But there was no mention of Yumeki''s name in every article about the spider-thief. And she was only relevant here in Clandamascarene. There was no news of this criminal from the other eight countries in this world.

    But I guess she''s a bigger criminal than I am... right?

    We used the same method of killing (although I only accidentally killed that man.)

    And she''s also able to get past through the fiery borders without getting harmed.

    But there''s this one thing different about us... It''s her power to shape-shift.

    She can shape-shift.

    That''s what it said here in these articles! She shapeshifts into a spider to enter the vaults where the expensive pieces of jewelry were located! But how was she able to escape with it without being seen?

    It''s as if the jewels vanished in thin air!

    The witnesses only mention that they saw a black hairy little spider leaving the vault in the morning, and they just let it go because of the bright green color that made them assume that it was poisonous. And the next thing they saw, was the vault, empty of all gemstone from the pieces of jewelry.

    How did she do that?

    She came in as a spider and then left as a spider. There were no signs of where the gemstones went. No loopholes found where she could secretly escape with the gemstones according to the Supolice.

    How did she manage to escape with the amount of gemstone that she had stolen?

    This is hurting my head.

 Chapter 24 - Classroom

    Another day!

    My mind still feels heavy.

    I think I''ll need to ask Fily a lot of things while she''s asleep so she can answer me properly.

    But first,

    [Stat-hut activated! Enjoy master!]

    "Yeah! Status!"

    It was important to note that I didn''t really need to shout or talk when I want to open it. When I woke up, I immediately saw a floating message where it says ''Open Stat-hut?'' and when I looked at it, it moved like it was being selected.

    I almost tried touching it with my fingertip but I remembered Fily and Venedette not touching anything in the air with their fingers so I just thought of clicking it in my mind.

    I did prepare myself for this but when it actually happened, I was still left in shock!

    [Welcome to Stat-hut!].

    Letters in color white started appearing one by one from the left and forming words on a slightly tinted page that appeared in front of me.

    I have yet to eat my breakfast but it was so fun to customize the stat-hut that I didn''t bother getting out of my bed even if the maids were already calling for me!

    I was able to choose the colors that the background and letters would appear according to my taste! There were also fonts and other settings that I skipped because doing everything immediately is going to be too much for me.

    This is amazing!!

    It kind of reminds me of the first guy I encountered here in Clandamascarene, his eyes were moving while looking at nothing which made him so distracted that he didn''t even notice I got away!

    So this was the reason after all! I thought he was lost in his thoughts or something...

    Now let''s look at my status,

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: None

    [Role: None

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Skills:]

    [None]

    Ahh! There was a lot of ''None''!!!

    I closed my eyes upon seeing that eyesore. On second thought, maybe I should eat first.

    When I reached Fily''s door, I thought of waking her up... but she already had her breakfast since the time was now 11:00 a.m.

    I got so carried away from that customization journey.

    I did not see Von nor Lei in the Dining area either. Not that I want to see them, it''s actually the opposite. I''m glad I did not see them anywhere this morning.

    But the afternoon was different.

    A strict-looking lady holding a stick approached me as I was eating lunch alone at that huge table.

    She was wearing a dashing dress that was colored black at most, her hair tied upwards in a manner that made it look like elegant waves of black hair, and lastly, her left eye had a monocular with a gold chain that was hanging from it to her left ear.

    "Miss Venedette had instructed me to escort you personally into our classroom." Her wrinkled but still well-cared face raised her chin at me, looking at me like I was someone not worthy of her attention.

    I cleared my throat as I put the glass of water back to the table, intimidated by her words.

    She has this tone of authority that I did not even question. It fits her image entirely.

    I finished the food quickly, afraid that she might scold me if I were to eat slowly.

    She followed me to the comfort room where I brushed my teeth and I followed her to where this ''classroom'' might be.

    A classroom huh? I will be going to a classroom that I was just spying on before.

    I used to have classes in the orphanage but they did not teach us anything of importance, except for how to communicate and the basic terms we should be aware of in this world. Like genetically evolved monsters that were abundant in that place.

    I managed to escape the orphanage at the age of 6. The ice wolves attacked our village but in fact, they just want to communicate with us superhumans.

    It''s funny how they teach us to communicate in that orphanage but when others try to communicate with them, they shut them down.

    I always have more questions that the orphanage could not answer for me. But the ice wolves answered some of my questions. The people were afraid of them but I became one of them.

    Until they left me in Wayeland.

    "YOU!?" Von greeted me with the warmest welcome ever as I entered the classroom where the two of them were seated already.

    I just shook my head as a response for him and sat at the farthest chair from him, which was the closest chair to the teacher, apparently.

    The old teacher looked very intimidating in front of the black screen, but when she looked at us, her warm smile changed my impression of her.

    Her deep voice was the only thing that was scary of her, but she''s actually really caring and sweet when she started the lesson.

    "I was told that you went on sleepless nights just to finish the books that Venedette gave you? That''s very admirable for an 11-year-old."

    My cheeks felt hot when I heard her compliment me.

    I also saw her look meaningfully at Von and Lei who just ignored her.

    "I think you can surpass these young masters here if you continue to feed your brain little missy." She patted my head which made me smile even more.

    "But prevent from disregarding your sleep as it may cause you health problems in the future."

    I looked at her and wondered what she was saying.

    "There are instant recovery potions that we can buy in the market. I don''t see health as a problem more than wanting to learn ma''am." Over the time that I was watching countless lessons and interviews in the glass tablet that Venedette gave me, I had also learned how to speak formally and its difference from informal speech.

    Although I am still far from perfect. I just really hate knowing nothing and being ignorant more than anything else.

    If I can improve on something, I would gladly do so than fighting for my wrongness.

    "I see you have really studied hard. But health potions can only give you an incomplete fix to your body, unlike sleep which is the natural repair for our body. There is a difference and that is what you must learn, natural is still and will always be better than quick fixes like these health potions that you are talking about." The teacher named Melody gave me a faint smile and went back to her position in front of the black screen board.

    The lesson we were discussing was potions and I was very intrigued as this was an entirely new subject for me.

    The only potion that I have encountered was the Health potion and I was surprised to find out that there were even more potions with different uses in this world!

    I even found out that apparently, superhumans have become superhumans because of a potion that I remember the young teacher near the border was talking about. It was a ''Scientist'' that discovered the formula that let the weak humans evolved into superhumans!

    But unfortunately, because of the number of people that they needed to distribute the formula to, the quality was greatly reduced, and thus, only a small amount of people was able to undergo a complete evolution. These were mostly the billionaires and the most influential people at that time.

    And the rest? They were only given enough properties of the potion that was vital to fight the virus.

    The formula was not disclosed to the public so I was not surprised when teacher Melody could not answer my question about the ingredients of it.

    But Fily knew the ingredients. As expected from a genius.

    Now I''m starting to believe that her Level 10 Knowledge stats was true.

    Infinite Knowledge? How can she store that amount of information in her brain?

    This thought led me back to my questions yesterday of how was the spider-thief able to steal those gemstones as if they vanished in thin air. It was like she had this infinite storage with her that only she could access.

    Ah, I could be wrong...

    But the possibilities are endless especially with this unexplained thing in my neck.

 Chapter 25 - Leviathan

    After leaving the classroom of Teacher Melody, the alchemy teacher, I received a message from my Stat-hut saying;

    [You have received a new Status]

    I opened my stats and saw a new word in my Class,

    [Class: Student]

    I was immediately rejoiced by this as this lessened the ''None''s in my status!

    Ahh, what a good start!

    I saw Von float lazily through the hallways while Lei was waking at the same pace as me.

    "Where are you going next?" I don''t know why but I felt like asking him that.

    I hoped that Lei would be more approachable than Von but he just cleared his throat and sped up his walking pace.

    I couldn''t help but let out a heavy sigh after that. I already miss Venedette and Fily..

    "We''re going to the training field." I heard Lei from almost 10 meters away from me in the hallways which switched up my mood again and I ran as fast as I can to catch up with them.

    At least I can live with Lei for now. He''s a bit friendlier than Von but still a snob. I didn''t bother talking too much, afraid that I might annoy him to the point that he won''t even talk to me anymore, so I stayed quiet the whole way to the training fields.

    Today was a Monday, I opened a schedule in my Stat-huts that Venedette left me as a note this morning.

    It was a calendar, seven boxes in a row and five in a column. In each row, there were five blocks that were marked as ''training days.''

    When I clicked on that particular box, it showed me a timetable where there were designated names at different times, for example, the 3-4 pm class will be Physical Training.

    So that was why they''re heading to the fields!

    I closed my eyes and when I opened it, the stat-hut was now gone.

    I chose my Stat-hut''s theme color to be blue. Not because it was the closest color to my gemstone... well, other than that, it was because this was the farthest color from the flames of the border.

    I don''t want to be reminded of that day every time I open my Stat-hut.

    I hope they''re doing fine in the heavens by now.

    I promise to do well here too, so your dreams would be fulfilled by me, dear friends.

    ***

    "Attention!"

    A bulky man stood firm in front of us, his brown hair was cut short, making him look like a nice guy if it wasn''t for the big muscles. Beside him was a skinnier man with long black hair, the look on his eyes reminded me of Von''s uninterested and lazy expression. His face is also unkempt, like those drunkards in my hometown.

    But he didn''t act like a drunkard. His actions were just lazy.

    "Start running." He swung the folded newspaper lazily to the direction of the field.

    That''s it?

    I noticed Lei and Von walking lazily to the field but I stayed in front of the teachers.

    "How many laps, sirs?"

    The look on their face was not pleased with what I said. The bulkier teacher cleared his throat and looked away from me while the other one walked closer to me.

    "For you one hundred laps." He said, leaving me dumbfounded.

    What!? I mean I can do that in a flash but what about them?

    My calculations were wrong as a hundred laps around that wide field took me almost ten minutes! That was longer than what I expected!

    While Von and Lei stopped already at fifty laps. Von was even cheating!!

    The nerve of this bastard to fly!

    "Sirs! Von was flying instead of running! That''s so unfair!!"

    "You''re so noisy. Do you want another punishment?"

    "But-"

    "Go run another fifty laps, NOW!" I was startled when the bigger man growled at my face.

    I heard Von laughing while I wipe the man''s saliva from my face.

    "Just you wait," I said, shivering from the annoyance I was feeling as I walked towards the field and started running some more.

    What''s wrong with them? I''m sure I saw Von flying. It''s hard to mistake that from actually running as it was too obvious! He''s not even cycling his legs!

    After running for 150 laps, my legs felt like they were not here anymore. I''m sure this will hurt even more tonight.

    I forced myself to finish the class that day.

    After the few more trainings that the teacher made us do, like squats and carrying heavy things, I made sure to drink some health potions from the hospital wing of the castle while Von and Lei went separate ways from me.

    Status:

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: None

    [Role: None

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Skills:]

    [None]

    I sighed upon seeing my stats.

    Nothing seemed to change.

    How does the leveling system here work?

    I wish I can ask someone...

    Fily?

    Fily!!

    Right! I was supposed to go to her room after the class!

    Since I only have three classes per day, I think I can go to Fily''s room and bother her to sleep a little bit while I wait for the next class!

    I stood up from the hospital bed here in the clinic, not expecting the electric shock that I got from my cramped leg muscles!

    "Ouchhh!" my weight went back to the bed, I also let my body extend on it.

    Ahhh, maybe I''ll need to wait a little more for the cramps to disappear.

    I guess this was the thing that Miss Melody was telling me earlier.

    ''Don''t depend too much on Health Potions''

    I saw a new notification on the lower left side of my vision.

    [System Notification]

    I clicked on it and saw an invitation from Venedette.

    [Invitation to join Leviathan Squad from the Princess of Yvandir]

    Leviathan?

    I didn''t think much about it and accepted the invitation.

    One less ''none'' for my stats!

    Now to search for skills that I can learn.

    While I was waiting for the cramps in my leg to subdue, which was taking longer than I was expecting, I also managed to research the meaning of Leviathan.

    It was a sea monster. I wonder why Venedette chose this name?

    But I don''t mind. It sounds cool. "Leviathan."

    Upon saying the name, my necklace showered the room with its bright light, causing me to cover my eyes with my arms.

    "What''s up?"

    Curiously enough, when I moved my head to face the necklace in my chest, I felt lighter.

    Did the necklace just cure my strained muscles? I shrugged my shoulders and wiggled my arms. They all felt fine and lighter than normal.

    "You cured me? All of the sudden? Why? What happened?" I knew it would not answer so I just dismissed the thought.

    I was too overjoyed by my lighter body that I went to see Fily immediately and told her what happened.

    "Fily!! Fily!!! The Salamandite did it''s job again!!"

    I ran to her room in full speed and saw her sleeping peacefully in her bed in a weirdly stiff position, her arms crossed in front of her chest, like what she had always been doing even when she was sleeping in my lap.

    "Fily!" I shook her shoulders gently.

    Actually, I think it''s better if I talk to her sleep-talking state!

    "Fily!! Venedette sent me an invitation to her party! She named it Leviathan. Fily! Why do you think she named it that way? And when I said the name ''Leviathan'' the necklace glowed and cured me! Look! Look!" I laughed upon seeing her rugged expression.

    She better talk any second now or I''ll bother her even more!

    "Le.. Levia...than." She said in between her yawns.

    "Yes yes!! What do you think!? I think it''s pretty! As expected from Venedette!" I held my right earring upon remembering Venedette''s taste. I really like her choices.

    "Leviathan is a mythical creature with the form of a sea serpent, a primeval female sea-monster that dwells in "the Abyss". This creature represents water, the opposite of land which is then represented by its greatest enemy, the Behemoth. Legends say that the patrons will soon witness a spectacular battle between the Behemoth and the Leviathan."

    Fily turned around from me but I turned her back around. I still have yet to hear her opinion.

    "What do you think about it? Any idea why Venedette chose this monster''s name as her Party''s name?"

    Fily tried to turn around from me but I did not let her.

    "Behemoth is the name of Yumeko''s Guild. This is likely Venedette''s announcement to Yumeko''s guild to be ready."

    "Wow! So there was a meaning after all!"

    Fily finally turned around from me and I could hear her snore already.

    "Thank''s for the info sleepy-head! I''ll come back here later!" I said, slowly retreating from her room.

    "Don''t come back! I need to sleep to crack open that book!" She said softly which I could still hear from the space of the door.

    "Oh okay!!" I said, carefully closing the door, as I tried to not to make any more noise for her.

 Chapter 26 - Unknown

    Right when we entered the classroom where our last class for today would take place, the man wearing a white long sleeves shirt, black slacks, and hair that was neatly gelled up above his thin-framed glasses sneaked to us from behind.

    Von and I stood frozen in our position but Lei was able to counter his attacks and we were able to witness their sparring session inside the classroom. Their clashing attacks released strong gushes of air that made a mess out of my and Von''s hair.

    "As expected from the great assassin clan." He said while they appeared and disappeared in different places faster than what my eyes could follow.

    For a moment, I felt like time stopped as I saw the two of them in mid-air. The teacher was smirking while Lei had a smile that I had never seen before. He looked alive, his eyes were burning with fire, very different from his usual cold and unamused expression.

    They were both enjoying this. How can they pull off those moves in a short amount of time with a smile!?

    I saw Von relaxed a little bit, attempting to open his Stat-hut after exhaling a little heavier than usual, but it only lasted for a second as a small shining black star was shot to his face, making him stood stiffer than he originally was, swallowing his saliva upon seeing the image of a sharp star that stopped in a finger''s distance from his eye..

    It was caught by Lei who stretched his body in an awkward position just to catch it.

    The air around us stopped moving violently, indicating the end of their little sparring session.

    "Not bad." The teacher clapped, removing the dust from his hands as Lei pulled the star away from Von''s face.

    "W-what the hell." Von was still nervous. His legs were jiggling like jelly.

    "I... thought this was a history class?" I trailed off.

    "It is! Welcome to my history class!" The teacher said with ease as if nothing just happened, "My name is Grandoise, you can call me Sir Grand. I am here on behalf of your real history teacher."

    "Real history teacher? So you mean you''re fake?" Von butted in while Lei assisted him to the nearest chair.

    "Yes and no. Your history teacher has yet to arrive on this island, but in the meantime, I, your weapon''s master teacher, will teach history to you too... wait, there are only three of you here?" He trailed off, looking for more people but there was none.

    Lei nodded while seating beside Von.

    I, on the other hand, chose the farthest seat from the two of them. The one that was beside a window on the left.

    "I was told that there will be fewer students here but I did not expect to teach only three students..." He shook his head but threw the thought right away upon looking at me.

    "Aren''t you the infamous trespasser? From outside the borders?" His eyes sparkled upon looking at me which made me feel uncomfortable for a minute.

    "Uhh-" I don''t know how to respond!! Should I confess that I am indeed that criminal or deny??

    "I have never encountered a classroom with more than two historic children before!" He put his arm around me and Lei on the other side.

    "Historic children?" I mumbled.

    "Yes!! You, the trespasser, and this boy right here who is part of the assassin clan!" He patted our backs loudly upon laughing.

    "W-what about me?" Von intruded.

    "You? You''re the prince." Sir Grand faced Von with one of his eyebrows shot up.

    "Yes! That''s right! I am the prince! So why did you not include me in these ''Historic children'' you''re talking about??"

    "Because you''re not?" He said in a dead straight face that I could not help but laugh inside.

    Von looked like crying upon hearing the teacher''s biased remarks.

    "I''m important too!!" He insisted but the teacher was just not having it.

    "You''re just one of those who will sit on the throne and do nothing. By the way, I heard from somewhere that your mother''s planning to make a guild? Now that''s a historic feat! Are you joining that guild?" He said in a tone that was obviously taunting.

    Von puffed his cheeks, tears escaping from his eyes that spread in the air as he turned to the side. "No." He said while sulking.

    Lei tried to go to him but Sir Grand stopped him.

    "Then you are not someone worth putting in the history books. Go cry over there little prince, you are distracting my class."

    I could not help but smile widely upon hearing the teacher''s harsh words to Von. He was totally titled from having the upper hand against me this morning to being cast aside by the teacher this evening!

    I felt like my revenge was fulfilled very soon because of that!

    Von stayed in the corner that whole time while Sir Grand discussed things about the history.

    Since it was just the first day of our history lesson, I was satisfied by the amount of information that I gathered from the discussion.

    The lesson was all about the clans of different superhumans who had gone to a different path than the usual or the path that most of the superhumans would take which was the strong path.

    More and more superhumans had forgotten the importance of technique and precision to one''s move because of the strength that they could acquire from training.

    They had this saying, "Techniques are nothing more than a waste of time if you can just beat your opponents using strength."

    But Lei''s family, or so to say, the assassin clan, and other superhumans who chose to prioritize techniques and the use of weapons walked away from this nonsense and gave meaning and depth to the use of weapons and techniques rather than strength.

    Even if they were looked down on and made fun of by the people, this did not stop them from training hard and acquiring the respect from the new titles that they could now proudly show to the whole world.

    "Lei could you please show them the title," The teacher kindly requested, and Lei obliged with a sigh.

    [Name: Clyden Lei June [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Ordinaire

    [Class: Knight, Student [Rank: None

    [Party: None

    [Role: Assassin

    [Level: 4

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense:15/30 [Hearing: 5 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 5

    [Agility: 14/30 [Strength: 5 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Skills:]

    [Stealth Lvl.5]

    [Tai Jutsu Lvl. 4]

    [Shurikenjutsu Lvl.4]

    Wow! wait... so Lei had a better status than me all this time!? When and how did he learn all of these skills?? Ahh, I''m so jealous!

    "Now that we have seen this young man''s skills, can I take a look at both of your profiles so I can assess which type of role will suit you best?" The teacher said.

    Waiit!! I-i''m not ready for this.

    This is embarrassing!! I have a lot of nones compared to these two!

    [Name: Devon Khalil Lorestifa [Title: Young Prince of Yvandir

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Engua

    [Class: Royal, Student [Rank: Prince

    [Party: None

    [Role: None

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense:12/30 [Hearing:5 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 2

    [Agility: 7/20 [Strength: 2 [Speed: None [Resistance: 5

    [Flight: 7/10

    [Skills:]

    [Precision Lvl.3]

    Von didn''t hesitate to show his stats and even managed to look down at me despite his strength of two.

    On second thought, Von should be the one embarrassed here not me.

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Skills:]

    [None]

    Von looked at me in disbelief upon seeing my stats which I accepted with a smirk.

    ''So, who''s the boss now lazy prince?''

    As I was waiting for the teacher to react or dismiss us upon seeing our stats, I noticed that he was not moving, kind of lost in his thoughts while looking at my stats.

    "Sir?" I called for his attention which brought him back to reality.

    "Uhh, Yes? What is this unknown?" He pointed at my ''Blood'' status.

    I answered with a shrug, confused if this ''unknown'' must be something to be concerned about or not.

    I also noticed Von and Lei''s stare at me as if I was some alien.

    "What?" I asked them.

    "It is clearly stated here that you are from our kind, superhumans... but why is your blood unknown? It should be ''Ordinaire'' like Lei''s if you were an ordinary person like us but this... this is new!" He exclaimed which I could not determine if he was afraid or amused because of it.

    Not long after, they dismissed the thought and focused the conversation on Venedette''s party.

    "Leviathan? The great sea monster?"

    "Uhuhh!" I nodded energetically, having a lot to say about the name Leviathan but the conversation went a different path.

    "How about you boys? You will not join the Princess'' clan?" He glanced at their status and saw the ''None'' in their Party.

    Upon hearing Sir Grand''s question, Von crossed his arms and sat uncomfortably.

    "That Guild will disband anyway so there''s no need to join-"

    The teacher cut him off after noticing a letter on their profile''s lower-left corner. "An invitation. Prince, Lei."

    Lei looked at Von, assessing if he will let him join or not.

    Seriously, what is the deal with these two? Von is not even his master but why do they still need the permission of each other?

    Well, I guess at some point he is Lei''s master...

    But still! Can he not make decisions like this for himself!?

    "This is quite a history in itself. The princess of Yvandir, forming a guild for unknown reasons? The first guild from Yvandir to join the tournament. I wonder how will this go." Sir Grand chuckled after asking the same question that I was also meaning to ask.

    I wonder how will this go...

    Especially with Von acting that way.

 Chapter 27 - Argue

    "What is wrong with you!?" I turned Von around, stopping him from leaving this room.

    "No, what is wrong with you!? Do you want my mom to die!?? Are you planning to kill her too!?" Von accused me of something that was completely out of line.

    "Of course not! I joined the squad to protect her! How about you! Ranting like a child, do you want her to die!?"

    "NO! That''s why I''m trying to stop this!"

    Our argument got interrupted when Sir Grand pushed us away from each other, walking through the space that he created to pass through the door which we were blocking.

    He looked back at us and saluted playfully before leaving us here unattended, which led for the arguement to continue.

    "Don''t you want to seek vengeance for what happened to your sister!? You know the reason why Venedette is doing this! Why can''t you just accept it and join her if you want to keep her safe!" I pushed him in the chest, grabbing his collar afterwards, shaking it with all my strength until he could not take it any more.

    "Why would I join her if I wanted to keep her safe!? Are you dumb!?" He said, flying to the air and dragging me along with him.

    "You''re the dumb one here even your logic sucks!" I retarded back..

    "Let go you dumbass!"

    "Not until you join Venedette''s squad!"

    "I''m not joining!! Can''t you hear!? You''re already dumb, are you also deaf!?"

    "No! You''re the dumb one here!"

    We managed to get out of the classroom despite our argument and flew through the hallways while still fighting in mid-air.

    I had thought that he would go down and surrender after a few seconds but he managed to fly while carrying me through that hallway for more than five minutes now.

    "Let go!!"

    "NO!!"

    "LET GO!!" Instead of doing what he wanted me to do, I used my other hand to climb up to him even more.

    "W-what are you doing!!? Let go already you heavy piece of shit!" He said while trying to push my hands away from his shirt but my hold was too tight for his wimpy arms to influence.

    "Bleeh!" I stuck out my tongue to him while his shorts were slowly slipping because of my weight..

    "Hey!! HEY!! What are you doing!!! Let go of me already you pervert!! Guards!! Maids!! This ugly monster is harassing me!!!!" He screamed through his lungs.

    Below us, the lot of maid whom we passed by and saw us bickering was following us with concern.

    But I can''t let go yet!

    I need to make him join no matter what!!

    Soon enough, Von bumped onto the roof of an archway while he was not paying attention in front. "OUCH!" He shouted and held his head as we descended to the ground.

    Unlike him who fell on his back, I landed safely with my feet for the height was not that high for me yet to lose my balance.

    But just as I thought I was safe, a hand grabbed my feet, causing me to fall backwards and hit my spine to the floor.

    "OUCH!!!" The both of us complained while the maids flocked to help us.

    This guy!!!

    I swear if only he was not Venedette''s son I would have killed him already with my own two hands!

    The nerve of him to smirk at me like that as if he had won!

    "Dream on." He stuck out his tongue and showed me an ugly face while still complaining about his busted head.

    "You wimp!" I could not help but burst in anger.

    This guy is really getting on my nerves.

    Ugh, I hate this feeling!

    On second thought, I think the group will be much better without him!

    The maids rushed to carry us and gave us some healing potions on the way to the hospital wing.

    "I swear! It''s not even that bad, just bring me to my room please." I would rather suffer in my bed than see his face in the infirmary!

    "Ouch!! It hurts can''t you guys run faster!?" Von said nastily.

    Ugh! That spoiled brat!! Even his attitude sucks even more than mine!

    I managed to convince the maids to bring me to my room instead of the infirmary. But when we passed through the classroom, I asked them to halt and went to Lei who was still sitting inside the classroom, deeply looking at the words written on the board.

    "Why are you still here? Your master had gone to the infirmary already, are you not going to stay beside him?" I was obviously mocking his service to the Prince but he did not respond immediately so I walked closer to him and blocked his field of vision to the board.

    "Are you angry at me?" I tried to catch his attention but it was as if he was looking at something else.

    Ah! His Stat-hut!

    "Do you want to join the guild?" As if on cue he immediately glared at me.

    "What? Did I just said something wrong?" I looked at his eye and found a shade of blue that was I was too inattentive to notice before. All along I thought his eyes were as black as his hair but if you look at it quite closely, you will notice the shade of blue that was slightly lighter than black.

    "What is it that you want from me? Aren''t you supposed to go to your room now?"

    "You saw what happened?"

    "No, the maids are waiting for you." He mentioned me to look at the door where the maids were breathing quite heavily upon seeing me hold my back.

    I had just found out this morning during the potions class that the bones are somewhat harder to fix than shallow to deep scars by the use of a normal healing potion.

    "This is nothing," I assured him, trying to get back to the point but he seemed like he was not ready for this kind of conversation yet.

    "So what? You don''t need Von''s permission to join the guild. Venedette is the leader and she has the upper hand over Von." I said carelessly which made Lei furious.

    "I serve the Prince first then the Princess if I were to join this guild without his approval then I might as well abandon my duties. Now if you must." He looked at me closer in the eye again and pushed me around to the maids.

    I got star-struck by his eyes again that I almost forgot how to speak.

    He wants to join. That''s for sure! That little brat of a Prince was always getting in the way! Ugh, I really hate him!

    *ding

    [Notification: A new member has joined the guild Leviathan.]

    I was lying peacefully on my bed to my sides when I heard an automatic voice speak to my head.

    "A new member!?"

    I opened the letter excitedly but was a little bit disappointed when I saw that it was Fily.

    "I already knew she''s joining but what about Lei? And Von... Actually never mind Von, just Lei." I let out a sigh and got into thinking.

    But why is it that Venedette wanted us- kids, to join her guild?

    I did not understand, if Venedette wants to win then she should recruit more experienced people than kids... right?

    ''System, show me the guild members, please.'' I activated the telepathic voice communication setting of this device yesterday as I found it more convenient. The system was adapting to my voice and I could hear the slight changes that had happened to hers to match mine. But there were slight inconveniences that I experienced with it enough to guess the reason why most of them prefer the manual clicking settings.

    [Showing the guild members]

    My screen was bombarded with different names of different people with different skills and different guilds.

    ''Wait I meant the members of the guild Leviathan''

    [Showing members of the guild Leviathan]

    Phew! Now there were only three names of which was Venedette''s, Fily''s, and mine.

    You just have to be more specific with the telepathic voice communication for it to work properly. I guess I could get used to that over time.

    Looking at my screen, I was surprised to see more details about Venedette and Fily such as their progress, history log, and current location!

    "Woah! So Venedette really did go somewhere far away! But she''s moving constantly, is she flying again? Where is she going now?"

    I traced the direction of where Venedette was coming from, there was a city named Amberfield where she probably came from and was now heading to the Silverwoods- or the village after it which was called Tiraned. All of them were filled with trees according to the map so I was assuming that this place must be a jungle biome.

    I stopped watching the red dot labelled as Vendette as it stopped moving in the village of Tiraned just as I was expecting.

    Instead, I grabbed my glass tablet and searched for answers all night about why was she recruiting kids and not adults. Is this normal for a guild that would face several older and bigger guilds in this tournament...?

    And at some point, I think I underestimated Venedette''s judgement about this whole thing.

    Her members were not just some normal Superhumans after all.

 Chapter 28 - Healer

    ''Royals tend to raise their guild members instead of recruiting them from the streets.'' I mentally read the articles in front of me.

    ''But why?''

    ''In most cases, these are only applicable to special super kids who are worth the time and resources to train rather than wasting their money with plebs.'' That makes sense.

    ''But still, why kids?''

    I typed the exact same question in the forum that I was asking answers from.

    My questions were answered by several kinds of people in the same forum in no time.

    ''Young superhumans have the greatest chance to maximize their potential at a young age with this type of training instead of training alone or in a public academy.''

    Public academy? What are those even?.

    I did not type that question but instead asked for something more important than that.

    ''But why?'' I entered the message and they all typed again.

    The reply took longer than I expected with several annoying remarks from them.

    ''What are you? 2 years old? How could you not know this?''

    ''You must be living in a rock for the past few years or something?''

    ''Let it go guys, she must have been new to this kind of stuff.''

    ''But still! It''s very uncommon for superhumans inside and outside the border to not know about this tournament! Unless you''re from the wastelands...''

    ''The leech? Come on how can a leech obtain a tablet?''

    ''You''re not the leech are you?''

    ''What is that?'' I lied.

    ''See? she doesn''t even know what a leech is! Just answer her question guys.'' A boy defended me which helped me calm down my drumming heartbeat at that moment.

    Not long after, the one girl who was typing for quite a long time now had finally sent her message to the forum. It was so long that the people spammed comments complaining about how long it was. But for me, it was a blessing.

    ''Thank you!'' I replied before starting to read the block of words that she had sent to me.

    In conclusion, the Royal guilds are on a whole different level than normal guilds with normal superhuman warriors for several reasons.

    One, they have the money to train those with special traits such as me, Fily, and Lei. Two, young superhumans can maximize their stats faster if trained well. So that was why Lei''s status are already way ahead of us even though we''re the same age. And the third one, guilds are already considered as a job and special superhumans past the age of 18 were to serve a government or a private institution and thus not allowing them to join the tournament.

    Those with a concrete job had to resign from their job if they want to join the tournament but special superhumans did not need to join the guilds especially if they were already past the age of 18 because of their demand in the insitutuions.

    So does this mean that Vendette will resign from her job as the Princess of this island if she manages to recruit more members and get her guild to be listed officially in the participants for the tournament?

    That''s insane!

    I shook my head upon realizing the strict qualifications of this tournament.

    ''Why do special superhumans quit their jobs upon joining the tournament?''

    ''To be honest, that would be a dumb move. Special superhumans are demanded over the whole world, the nine countries are killing each other just to have them.''

    To have them? The countries kill each other for special superhumans? So that means... the price for this tournament is?

    ''What is the price for this tournament?'' I typed, beads of sweat started damping my forehead. I hope it''s not what I''m thinking...

    ''Families.'' Was her only answer.

    I shook my head, trying hard to comprehend what she just said but I still could not understand it.

    ''Families?''

    ''Yes, families. Special families are the price.''

    What? You mean... like Fily''s family?

    ''What was the price last year?'' Yumeki''s team won last year... It would be troublesome if they also have a Fily on their side.

    ''The blacksmiths.''

    Suddenly, I felt a chill down my spine. I did not imagine how dark this tournament would be. I should have known. If the winner last year was a criminal in disguise, for sure she will use dirty tactics to win again.

    Somehow I understood why Von was so against it.

    I searched for the tournament''s data and found out the number of guilds we would need to fight to reach the international level.

    The tournament happens every ten years and lasts for at least ten months.

    With roughly a thousand guilds here in Clandamascarene, just how many will we need to fight in order to get to the top?

    This is to say that Yumeki''s guild will reach the top with no doubt because of her cheats.

    Ugh!! What could a mere child like me do in this situation...

    Now that I have seen the dangers and risks that we''ll be needing to face, I kind of want to back out and just stay comfortably here in the castle.

    But who am I kidding? If Venedette lost, the castle would be gone.

    And besides, she had already put her faith in me- or at least to you Mr.gemstone, a cheat that could par with Yumeki''s...

    If only I could master or even actively use you before the tournament starts, the chances would be better for both Venedette and her people.

    It was no secret to us that Vendette put Yvandir on the line when she announced the formation of her guild. Just that simple announcement caused an uproar on the internet. People complaining about their Princess and some who were supporting her. However, most of the comments were threatening to take Yvandir for themselves when the Princess dies.

    How rude! I will not let the Princess die or lose and there is still Von who could rule the island instead of her!

    But then I got into thinking, who am I kidding?

    How could he possibly defend this island with that wimpy body of his?

    If only he would train and be disciplined like Lei or the other Princes in this country then it would not be so easy for peiple to send out these threats.

    But instead, he chose to be lazy.

    Poor Vendette, how could she live knowing that her son is a mess?

    Anyway, I shouldn''t be thinking about that wimpy prince and his problems in the future.

    "Get to work Gem! We''ve got to maximize our stats as early as we can!" I shook my head to erase the thoughts of Von from my head and tried researching about a skillset that would benefit me the most.

    A skillset that would benefit me and my Salamandite''s powers...

    But what is the power of my Salamandite?

    Get to thinking Gem!

    ''Solitude.''

    Hmm what else...

    Giving me and Von infinite water and oxygen? or was it a potion? But it did not taste anything like the cold taste of a healing potion so it''s not safe to assume it has infinite healing powers.

    Healing powers?

    Come to think of it, when I first arrived at this island Venedette told me about being in a stone cocoon, and when I hatched from it all my wounds and fractures were gone.

    But healing potions could not heal bones at that incredible speed.

    So there must be something else in it that can heal faster than healing potions, that''s for sure.

    Are there a skillset for healers?

    I grabbed the glass tablet again from my bed and searched those exact same words.

    Skillset for healers.

    But there was no such thing as a ''healer'' role in every party''s list.

    A healer. Someone who could heal. I wonder if Yumeki''s gemstones also have the same powers as mine? Healing gemstone.

    Ahhhh, I wish I could talk to you sooner Mr.gemstone.

    Hopefully, the pages of the book that Fily would be able to crack open this weekend would tell us how to activate you.

    Several thoughts of worry and glory that I may attain from being the first Healer in a guuld ransacked my mind.

    How ironic would it be for someone like me who accidentally killed somebody to be a healer for a Guild instead?

    And besides, I could still be wanted and hated by the people at that time. I wonder how Venedette managed to clear my name to the Queen.

    Wait... is joining the tournament my punishment for killing that guy!??

    But this will help Venedette either way so should I be thankful or angered by this? I think I should be just grateful and do my best to prove that I am guilty but I will still repent for my accidental sin!

    Mr.gemstone killed that man! Not me! But either way, he is mine so I will take the responsibility and also help Vendette along the way.

    Now I''m starting to regret dragging Fily into this mess.

    I should have not convinced her to join!

    Ahh silly me! But Fily would be a great help to the team.

    I''ll just do my best to keep them alive for I will be their healer anyways!

    The first-ever healer in the history of this tournament!

    Thinking about being the first superhuman to have the role ''Healer'' in a guild dozed me off to sleep.

    I should request this to Venedette soon enough when the gemstone cooperates with me.

 Chapter 29 - Mr. Gemini

    "Gem! Gem!! I found something interesting!!" Fily shouted first thing in the morning, trying to wake me up.

    Slowly, I lifted my arms up to lessen the beams of light that were hurting my eyes.

    "M-morning," I greeted her as she sat uncomfortably in my bed.

    "You won''t believe what I''m about to tell you." She said, patting her hands on my shoulders.

    Wait, today is neither a Saturday nor a Sunday. Why is she awake?

    "I know what you''re thinking but this is important. I need to be awake to see it with my own eyes."

    "See what?" I look at her with my brows furrowed..

    She then inhaled dramatically and met me with a big smile afterward.

    "Guess what I''ve found out?"

    That big smile and shining eyes... did she??

    "Yes!! I''ve found it!! Two chapters in and there were instructions on how to use it!"

    "Really!!?"

    As soon as I heard that statement, I got off my bed and jumped with her around my room.

    "W-what is it!??" I asked while we were in the middle of our celebratory jumping. Your girl got to make sure what was up before jumping to conclusions.

    "Name! You''ve got to name it Gem! Give it a name!" She said breathily while pulling me towards the couch near the door.

    "Name it? I only need to name it then it will answer to me?" I asked, still wonder-struck about the sudden information.

    "Yes!"

    As if agreeing, my gemstone started buzzing like it was also as excited as us.

    "It''s moving." I met Fily with a smile, this might really be it!

    "W-what should I name it?" I added not long after. I''m still very nervous and excited at the same time!

    "Anything! It''s up to you Gem, it''s your gemstone!"

    Gemstone... Gem...

    I want to name it something close to me.

    Gemmi?

    Gemini?

    That''s right! I heard it said something like Gemini before! Maybe that''s his name!?

    But will it be okay?

    Gemini sounds like a girl''s name...

    "Gem?"

    I shook my head upon seeing Fily''s wide eyes looking at me.

    "I''m... okay," I said, meeting her smile and standing to prepare myself for the activation.

    I hope this works.

    "Gemini."

    After a long silence, I looked back at Fily and raised a brow at her. Nothing happened.

    "Try again?" She encouraged me and so I followed her advice again.

    ''Come on Mr. gemstone, please work.''

    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes while my hands were clutching the gemstone tightly.

    ''Today Mr. gemstone, I shall give you a name. And it shall be-''

    "Gemini," I said out loud.

    Slowly, I tried opening my eyes, I did not expect it would be this easy!

    "Whoa," Fily blurted out while holding her breath as the gemstone wrapped the whole room around its marvelous cyan glow.

    Suddenly, I felt something carrying me from the back. It lifted me up in the air while the whole room was swirling with bright cyan beams.

    [Finally Miss Gem.] A familiar voice said.

    ''Mr. gemstone? Is that you?'' I tried to reply in my mind but it did not respond.

    "Mr. gemstone?" I called to him further but he was silent so I looked at Fily to ask for help.

    "Call him by his name." She looked at me with even larger eyes.

    "Okay." I nodded and inhaled a good amount of breath to calm down my beating heart.

    Here we go Gem.

    ''Are you there, Gemini?''

    [Yes, at your service master.]

    Oh my god, it worked!

    Fily met my eyes with the same excitement.

    ''Uhmm... hi?''

    I struggled to find the right words to say. This is so nerve-wracking!!

    [Nice to meet you master. Ask away, I will be at your service forever.]

    Slowly, the lights started exploding into fragments of dust. Fily and I did not utter a single word until all of them were gone.

    The lights brought me down and exploded like the rest of them while my necklace''s light glowed even brighter than before.

    "Congratulations Gem!" Fily greeted me with a hug as I slouched there in the floor where they gently brought me down.

    "Thank you so much." I whispered to her back while we were hugging. My heart was beating so fast that I could not even talk properly after that.

    After all those worries of getting myself to the edge of death just to talk with Mr.gemstone, I can''t believe how easy the solution turned out to be!

    But I''m still thankful for Fily. If she was not here, I would have never thought about that simple solution by myself!

    "You''re a genius." I complimented her which she responded with a laugh.

    "Of course, you''re talking to Leviathan''s one and only Sage alright?" She said proudly which made me laugh too despite my tears of joy.

    We stayed there for a little longer until Fily decided to get back to her work.

    "But before I go, could you ask him about the keys?" She said, urging me to sit on the couch and not on the floor.

    "Do we still need those?" I asked out of curiosity.

    If Mr. gemstone could talk to me now, then the book wouldn''t be much of a help anymore, right?

    "Of course! My gut says that Mr. Gemini right here could only tell you things about its ability. You can ask him for confirmation?" She shrugged and watched as I asked Mr. Gemini the same question.

    ''Do you know the contents of the book Mr. Gemini?''

    [Unfortunately, I could only provide you details about the abilities that I bestow upon you, master. As for the book, I''m afraid you may need to feed me first before my system allows you to obtain the keys.]

    "System? Food? Fily, Mr. Gemini said I need to feed him in exchange for the keys!" I complained to her which she responded with that ''I told you so'' look.

    "Food, of course, we need to feed him. The book clearly states that Salamandites require energy to live." She said while walking closer to me.

    "They''re alive!?" I exhaled violently, how could a stone be alive?

    Fily''s smile slowly turned into a laugh after watching my expression.

    "What??"

    "I''m sorry, it''s just... I thought I already told you guys that Salamandites are not stones nor a magic-driven thing." She held her stomach and bent her body forwards while preventing herself from laughing too hard.

    "Then what are they?" I asked, my face turning into a serious frown as I held both of her shoulders in front of me so she could see that I am serious here.

    "Sorry." She stated, shaking the funny thoughts out of her head.

    "So?" I raised a brow at her.

    Fily blinked a few more times to calm herself down before answering me, "Salamandites are the second discovery of the first generation. This time, instead of an evolutionary formula, they infused them into technology as the moderator to the superhuman evolution. But the older generations were so enraged by this technology that they chose to bury it instead of utilizing it for the future. And now it has resurfaced in the wrong hands." She was nervous at first but her tone became serious during her last sentence.

    "Wrong hands--" I was repeating the key points that I needed to note from her short lecture when she interrupted me.

    "I meant Yumeki, not you." She cautiously said which made me smile.

    "I know," I assured her while mentally taking care of the notes carefully.

    So it was not magic. That''s actually quite a shocker but still amazing.

    "I probably need to go. See you again at the weekend Gem! And Mr. Gemini! Prepare yourselves for my questions! I will be asking a lot!" She shouted one by one as she stepped backwards to the door.

    "Thank you Fily!!" I shouted back at her and blew a flying kiss before she completely closed the door between us.

    "Ah, now to the questions Mr. gemstone- I mean Mr. Gemini!" I thought happily while free falling to my bed.

    [Anything, master.] The baritone voice spoke in my head.

    Unlike the Stat-hut system''s voice, which was cold and uncomfortable to listen to, Mr. Gemini''s voice was closer to a human''s voice, with slight emotions but was still firm and calculated.

    ''Should I also name my stat-hut? It may also reveal its new powers to me when I name her?'' I laughed at myself. Stat-hut has a user guide, it''s unlikely for it to have additional powers beyond what the guide says.

    Maybe I just got too excited by the power of ''names.''

    I wonder what names did Yumeki decided to give her stones?

    Should I also think of a name for Venedette''s stones?

    Right, Venedette! I need to report to her about my progress!!

    Or maybe I should just do it later? When I gather enough information about Mr. Gemini''s powers and also about the ''Healer'' role.

    Ahhh, I have a feeling that this day''s going to be my second most productive and busiest day ever in the castle!

 Chapter 30 - Troubleshoot

    "Miss Gem, your presence has been requested in the Dining room by the young masters," the maid who was knocking on my door said for the 5th time, interrupting my bonding time with Mr. Gemini once again.

    "I''ll go down in a minute!" I replied.

    "It has been 5 minutes since you first said that Miss Gem." She insisted and started knocking again.

    Ugh, I''m not even hungry yet!

    *grrr*

    My stomach growled.

    Never mind, "fine!! I''ll go down on my own!" I shouted again for them to hear me beyond this sense-defying room.

    I could still talk to Mr.. Gemini in my mind anyway.

    When I stood up, I accidentally brushed over my earrings that activated my stat-hut automatically.

    I shrugged it off, went straight to the bathroom, and took a quick shower before grabbing my uniform from the closet and wearing them in haste so I could fill my stomach already.

    [Error starting Stat-hut, please click troubleshoot so we can diagnose the problem.] A cold and emotionless voice sent chills down my spine as I was having a hard time wearing this stupid skirt.

    "Do you need help Miss Gem?" The maid outside shouted with concern.

    I purposely locked the door because I was not ready to mingle with them while my Salamandite was awake and active. It might hurt them unintentionally and that would be the last thing I would want to happen in this castle.

    "No! I''ll be out in a minute," I said, trying to convince myself that I could do this in a minute.

    Just a little more zip and we''re good Gem... just a little more.

    [Error starting Stat-hut, please click troubleshoot so we can diagnose the problem.] The automated woman''s voice said again.

    I was so annoyed about this skirt that I mindlessly pressed the reboot button that caused me another inconvenience.

    "Ouuch!!" I stomped my feet to the right, shifting my weight to where my mind was feeling burnt right after zipping the rest of the zipper in my skirt.

    "Wh- at the h-ell" I groaned while having a hard time dealing with the pain in the right side of my head.

    Not long after, my left brain started freezing. ''What the hell is happening?? Mr. Gemini help!!''

    [Roger that master.]

    From my neck, a soothing mist of air started making its way through my nose and my veins, straight to my brain where I immediately felt the subsiding pain.

    ''Thank you.'' I said while several drops of tears escaped my eyes.

    [Anytime, master.] He said with a retreating voice.

    What the hell was that?

    I touched my earrings and felt that the right one was still burning while the left one was still freezing.

    What is this? They''re still going on with that ''troubleshoot''?

    I inhaled another deep breath, trying to calm myself down from the pain that it gave me. As of this moment, this device had hurt me three times already- or two if the freeze and burn were only counted as one.

    But as long as Mr. Gemini is here, I''m sure he won''t let me get hurt, right Mr. Gemini?

    [At your service, master.]

    After thirty minutes of eating, the stat-hut screen popped in front of me again, the result of that painful ''troubleshoot'' was written with a danger sign.

    [A virus has been detected in your body!]

    "What!?" I jumped from my seat out of shock because of what I''ve heard.

    A virus? Really??

    "What happened, miss? Are you okay?" The maids came running to me and then checked my surroundings while I just stood there, staring at the screen in front of me.

    ''What Virus is it?'' I asked this unreliable gadget.

    [An error has occurred in the OS of Stat-hut. Do you want to shut it down?]

    ''N-no. What are the error and virus about?''

    [A virus called Salamandite has entered your superhuman body and is currently corrupting Stat-hut data. Do you want to send a report to the headquarters?]

    ''No!''

    ''What are you doing Mr. Gemini?''

    [This device was programmed to detect me as a virus, Master. I was just configuring its data to build a harmonious environment between me and this device inside your body master.]

    ''Okay, but why didn''t you tell me? That notification was scary...''

    [I planned on dealing with this silently. I''m sorry master.]

    ''It''s okay.. just show me what you''re doing. I trust you.''

    [Roger that.] He said and proceeded to configure the data of Stat-hut while also letting me see everything that he was doing on my screen.

    "Are you okay miss Gem?" The head maid held my shoulders on the right, bringing me back to reality.

    "M-mmm" I murmured with frequent but small nods to answer her question.

    "Ouch!"

    "Oh my!!"

    My nodding accidentally grazed the burning right earring to the back of her palm.

    I''ve got to think of an excuse real quick!!

    "What was that?" Her wrinkled face faced me with a mixture of worry and fear in her eyes while holding back her left arm.

    I tried to deny her look by pretending to know nothing but when she tried to touch my earring, I caught her wrist almost immediately with both of my hands.

    "Oh my! What happened here!?" I twisted her left arm to see the burn mark.

    [Mr. Gemini please help me fix this!!] I prayed desperately, hoping for a magic to happen and save me again like always.

    I shut my eyes tightly, afraid of what would happen if they found out that I hurt somebody again, even if it was accidentally.

    I already managed to build my reputation here and prove them wrong about my being a monster but if they found out I hurt somebody again...

    As I slowly tried to peek into their faces, I felt my right thumb move. It swiftly grazed above the little burnt mark on the back of the maid''s palm and the mark disappeared like there was no mark there in the first place.

    "What''s the problem madam? There''s nothing here." I let go of the maid''s hand and she looked at it with utter shock.

    "N-no, I swear I felt a burn." She said, perplexed.

    ''Thank you, Mr. Gemini.'' A subtle smile crept on my lips.

    Mr. Gemstone''s healing powers are really remarkable!

    ''How did you do that Mr. Gemini?''

    [Healing potion.]

    ''Healing potion?? But it tasted nothing like a healing potion...''

    My brows furrowed more when Mr. Gemstone answered.

    [Enhanced healing potions with Energy slime.]

    ''W-where did you get it? How did you get Energy slimes? I thought the salamanders were extinct?''

    [They are, but the inside of this gemstone is made of hardened energy slimes. Everything you store inside it will be induced with Energy slimes.]

    ''Put inside it? What could possibly fit in that small stone?''

    [Everything.]

    ''Everything???''

    [Yes master, everything.]

    ''But how?''

    "Young miss are you okay?" Another maid interrupted our conversation, gently assisting me back to the chair where I was seated before.

    "Mmm." I nodded inattentively at her.

    [The gemstone is an infinite storage, storing at least gazillion Energy slimes inside.]

    Storage? It''s an inifinite storage!!?

    T-that explains how Yumeki was able to steal those gemstones without being seen!

    ''W-what else? Can I use this storage?''

    [Yes master. But only if you feed me.]

    ''What do you need? How can I feed you?''

    [I need energy to replenish the slimes]

    ''So how do we get this energy? Do you mean electricity?''

    [No.]

    ''Then what?''

    I exhaled a deep breath after waiting for Mr. Gemini to talk but he said nothing.

    "Miss Gem. Your classes are waiting for you." One of the maids who were worried about me mentioned to the door where Miss Melody was waiting.

    ''Mr. Gemini?'' I checked again for the last time and stood up when he did not respond.

    [The problem has been resolved, Stat-hut will now restart.] The female voice announced in my head while I was walking away from the dining table.

    So let me get this straight, the gemstone is an infinite storage with a lot of Energy slimes in it, and everything that goes in can be induced with the slimes, making them more effective and powerful than their original state??

    For example the Healing potions.

    "Ma''am, do you know what Energy slimes are?" I blurted out in the middle of the class.

    Miss Melody was alreted from what I said.

    It was a subject that was very far from what she was discussing in our Potion''s Class but I could not help myself from asking.

    The thought has been bothering me the whole time.

    "Energy slimes?" She repeated, probably thinking if what she heard was right.

    "Uhuh." I said, confirming her thoughts.

    "W-where did you learn that?" She was taken aback by my sudden interest.

    What? Is this ingredient confidential information or something...?

    Oh, it might be.

    "N-nothing in particular I just read it somewhere in a book." I laughed nervously.

    Please believe me please believe me.

    "What are you talking about, Gem? I have never heard of such a thing." Von said playfully which made Ma''am Melody raise a brow at me.

    Ugh this guy!!

 Chapter 31 - Team

    "It''s true! I saw it in a book!" I defended myself from their prying eyes. One was suspicious and one was playful.

    Ugh this guy I swear!!

    ''Do you want to expose Fily you dumbass!?'' I typed in my stat-hut and pressed sent to him immediately.

    "Tch" I heard him snicker before going back to his seat, defeated.

    "What is it Young Master?" Miss Melody said with confusion upon seeing him go back to his seat.

    "She''s right we did read something like that in a book too." He lied.

    Thank goodness he understood the situation despite his remaining two brain cells..

    "Gosh why are the librarians so careless!" I heard Miss Melody mutter under her breath while locking the windows and the doors hastily with a loud sigh.

    "I''m not required to educate you about the powers of the Energy slimes but since you knew of it''s existence, I cannot reject your request for further explanation." She said unwillingly.

    ''Yes! More information about this! Enlighten me please Miss Melody.''

    A slight thanks there for Mr. lazy Prince for not exposing my little white lie. But I won''t tell him that! Over my dead body, it will only make his head even bigger that it already is!

    "Energy slimes are said to be an important ingredient for the Superhuman formula." She said with a soft voice, cautious of being heard by anybody from outside.

    "But you said you didn''t know the ingredients of the Superhuman formula." I blurted my thoughts out loud again.

    ''Stop doing that Gem!'' I secretly hit my mouth to stop it from talking.

    "I-i''m not allowed to discuss them with anybody carelessly." She said while looking at the floor.

    "So you lied to us." Lei said with a threatening tone.

    Oh, what is this? Lei also wants to join our little white lie?

    Miss Melody nodded her head subtly, admitting her actions.

    "Forgive me young masters but I was instructed to never disclose these information with you unless you were the ones to start the topic. The Energy slimes and other ingredients of the Superhuman formula are confidential topics and only those in the higher cluster of the hierarchy has the right to learn them." She said with respect, opening her eyes afterwards and meeting our interested gazes.

    "So what does it do? The Energy slimes?" I opened the topic again.

    I really should stop doing that.

    "It is a buff to all kinds of powers. The main ingredient for the supers in all of this world." She said and stopped there, hesitating to say more.

    Maybe she needs a little more push to finally spill the beans?

    I raised my hand with a question in mind, "what kinds of powers does this Energy slime buff?"

    "Enchantment. It is an enhancer. It improves the efficiency of other ingredients-"

    ''or things'' I cut her words in my mind.

    Mr. Gemini said that the Energy stones inside the gemstone can induce anything that I store in there.

    And by anything, I believe he literally meant everything including clothes, armor, weapons, potions, food, and everything else that I can store in it.

    Even including air or oxygen like that time when Von and I fell down the island.

    I wonder how many years had passed since the gemstone started storing those things inside of it.

    ''Does the duration of stay within the Energy slimes affect it''s effectiveness in the induction process?'' I asked Mr. Gemini without expectations for an answer but was surprised when he answered to my call immediately.

    [Yes, the longer it stays inside the stronger the induction gets.]

    ''Mr. Gemini!!!'' I exclaimed in delight, ''glad you''re back!''

    [The system upgrade has been done, you can now use a better version of your gadget with me.]

    ''With you? You mean you''re done configuring the Stat-hut?''

    [Yes and even offered additional settings that you can use for more efficient experience with me.]

    ''Wow! That''s uhhh great!''

    "So in conclusion, you''re saying that Energy slimes can multiply the effectiveness of a potion and our powers!" Von shouted exasperatedly which was then followed by Miss Melody''s desperate shushes to him.

    "Yes, but can you please lower down your voice?" She said weakly, her whispers went straight to our ears sending shivers down my spine as if she went closer to us to whisper but she did not move a muscle at all! She was still standing in her position but her voice can be heard directly beside me.

    Is it a skill perhaps? I want to learn how to do that too!

    "Hmp." I heard Von''s disrespectful remark which was ignored by almost everyone except me.

    This is not right! Why are they letting that Prince grow without a single ounce of respect for the elderly??

    I shook my distaste for Von and focused instead to what Miss Melody was saying.

    "The Energy slimes may be the strongest kind of ingredient in this world but it was also the cause of its extinction-" Miss Melody expressed her grief for a moment before continuing her lecture.

    "If only superhumans weren''t as greedy before..." She trailed off, looking down with her curled up fist.

    I thought for a moment about what she was saying.

    She''s right. It was human greed that caused my lovely Salamanders to disappear.

    [Initiating calming mist.]

    The Stat-hut announced in the middle of our rage.

    I held my necklace tightly when a pang was felt in my chest.

    This is unfair. Humans were blessed by the Salamanders with powerful gifts but in exchange... They only caused destruction.

    Their greeds were fed in exchange for temporary delight.

    [Calm down master Gem.]

    I closed my eyes upon inhaling the calming mist. I really should calm down first.

    I don''t even know why I was so enraged by this when I''m not even a Salamander.

    "You are all aware of the capabilities of a normal healing potion right? It can only cure flesh and it takes a lot of time for a complete cure to happen. But when influenced by an Energy slime, not only does it speed up the healing process but it also allows the potion to cure bones! Just imagine how better the world could be if only Salamanders did not become extinct."

    "If only humans learn how to control their greed." I gritted my teeth upon saying those words.

    "Gem?" Miss Melody called out to me.

    "Yes?" I looked at her innocently.

    "What is that?" Von was the one who voiced out their concern.

    ''Mr. Gemini!!''

    The white mist was getting out of hand! It made a cloud around me!

    [I thought you needed it.]

    He said innocently while I heard the crystal-like popping of some of the tiny water droplets that exploded cutely around me.

    ''But it did not even work Mr. Gemini, I am panicking here, please help me get rid of it! Do something. Miss Melody would not let this strange phenomenon go. I''ve got to think for an excuse real quick!''

    [Stopping the release of calming mist.]

    Mr. Gemini announced.

    Oh no, what do I do with this cloud!

    [Message from Lei: Act like it''s smoke]

    The Female Stat-hut voice read the message out for me.

    Act like it was smoke... O-okay!

    *Cough, cough*

    "What *cough* is this?" I followed Lei''s advice and met him inside the thinning cloud, looking for me.

    When we got out of the mist- or smoke, I saw Von hiding behind the teacher''s back, probably scared of the gemstone''s powers again.

    "I''m very sorry Miss Melody, one of my smoke grenades accidentally rolled down Gem''s seat." Lei bowed his head upon saying that lie.

    Miss Melody quickly refused to accept the bow and told Lei that it was okay.

    "Just don''t bring any more toys like that in your next classes alright?"

    Thank goodness Miss Melody did not notice the misty properties of the cloud and easily believed that it was smoke-

    "But why is it that your smoke smell good?"

    -or not.

    Lei and I looked at each other in panic.

    "It is a common practice for our kind to add fragrace in our smoke grenades to confuse our targets of our intentions." He quickly explained with a straight face that even I who knew the truth almost got convinced.

    "Okay, well, there''s nothing we can do about it. You can now proceed to your next class. I''ll let you go five minutes ahead. See you tomorrow kids." Miss Melody waved goodbye at us before locking the classroom with the mist still inside.

    "Thank you for your help... guys." I muttered while walking behind them.

    Von turned around to look at me while floating just to roll his eyes at me while Lei just shrugged it off.

    I guess the three of us could make a good team after all.

 Chapter 32 - Skillset

    Or not.

    It has been 4 days since that incident and today is Saturday.

    I thought Venedette would be back by now but she said there was a delay and she will arrive tomorrow.

    On the other side, Fily was still asleep, replacing the day when she woke up for a couple of hours to see me activate Mr. Gemini this whole Saturday.

    And what do you know? We were tasked to complete rigorous physical training in the morning today and weapon''s training during the afternoon.

    "Why don''t you believe me!? He''s flying I''m sure of it! Isn''t it your job to train us? Then why are you being so lenient on him!? What''s he supposed to learn by cheating!?" I could not help but rant after finishing three and a half hours of continuous training while Von was using his flight to cheat!

    "You disrespectful little runt! How long are you going to keep accusing the Prince of this nonsensical misbehavior!? Go fifty more rounds through this week''s obstacle training course! No one will leave this area until that nosy rat is done. Except for the Prince. You can go now.." The lazy teacher smiled at Von while the bulky one just shook his head.

    "Bleeh." I heard Von''s taunt from behind our two odd teachers who were obviously favoring him and giving him lighter tasks than what they were giving to me and Lei.

    ''Aren''t you ashamed, you cheater!?'' I sent him a message out of rage but I received a rather annoying notice.

    [This user has blocked your messages.]

    The automated woman''s voice read the message for me.

    He blocked my messages!?

    "You loser. You''re just like that devil Yumeki!" I muttered under my breath while gritting my teeth.

    ''How are you different from that monster? You''re just like her. A cheater.'' I raved in my mind as I burned his eyes off his sockets using my glare in my imagination.

    Von looked like he heard what I''ve said as his eyes went wider and walked closer to me with a curled fist.

    "I''m NOT like her." He stressed the word ''not'' while staring deeply into my eyes, aggravated about what I just said.

    "Then prove it. If you''re not a cheater then what are you? Using flight to ease training." I rolled my eyes away from him and went back to the bench where my water was situated.

    "I do things my own way and you have no say about that!" He said, following me.

    "And what is this ''my own way'' you''re talking about? Being lazy? Abusing your authority as a Prince?" I rolled my eyes at him once again and prepared myself for crossing the obstacle course once again.

    "You just have no idea." His voice softened right before I started running.

    What was that? I have no idea about what?

    Well, whatever it is, I don''t care. He''s still a cheater and nothing will make me think otherwise.

    [Do you need a full fatigue cure master?] Mr. Gemini''s warm voice offered to me.

    ''Later.'' I refused his offer.

    If flying is Von''s cheat then mine is a frequent cure. But unlike him, I chose to suffer and experience all the hardships of training without cheating.

    I don''t want to go down the same level of cheating like him and Yumeki. That would be the same as disappointing Vendette.

    After fifty laps of going through the obstacle course, I finally got to take a break and slept in my room for about an hour and a half. I also accepted Mr. Gemini''s offer and woke up just in time for Sir Grant''s weapons training class.

    I skipped lunch but managed to grab a sandwich on the way, which was still not enough for my hunger so I promised to stop by the kitchen again later and grab some more food.

    Talking about food, I still have no clue what to feed Mr. Gemini.

    But there''s no need to worry. Fily will make up tomorrow anyways with new information about the Salamandites from the book. I just hope she found something else useful there.

    "Gem the trespasser! You are one minute late." Sir Grand greeted me with a smile as I hastily entered his classroom-

    Training room.

    "Whoa." My jaws dropped open upon seeing this bunker-like classroom inside the castle with ten simple tables and side racks, all carrying different types of weapons, from spears to guns. There were also target dummies all over the place where we could probably practice with.

    "Welcome to my training room." He placed his arm around me and Lei again while Von was busy looking at the table with bows and arrows.

    This was the first ever training lesson that Sir Grand was able to give us just like the two physical trainers this morning since the weekdays were mostly spent with educational learning and physical control.

    "You have already chosen a role right?" I heard Sir Grand talking to Lei.

    "Yes sir."

    "Of course you came from a family of Shinobis, what else is there to choose than following your family''s traditions." He laughed to himself while I scanned all the weapons, looking for something that would caught my attention.

    "How about you Gem? Any roles in mind?" He turned to me while I was still focused on finding the right kind of weapon.

    "Yes sir. But I believe you said the other day that you''ll recommend a skill set for us."

    "Ah yes yes, I remember that. Come." He dragged me and Lei to a glass board on our far right which broke my concentration in finding a weapon so I just saved it for later.

    "Here are your stats," he let go of us and showed us three separate screens of glass where our status were displayed in chronological order, "let''s start with the little Prince."

    Sir Grand looked around and found Von marvelling over the shiny bows that were hanging on the wall.

    "You like those?" Sir Grand stood beside Von but he was ignored.

    Sir Grand cleared his throat upon being humiliated and decided to make a deal with Von in secret which I still heard thanks to my above average super hearing ability.

    "I can give you those if you will listen to me." He whispered to Von in secret which Von responded with an annoyed ''tch''.

    I could almost hear what Von was thinking just basing on his face. "You don''t need to give me that, I could just buy it myself."

    But he chose to stay silent and walked ahead of Sir Grand to where we were standing.

    I saw Sir Grand scoff and dismissed the thought afterwards while walking towards us in this damp and light-deprived space, almost like a perfectly carved dome in a cave with four hanging light bulbs and four little windows near the ceiling as the main sources of light.

    "Nice necklace you''ve got there. Is it a pair?" Sir Grand noticed my necklace and my stat-hut.

    "Uhh, I guess." I faked a smile at him, unsure if I should tell him the truth or not. But for now, I think it would be best if I don''t reveal anything to anyone without Vendette''s consent.

    "Well, anyway here''s the result of your ideal skill set evaluation, primarily based on your skills and could be changed later on by your preferences and other hidden skills." He manipulated the glass board a little bit and new information appeared below our individual stats.

    [Clyden Lei June]

    Role: Assassin

    Skillset: Stealth, Critical strike, Accuracy, Haste, Blades mastery ++++

    I looked at the first revealed skillset stats under Lei''s name and there were a lot of unfamiliar words listed there.

    "Do we have to learn this all or just choose which ones we want to learn?" I blurted out, still in shock of the long list of skills to learn under the assassin role.

    "These are just compatible skills under Lei''s existing levels. He can choose to learn one or all, it''s really up to him. This is just my suggestion list to help him decide skills that would fit his role. Now to yours Little Miss Gem." Sir Grand explained which helped me calm a little bit more than before.

    I focused my attention on the space under my status and one by one, the list of unfamiliar words came flooding my brain again.

    [Gemma]

    Role: Fighter

    Skillset: Claw, Hunt, Veiled strike, Flexibility, powered strike, Iron skin ++++

    "Fighter?" I read the role written under my status.

    Fighter is also Venedette''s role! Does this mean we''ll have two fighters in Leviathan? But I read in an article that having two members with the same role is unnecessary for a Guild.

    "Yes, a fighter. You remind me of a wolf and your physical levels are good enough for a fighter. You can still improve your physical strength-"

    "I want to be a healer." I interrupted Sir Grand''s words and looked at him in the eye.

    "A healer? What use is a healer in a guild when there are healing potions?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me which brought my senses back to reality.

    Oh no.

    I was not supposed to say this until Venedette comes back!

 Chapter 33 - Marksman

    "I''m sorry, did I say something weird?" I said hastily with innocent eyes which made Sir Grand shook his head out of confusion.

    "Please don''t mind it, I tend to blurt nonsensical words out of my mouth sometimes." I said with a cutesy tone and blinking eyes.

    Please work, please work!

    "O-okay¡­" He trailed off and cleared his throat before proceeding with Von''s skillset.

    Phew. Thank goodness he did not care too much about it.

    I should have been following Vendette''s footsteps in becoming a great fighter rather than choosing a rather weird role.

    First healer in a guild? Sir Grand was right, what use will I be when healing potions are available everywhere? Even if my healing potions are to be induced with Energy slimes, they still serve the same purpose. To heal..

    And besides, if I don''t train my physical strength then what help could I offer for Vendette''s team? I need to be strong to protect her. No matter what.

    "Let''s see, the fitting role for the Prince is¡­ a marksman." Sir Grand faked a smile at Von who was jumping around Lei with joy upon hearing his preferred role.

    A marksman huh?

    "Let me teach this arrogant girl a lesson real quick." I heard Von say to Lei as he walked straight to the table where the bow and arrows were located.

    I did not mind his words since I thought he was just aiming to impress me so I did not pay any attention to him at all.

    I continued reading the terms in his skillset and found a particular skill there that was already checked.

    [Devon Khalil Lorestifa]

    Role: Marksman

    Skillset: Power strike, (v)Precision, multiple shots, spike, burst shot, calculative, retrieve ++++

    I also checked Von''s profile and found out that he already has that skill indeed.

    [Name: Devon Khalil Lorestifa [Title: Young Prince of Yvandir

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Engua

    [Class: Royal, Student [Rank: Prince

    [Party: None

    [Role: None

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense:12/30 [Hearing:5 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 2

    [Agility: 7/20 [Strength: 2 [Speed: None [Resistance: 5

    [Flight: 7/10

    [Skills:]

    [Precision Lvl.3]

    An arrow swooshed beside me, shattering the glass board where my status was written.

    "Von!" Lei shouted while I was frozen in my position, trembling in shock and anger.

    "That''s what you get, arrogant trespasser," Von taunted me while floating directly above me with his bow and cleaver on his back, dropping the heavy arrow butts on my head

    "Next time you brag about training and cheating, make sure you have something to brag about alright?"

    This jerk.

    "Hey, did I allow you to use the weapons yet?" Sir Grand''s voice thundered all over the place as he pulled Von down from his flight and quickly grabbed the golden arrows on the floor.

    "A prince shouldn''t be allowed to be like this." He ranted.

    Von struggled to get out of his ironclad hold onto Von''s pants.

    "What do you know about being a Prince!? Let go already you old man!" He said while hitting Sir Grand''s arm with his curled fists.

    "I am not old. I am still in my late twenties, spoiled brat." I was about to run after them and help Sir Grand stop Von''s violent hits but he looked unaffected by it.

    Instead, Von was the one who looked like hurting from hitting Sir Grand''s arm.

    "Ouch!" He complained, momentarily stopping his hits while examining his reddish fist.

    "What?" I was perplexed. I did not understand what happened.

    "Iron skin." Lei went beside me and picked up the rest of the golden arrows on the floor.

    "Iron skin¡­ the same skill that Venedette has?" I looked at Lei with questions in my eyes which he answered with a sigh.

    "Yes."

    Could it be?

    This man and Venedette?

    No¡­ That''s just probably my imagination.

    What are the odds that Venedette has the same skill as this guy and that she hired him to tutor us? Even gave him his own bunker of weapons in this castle.

    I mean, that''s supposed to be the expected treatment for the weapon''s master right?

    I don''t know Gem, maybe Fily has infected you with that overthinking thing.

    You''re just overthinking.

    I tried to convince myself but there''s just this feeling in my gut that I can''t explain.

    It''s telling me something.

    Something¡­

    "Von. You''ve got to behave son, this is not how I raised you." Sir Grand whispered to Von after bringing him away from us.

    Wait. Did I hear that right?

    Son?

    He is Von''s father?

    That means¡­ he is Venedette''s husband?

    The first Prince?

    WOW!

    I was just wondering why Vendette never mentioned to me her husband and even assumed that he was dead but he was just here in front of me all along!

    The First Prince of Yvandir!

    My thoughts were interrupted when Von suddenly shouted.

    "You didn''t raise me! You were never here!"

    "Von."

    "Why!? Isn''t that what you did? You were never here! Even when Demi died you never came! What are you even doing here? Go away!"

    "I was busy with work!"

    "Then go back to your work! Mom and I are good now! We don''t need you."

    Von cried, hitting Sir Grand who was squatting in front of him with all of his might.

    "I understand where you''re coming from son, but this is still unacceptable. A prince mustn''t act like this." He said, gently caressing Von who was still violent inside his arms.

    "I don''t care! I hate you!" His violent tantrums went even stronger but Sir Grand accepted it all.

    The two of them became silent while Lei and I were just watching from afar.

    "Can you hear them?" He said while frowning at me which startled me a little.

    I answered his question with a nod, not expecting what he did next.

    "Wait, where are you taking me?" I resisted from his hold on my arm, dragging me to the door which was leading outside.

    "Outside." He said it like it was a very obvious fact while still being unbothered by my resistance.

    "I could just walk there you know? Could''ve asked me to go out instead." I complained with a scowl when he released me from his tight hold on my left arm.

    Lei was always harsh but I believed he could be a little more gentle with me especially after all the time that we had already spent together as a team.

    "Am I the only one who thought that we could be great teammates?" I asked him while he was busy closing the vault door behind us.

    I was waiting for his response but even after closing the door, he was still silent.

    "Oi talk to me. Why are you so snobby?" I bugged him even more because of that.

    "Shut up. You''re hurting my head." He pushed me back a little bit but I still followed after him.

    "Your head hurts? Here let me cure it for you." I tiptoed and reached my left hand to his hair while my other hand stayed behind me.

    "What are you doing?" He suddenly turned around to face me which made me lose balance and accidentally placed my hands on him to prevent me from falling to the ground.

    He also caught my elbows and assisted me to stand properly while clearing his throat and looking away.

    "Why are you so clumsy." He retarded my sentence back at me which made me giggle a little bit instead of feeling insulted by it.

    "I wish we could be friends." I stalked behind him once more, feeling the urge to bother him while we make our way back to the main hallways.

    The weapon''s training room is located beyond the training field inside the castle walls which means that we have to cross the walkway between the training field and the obstacle course which leads straight to the castle''s main hallway where Lei and I will finally have to go on our separate ways.

    But before that, I challenged myself to make Lei say something more than a sentence.

    "I didn''t know Sir Grand was the first prince all along. Did you know who he was beforehand?" I walked faster so I could block Lei''s path while I walk backwards.

    "Yes." He tried to overtake me to the left but I did not let him.

    "Move." He growled with a lower-pitched voice than usual which scared me a little bit but when he was about to pass through my right, I blocked him again.

    "Come on let''s talk some more."

    "You''re so noisy." He shook his head again and tried to overturn me but I still managed to block all of his attempts.

    "Is your head still hurting? I can cure that, you know? My gemstone''s powers are healing. Come on try it." I extended my right arm to reach his hair again but he caught my wrist and slowly brought it down.

    "Don''t say that out loud. People here are still not trusted. You''ve got to be more careful with that." He looked at my necklace and left me there standing alone in the sunset.

    His tone was so serious that my playfulness was immediately replaced by fear.

    "Wait! Lei!! Wait for me!" I shouted and ran as fast as I could to catch up to him.

    He''s right. I should be careful with this information.

    Who knows if the enemies might be lurking around in this castle too?

 Chapter 34 - Resistance

    I managed to catch up to Lei but it was not long until we both went our separate ways when we arrived at the hallway on the second floor.

    The boy''s rooms were located on the right side with several other unused rooms while ours were on the left.

    I walked through the moderately lit hallway to the left nervously, looking back at Lei occasionally to calm myself until I finally managed to reach the door to Fily''s room.

    I couldn''t help but overthink all the ugly thoughts that Lei''s words returned to me.

    He was right. I promised myself to never trust anyone so easily beyond the border but what happened to me?

    It was not a bad decision to trust Venedette, in fact, she''s probably the most trustworthy person inside this castle. But what about the others?

    Venedette''s kindness gave me a reason to lower my guard. Even Von whom I hated the most in this castle could be trusted to keep my secret safe but I probably should stop trusting anybody else beyond them..

    Who knows? The enemies might be near just like what happened with Demi.

    Maybe this was the message that Lei has been trying to tell me.

    "Fily, let''s eat dinner." I tried to lower my voice a little instead of shouting because I still kind of want to talk to her in her sleeping state.

    I also managed to close the door behind me softly because of the same reason.

    The thoughts of the old me not trusting anybody came flashing in my mind as I look at my pale reflection in the mirror.

    I was alerted when I saw Fily''s reflection in the mirror, she was rubbing her eyes while getting up from sleep.

    "Morning?" I smiled at her which surprised her a little.

    "Gem." She continued rubbing her eyes and even let out a yawn before finally acknowledging my presence.

    "You''re awake?" I said after realizing why she was rubbing her eyes all of a sudden.

    Usually, when I come to her room to ask her to eat with me, she sleep-walks instead of actually waking up.

    And I was informed that she would completely wake up from her hibernation tomorrow but she''s actually awake right now!

    "Mm, I guess that was enough sleep already." She smiled at me as she walked closer and greeted me with a hug.

    "Let''s.. go.. eat?" My voice was muffled because of her tight hug.

    I let her hug me tightly this time instead of driving her away because I also missed her awake state.

    She was more affectionate towards me while awake than when she is asleep or half-asleep.

    "Okay!!" She squished my chubby cheeks which used to be boney before as she dragged me outside with her energetically.

    "Calm down it''s not even dinner time yet!" I complained when she started hopping along the hallways with her hands tightly wrapped around my wrist as I lazily let her drag me around the castle.

    Not long after, Fily and I talked about the Salamandites in a secret garden where no one was tending to.

    "Why do you need to sleep a lot Fily?" I was the first one to open up the topic while Fily was busy turning on the lights in this hidden place.

    "It saves my body from overworking." She said inattentively, still busy with what she was doing.

    I could not help but shiver due to the cold air we were experiencing from up high in the skies especially during nighttime.

    "Aren''t you cold, Fily?" I said and sneezed right after which worried Fily so she went to sit beside me after turning on the last of the twelve little lamps that were hanging on copper strings.

    "Are you cold? Here hold this." She gave me a warm pad and wrapped a thick blanket around me which I was not sure of where she got it from.

    "How about you? You''re not cold?" I looked at her with concern but she only shook her head with a smile.

    "I can withstand freezing and burning temperatures due to my level 10 resistance." She said as a matter of fact but I could not help but be jealous about her level 10 resistance.

    "How did you manage to get level 10 resistance?" I asked, but despite the jealousy in my voice, Fily was still smiling at me.

    Not because she was boasting or pitying me but rather because she was amused by my curiosity.

    "Attributes are more or less inherited and not trained for. Skills such as Super puff or Venedette''s Iron skin are the ones that Superhuman can enhance and train but attributes are harder to improve just by training."

    Her explanation just reminded me of that day when I first went to physical training. I was forced to run for an hour and a half but even after all that my attributes still did not improve.

    "You are aware of the potions, right?" Fily glanced at me.

    "The health potions?" I asked innocently.

    "No... The superhuman potions."

    "You mean the superhuman formula?" I asked again to clear our topic.

    "Yes, that''s what they call that. But during the old times, they call those the Superhuman potions and not just a formula because there were many versions of it and not just one."

    "What do you mean?" I shifted my eyes to Fily''s brown hair that was being blown away from her face by the cold breeze of air coming from where the moon was.

    "There were nine variations of the formula and the most common one was the Supersense potion. It was distributed to almost everybody which also gave us the resistance one just like in your status. Everybody needed the resistance one to fight off the virus from their body and survive. It was too late when the elders realized this and unleashed a new species of humans with super strength, super speed, and some even with flight. It was astonishing to see humans fly during the early ages." She reminisced with a laugh as if she was there during those times.

    "What are the other variations of the formula?" I could not help but ask when she suddenly stopped talking.

    "The second one was Super speed, then there''s Super strength and Super Resistance. The other five were given to special people only. But this does not include the super knowledge that runs in my family''s blood. Ours was a complex chemical reaction that happened because of our unique blood type and I''m sure several others were also affected by this reaction. The nuclear outside may also create different chemical reactions to the evolution of other species like the Salamanders. There''s just a learn and you''re lucky you have a lifetime of unlimited education with me." Fily stood up and offered me a hand energetically.

    "Let''s eat?"

    "Okay but tell me the other Super potions first!" I put my hand on her and almost got out of my seat because of her pull but since she was weak I managed to put my weight back to the stone railing where we were seated before.

    "Do you want to know new information about the Salamandites instead?" She tried to pull me again but I resisted it which made her closer to me instead of me to her.

    "Pleaaase?" I tried convincing her, still sitting stubbornly in my seat but she was really fixed on not telling me all at once.

    "I''ll tell you one after we eat okay?" She said which left me no choice but to follow her.

    "By the way, what''s that new information about the Salamandites?" I overtook her and asked her while walking backwards in front of her.

    "Do you want to hear it now or tomorrow with Venedette?"

    Hmm... That got me into thinking.

    Venedette will be back tomorrow and I''m sure she''ll be surprised to find out that I can already talk with my Salamandite!

    "Imma hear it tomorrow with Venedette." I shrugged and went back to annoying Fily about the other kinds of Super potions.

    "What are the other purposes of the potions and why did you tell me that?" I tried to guilt trip her but it did not work.

    "I''ll tell you one purpose after we eat and the reason will be for tomorrow."

    "Why not just tell me now?" I complained and blocked her track when I saw the door to the dining room.

    "Because your head will hurt."

    "I can cure it."

    "Shh!" She hastily covered my mouth after what I said.

    "With the healing potions of course." I tried to cover up my mistake because some maids heard what I said and Fily made it look even more confidential by covering up my mouth!

    "Healing potions can''t cure your brain." She shook her head and went straight to the door but I managed to block her again just before she entered.

    "You''ll tell me one purpose later okay?"

    "Okay, I promise." She said, giving me no choice but to let her pass through the door.

    "Tell me two." I bargained while following after her but she immediately shook her head on me.

    Ughh, Fine!

 Chapter 35 - Crush

    Fily sat patiently at her usual spot at the table while I walked around.

    There was no one there yet and even the maids were still busy cooking in the kitchen next door.

    "Fily. Why did we come here so early?" I could not help but complain after 10 minutes of doing nothing.

    I sat on my seat beside Fily, one of the two ends of the long table where Venedette used to sit whenever she''s around.

    The maids always led me to sit here when I eat by myself so I kind of got used to this seat but that doesn''t matter much..

    "Fily!!" I called to her impatiently, slightly afraid that she might go to sleep again if I let her do nothing.

    "Yes?" She raised an eyebrow at me but was still patient and calm in her seat.

    "I said, why did we come here so early? It''s not yet even dinner time and besides, I''ve still got a lot to ask you, you know?" I waited for her answer impatiently but she just looked at me like I already answered my own question.

    "Precisely." She laughed modestly as I pouted and slouched on my seat beside her.

    "You''re being mean Fily." I complained which she only shrugged off with a laugh.

    After a while, the maids came inside the dining room and prepared the utensils, and then they left us again in this big space alone.

    "Okay, I''ll let you ask one question. Just one okay? Unrelated to the potions." Fily offered which sparked an interest in my eyes but quickly died down because of her last sentence.

    "Then¡­ Do you perhaps know about the Energy slimes inside the salamandites?" I whispered the last sentence to her and smirked when I saw her eyes widened.

    "Oh my, I did not know about such a thing, why won''t you tell me more, miss Gem." She said in a mocking tone which I quickly caught up to.

    "You knew about it!" I pouted once again as I realized that my plan of exchanging the information that I gained from Mr. Gemini to her information of the potions went all in vain.

    "Don''t be sad I was just teasing you" She held my hand on the table and caressed it which made my fake anger at her subside.

    "Remember when you said that healing potions could not help with your frequent brain exhaustion?" I asked her.

    "Uhuh, what about it?"

    "How about energy slime imbued healing potions? It managed to bring me back from death you know!"

    "Shh shhh!" Fily quickly covered my mouth but I removed it easily to reason with her.

    "Don''t worry no one''s here. See?" I took my time looking around the four corners of the dining room to help lessen her worry.

    "See?" I convinced her again which ultimately worked easily.

    "I''m not so sure about what you''re saying." She said while playing with her index fingers, I can sense the worry that was evident in her eyes.

    "Why?" I pried into her more, trying to weigh where this worry was coming from.

    "B-because we have never tried it." She confessed.

    Now I see why she was wary of this thought.

    "Want to try it?" I raised her head with a smile, trying to erase the fear that I saw from her eyes.

    "B-but."

    "Shh. No buts."

    "What do you mean no buts, the usable space in your necklace is limited, you know? It''s just like a gadget where the system eats more than half of the storage."

    "What!?" I could not believe what I was hearing.

    ''Is it true Mr. Gemini? That I can only use half of the infinite storage that you were talking about?''

    [To be precise you could only use 20% of the storage and stored items in it as of now, master.]

    "Whaaat!!???" I shouted and clumsily stood up from my chair which caused a loud bang all over the room from its fall.

    "Gem..?" Fily, who was still explaining, was caught off guard by my sudden reaction.

    "I-it''s nothing¡­ I just¡­ I thought this was useful¡­" I stuttered my dreams of becoming the first-ever Healer in a guild slightly shattered by this revelation.

    ''What do I need to do in order to access the remaining storage percent?''

    I need to know if my dream still has hope or not.

    Please make it an easy task. Please make it an easy task.

    [You need to feed me, master.]

    "Gem!!" Fily shouted when I suddenly flopped on the floor.

    "Fily¡­ Go to sleep." I murmured.

    "What???"

    "Nothing."

    I guess I''ll have to wait until Fily unlocks the chapter in the Salamandite guide where it states the instructions on how and what to feed them.

    "Why is that dumb person sleeping on the floor?" Von greeted us with the warmest greetings ever (as usual) while Lei followed after him to the table.

    Fily went back to her seat after carrying me back to mine.

    "Is she awake?" I heard Von whisper to Lei who was now seated in front of Fily to my left.

    He was pertaining to Fily who was waving at them with wide eyes.

    The maids followed after them and soon enough, we were eating silently when the door opened, revealing a surprise guest to our dinner.

    "Sir Grand!" My surprised self hastily stood up to greet him but he dismissed me immediately.

    "You don''t need to stand up while eating just to greet me." He laughed nervously with a warm smile on his wrinkled face.

    And now that I know that he is Von''s father, I could not help but check for their similarities as I continued feasting on the meal in front of me.

    Sir Grand sat on the farthest chair that was opposite from where I was seated.

    I paused eating when I realized that the food was mostly on our side but the maids were fast to react as they quickly prepared another set of dining utensils in front of him and served him the same variations of food that we have on our side.

    I totally thought Sir Grand would leave again and come back for our class on Monday but judging by his comfortable clothing and the fact that he accompanied us for dinner, there is no doubt that Sir Grand will stay here for the night and meet with Venedette tomorrow.

    What''s weirder than Sir Grand staying here is the fact that I found it weird for him to stay!

    I mean, he''s the First Prince of this island so what is wrong with him staying here? But I just could not get that eerie feeling out of my gut.

    Something is wrong with this and I can feel it.

    "Gem," Fily called to me after poking my feet with hers several times already.

    "Hmm? I finally noticed her after overthinking what my gut was telling me.

    "Who''s he?" She whispered at me which shocked me a little since Fily usually knows everybody including the maids whom I could not even remember their names.

    "The First prince," I whispered back at her which was followed immediately by Von''s glare.

    What''s his problem this time?

    I was planning to return his glare but I couldn''t help but compare him with his father.

    Out of Venedette''s family, the only ones that I see wearing expensive-looking clothes or at least proper clothes was Von.

    Venedette liked wearing comfortable clothes to match her aviator glasses while the Prince in front of me was wearing tight clothes and a vest, and although it looked proper on him, it would still be hard for us newcomers to conclude his real status as the prince just by looking at him.

    "Von''s father?" Fily whispered back to me with rugged breathing which made me look at her with worry.

    "Uhuh. What''s wrong?" I whispered to her secretly, afraid that he might hear us talking about him.

    "Nothing it''s just... I have never seen him before." She looked down at her food weirdly which gave me another one of those unpleasant gut feelings.

    It has not been long since I was aware of a different emotion such as love but I could not mistake this embarrassed blushing.

    "Do you-?" I almost said the words out loud but I met Von''s glare again so I just opted to chat with her using my stat-hut.

    [Gem: Do you like him?]

    I pressed send and Fily looked at me with eyes so wide that I almost couldn''t stop myself from poking them.

    Answer my question dummy.

    [Fily: Just a crush....] She said while fidgeting and holding her burning cheeks with her hands that I could not do anything other than facepalm myself for her sudden irrationality.

    [Gem: This is so not like you.]

    I pressed the send and was caught off guard when I saw Venedette typing.

    Wait, is this conversation for the guild members of Leviathan!??

    Fily looked at me with the same horror upon seeing Venedette typing.

    "Gemmm!!" Fily screeched while I gulped a glass of water to ease my nervousness.

    Oh no.

 Chapter 36 - Upgrade

    After dinner, I grabbed Fily to her room quickly without a word to Sir Grand or anybody else so that I could talk to her about what just happened back there.

    "What was that??" I confronted her with a big question mark on my face.

    "Nothing." She giggled which made me more suspicious of her.

    "Fily!!" I was practically begging her to confess but she would always brush me off and run to the other side.

    "You really thought I liked the first Prince?" She laughed at me even more which made me blush of embarrassment.

    "I don''t know! You were red¡­ and¡­ I thought¡­ you- you just looked like someone who''s in love!" I accused her with a pout.

    Fily went closer to me, held my face with both of her hands and gently rubbed her cheek with mine..

    "What do you know about love, Gem?" She muttered with her sweet voice that melted my fake anger once more.

    "I don''t know." I confessed to her.

    I''ve only known about love since the maids in the manor were always talking about it but honestly, I knew nothing of it.

    "Then let''s leave it at that for now." She caressed my hair as she embraced me, facing the full moon from her window.

    The following day was quite lively. Summer was approaching fast and so the sun was brighter each day.

    "Goodmorning Gem!" Venedette was the one who woke me up at 7 a.m.

    She brought me gifts and new books from the Jungle biome.

    "Vendette!" I greeted her excitedly with a hug.

    Thankfully, Venedette did not catch up to what we were talking about yesterday in the chatroom for Leviathan.

    Fily was the one who came up with an excuse saying, "We were having a girl''s night in my room yesterday," which isn''t totally a lie since that was exactly what we really did after dinner.

    We just intentionally left out the part that we were actually talking about her husband, the First Prince, and of course, it was clear to me now that Fily did not have a crush on him. She told me it was just a slight admiration, the same kind that I was feeling towards Venedette.

    Crush, admiration.

    So that was the meaning of having a crush all along!

    I also tried to ask Fily more about love but she said that the topic was complicated and so another lesson for another day (or weekend) from Fily!

    "Ahh, I''m so glad to be back!" Venedette laid on my bed as I rummaged through the gifts that she had brought for me.

    "What are these Venedette?" I showed her a piece of stretchy fabric from one of the paper bags that she had brought home.

    "Oh, that? That''s a swimsuit." She said as she laid back to my bed after taking a look at what I was holding.

    It was a one-piece dark blue stretchable fabric that had five holes and a design on the front saying ''Leviathan''.

    "Wait. Is this going to be our costume!?" The words blurted out my mouth as I extended my hold on it in front of the mirror.

    "Huh? That''s just a swimsuit," I was relieved for a moment after hearing Venedette''s answer to my question but then she added, "actually that''s a good idea!" which made me slap myself in front of her for giving her a bizarre idea.

    "What?" She made fun of my face that was on the verge of crying after hearing her ''idea''.

    "Oh! By the way, I also bought you ponytails!" She said excitedly which shifted my attention from the stretchy dress.

    "Here." She handed me a bunch of rubber bands with designs that I accidentally thought were bracelets at first.

    "Like this?" I showed her my arm that was filled with all the decorated rubber bands that she gave me but she shook her head and took two from my arms.

    "Like this." Venedette made me sit on the bed, facing the mirror as she was kneeling behind me, combing and fixing my hair with ponytails.

    "Tada!!" She exclaimed after tying my long yellow hair into two high pigtails.

    I tried to stand up to take a closer look at myself in the full-length mirror but then she stopped me saying, "Wait! I''m not yet done," and so I patiently waited for her to finish what she was doing since she looked like she was having fun with it.

    I observed Venedette''s maroon eyes as they shone with excitement just by playing with my hair. Does she like playing with my long hair so much?

    "Okay, I''m done." She announced as I examined the braids, stars, flowers, and other kinds of decorations that she put on my hair.

    "Isn''t it pretty?" She flexed it even more and I couldn''t help but agree with her.

    "It is. Thank you, Venedette." I looked at her with a smile which made her even happier.

    "Now what time is it? It''s already 8 am? Oh no." Venedette panicked and then brought me with her outside my room.

    "You haven''t had breakfast right? Go to our meeting room after breakfast. I need to take care of something real quick." She smiled at me and then left hastily.

    "Ahh, I almost forgot about the cat." I heard her mutter to herself before I decided to go to Fily''s room and invite her with me for breakfast but she was already gone so I just ate breakfast on my own.

    I arrived at the library at 8:30 and apparently, I was the last person that they were waiting for.

    "Gem!" Fily greeted me and removed the pillows beside her, indicating that I should sit there.

    I looked around and found Von floating in the air beside Lei who was sharpening his black stars.

    What could be the agenda for today''s meeting and what are these two non-members doing here?

    I looked away after seating beside Fily when Lei suddenly looked at me, probably sensing that I was looking at them.

    "Gem you''re here." Venedette finally noticed my presence after being busy with her small tablet.

    "Please take her here." I heard her say to the small glass tablet and after a few minutes, the door to the library was opened and two guards carrying a cat went inside our meeting room.

    "Venedette!" The cat talked and jumped carelessly from the guard''s hold to Venedette.

    "Petunia!" Venedette welcomed the cat with a hug while I raised my feet from the floor out of instinct when the cat ran past me.

    "A t-t-t-talking cat?" Fily stuttered which woke up Von from his flying sleep and looked at Fily like she was a crazy person.

    "What do you mean a talking cat?" He snarled at her and furrowed his brows after seeing Venedette hugging a fluffy silver cat with a purple collar and a silver bell.

    "She called her Petunia," I whispered to Fily who was still shocked about the talking cat.

    "I know." She answered after a delay.

    *ding!

    [Notification: A new member has joined the guild Leviathan.]

    "There we go." I heard Venedette talking to the cat as she guided its paws to press on something.

    Don''t tell me¡­

    [Guild: Leviathan]

    [Leader: Venedette Lorestifa]

    [Members: Gem, Fily Dela Cruz, *New* Petunia Scholivia]

    "Ven¡­" Fily could not believe it either.

    "T-the cat¡­" I stuttered as I looked back and forth from my Stat-hut to Venedette and the cat who was looking at us innocently.

    "A cat? Seriously?" Von was trying to suppress his laugh but was caught off guarded when the cat talked back at him.

    "Yes I''m a cat, so what? By the way the name''s Petunia. Nice to see you all, nyann."

    And with that, we had a new member.

    "Why aren''t you two joining the guild?"

    "Wait is this some kind of joke? How are you going to win with a cat-"

    "The cat has a name and it is Petunia." The cat cut Von''s speech.

    "Oh okay. Ehem as I was saying¡­" I stopped listening to Von''s mumbles when I realized how the cat- or Petunia managed to make Von say ''okay''.

    Like¡­ That''s probably weirder than the fact that we have a cat on our guild, let alone Von and Lei have still not accepted the invite to join the guild from Venedette.

    "-Does that make sense!? And how do you expect us to join a guild with a cat-"

    The atmosphere suddenly changed when Von stopped talking.

    Petunia was suddenly flying in Von''s eye level and her large green eyes were undeniably demanding for dominance, her green aura filling the room with her chilly presence.

    She is not just a normal cat. That''s for sure.

    "Like I said. The cat has a name and it''s Petunia." She grilled the words into Von''s mind and the mood went back to normal when she went back to Venedette''s table in a purple cloud.

    The purple cloud actually looked vibrant and jelly-like instead of an actual cloud that is made of evaporated water. It even had a glowing yellow moon and stars inside it.

    "Von sit down. Let me introduce you all to Petunia, she''s going to be a key member for our guild to upgrade." Venedette announced after that breath-taking demonstration of power from Petunia.

 Chapter 37 - Support

    "O-okay." Von stuttered and sat beside Lei in a proper posture, more like Petunia was able to obtain his respect that even his parents were having a hard time of getting.

    "What is a key member and how would she help our guild to upgrade?" I asked Venedette politely while tilting my head to the side.

    Fily was not much of a help now as she was spacing out from the shock of seeing a talking cat.

    "This means, with Petunia''s standings and capabilities, our guild will be able to advance in the higher rankings." Venedette carried Petunia in her arms and swiped her status to the glass board in front of us.

    [Name: Petunia Scholivia [Title: Merlin of the forest

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Ordinaire

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Alchemist.

    [Level:17

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 27/30 [Hearing: 9 [Vision: 8 [Smell:10

    [Agility: 23/30 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 9 [Resistance: 10

    [Skills:]

    [Loot hunt Lvl.10]

    [Stun Lvl.14]

    [Buff Lvl.20]

    [Gummy manipulation Lvl. 24]

    [Quick cast Lvl.45]

    [Inventi Lvl.99]

    "As you can see, Petunia is not a cat." she pointed at Petunia''s race which was apparently superhuman like ours.

    "She''s not a cat?" Fily exclaimed in relief but just when I thought that she had finally come back to her senses, she stared at the ceiling once again and her brainstorming got even worse.

    "Then how did she turn into a cat?" I heard her murmur beside me.

    "She was a world-renowned alchemist for her brilliant talent but one day she just disappeared for no reason. Thankfully I was able to find her and offer her a deal-" Venedette paused for a moment after seeing Petunia trying to stop her from talking so she changed the topic instead.

    "With her, our guild will be able to pass through the lower-ranked guilds easily, getting us a headstart on the tournament to be able to close the gap between our guild and Yumeki''s guild, the Behemoths."

    "Wow." My eyes sparkled after hearing Venedette''s declaration.

    Von was totally humiliated for underestimating Petunia! She had greater stats than most of us here and even her skill levels were out of this world!

    "Gem, what happened to your hair!?" I heard Fily finally putting her attention back at us, or my hair that was full of decorations.

    "Venedette fixed it, do you like it?"

    "It''s so pretty." She spread my hair, even more, delighted by the decorations.

    "You''re interesting." I was not surprised when Petunia sneaked beside me. I could hear the ring of her silver bell which made me aware of her walking closer to me.

    "So are you." I stroked her soft fur and carried her to sit on my lap which she carpeted with her purple cloud.

    "What is this?" I asked her and she answered in unison with Mr. Gemini but Mr. Gemini gave me more details.

    "Gummy cloud." / [Gummy cloud, it is a mist that is made of jelly, usually this formula is used for food but she derived the formula to create a technique that allowed her to manipulate its form.]

    Wow.

    "I had never seen such a thing like this before!" Fily exclaimed in awe of the cloud.

    Petunia stared at the amazed Fily for a minute and then tilted her head to the side. "You''re from Maharlika, aren''t you? An Indio."

    "Yes! How did you know that?" Fily was still amazed by Petunia, her gaze was like a hungry predator hunting for its prey which is, in Fily''s case, was the new information that Petunia has to offer her.

    "Your color. And it also says here in the stat-hut¡­ Wait, what are you doing? P-put me down." Suddenly, Fily started examining Petunia''s body and threw her away when she moved on to the Gummy cloud.

    "What did you do Fily!" Thankfully, Von was able to catch Petunia and fended off Fily from examining Petunia''s gummy cloud.

    "I just want to learn¡­"

    "I refuse!" Petunia strongly refused.

    All of a sudden, I felt like the room had turned upside down. Von had the upper hand just until yesterday but it seems like Petunia the silver cat has the upper hand now.

    "I miss my hair." Petunia went back to sit on my lap after saying those words.

    "Aren''t you scared of her Gem?" Fily said uncomfortably at me while Petunia just tilted her head, almost curious about the same question.

    "I have talked with Ice wolves before, there was nothing to be scared about a talking animal. And besides, you''re not actually an animal, right?" I asked Petunia as I brushed her thick silver fur with my fingers.

    "I used to be a normal superhuman but my parents taught me alchemy and soon enough, I became obsessed with it which led me to my current state." She said in a monotone with a cat''s straight face before looking for the most comfortable position in her cloud and decided to take a nap there.

    "How old is she?" I heard Von ask Venedette and she showed him numbers on her fingers which read one and nine.

    We were careful to not make any harsh noise and harsh movements as Petunia was asleep.

    Von and Lei offered to take her to Venedette''s room which we all agreed on because we had a lot more to talk about regarding the new findings from the Salamandite guide and the role that I wanted to take in Venedette''s guild.

    But before they went on their way, Venedette asked them about their decision in joining the guild.

    "Give him more time." Lei apologized to Venedette after Von ignored her which only meant that they were still undecided about joining the tournament.

    "So, what news do you have for me girls?" Venedette ignored Von''s rudeness and just sat playfully on her chair, waiting for our turn to speak.

    "Should I go first or you want to go first?" Fily asked me and I decided to go first.

    "I want to be a healer, Venedette," I said, pertaining to my role in her guild.

    "A healer? But that would be useless. We already have healing potions to cure us-"

    "But the salamandite can upgrade healing potions that can cure even the bones faster than any other." I cut her words.

    "How?" Venedette and Fily sat down to hear my request.

    They were all ears about what Mr. Gemini told me about the abilities of the Salamandite including the infinite inventory.

    "That''s great!! If we manage to activate my Salamandite then we''ll have two infinite inventories and an Energy slime-inducing factory!" Venedette clapped her hands together from the joy of it but I immediately told her the limits of the gemstone''s powers and capabilities.

    "So you''re saying that you cannot use its full potential without feeding it? But what does it eat?" Venedette and I looked at Fily who just shrugged at us.

    "I don''t know, there was still no mention of what they could''ve eaten or even how to feed them in the latest chapters that I had unlocked."

    "That''s very unfortunate. But you can relax and take your time in finding these things. After all the tournament''s still far away and physical training comes first." Venedette assured us that it was fine but I was still bothered by how little my progress has been this week.

    "Talking about training, the very latest chapters that I had unlocked from the guide stated that the powers of the salamandite also depend on its holder''s capabilities. There might be a possibility that you can unlock the keys by improving your skills Gem." Fily shared the good news with us with a smile.

    I looked at Venedette asking about my role which she immediately caught up to.

    "But I''m afraid a nonexistent role such as a healer would not be able to meet the standards of physical ability and skills that the gemstone is looking for, Gem."

    I was disheartened by what Venedette said but she was right.

    A nonexistent role such as a healer does not have any important and powerful skill set that I could practice to max out my abilities.

    "Sir Grand suggested that I should take the role of a fighter but we already have a fighter which is you, Venedette. Would it be possible to have two fighters in one Guild?" I pouted at her while she thought of the situation deeply.

    "That is undeniably the most fitting role for you Gem but when you mentioned the role ''healer'', another role came to my mind." She looked at me with an encouraging smile which I could not help but be curious about what she was saying.

    "Which is?" I raised a brow at them which they responded with a big smile.

    "A support!" Fily and Venedette said in unison but I just looked at them with a huge question mark on my face.

    "There was such a role? What do they do? What''s their purpose?"

    "To heal, to support, to give back up, they basically train everything," Fily said with a teasing smile but I could sense that she was telling the truth.

    "What!?"

    I will learn everything?

    "That''s a better choice for you. Support is the most underrated role in the history of this tournament, mainly because the difficulty of their training is insane, and only a few people have the privilege of time and resources to study all the roles and train with all of them." Venedette explained which Fily strongly agreed on based on her aggressive nod.

    "Can I max my stats with the skillset of a Support?" That was the only thing I needed to consider since maxing my abilities is currently the best choice I have in accessing more of the Salamandite''s powers.

    "Yes but Supports have no definite skill set. You can choose a skill from all of the other roles, there''s no limit to your skillset." Venedette explained further which sparked my interest.

    A role that has no limit to its skillset, a study of everything.

    "What do you think, Gem? Are you up for it? It''s totally fine if you refuse, there are still other roles which you can pick from such as tank-"

    "I''ll do it." I cut Venedette''s words, announcing my decision.

    I joined this guild to help Venedette and the word support really fits the kind of help that I wanted to give her.

    "Are you sure?" Venedette and Fily looked at me with wonder.

    "Yes." I nodded my head enthusiastically as my imagination ran wild of how I would be able to fight beside Venedette as her support.

    I won''t let others hurt you Venedette. I''ll gladly be your support.

 Chapter 38 - List

    "Wow, there are so many." My eyes widened upon seeing the zoomed-out list of all the possible skills from every role that I could possibly choose from.

    "You can choose one from each role or a certain attribute that you wanted to max first," Venedette said pertaining to the little words glowing in red on the hard glass board.

    She was standing beside me and I took that as an opportunity to use her as a support for my jelly-like legs, the result of being overwhelmed.

    "It''s okay, you can take your time on choosing." She chuckled while patting my head.

    "Or you could take a look at my suggestion," Fily said, swiping the presentation from her tablet to the board.

    "99?" I read one of the numbers after the equal sign.

    The suggestion she was talking about was a personalized suggestion for the skills that would bring out the most potential in me, she even calculated the number of points my abilities could gain from learning each skill and presented it in such a way that was easier to read with colors and shapes that contrasted the color of the text..

    "Wow. This is¡­ I don''t know what to say." Venedette shook her head while applauding Fily''s wit.

    "You''re welcome." Fily courteously bowed while my eyes were brought to tears for her kindness.

    "Thank you Fily." I pouted at her and she mentioned me to smile instead of crying which I did as per following her advice.

    "This is just my suggestion so you could still choose a skill that would interest you."

    "Okay! But I would still follow this list." I smiled at her while she just shrugged at me.

    "Confirm the list by next week so I could change your schedule and hire more teachers if necessary," Venedette said while examining the list and if I''m not mistaken it looked like she was memorizing it.

    Or probably just writing them in her Stat-hut.

    Either way, I''m thankful for both of them.

    "Okay! But can I train with you too Venedette?" I took my chances and was quickly rejoiced when she agreed to train with me.

    "Sure. Once I finished finding us a tank."

    Yes! I promise to do my best for their efforts to not go to waste!

    ''What do you think, Mr. Gemini? Can we do this?'' I looked down at my necklace and he just glowed as a response.

    Of course, I''ll make it work no matter what!

    "But what about Von and Lei? If they don''t join then you''ll have to look for another marksman and assassin..." I sighed after thinking about those two brats.

    "Don''t worry, they''ll join sooner or later," Venedette said confidently which I thought was a false belief but I kept my mouth shut about it. I had no way to guess if they will join or not but they better do!

    Or else my training with Venedette would be delayed.

    After deciding my role in Leviathan, the three of us went our separate ways for the day.

    Fily went to Petunia''s room to overcome her fear and in search of new information while Venedette went on a date with Sir Grand.

    I was smiling the whole day running around the castle having nothing to do because of my excitement for the upcoming days that I would spend in training.

    "Can I grab a cookie?" I asked the cook in the kitchen and she gave me a bunch of them.

    "Thanks!" I said and ran to the corridor where the stairs leading to the highest tower in this castle was.

    Fily and I would be having another Rendezvous about the potions and this time, we planned to meet at the highest tower in the castle later.

    But since I have nothing else to do and she was still busy with Petunia, I chose to go ahead to the tower and wait for her there instead.

    "Ah, it''s so cold!" I said with a smile, opening my arms to feel the coldness of the air even more.

    [Initiating heat steam]

    I heard Mr. Gemini decide on his own which made me widen my eyes at him.

    ''Mr. Gemini?''

    [Yes, master?]

    ''I can''t feel the cold air!''

    [That is because of the heat steam master.]

    ''B-but.... okay.''

    I realized that I probably sounded like a nagging child to Mr. Gemini so I just stopped myself from complaining. And besides, he only made it for me anyway so I could last longer in this temperature.

    Why would I still complain?

    My resistance level 1 would not let me survive in this kind of temperature for so long so this might be the best option for now.

    ''What kind of powers do you have Mr. Gemini? Can I share them with my friends or is it just for me?'' Out of boredom, I decided to talk with Mr. Gemini about the special skills that he said the gemstone could give me other than the skills for my role as support.

    [I have installed the list of abilities that I can grant you, Master.] He said and my stat-hut popped in front of me.

    He was right, there was a list of abilities here in front of me and most of them were related to liquid. But why liquid?

    I saved the question for later and decided to stick to the topic first.

    ''Can I use these skills?''

    [I''m afraid your abilities are not yet enough to make use of these skills.] He said which made me pout.

    ''Then, can you just show me the list of skills that I could use with my current abilities?''

    [Affirmative, master.]

    I waited for a second and he gave me a completely different list from the previous one.

    There were at least fifty skills before but now, I was left with only two.

    [Healing slime Lvl.1]

    [Liquity Lvl.0]

    ''Can I even use this level 0 skill?''

    [Yes master.]

    ''Can you teach me how?''

    ¡­

    Mr. Gemini did not reply so I guess that was a no.

    Wait, never mind! There were instructions in my stat-hut! Every skill had instructions under them.

    ''Silly me.'' I murmured and started reading the instructions word by word.

    [Healing slime - The salamandite will use the owner''s body as a vessel to transfer the slime.]

    So this answered my question earlier. I could share the Healing slime using my body!

    Just like what happened last week when the maid''s hand got burned from my earrings, I was able to cure it with just a swipe!

    I shifted my gaze further down and found something interesting.

    [Cap: 78.77 of 393839 Liters left.]

    So there was a limit after all¡­

    But why could I only use some of it?

    [That is because the remaining storage is still locked.]

    ''With the keys? You once told me before that the keys could only be gained after unlocking a storage right? By feeding you?''

    [Yes master.]

    How is it that I could get a key after unlocking the remaining storage by letting him eat?

    Isn''t that ironic? Getting a key after unlocking something.

    Oh well, I also need to work on that.

    What else?

    [Liquity Lvl.0]

    ''What is this Mr. Gemini?'' I asked despite looking at the skill''s description from the screen in front of me.

    It said that I could manipulate the matter of anything as long as they''re embedded with the Energy slimes¡­

    So I needed to put something inside it first before I could use it.

    Too bad I don''t know the trick of how to put anything inside its infinite storage.

    Next!

    Never mind there was nothing else.

    ''But how about that mist that you automatically released one time?''

    [Only I could regulate them, master. They are protective measures to ensure your safety.]

    ''Ohh like this invisible blanket you put on me.''

    [Indeed.]

    ''There''s no list?''

    [I could give the list to you if you want.]

    ''Okay¡­ Maybe next time.'' I said dismissing the thought altogether.

    The Healing slime was the only helpful skill I acquired from the Salamandite. I wonder how long it would take for me to acquire every skill and max out my abilities.

    "There you are." I was taken aback when Petunia suddenly appeared in front of me on a purple cloud that looked like it was made of Jelly with glowing stars and moons inside of it.

    "H-hello, what are you doing here?" I greeted but my eyes were glued to her purple cloud that was floating in the air.

    "What is that?" I could not help but ask because it was so mesmerizing and hard to miss the fact that it was floating.

    "This?" she pointed at the cloud with her pointy claws, "this is a gummy" she simply said which did not satisfy my hearing.

    "How is it flying?" I thought I had asked politely but she did not respond and just looped around me.

    "You''re interesting." She said while sniffing my hair then my skirt then finally my necklace.

    "I could smell something sweet from in there." She pointed at the gemstone that was roughly cut but somehow fitted perfectly with the silver lace that Venedette gifted me along with the earrings.

    "It''s just a stone." I weighed her reaction, trying to see if he knew about the Salamandite or if she doesn''t know because if that was the case then I would not tell her.

    "Can I have some?" She looked at me with her big purple dreamy eye that looked similar to her gummy cloud.

    "Some of what?"

    "Your gemstone."

 Chapter 39 - Sweet

    "No. Why would I give you this? It''s mine." I moved back from her.

    Her question was weird.

    ''Could I have some?''

    Some of what?

    I only have one gemstone.

    There''s no way I would give this to her.

    "Give." I was taken aback when she suddenly went closer to me..

    I tried pushing her Gummy back but my hands sank inside it instead.

    The outside of the cloud was shiny as a balloon but the inside was sticky as gum.

    "Y-your cloud!" I exclaimed when I noticed the small cracks from the bubble where the force of my hands made.

    Petunia glanced at it but she did not care much.

    "Do not change the topic. I can smell it coming from here." She tried to claw my necklace which made me pull my hands quickly from her sticky cloud and held the gemstone in a defensive stance while stepping back from her.

    "What do you think you''re doing?" I scowled at her while shaking off the gum that got stuck in my hands.

    It won''t come off, damn it!

    "Just doing what I have to do and taking what I was promised to have." She sat properly in her cloud and swayed her right paw to the left after tilting her head sideways like an innocent cat.

    At the same time, I felt the gum in my hands move to the side where she pointed at, bringing me along with it to the column that was holding the roof of this open space in the highest tower of the castle.

    "What the-" My hands were completely glued to the column behind me, exposing my necklace to her!

    Petunia slowly approached me still on her purple gum cloud.

    I need to act quickly! I can''t let her take this!

    Somewhere along my train of thoughts, the stat-hut''s screen appeared in front of me.

    Maybe I could ask Fily and Venedette for help!

    [Gem: Help! Petunia is trying to take my necklace!]

    I felt relieved after sending the message but was caught off-guarded when Petunia was the first to reply.

    [Petunia: I am not.]

    What!?

    How did she-

    Right... I sent the message in our Guild''s chat room which she was a member of!

    Damn it!

    [Gem: Liar. Help! We''re at the highest tower of the castle!]

    [Petunia: I''m not even there.]

    No one else replied.

    Petunia smirked at me before continuing her approach.

    "It''s so fragrant. Ah, I love it!" She said hysterically while smelling the gemstone.

    What''s so fragrant about a stone and its metal necklace?

    "Go away! Venedette told me to protect this no matter what!"

    "Oh really? Can you do that while being held by my gum gum?"

    I was silenced by what she said.

    She''s right, my hands were stuck in her gum and if I moved my feet I might fall off this tower!

    "What do you want from my necklace? It''s just a stone given to me by my parents, what could you possibly get from this!?" I lied.

    There''s no way she knows about the Salamandite right? She''s just saying these things because of the sweet scent that she was smelling.

    "There''s cookies behind me. Maybe that''s where the sweet smell that you are talking about was coming from?" I tried to reason with her but she just looked at me with disbelief.

    "There''s something sweet in there. You don''t know what''s inside your necklace?" She went closer to my face and stared at my eyes.

    "N-no." I looked away from her.

    Just how did she know all of these?

    She may be just tricking me¡­ I won''t tell her anything!

    "Liar." She concluded which made my heart beat even faster.

    Let''s say she knew about the Salamandites... But how did she know about it?

    "H-how did you know?" I weighed her reaction but she ignored me.

    "It''s so sweet! I''m betting there''s a lot in here." She exclaimed in joy and jumped around her cloud before going back to stare at my necklace once more.

    "What do you know about this?" I rephrased my words, trying to distract her as I devise a plan to get out of her hold.

    If she won''t talk to me properly, I will escape her hold and expose her to everybody!

    "That''s not important." She dismissed my question while observing the gemstone even more.

    I need to get away from her. One way or another, I won''t let her take what''s mine!

    Just how did we get into this kind of situation?

    Venedette was so happy to recruit her. I opted to respect and trust her because of that.

    And then what? All of a sudden she came here saying she smelled something sweet coming from my necklace? Ruining the day that was supposed to be fun with her dark schemes!

    [Venedette: What''s the matter, girls?] My heart broke after seeing Venedette''s message.

    Lei was right, trust is something that we shouldn''t give to anyone too easily, especially to outsiders.

    "Venedette trusted you," my voice cracked upon saying these words.

    "I know. And she promised to give me this in exchange for joining her guild." She pointed at my gemstone which made my eyes widen in disbelief.

    "Venedette did?"

    "Yes."

    I don''t understand. Why would Venedette promise to give Petunia something that she had asked me to protect with my life?

    This doesn''t make any sense!

    "Ahh, it''s so sweet! With this, I could complete a lot of potions that needed this ingredient very much! Including Gummy." She ran around in joy while I was still there, glaring at her.

    "But I don''t know how to use this. Do you know how to use this?" She said while trying to remove it from my necklace using her paws.

    Thankfully the necklace that Venedette gifted me had a perfect grasp on the gemstone, making it harder for her to dismantle.

    "Do you know how to use this?" Petunia repeated each word with emphasis.

    Sure enough, she was intimidating. But it''s not part of my plan to surrender this easily to her.

    "What? You want it but you don''t know how to use it?" I mustered up all my courage to talk back at her but she responded with a nod which I totally did not expect.

    "I don''t understand," I complained, "why do you want to have this if you don''t even know how to use it?"

    "I¡­ Venedette promised to give me the ingredients inside." She said innocently which confused me even more.

    Ingredients? Was she talking about the contents of the gemstone and not the gemstone itself?

    "I need it. Give me. Ingredients." She said in between her yawns.

    Suddenly, the cloud that was carrying her started going down slowly, losing its flight as Petunia began falling asleep.

    "What''s happening?" I whispered and realized that the sticky substance that was preventing my hands from moving was slowly melting, releasing me from its hold.

    I looked back at Petunia after removing the melted gum from my hands and went closer to her only to realize that she was now asleep on top of her purple cloud.

    What happened to her? Why did she suddenly fall asleep?

    Is this some kind of joke?

    But I''m sure she did not come here just to fall asleep after threatening me¡­

    I looked around, trying to see if there were any other people here except for the both of us.

    But there was none.

    I''m so confused. How could she fall asleep in such a situation?

    [Fily: I''m almost there.]

    I felt relieved after reading Fily''s private message to me.

    At least I could ask for Fily''s help in determining what just happened here.

    But for the meantime, I picked up the necklace to my nose and sniffed it just like what Petunia did to see if there''s really a sweet smell there or if she''s just lying but I did not smell anything from it, let alone the sweet smell that she was just talking about earlier.

    It was just the smell of metal and cold air.

    How could she smell the stuff inside the gemstone?

    Even I, the owner of the gemstone, did not know the smell of the things inside of it.

    ''Mr. Gemini, could you tell me the smell of Energy slimes?''

    [They say Energy slimes smell like nectar, master.]

    ''So it''s sweet?''

    [Pardon me master but I have no sense of taste.]

    ''Oh, okay.''

    I wonder how she was able to smell it?

    To satisfy my curiosity, I went to the Leviathan squad''s members page in my stat-hut to check her ability levels.

    [Name: Petunia Scholivia [Title: Merlin of the forest

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Ordinaire

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Alchemist

    [Level:17

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 27/30 [Hearing: 9 [Vision: 8 [Smell:10

    [Agility: 23/30 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 9 [Resistance: 10

    Sense 27/30

    Smell level 10

    T-that''s amazing.

    I swallowed my saliva upon realizing her talents.

    She''s really on another level than us.

 Chapter 40 - Gummy

    "Gem!!!" I heard Fily shouting from the stairs so I went to check on her.

    "Don''t rush! She''s asleep!" I shouted back at her after seeing her breathless, probably from running too fast despite her weak stamina.

    I looked back at Petunia who was still sleeping soundly on her purple cloud.

    She looked so majestic yet there''s something unsettling about her¡­ Something I could not explain.

    Maybe it''s just my gut feeling but what she did earlier just made me even more suspicious of her.

    She said that she used to be human but she didn''t say how she became a cat.

    And the way she wanted to get my gemstone earlier.... it reminded me of someone.

    Someone who can shapeshift and was obsessed with collecting gemstones.

    I hope she isn''t what I''m thinking she is.

    There''s no way Venedette would recruit her if she was our enemy. Let alone Venedette would never be on good terms with her.

    And if ever she really is Yumeki, our enemy, I''m confident that Venedette would be the first one to notice it. Not me.

    Sigh, this incident just gave me more things to think about.

    I have the training, the problem with my gemstone''s powers, the locked books, and even that level zero skill. Plus Von and Lei wouldn''t quit being headaches. Just how important do they think they are to not accept Venedette''s invitation to her guild?

    He is the prince for god''s sake!

    Ah, I should not think about them too much.

    I came here to relax and have a clear mind with the cold breeze and the nice view but all I could think about was the problems that I needed to solve and how I should solve them.

    I should have a preventive measure for this cat if she ever wakes up and tries to do the same stunts at me again.

    Actually, I should just let Fily decide on that.

    After a few minutes, Fily arrived on the top of the tower gasping for air as she held onto her knees for support.

    "Hey." I gave her a handkerchief to wipe her sweat, even helped her wipe those on her forehead¡­ which seemed unnecessary since the cold air from up here quickly dried her body of sweat.

    "She''s so fast," Fily said in between her breaths, pertaining to the cat who was asleep on the floor.

    "Wait, did you two race?" I tried to make a joke to lighten up the situation a little bit after being overwhelmed with the situation.

    "No." Of course, she quickly denied with a laugh.

    Her limited physical strength and Petunia''s floating cloud was enough disadvantage for her to never agree on a race like this.

    Fily went to Petunia and inspected her thoroughly.

    "I don''t know what happened," I said, pertaining to Petunia suddenly falling asleep.

    "It worked." I heard Fily mumble so I went closer to listen to her explanation.

    "What worked?" I raised my brows at her and she responded with a thumbs up.

    "I made her drink a sleeping potion." She winked at me.

    "That easy?" I had doubts.

    "How could she drink a sleeping potion from you? She''s an alchemist you know, her senses are as keen as a knife." I added.

    "I practiced my new skill on her. Hijack." She showed me a new skill on her status.

    "What does it do?"

    "I made her think it was water." She laughed.

    "But why? What did she do for you to make her drink a sleeping potion?" Things are starting to make sense. I just need more pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture.

    "My words got out of control," she started, "We were battling on which one of us was more intelligent than the other, and I managed to piss her off. I just wanted to learn the formulas for her new potions but she wouldn''t show me saying that it was missing an ingredient. At first, I didn''t know what it was but after pissing her off, I realized that she was talking about the Energy slimes inside your gemstone. I made her drink the water in exchange for telling her your location but I did not imagine she would try to take it from you by force!" She said defensively which almost made me spank her if only I was not able to control myself.

    "I thought she was Yumeki," I confessed the horror that I was feeling earlier.

    If Fily did not tell me everything, I would have thrown this poor cat to the floor with no mercy.

    I was so convinced that she was Yumeki!

    But what Fily said gave justice to Petunia''s action earlier.

    "I''m sorry." Fily went to hug me and then we talked more about the topic that we were supposed to talk about today.

    "There was a flight potion!?" I exclaimed in disbelief.

    "Yes! Think about it!"

    Should I believe her?

    But then again, superhumans were created by potions of resistance, super strength, super speed, and super sense.

    It made sense that flight was also a result of one of these potions.

    "But why are they saying that only royals could have flight?"

    "Because as of the moment, Flight potions were already unavailable, and even if there was, it''ll be too expensive for the masses to buy!"

    "I see," I said and looked at Petunia who was still asleep on her cloud which was on the floor.

    "Do you know the ingredients of the flight potion?" I asked Fily but she shook her head.

    "I don''t. But maybe she does. She''s a top alchemist after all." Fily also looked at Petunia.

    The sun was setting and the air was getting colder so Fily and I decided to go down already but I didn''t want to carry Petunia or even her cloud with Fily.

    "What do we do with her?" I asked Fily who was already brainstorming for a solution.

    "Either one of us needs to ask for help downstairs." She shrugged her shoulders knowing I''ll disagree with it.

    "What if," I started, "we both go down to ask for help," I smirked after thinking of that brilliant idea but Fily did not like it.

    "We''ll leave her here?"

    "Yes."

    "But what if something happens to her?"

    "It''s okay," I said with a smile which gained a punch on the shoulders from Fily.

    "She''s a cat. Don''t you think she''s feeling cold?" Fily sympathized with her which made me look at her with an ugly expression.

    I still don''t like Petunia. She could''ve just asked me for the Energy slimes even if I don''t know how to take them out.

    One of the skills that I have here from the Salamandite is Liquity which is a skill that lets me get something in and out of the gemstone. But unfortunately, I don''t know how to use it since it''s not even a level 1 skill.

    How could I upgrade something that I could not even use or practice?

    It''s like asking me to do what''s impossible!

    "Let''s just wait for her to wake up."

    "No!" I quickly shook my head, totally not in favor of what she was suggesting.

    I''m so annoyed just by thinking about my Level zero skill.

    "Why?? If my calculations are correct she should wake up any minute now." Fily said while walking closer to Petunia, trying to use her gummy as a blanket for her but was quickly distracted by it.

    "This is so cool." Fily giggled after playing with the gum. She didn''t even mind destroying and shifting its shape.

    "What¡­" I heard Petunia say after trying to escape the drowsiness.

    "You''re awake! See she''s already awake." Fily went to me but I avoided her hands full of gum.

    "You imbecile!!" Petunia shouted after seeing her gum splattered all over the floor and walls.

    "Sorry." Fily smiled at her but Petunia was already so pissed that I even had to step up to prevent the both of them from fighting.

    "You can just fix it again like what you did earlier," I told Petunia since Fily looked like she was ready for another fight with that fake smile of hers.

    I saw Petunia''s cloud being able to fix itself earlier so I''m sure she could just do it again.

    "Tsk." Petunia looked away from us with teary eyes and started swirling her hands in the air.

    The gums were able to follow her command and met with each other in mid-air. Even the ones in Fily''s hands were quickly detached from her to join the purple cloud that lost its dark purple transparency and was now replaced with a grayish purple color instead.

    Petunia rode her flying cloud once more and slowly went ahead of us downstairs, looking gloomy and depressed and all that.

    Was it because her gummy lost its transparency?

    "Look what you did." I blamed Fily for it but she just scratched the back of her head.

    "I didn''t mean it¡­" She bargained but Petunia was not listening anymore.

    Now I kind of feel bad for her.

 Chapter 41 - Prize

    I could hear Petunia''s heavy sigh as we went downstairs to prepare ourselves for dinner.

    "Do you know where her room is?" I asked Fily secretly after stopping at the end of the staircase.

    "Yep, just beside ours."

    She stood beside me, catching her breath as I looked around to see if it''s safe to talk around here about confidential topics that must only stay between us, such as the gemstone and Petunia.

    "What is it?" She said after a moment of silence.

    "I don''t feel comfortable with her," I confessed with a sigh pertaining to Petunia, the silver cat.

    "Why?" She faced me innocently.

    "I just¡­ she went there to steal my gemstone-".

    "Not the gemstone but the special ingredients inside it." She cut me off and then raised her brows at me to continue.

    "I know but why was she so hostile? She could''ve just asked me about it."

    "That''s true."

    I looked at Fily after realizing some things.

    "Even if you were able to piss her off, why would she scare me like that? I almost thought she was Yumeki, you know?"

    "No. There''s no way she''s Yumeki. First and foremost, Yumeki is an assassin and not an alchemist nor a sage. She wouldn''t be able to answer the questions that I asked her about potions and ingredients if she was Yumeki."

    "Really?"

    "I told you so, we were competing between which one of us was the more intelligent than the other."

    "So who won?"

    "Me of course! She may be able to invent new formulas but her knowledge was mostly dedicated to alchemy and exotic ingredients only, unlike me who is educated in every aspect of this world." She said proudly which made me smile for a little bit before spitting out my worries again.

    "I don''t think I can trust her yet."

    "Not after how she scared you, give it some time. I''m sure she''ll understand." Fily comforted me with a hug and I went to bury my face in between her peaks because of the embarrassment from earlier.

    "The way she looked at my necklace," I held my necklace and looked down at it, "it felt like something else, something desperate and scary." I ranted even more as we started walking.

    "Imagine being an alchemist with several pending formulas to complete and the ingredients were in front of you, only inside a necklace that belongs to another person, who wouldn''t be able to resist that excitement?" She tried to reason with me with her soft voice.

    "You''re right, I just felt uncomfortable." I tried to understand her but my heart was telling me otherwise.

    "That''s true, Petunia really did you wrong back there. She should apologize."

    I snorted at what Fily said because of its irony.

    "You also did her wrong, you know? You ruined her Gummy."

    "Riiight.." She said slowly while nodding her head as she released me from her hold.

    "Can you tell me more about her?" I asked while hugging her chubby left arm.

    "Well, Petunia was a rather famous person even before she disappeared. Do you know the story of Merlin? One of the seven deadly sins?"

    I shook my head to answer her question.

    "Well, that''s too bad. Maybe you can research it later."

    "Okay," I answered softly as we walked slowly through this hallway from the left wing of the castle to the right wing where our rooms were located.

    "Petunia was called the ''Merlin of the west'' because of her exceptional talent in alchemy ever since she was little. Everybody had high expectations of her, even calling her the Merlin of the west because of her talent. This made the other kingdom petition to make her family as a prize for the previous tournament five years ago."

    "So you''re saying that Petunia''s family was the price of the previous tournament where Yumeki won!?" I couldn''t help but exclaim in rage at what I just heard.

    They treat people like things! How could the nine kingdoms request a family as the price for a tournament!?

    "Yes, that was five years ago. But Petunia''s family refused to be taken as the prize for the tournament. Most of them burned their houses and killed themselves but some, they disappeared in thin air."

    "Like Petunia?"

    "Like her. Petunia was never to be found again until recently. She became a cat. Even us, the Indos, have never heard of someone being able to transform into another species using formulas."

    "But Yumeki was able to transform into a spider."

    "Yes and we were not aware of that."

    "Did you ask Petunia what formula she used to become a cat?"

    "I was trying to ask her but she got angry. She didn''t want to tell me."

    "Oh."

    "What else?" I asked as our pace slowed down after seeing the doors of our rooms.

    "Hmm... During her time as a cat, she was able to collect exotic ingredients from the inside and outside of the border discreetly."

    "So, she can cross the border?"

    "Yes. She can go over it because she can fly." Fily said as if it was an obvious fact after stopping in the middle of the hallway where our rooms were located.

    "Does that mean she''s also a royal?" I let go of Fily''s arm and held her hands instead.

    "Because she can fly? No." We extended our hands because our rooms were far from each other''s reach.

    "So how was she able to fly then?"

    "She''s an alchemist, I''m sure she found her way to recreate the flight potion." I followed where Fily was looking and deducted that it might be the door to Petunia''s room, the one beside Fily''s room to the right, closer to my room.

    "If she was able to recreate the flight potion, does that mean we also can also fly someday with her help?"

    "Maybe. Especially with your help. You''re the one who has the special ingredient here, not me." Fily released her hold from my hand as she walked towards her room.

    "See you later?" She peeked from inside her room while waving her hands at me.

    "See you." I also waved my hands at her before going inside my room to take a bath and prepare for dinner.

    When I went outside my bathroom, I saw Venedette waiting for me with a bunch of clips and hair ties waiting for me on the vanity table.

    "What happened earlier? I just saw your messages and rushed here immediately." She went to me to check for bruises or scars but there were none.

    And even if I did have some, Mr. Gemini would have cured it already.

    "It was nothing. Just a misunderstanding." I faked a smile at Venedette to settle her worry down.

    "Sure?" She asked and looked at me restlessly after confirming that there were no scars or bruises there.

    I nodded at her question which made her sigh with relief.

    "Thank goodness." She said, hugging me afterward to ease her worry.

    "Why? Did you think Petunia hurt me or something?" I asked behind her, observing her reaction afterward.

    "No it''s just... your message worried me and Petunia was lying when she said she was not with you. I checked your locations and found you two in the same place that time when you sent the message. I was just worried she''ll-"

    "Hurt me?" Now my doubts were starting to make sense.

    Even Venedette had doubts about her. I wonder why she let Petunia join her guild if she''ll only worry about our safety afterward.

    "No, it''s not like that. Petunia has a short temper and because she''s a cat, she''s starting to lose logic and her proper way of thinking..." Venedette''s words were starting to make less sense because aside from she was busy fixing my hair, there were also hair clips between her mouth.

    "What does that mean?" I tried to understand what she meant by that but she signaled me to wait.

    After Venedette finished putting the clips in my hair, she started talking again.

    "Petunia found out that the more time she spends as a cat, the faster her real body disappears."

    "What does that meann?" I said impatiently.

    I really hate the feeling of not being able to understand anything.

    "It means, if she doesn''t find a way to go back to her original shape, she''ll become a real cat with a small brain and she''ll lose her sense of self along the way."

    "What!?? Really!??" I couldn''t believe what I just heard.

    Was this the reason why she was obsessed with the ''ingredients'' inside my gemstone all along!?

    I thought she was just as crazy for power as Yumeki but as it turns out, she''s not!

    I totally misunderstood her.

    "How long does she have left?"

    "A year or so." Venedette looked at me apologetically as my tears started welling in my eyes.

    No.

    I just got to know her but then she''ll be taken away from us this early??

    I can''t afford to lose another friend this way!

    Not again...

 Chapter 42 - Fix This

    I was silent the whole dinner time where Von, Sir Grand; Lei, Fily; and Petunia and I were seated in front of each other.

    Venedette was the one seated on the end of the table while I was seated beside Fily and in front of Petunia to which I couldn''t face properly.

    "What''s wrong?" Fily whispered to me, probably noticing my awkward movements while they were just eating peacefully.

    "Nothing," I whispered back at her mindlessly and just continued eating my favorite carrots that I saved for eating last.

    Dinnertime was nearly done and I could not wish for anything more than speeding it up because of the thoughts running inside my head about Petunia.

    The more I see her, the more pity I feel for her.

    ''A year or so.''

    Venedette''s words echoed in my head.

    More or less a year.

    We haven''t even begun our friendship yet but then you''re telling me she has more or less a year left to regain her human body or die as a cat!?

    Her soul will die when her body becomes a cat permanently.

    Is this why she agreed to join Venedette''s squad? To have one last purpose in life before completely turning into a normal cat?

    If I don''t help her find a solution to her dying soul, her brain will forget everything about being human and she''ll become a normal cat forever who wouldn''t be able to speak our language!

    I don''t want her gone!

    I don''t want a normal cat!

    This is unfair!

    I looked up at the ceiling to stop my tears from shedding.

    This is not the right time and place for me to cry.

    I should stay positive during these times!

    It''s not yet time to cry.

    You can still help her Gem.

    Find a way to use the level zero ability so we can use the Energy slimes inside!

    Ask for Fily''s help in upgrading this level zero skill and if it doesn''t work, ask for a professional for help...

    Of all the possible skills that I could obtain from this gemstone, why is it that I was given something unusable? A skill that was level zero... It''s like another false hope!

    A level zero skill is something that I could never use without a master.

    Damn it!

    Unless Fily can unlock a chapter from the guide that could help me with this level zero ability, I would have no choice but to ask Yumeki for help, she''s the only one we know who can use the powers of the Salamandite effectively and during her time with it, I''m sure she had already mastered a lot of skills from them.

    But why is it that she''s evil and she''s our enemy!?

    She killed Venedette''s daughter and a lot more people for the gemstones that the thought of asking her for help makes me want to puke already.

    But Petunia...

    "Gem," Fily whispered to me aggressively, she was telling me with her eyes to look at my hands on the table which I did, and noticed that my anger was causing me to bend my spoon and fork using my super strength unintentionally.

    "Sorry," I whispered back at her as I hid my hands under the table while holding the bent spoon and fork.

    Venedette asked the both of us if there was something wrong but I just forced myself to smile at them while telling no.

    Venedette surely knows why I was acting like this, evident in her eyes that were full of sorry''s.

    I stopped eating after that.

    Aside from my spoon and fork being already broken, the thought of asking Yumeki for help was making me want to puke.

    If I don''t want help from her I need to work harder to develop this skill of level zero Liquity.

    [Fily, do you think my healing could help your brain to heal faster so you could unlock more chapters in that book?]

    I texted her privately using the stat-hut but she was still too busy with her food to care.

    I planned to be the first one to leave after dinner but since Fily asked me to wait for her, I agreed to do so while thinking deeply about my next steps.

    I really wanted to go to my room already so I could sulk privately and brainstorm all the ideas that I have in mind but because Fily was still unaware of my message, I opted to talk about it personally instead.

    Petunia already left the dining room so it was no problem for me to stay there.

    Looking at her really just makes me sad. She reminded me of my old friends who died on the border.

    "I''m done!" Fily suddenly announced while Von was being reprimanded by Venedette and Sir Grand.

    "Let''s go?" I asked her and she agreed to go out with me after bidding goodnight to Venedette and her family who was still busy lecturing Von about manners.

    Lei was still sitting in her seat while Petunia was already long gone before us.

    "What did you want to talk about?" Fily asked me as we were walking slowly across the living room.

    "Check your inbox." I simply told her which made her pause for a little while to look at her stat-hut.

    As I was waiting for Fily''s response, I noticed that Petunia was following us from behind.

    "I don''t know." Fily tucked her lips to the side as she finally finished reading my message to her.

    "Hey, you! The girl with multiple personalities! Help me fix this." Petunia suddenly shouted at us while looking away. Her arms were crossed and she was probably talking about her ruined purple cloud that was floating above her.

    "The girl with the multiple personalities?" Fily asked me while pointing at herself which I responded with a shrug.

    I don''t know who that is.

    "Are you talking to me?" Fily went closer to Petunia and carelessly carried her from the carpeted floor to her floating purple cloud.

    Petunia was shocked because of what Fily just did.

    "Put me down, you dimwit!" She said aggressively. Even scratched Fily''s hands while resisting from her hold.

    "Ouch," Fily complained half-heartedly after placing Petunia on her floating purple cloud.

    "There, fixed." She smiled at Petunia, obviously teasing her.

    "Filyy." I groaned and went closer to her to check the scratches in her hands.

    "What were you thinking?" I said as I swiped my thumb swiftly over the scratches that Petunia made on her hands, curing it just like how I previously did it with the burn on the maid''s hand.

    "It worked," I said with a smile, still surprised with my own skills even though I already expected it to work.

    I guess I just did not trust the Salamandite''s powers that much because of that frustrating level zero Liquity.

    "Thanks!" Fily smiled at me as she examined the shallow scratches on her hands, gone in a flash.

    "H-how." I heard Petunia mumble but she quickly regained her posture, closing her mouth that was wide open after seeing me cure the scratches that she made on Fily''s hands.

    "You should be careful with that." I reminded her, pertaining to her sharp claws.

    "That doesn''t matter. I need you to help me fix this. Now." She commanded bossily which really did not sit well with me but it seemed like Fily was up for it.

    "Sure! I don''t want to sleep yet anyway. Do you want to join?" Fily looked at me enthusiastically while Petunia scoffed at her.

    "This is not a girl''s night out you know? I''m asking you to help me fix this." She said and even rolled her eyes after.

    "More like commanding," I murmured.

    I really want to be friends with her but her attitude won''t let me!

    "Well if you don''t like to then never mind. I''ll just do it myself." She turned around but thankfully, Fily was quick to hold her gum cloud from leaving.

    "We''ll help you." She said with a smile that warmed my heart a little bit.

    I just realized this now after studying Petunia''s actions.

    She was trying hard to look strong on the outside but on the inside, she''s really just like the rest of us.

    We want to be loved and find comfort in other people but maybe because of the time that she spent hiding from humans who wanted to treat her like an object, she got used to making people hate her.

    Maybe that was why she''s this rude and unlikeable.

    But luckily for her, Fily here is immune to all those negativities.

    "You sure?" Her monotone voice suddenly gained emotion.

    "I mean... are you sure you''ll help me?" She regained her monotone cat voice after clearing her throat which made me sure of my speculations even more.

    "Sure," I said and let Fily drag me along with them to wherever they''ll fix her gum cloud back to its original state.

    Though I will probably just watch them do their work, I won''t mind spending more time with Petunia.

    Especially if I want to be friends with her during her hardest time.

 Chapter 43 - Workshop

    Along the hallways where the library was located, Venedette gave Petunia a key to a door that looked similar to all the other doors in this hallway, except- instead of a room, we were greeted by a dark staircase that will lead down until the basement, according to Fily.

    So that was the reason why Venedette advised us to grab a lamp from the library.

    "Can you turn this on?" Petunia gave Fily a stick, telling her to use it for turning on the lamp on the purple cloud beside her.

    "A magic wand? You witches actually use this?" Fily grabbed the stick and inspected it, it was a well-decorated twig with fake small leaves peeking randomly from the inside.

    It looked magical.

    "We are not witches and it''s a lighter." Petunia cleared her throat and laid comfortably in her cloud while waiting for Fily to use the stick.

    "Okay," Fily said and looked at it for a moment before pulling down a leaf using her thumb and a little fire was suddenly lit on the tip of the twig..

    "Wow." My jaw dropped after seeing the little fire.

    Fily inserted the tip of the wand with fire into the lamp and the fire became bigger inside it.

    "Okay, we''re good to go." She said, closed the lid of the lamp, and blew the fire on the tip of the magic wand before giving it back to Petunia.

    Petunia let the wand lay in front of her and the purple cloud suddenly ate it, hiding it from our line of sight inside its greyish purple color.

    So the cloud serves as Petunia''s backpack too, I guess.

    "Follow me," Fily announced confidently as she went inside the door ahead of us.

    Soon enough, Petunia followed after her and so did I.

    I was the last one to enter the door so I decided to close it.

    There must be something important in here for them to lock it, right?

    "It''s my first time seeing a door that leads into a staircase," I murmured after catching up to them.

    The stairs and walls were made of damp stone where small vines were almost growing between its cracks, there was also water streaming from its little gaps. The staircase may be narrow but the width was just enough for the three of us to fit into.

    "I guess we could call it a secret staircase then?" Fily tried to humor us while holding the lamp at head level to maximize our vision but the place was still too dark and unfamiliar for me to join her cheerfulness.

    I don''t like small spaces.

    And dark small spaces.

    Thank goodness my gemstone was always emitting a cyan light to keep me from being completely blinded by the darkness.

    As we went deeper down the staircase, Petunia and Fily started playing a game.

    "What ingredient is that?"

    "Chmeraline?"

    "Wrong. It''s Yvutin."

    "It''s not!"

    "It is! Come closer!" Petunia made Fily walk faster so I also followed after them.

    "You''re right," Fily admitted her defeat after sniffing the faint scent in the air as we drew near to the end of the staircase.

    "See that!? I am more intelligent than you!" Petunia bragged while floating around Fily.

    "That''s not fair! Your super sense is greater than mine." Fily groaned which led their argument to continue even more.

    "Uhh, guys? I think we''re here." I stopped in front of them after seeing the end of the staircase with the light from my gemstone.

    But since the light of my gemstone was weak, I grabbed the lamp from Fily to see more clearly and finally saw a wooden door not far away from us.

    "There''s a lot of doors," I mumbled after roaming the light around and finding out there were more doors beside it.

    "Which door do we need to go to?" Petunia stopped arguing with Fily but Fily was not letting it go.

    "If you''re so intelligent then why don''t you tell me which way we should go?" Fily challenged her.

    Petunia rolled her eyes at Fily and exerted a deep sigh.

    "Navigating this castle is not a requirement for being intelligent." She tried to reason which made me shake my head.

    "Come on you two, stop fighting already." I went in between them and they both looked away from each other.

    "Hmph."

    After a while, I noticed Petunia sniffing around and quickly grabbed the wand out of her purple cloud which she started swirling around, shooting little flames in different directions that lit up some of the hanging lamps around the room that I didn''t even notice was there all along.

    "Cool," Fily remarked before leading us into a room on the right corner with an old letter in her hands.

    "Grimisha (Gum), Clariden, Sprite, Atecmacin, and Zlace," Fily read out the contents of the paper that she was holding, "this is all that you need?"

    Petunia nodded as a response while checking out the jars of different ingredients in this room.

    Some jars were glowing while others were not.

    "Do you need my help locating them?" Fily asked again after a while which made Petunia quit her inspection and started swirling around her magic wand again to light up this room before answering Fily''s question.

    "No." She confidently said and went on her way to find the ingredients that she needed to fix her gummy cloud.

    While they were busy checking out the ingredients, I stumbled across a red jar that looked a lot like jelly or slime.

    ''What is this Mr. Gemini?''

    [Soft red grask jelly]

    His response was quick as always.

    ''Is it food?''

    [Depends on what other ingredients you will combine with it.]

    Really?

    I wonder if I could make this go inside my gemstone?

    Mr. Gemini wouldn''t tell me how to put things inside but sometimes I could summon things from inside, like for example, the Healing potions.

    Maybe if I try mixing it with the healing potions and making it go back inside it may work?

    Slowly, I tried opening the jar with all of my strength.

    It was not hard to open but it was not easy either.

    Just right to keep a lid shut forever and open it when necessary.

    I turned the medium-sized jar sideways to measure the consistency of the translucent liquid and it seemed to resemble the consistency of a smoother strawberry jam.

    The smell was sweet but there was a weaker scent of something like dish soap.

    I was poking the jelly when Petunia suddenly spoke beside me.

    "What are you doing?"

    "Sorry I was just curious."

    "Curiosity will kill you kid that is an acid." She said and pushed the jar back to its place on the shelf away from my fingertips.

    "Excuse me?" My brows furrowed because of what she said.

    "Did you touch it?" She asked me with a serious face.

    "I just poked it." I showed her my index finger which I used to poke on it a little.

    "Why aren''t you injured-" As if on cue, a realization dawned on her face.

    "You really have the slime!" I was taken aback when she suddenly celebrated in front of me.

    The slime? Which slime was she talking about? The energy slime?

    "Yes I do but-"

    "Here are the ingredients that we need to fix your Gummy, Pet." Fily appeared in front of us carrying a lot of ingredients and materials too.

    "Don''t ruin the mood, you imbecile. Petunia is my name, not Pet!" Petunia said fiercely to Fily and then smiled right back at me.

    "Who cares, come on this is heavy!" Fily carelessly grabbed Petunia''s Gummy with her as she led the way to where the Alchemy workshop room was.

    I didn''t get to tell Petunia the main problem with my Energy slimes.

    That they''re stuck inside and I have yet to find a way to bring them outside, even learning how to induce them would be a big step forward.

    If only I could find a way to use that Liquity.

    [Liquity- Allows the user to manipulate the matter of anything after being induced with the Energy slimes.]

    And to induce the Energy slimes¡­ I don''t know how to do it.

    "Here we are. Light it up miss wizard cat." Fily threw Petunia''s cloud inside the room on the left of this hall and told her to light the place up with her magic wand lighter which she did follow obediently after a series of mocking Fily and planning to talk back to her but decided to let it go instead.

    When Petunia completed lighting up the room, my eyes sparkled from the view of a miniature real forest on a table that resembles an island in front of us.

    There were also empty desks lined up along the walls of the room while the shelves above and below it were full of cylinders and jars for potions.

    There were even real trees on the corner of the room whose roots were perfectly lined up along the wooden tiles of the floor!

    "A workshop for alchemists!" I exclaimed beside Petunia who was also fascinated with the view.

    "You bet it is." Fily smirked at us after seeing our reactions.

    "Cool." Petunia remarked.

 Chapter 44 - Recreate

    Fily went ahead of us towards the long desk on the right wall that was divided into three while Petunia and I were still busy admiring the miniature island on the center table.

    "Are those real fish?" I asked the both of them and went closer to see the moving little things inside the clear water.

    "Nope, that''s just a computer-generated image-"

    "Inside the water!?" I cut Fily''s answer to my question as I saw the little fishes swimming away from me due to the current that my words created on their waters.

    "Yes, a hologram inside the water."

    So the hologram can also respond to the disturbances that we make in their surroundings?

    I saved the thought to myself as I watched Petunia clawing a tiger on the little beach that disappears in thin air every time she made contact with it.

    "I see."

    "Pet, can you please get over here and start the ''fixing'' session now before I fall asleep? We wouldn''t want you to carry me all the way to my room when the sun rises now, do we?" Fily shifted her eyes to me..

    "You''re already sleepy?" I asked her mindlessly without paying attention to her words as I was still busy with the miniature island.

    "No, not yet."

    I saw Fily walk closer to us in my peripheral vision after organizing the stuff that she brought from the storage.

    "I reckon this ''experiment'' will take us a lot of time to finish so we must start now-"

    "Ouch!" Petunia and I complained as she pinched our ears away from the island and onto the table where the ingredients are.

    "-before the sun rises and I pass out from overworking my mind." She finished her sentence and let our ears go from her pinch.

    "Fine! Okay! You didn''t need to drag us here like that!" Petunia held her ear dearly using both of her paws while shooting daggers at Fily.

    "Just because I''m a cat doesn''t mean you can disrespect me like this! I am still older than you, you know!?" Petunia huffed angrily at her while I swiped my thumb to my ear where Fily pinched it.

    "I am actually older than you." I heard Fily whisper from behind as she was setting the furnished mahogany table for us to use.

    "Oh right¡­" Petunia suddenly came back to her senses and abandoned her anger to help Fily organize the ingredients and materials that she needed for fixing her Gummy on the table.

    Wait, what were they talking about?

    "How are you older than her?" I asked Fily and leaned forward to the table so I could peek at what they were doing.

    If I could recall correctly, Fily is currently 14 years old while Petunia is already 19.

    So Fily''s claim that she was older than Petunia did not make sense for me.

    "Did I say something like that?" Fily looked at Petunia who just shrugged in response.

    What? I totally heard her say something like that¡­ or was I wrong?

    "She''s talking about mental age," Petunia told me after walking around the table where the ruined purple cloud was placed.

    Mental age?

    Oh, okay. I kind of get it now¡­ but why did she play dumb when I asked her that if she could have just said it that way?

    I shook my head to abandon the thought and just focused on doing what Petunia was instructing us to do.

    "First of all, we must remove the small debris that was hard to remove then we''re going to proceed on recreating the body-"

    "Can''t you just make a technique that will make it go back to its original shape on its own?" Fily butted in.

    "That''s a good idea except- I already tried it and it won''t work without the Energy slimes."

    The both of them looked at me.

    "What?" Suddenly, my heart began beating faster because of the pressure their eyes were giving me.

    "I don''t know how to bring the Energy slimes outside," I confessed and shut my eyes tightly, afraid of their reactions.

    "That''s going to be a problem." Petunia concluded but there was not much disappointment in her voice as if she already knew of this beforehand.

    "How have you been keeping it clean and in shape all this time?" Fily asked her, ignoring the problem that I just told them about my Salamandite.

    "I used a molecular technique to make them rub against each other thus grinding the molecules that got stuck inside, sending them to an output so it could maintain its glossy semi-transparent finish until you stretched and mixed everything out of order." Petunia glared at Fily who just smiled with a peace sign as a response.

    Since my knowledge about alchemy was still below average, I was tasked to remove the small splinters and debris that was hard for the gum to detach by itself due to its size.

    "Are we going to make another Gummy or are we going to fix this one?" I heard Fily ask Petunia who was busy mixing chemicals between our tables.

    "Since we can''t really use the Energy slimes yet, we''ll just recreate the same formula that I did while making this one-"

    "And make a new Gummy? Is that what you''re saying?"

    "Why do I need to remove the debris in this one if you''re going to create a new Gummy anyway?" I complained after hearing their discussion.

    "That''s because I don''t feel good leaving Gummy 144 with debris and other dirt inside it after serving me for so long."

    "Either way my role here is useless," I said and pouted after losing my will to work efficiently. Who cares if this Gummy has debris in it? It''s not even visible unless they''re sticking outside.

    "Why did you stop?" Petunia looked at me while mixing her bowl rhythmically.

    Fily also looked at me despite having a hard time catching up to Petunia''s way of mixing.

    "Can''t I just switch jobs with her?" I pointed at Fily who seemed to agree with what I was offering.

    Petunia paused to think for a second before saying, "fine," and switched places with Fily.

    "Fily will put the ingredients and you will mix it at the same speed as mine alright?"

    I nodded to Petunia''s conditions and exchanged the dead bulk of gum from my table to Fily''s mixing bowl and rubber spatula.

    This looked like something that the maids would do in the kitchen except the smell of chemicals oozing from the mixture.

    "Wear this." Fily gave me safety goggles that she got from one of the shelves above us.

    I''m really amazed by Fily''s sense of direction and how she could determine which items were in which drawers.

    For starters, she''s still also a newbie like the rest of us in this castle but if asked to look for something, she might be able to find it quicker than Von who lived in this castle forever.

    I don''t really understand how she does it but I''m guessing it might be a hidden skill or something.

    At least I''m glad she''s on our team and her hidden skill is very helpful at times.

    "Done!" I showed Petunia the result of my mixing and it turned out to be a pretty shade of crystal clear purple with sparkles and shimmer all over it, similar to what she created.

    "Now for the coat." She said after nodding to the result of my work, probably talking about the same coat that felt like a balloon that cracked when I first touched her Gummy.

    I scooped the mixture upwards using my hands, unlike the old Gummy, this one was less sticky and damp but more compressed with each other.

    "Oh no!!" I shouted after seeing my fingers exert something that was glowing in cyan to the purple mixture.

    Fily and Petunia both came to my call and saw the mess that I created with her mixture.

    I was on the verge of crying after seeing the concentrated cyan glowing in between the deep purples.

    But instead of getting angry, Petunia''s eyes sparkled after seeing what I just did. "Marvellous!" She exclaimed and went closer to my hands that were still covered with the intense glowing of the cyan liquid.

    My hands were trembling from fear when she buried her cat face in the palm of my hands, bathing her silver fur with the glowing cyan liquid from my hands.

    ''W-what is this Mr. Gemstone?''

    I asked after calming myself down.

    [It is your Healing slime, Master.]

    I looked at my own hands afterward.

    The glow of the liquid was so intense that it was visible even in this well-lit place.

    "Is that what I think it is?" Fily placed her chin on my shoulders as we both watched Petunia purring and rolling around in happiness between my hands on the table.

    "You do know that your Healing slimes contain Energy slimes, right?" Fily glanced at me as she took the bowl with my mixture in it before standing up to inspect it thoroughly.

    I did not think about that...

 Chapter 45 - Glow

    "It''s gone." Fily suddenly announced while staring at the mixture in the bowl.

    "What''s gone?" I asked and moved away from the table to take a look at what she was referring to.

    "The cyan color." She replied as I tiptoed beside her.

    Petunia was still busy rolling around the table when I looked at the bowl and indeed, the glowing cyan color was gone.

    "Where did it go?" I asked innocently and noticed that the whole mixture was now glowing faintly instead of having only a few patches of the glowing cyan liquid.

    "Do you think it fused with the mixture?"

    "On its own?" My amazed self could not help but gasp in response..

    "Well, I did not mix it¡­ Did you though?"

    "Petunia was playing with my hands earlier."

    "You''re right." She shrugged and placed the bowl beside Petunia''s mixture.

    "There''s not much difference but when you look at it closely, the glow on this one definitely stands out." She pointed at my mixture while comparing the two.

    Fily put her hands on her waist while I crossed my arms as we stared at the two mixtures attentively when suddenly, we noticed that Petunia stopped rolling around.

    "It disappeared." I heard her whisper as she fidgeted around her body, looking for something on her skin.

    "You''re talking about the cyan thing?" Fily went closer to Petunia and grabbed her from the table as the cat nodded with teary eyes.

    "Don''t worry, the ones in here are also gone." She said with a straight face as she put Petunia beside my mixing bowl on the table.

    "What?" Petunia cried even more because of what she said.

    "Fily!" I stopped her from teasing Petunia but she was not listening.

    "Where did it go?" Petunia said hysterically as she slumped on the table while wiping her tears.

    Ahhh I can''t watch this!

    She''s making me cry!

    "It disappeared." Fily suddenly shrugged with a pout as if it was not a big deal.

    "You''re so mean!" Petunia growled at her while throwing a tantrum on the table, dragging tissues and scratching the cloth that was needed for this experiment.

    "Fily!" I warned her again after seeing her stifle a laugh.

    I didn''t know Fily could be this mean sometimes, she was having fun seeing Petunia cry!

    "Okay, okay." She whispered at me before calming herself down.

    "Hey, Pet look!" She clapped to get Petunia''s attention.

    "My name is Petunia, not Pet!!!!" Petunia growled even more.

    Fily shook her head as she grabbed the two bowls on the table.

    "Fine fine! Just look." Fily insisted and showed petunia the gummies side-by-side.

    Petunia calmed down a little bit and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes before looking at the bowls.

    "What?" She glanced at Fily innocently.

    "See the difference? Look!" Fily held the two bowls using one hand and raised her knees as support for it as she used her other hand to point at the two bowls consecutively.

    Petunia tilted her head to the side with furrowed eyebrows which made Fily sigh in defeat.

    But just as Fily was about to give up, Petunia walked closer to the edge of the table where Fily was holding the bowls and sniffed on them.

    "I can''t see the difference but I can smell something different from this one." She pointed at the left bowl where my mixture was.

    Fily rolled her eyes as she exhaled in relief.

    "It smells like me," Petunia said while sniffing herself and the bowl on the left after.

    "Can''t you see the glow? This one is glowing and this one is not. Come take a closer look." Fily pointed at the bowls and shoved them closer to Petunia who sneaked backward on the table because of it.

    When Fily stopped moving the two bowls, Petunia took a closer look at the mixture skeptically. She was still having a hard time figuring out the differences.

    Maybe the light from the lamps was bothering her?

    Fily and I did not have a hard time seeing the glow¡­ was it because of her cat eyes?

    I moved beside Fily to cast a shadow on the left mixture while Fily''s shadow was cast on the right.

    "It''s glowing!" Petunia suddenly exclaimed while pointing at the left mixture, her eyes were going back and forth from the two bowls.

    "Finally." Fily exhaled in relief.

    "Is that Healing slime I''m smelling from this gummy!?" Petunia said while sniffing the glowing mixture again.

    "A bit," I answered her question while remembering what Mr. Gemini told me.

    I have been using this ''Healing slime'' ever since Venedette found me beside the border but this was the first time I actually saw what it looked like.

    A concentrated glowing cyan liquid that disappears after some time after being absorbed.

    "Ahh! This is it! The gummy that I have always dreamed of creating!" Petunia squeaked in excitement as she hugged the metallic bowl with the glowing gummy in it.

    I looked at Fily awkwardly while being the one ashamed of Petunia''s actions.

    "Good job." She smiled at me and caressed my back.

    I don''t really know which job I did ''good'' at but hey, at least they were happy with it.

    "Gem! Gem!! Can you do it again?" Suddenly, Petunia jumped to the shelf that was close to me, tugging my left hand softly as she begged me to do it again.

    "I-i don''t know if I can do it again," I said nervously, I don''t want to disappoint them if I fail.

    "Just try it! If you did it once then you can do it again!" Petunia tugged my hands even more.

    "Pet.." Fily tried to stop her but Petunia looked like she was still angry at Fily, probably because of the way Fily calls her Pet.

    "Please??"

    "I''m not sure if I could do it." I tried to reason with her again but she was not letting me go.

    "Please?? Just try doing it again like how you did it earlier," She pleaded while blinking her big cat eyes at me.

    "I guess I could try¡­"

 Chapter 46 - I Can Do It

    "It''s not working," I said after a few minutes of soaking my hands in the mixture.

    "You can do it!" Petunia tried to cheer me on as she was staring intently at my hands in the mixture.

    "Fily..." I called her for help but she just shrugged her shoulders at me.

    "We still have time to spare. Try doing the exact same thing you did earlier," she responded with a frown.

    Since we still have time to spare, maybe I could try a little harder?

    ''Mr. Gemini help me please¡­''.

    [That mixture contains toxins master, your body detected that and was able to secrete an excess amount of Healing slimes because of panic.]

    ''So that means I need to panic to release an excess amount of Healing slimes?''

    Mr. Gemini did not respond so I tried to force myself to panic but it''s not working.

    Maybe my nervous system had calculated the exact amount already for the toxins of this mixture?

    Just enough to keep me safe while inside of it?

    "I can''t do it." I announced and was ready to remove my hands from the mixture but Fily held my wrists to stop me.

    "I could see it." She said while concentrating on my hands on the mixture.

    "I can see it too!" Petunia excitedly jumped to Fily''s shoulders as her eyes were also locked on my hands in the mixture.

    "It won''t work guys-"

    "It will!" Petunia cut my words off.

    How long do they want to keep this up?

    "It''s not going to work." I tried to explain again but Fily glared at me.

    "It''s not going to work if you don''t believe in it. Give it some more effort." She looked at me with a glare that I haven''t seen before.

    Fily is scary.

    The more I get to spend time with her the more I realize this.

    "I-i''ll try¡­" I stuttered as Fily looked back shifted her eyes back to my hands.

    Petunia was the next one who stared at me.

    "Put some more effort into it." She said in a commanding tone which really gave me no other choice but to follow them.

    This mixture is toxic.

    That is what Mr. Gemini had been telling me since earlier.

    And the fact that my nerves panicked when I touched this toxic mixture? It just gave me another clue of how these powers work.

    My subconscious is in control, at least for now.

    I wonder if there could ever be a day when I could be in control of these powers by will?

    Right now, I am very convinced that my subconscious rules this power.

    Maybe that was also why it can only save me whenever I''m close to dying.

    Because deep inside me, I really don''t want to die.

    "I''m sorry I really can''t do this," I told them before pulling my hands from the mixture.

    "You''re not even trying!!" Petunia shouted at me which made me take a step back.

    "Let me explain." I tried to calm the tension but Petunia was already throwing a tantrum.

    "Gem¡­" Fily called out to me but the disappointment from her voice was very evident.

    "I can explain!" I tried to reason with them but Petunia was making a lot of noise from throwing things and moving them with great force.

    "It''s okay." She said without looking at me which made me feel guiltier.

    "I can''t control it." I tried to get their attention but even Fily was now busy preparing for the next step of the experiment.

    "Is this enough?" I heard her ask Petunia who responded with a snobbish nod.

    "Guys!" I shouted this time, still trying to get their attention for an explanation but there was no response from them.

    They''re completely ignoring me!

    "It''s okay Gem. We understand. You tried. That''s enough." Fily said without looking at me.

    "Tried yeah¡­ That''s very enough." Petunia remarked sarcastically as she turned her furry tail to me.

    Why are they being like this!?

    Why can''t I do anything!?

    My heart''s beat was suffocating.

    I need to do something!

    I looked at the bowl with the two gummy mixtures in it.

    Petunia wanted to see me mix the two using my hands but even after mixing and playing with it, nothing came out.

    The substance was slightly toxic and so my hands burned inside of it but because of the adequate amount of Healing slime my hands secreted during that time, I was left unharmed.

    I think I need to trick myself into thinking that I need to secrete more Healing slime to cure my hands of the toxics!

    But how could I do it when my subconscious self knows the exact amount already?

    No matter, I''ll just force myself.

    "AAAAHHH!!!" I screamed when my hands came in contact again with the mixture.

    There was a slight delay to the Healing slimes which made me feel the burning sensation from the mixture when I soaked my hands in it again. I could even see the smoke from the edges of my hands where the mixture and my skin meets.

    "Gem!??" Fily stopped what they were doing and looked at me again.

    "I am going to try again!" I said as I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the pain when I soak my other hand in it.

    The mixture gets even more toxic the more I mix it, Petunia said earlier which gave me an idea of how I would be able to trick myself.

    "Don''t overmix! The clear color would be tainted with gray if you overmix the mixture!" Petunia reminded me as they moved closer with the coating mixture.

    "I''ll make sure it goes back," I said confidently and inserted my other hand in it with a muffled shout as I prepared my mind for the trick.

    "Gem.." Fily raised her concern when we all saw the smoke from the surface of the gummy mixture where my skin was already red.

    "I can do it." I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply, savoring the smell of the toxic chemicals in front of me.

    "Trust me."

 Chapter 47 - Override

    "Gem!!!" Fily exclaimed when she saw the smoke from my burning hands get thicker.

    "I-it''s fine," I said as I rubbed my hands ruthlessly under the mixture, trying to hurt myself as much as I can to trick this system into thinking that I need to release more Healing potions.

    Come on¡­ please work!!

    ''Help me!''

    ''I''m going to die.''

    ''I''m going to die!''

    ''Save me!!''

    ''Save me please!!!''

    I shut my eyes tightly as I scream these words in my head.

    The cooling sensation from the healing slimes that was saving my hands from the toxic mixture was being overwhelmed by the burns as I rubbed my hands together.

    "AHHH!!" I exaggerated my screams a little bit more, thinking to myself that these burns are too much and I''m going to die if the potions won''t save me.

    Please work.

    Please work!

    [Overriding the system...]

    I heard the stat-hut''s lady voice announce.

    What was that?

    Slowly, I tried opening my eyes to see what was going on but what happened next almost gave me a heart attack!

    "AHHHH!!!" I screamed as the horrendous pain finally registered in my brain.

    "Gemm!!!" Fily came rushing to me as she saw my horrendous state.

    She paused for a moment and then decided to pull my hands from the mixture but I said no.

    I can''t give up now!

    "D-don''t! AHHHHH!!!" I shouted when the pain multiplied in my hands as if the healing slimes stopped healing me!

    ''W-what''s happening Mr. Gemini???''

    [You have successfully overridden the system, Master.]

    ''What does that mean!?''

    [You are now in control-]

    Before Mr. Gemini could even finish what he was saying, I felt something tingling in my hands as if they were just waiting for my cue to go out.

    With no clue of what was happening right now and more importantly with no time to waste, I let it go with all my might as I closed my eyes, afraid of everything else that was happening in this world.

    I don''t want to be a disappointment.

    I want to help.

    I want to live a meaningful life.

    So, please¡­

    Give me the means to fulfill my dream.

    "G-gem.." Fily suddenly whispered as the room became quiet.

    I opened my eyes as I felt a cooling sensation that was crawling in my hands.

    There it was, a marvelous cyan liquid that was coming out from my fingertips.

    It covered my hands like a glove!

    "You did it!!!" Petunia rejoiced after seeing her almost ruined new Gummy being filled with the intense glow of the Healing slimes.

    "You did it Gem!!" Fily sniffed as she hugged me lightly, her body felt so weak leaning against me.

    She leaned her head on my shoulder and I felt her tears soak my dress.

    "Why are you crying?" I took my hands out of the mixture to hug her but since it was still covered with the Healing slime I just let it dry in the air while Fily was the one who embraced me instead.

    "I''m just proud of you, that''s why.." She peeked at me for a split second before hiding her crying face back on my shoulders again.

    I could not help but smile as I stared at my hands covered with the glowing fluid.

    It just looks so unreal!

    "Pet!!" Fily suddenly shouted while staring at Petunia behind me which made me look at her as well.

    "Petunia!" I was worried when I saw her lying flat and quiet on the table.

    "What happened?" I asked Fily who moved immediately to grab Petunia from the desk and faced her to us so we could see her face.

    I was expecting Petunia to celebrate energetically after that success but I was caught off-guarded when I saw her covering her cat face with her paws after crying tears of joy.

    "You worried us!" Fily complained and shook Petunia in between her hands.

    "S-stop it." She meowed embarrassingly while still trying to hide her face from us.

    My tears fell on its own when I remembered the reason why Petunia was so obsessed with the Healing slimes.

    "Woi are you crying??" Fily was surprised to see both of us cry.

    Maybe she didn''t know about Petunia''s situation yet?

    "Thank you." Petunia said to me while peeking from her paws.

    I gave her a smile and showed her my hands that were covered with the cyan glow, making me unable to wipe the tears out of my face.

    "What''s happening here?" Fily relaxed her hold on Petunia which gave Petunia a chance to get away from her and she jumped right at me.

    Fily caught her from the back but Petunia was already licking the potion from my hands!

    "Petunia!!" I tried to push her forehead as Fily reluctantly pulled her away from me but she did not want to let go.

    "Is this even edible???" I looked at Fily worriedly and she shrugged at me.

    ''Mr. Gemini is this potion even edible?'' I asked my alternative source of info and thank goodness he answered immediately.

    [Yes, Master.]

    Phew!

    Fily raised a brow on me and I nodded at her after hearing the answer from Mr. Gemini.

    Petunia is such a weird fellow, but I still let her lick all of the healing potions from my hands clean.

    "Where will I wash my hands now??" I stared at my hands after Petunia finished licking all of the healing slimes from it.

    "Go wash it there." Petunia pointed at the water surrounding the mini island with holograms using her right paw while still busy licking the other one clean.

    I looked at Fily to confirm if it was okay for me to use that water but she shook her head on me.

    So that was a no.

    "You can use the trees over there." Fily pointed at the corners of the room where the trees were.

    Thank goodness I asked Fily first before doing what Petunia said because as it turned out, the trees on the corners of this room were actually also functioning as sinks!

    Well, that was a cool discovery.

    When I came back to them, the cyan color was already gone from Petunia''s Gummy but I was greeted by the majestic purple glow of the clear gummy mixture.

    "This is the Perfect Gummy I have been dreaming of!" Petunia suddenly exclaimed as she laid the stainless silver bowl on her stomach happily.

    "How do you even make this work? Are you the one making it fly or is it flying on your command?" I asked out of curiosity as I sat down on the chair beside Fily.

    "Ah, you want to see me do the magic?" Petunia suddenly sat properly while wiggling her tail.

    "S-sure?" I looked at Fily to ask permission too and she nodded with a smile.

    "Okay. I''ll let you both see the secret in exchange for helping me."

 Chapter 48 - Blood

    "Just a sec." Petunia said as she prepared herself for something.

    Is she going to do a magic trick or something?

    Witchcraft maybe?

    "You might want to cover your eyes if you''re scared of blood." She added which made me frown at her.

    Blood?

    What does blood have to do with her magic trick?

    "Okay, here it goes!" She stood up and took a deep breath as she shut her eyes tightly.

    "Fily!?" I called to Fily with concern as my eyes widened at her.

    She shrugged at me like she had no idea of what was going on either..

    I was a bit concerned about what Petunia just said about the blood so I watched her every movement thoroughly.

    Suddenly, my breathing halted when Petunia screamed as she scratched her own wrist using her sharp claws!

    "AHHH!"

    "Petunia!"

    Our shouts overlapped with each other as the both of us panicked when we saw Petunia shivering while losing blood.

    I know she warned us about the blood and I''m not a bit scared of blood but I''m really concerned about her health right now!

    "Is this what you call magic!?" I growled at her as I moved my hands to hold her wound but she stopped me.

    "W-wait." She said weakly as she closed her eyes, trying to squeeze more blood out of her wrist to the mixture which totally freaked me out even more!

    "Petunia! That''s enough, let me fix it!" I could almost hear my heartbeat''s loud banging as I panicked on curing Petunia''s wound immediately.

    Just how much more blood does she need to lose before saying it''s finished!?

    "Just¡­ a bit.. more." She whispered stubbornly which made my stubborn self angry at her for a second time.

    There''s no other way, I need to fix it now!

    Surprisingly, Petunia did not rebel when I grabbed her wrist and wrapped my hands around it tightly.

    "You better tell us the purpose of this or I won''t give you any more slimes!" I scoffed and took a deep breath as I tried to feel the Healing slimes inside of me, urging them to go out slowly as my index finger traced the line that her sharp claw created while also trying to control my breathing so that I could fully focus on the amount that I was manually secreting.

    The auto system was much easier to use than this but I don''t really want to be restricted by it either.

    When I opened my eyes, I saw the cyan color disappear quickly as they went inside the wound and the clear slime that was left was slowly closing the wound, making it look like it was never even there.

    I also noticed a few more marks of scars that Petunia probably got when she was making the other previous versions of the Gummy and I also decided to cure them.

    It was fascinating to witness the curing of the Healing slimes first hand, especially in a furry animal body as it even made the fur grow faster from the wounded skin to match with the others.

    There were still a few amounts of excess Slime that I spilled due to my miscalculations but when you look at it, I''d say I did a pretty decent job controlling it!

    Especially since you know, this was the second time that I actually got to control this power on my own, right?

    Maybe I should come up with a name to this power sometimes instead of just calling it healing slimes every now and then.

    "Gem," Fily called to me and patted my back as she held Petunia in her other arm like a baby.

    I let go of Petunia''s wrist gently and shifted my eyes on the mixture of her Gummy instead while Fily was busy taking care of Petunia.

    I stared at the Gummy mixture even more and as I saw the red liquid on top of it like frosting in a cake, I was reminded of Petunia''s actions earlier, and somehow, I was also reminded of my friends who died back then.

    I didn''t even know their names.

    Why would Petunia do something so reckless like that for this thing?

    What was the big deal of having this anyway?

    I wonder if she would still find this useful after getting her human body back?

    With this manual control over my power after overriding the system, I really gained a lot of confidence that I would be able to help Petunia get her body back!

    And also with this, I could almost guarantee Venedette''s safety as long as she''s with me!

    After being pleased with what I have achieved so far with my powers, my focus shifted on the red blood in front of me that was now bubbling.

    There was also a mind of smoke coming from it which made me even more concerned.

    As I looked at it closely, I concluded that the blood was boiling instead of just popping out some bubbles every now and then.

    "Fily?" I called to her but my eyes were still focused on the blood that was boiling above the purple mixture.

    The gummy was not hot, in fact, it was cold to touch but it would burn your skin because of the chemical reactions from its toxins.

    Maybe that was also the reason why the blood was boiling?

    And as I moved closer, I heard slight whistles from the boiling blood, resembling the sound that boiling water in a kettle makes except the liquid was not water and there was no kettle to help it make those sounds!

    "Fily!? I called to her again, now afraid of this unsettling phenomenon.

    I blinked my eyes several times when I noticed the blood moving clockwise on its own.

    I was sure my hands were not holding anything and even Fily was still busy taking care of Petunia on the corners of this room where the sink trees were!

    So how could it move on its own!?

    "Wait!"

    I looked back at Fily for a split second to see if she was coming but she was still busy taking care of Petunia so I just decided to bring the mixture to them after a few moments of hesitation.

    But when I touched the metal bowl, I immediately let go of it as I felt the burning sensation in my hands.

    "Ouch!" I gasped and rubbed my hands against each other to relieve the pain from the unexpected temperature of this mixing bowl.

    "Something happened!?" Fily shouted from across the room.

    "This Gummy is burning!" I answered back at her and looked at my hands that were now messed up with the slightly sticky texture of the Healing slime that I failed to control yet again.

    "That''s about right." I heard Petunia whisper with her weak voice. I could almost imagine her trying so hard to get back on her feet but Fily would not let her.

    "We''re almost done here!" Fily shouted again while wiping herself and Petunia''s wet fur with another towel after what I assume was a quick bath in the sink because of the powder from the ingredients spilled all over her and the blood on Petunia''s body when she did that stunt earlier.

    "Come quickly!" I said and watched the mixture stir on its own yet again, weirded out but still fascinated by Petunia''s talents that were really from out of this world.

 Chapter 49 - Inventi

    "Okay we''re done," Fily said, hanging the towels on some of the branches of the tree.

    I looked back at them impatiently and saw Petunia limping through the distance.

    "Does it hurt?" I asked her and she flinched immediately.

    She was so focused on walking that she even got shocked when I noticed her.

    "Petunia!" Fily exclaimed and carried her immediately. "I told you to wait."

    Petunia rolled her eyes at Fily while still not answering my question and so I asked again as they were approaching me. "Why was she limping? Didn''t I cure it already?"

    "You''re right, it''s already cured. I just got used to being careful after doing that.."

    "Plus the blood loss," Fily added. "So what was that you were shouting about earlier?"

    I looked at Fily and narrowed my eyes on Petunia when I saw her avoiding my eyes.

    "You''re the one doing this aren''t you?" I said, still doubtful about the Gummy moving on its own.

    "Doing what?" As soon as Fily finished her sentence, her jaw dropped from the sight of the Gummy that was still stirring itself on the bowl, temporarily losing its majestic purple glow as the motion made it blurry.

    "This is so¡­" She trailed off, her eyes still sparkling as she covered her mouth when she failed to form the right words to say with it.

    "This is my skill, Gummy manipulation." Petunia said in monotone and raised her hand.

    Subsequently, the Gummy shot upwards from the bowl to the air, as if following her hand movement.

    "H-how did you do that?"

    I held on to my chair as we looked up to the Gummy that Petunia was controlling, creating different movements and shapes in the air that drips over time mainly because of its semi-liquid-like texture.

    "It''s a skill that I created using my Invention skill a.k.a. Inventi," Petunia said while still busy controlling the Gummy despite her speech being weak.

    There was a subtle smile on her face while playing with the Gummy in the air.

    It was as if she was just having fun with an old friend.

    I could not understand it at first, just how special this thing is for her to ask us for help and even slit her own arm just to give it blood. But now that I see her smiling like this, I kind of understand that it has some sort of sentimental value in her, the same kind of relationship with me and my necklace.

    "Wow! You could even create skills!?" Fily said excitedly.

    Petunia cleared her throat as if holding back her excitement of being praised.

    "I could create skills, yes, that''s the main purpose of my level 99 Invention skill."

    "What else can you make?"

    "Potions, Formulas, weapons-"

    "So you mean anything that has to do with Chemistry, you can invent?" Fily was still shocked. "This was the first time I''ve actually seen someone with the skill Inventi and imagine level 99!?"

    "What do the levels indicate though?"

    "Mastery." Petunia answered.

    "Yep, it''s skill leveling based on mastery," Fily confirmed Petunia''s answer to be true.

    "How did you manage to max it out like that?" I asked a question again.

    "I lost my ''back to normal'' potion during the commotion so I was looking for an alternative way to transform back into a human. Most of my time was spent on potion-making. I was bored, I had no friends. Humans would freak out if I talk to them and I couldn''t even speak cat or any animal language."

    "You had Gummy."

    "I had Gummy." She said with a subtle smile at me.

    "Wait! Wait! Did I hear that right? You''re making a potion that will turn you back into a human!?" Fily was shook.

    "Yes." Petunia looked at me meaningfully.

    "Wait am I the only one who hasn''t heard of the news yet?" Fily said jokingly while narrowing her eyes at me.

    "Definitely not." I denied it as I wondered how Petunia found out that I knew about her secret.

    "It''s not really much of a secret." Petunia shrugged, kind of giving a close answer to my question there.

    "How did you manage to keep your identity a secret for 6 years?" Fily asked.

    "I lived near the border. It''s not really that hard, to be honest. Cats are one of the snobbiest animals ever on the planet so no one even dared to bother me be it a human or another animal."

    "And if they did?" I asked.

    "I kill them." She said it like it was not a big deal.

    "Woah that was unexpected." Fily shivered fakely and stood up, ending our girl''s talk.

    But before Petunia and I were able to leave the table, Fily inquired another question for Petunia.

    "Where did you get the ingredients for your Gummy making? Grimisha (Gum) could only be found in a forest outside of the borders and I doubt someone would sell that to a cat."

    "You''re right, they did not sell me Grimisha."

    "So you stole it?" I guessed.

    "No. I went there outside."

    "On your own!?"

    "Using Gummy." She simply answered which amazed me even more.

    Such a brave cat!

    "Well anyway, I don''t think we have much time to chit-chat anymore so you should go back to your stations and do your tasks," Petunia commanded which I really wanted to follow but Fily could not stop herself from asking questions!

    "Last question! Can you tell us the mechanism behind your Gummy manipulation skill?"

    Petunia let out a deep sigh after hearing this, "fine."

    And so she explained the mechanism to us in two versions.

    One that was simple for me and one with more detail to Fily.

    And as it turned out, Gummy was actually a living thing! Like a plant! Or a jellyfish according to them.

    Petunia said that her blood was the connection she needed for the manipulation skill to work and additionally, she had mastered the art of isolating a certain trait from her DNA that the Gummy needed to be able to fly.

    "I thought you recreated the flight potion and gave it to the Gummy!"

    "That would not work since Gummy lacks a lot of chemicals that we humans have in order to create the chemical reaction from the Flight potion to enable Flight evolution."

    "But with an evolved blood, you just have to single out the Flight ability from your DNA and precisely transfer it to Gummy to make it fly!" Fily completed Petunia''s explanation.

    "I kind of get it now."

    "That''s good to hear, now what time is it already? Ah, 2:30" Petunia said which made me and Fily stiffened a bit after remembering something very important.

    "I need to go to sleep at 3 a.m!"

    Fily can''t sleepwalk without at least 6 hours of sleep!

    Oh no!!

 Chapter 50 - Coat

    Thirty minutes left and we still hadn''t started with the mixture for the coat!

    "W-what do we do?" Fily asked me.

    It seems like everyone was panicking.

    We need to settle the situation first.

    What could be the best to do in this situation?

    We can''t leave Petunia creating the coat alone down here!

    Yet Fily needed a place to sleep comfortably¡­.

    "Or else she gets all nasty." Petunia whispered at me while watching Fily panic.

    "H-how do you know these things?" I squinted my eyes at her.

    "It''s really not that hard to see." she shrugged, "Look at her, does that seem like Fily to you?"

    I got confused by what Petunia just said.

    She''s saying this is not Fily? But this is definitely Fily¡­

    "Just continue that tomorrow!" Fily said impatiently at Petunia which took me back a little.

    "Listen to her. Definitely not Fily." Petunia said to me ignoring Fily and just went back to the table to make her Gummy coat mixture.

    "Fily i-it''s okay." I tried calming her down but she was so stubborn.

    "I need to go now okay? You two stay here, help her." She said in a commanding tone that made my heart sink a little.

    Petunia was right, Fily does not talk like this.

    "What''s happening to her?" I whispered to Petunia with teary eyes.

    "I told you already, she''s not herself right now. Just don''t mind her and help me over here." Petunia said on her way to the desk where the ingredients of the Gummy coat were.

    Fily was halfway to the door when she heard what Petunia said, instead of running as fast as she could to arrive at her bed on time, she turned around while shooting daggers at Petunia as if what Petunia said was more important to her than going to sleep.

    "What the f do you think you''re saying little cat!?" She growled at Petunia which shocked me even more unlike Petunia who was just sporting an unamused look as Fily grabbed her like a hunter would grab a bounty.

    "W-why are you doing this¡­ guys?"

    Fily looks so scary right now!

    As much as I didn''t want to believe what Petunia just said, it got stuck in my brain thus influencing my view of the situation!

    I''m slowly getting convinced that this isn''t Fily just like what Petunia was saying.

    Instead of the usual bright smile and sweet voice, this Fily was growling like a wild tiger at Petunia with a lower toned voice.

    Why is this happening now!?

    [Should I release calming mist, master?]

    Mr. Gemini''s voice suddenly popped in my brain, making me jump!

    ''Mr. Gemini!! You surprised me!''

    [I beg your pardon, Master.]

    He said and disappeared just like that.

    The next thing I knew, Fily was glaring at me from the sides of her eyes. Slowly, she turned her head to face me.

    That look is very unfamiliar to me! As if she became a different person in just a split second!

    "Who is this?" She asked Petunia while looking at me which gave me another reason to believe what Petunia was saying!

    "It''s me! Gem! How could you forget me already?" I said in a voice that was losing its confidence in every sentence.

    When she looked at me, my heart began racing abnormally.

    She scanned me from head to toe and threw Petunia on the table while smirking.

    "It must be you, the Gemstone holder." She said, comfortably sitting down on one of the desks that were close to her.

    "Who are you and what do you want from us?" Petunia said, getting alert now.

    "I''m just a nobody," she said and quickly glanced at her stat-hut screen, "I need to go now, see you around!"

    As soon as she said that, Fily closed her eyes and leaned her head to the side as if she was being hit by a headache on the other side of her head.

    "We don''t have enough time." The lower voice growled and then was immediately replaced with a softer voice and a shocked expression from what I presume was the real Fily.

    "Sister!" She complained and stomped her foot while looking up at the ceiling.

    When Fily batted her eyes back at us, she covered her mouth as she gasped out of shock and was about to say something again when she suddenly passed out!

    "Fily!!" I ran to her.

    Thankfully she was not hurt!

    "What happened??" I shook her and tapped her face lightly, trying to wake her up but to no avail.

    "She''s already at her limit." Petunia said.

    I felt like Petunia''s patience was ready to burst anytime but she was doing her best to keep it in check.

    "What do we do with her?" I asked Petunia since she was older than me, she has the authority here.

    "Just let her sleep there and help me make this." She said, dismissing the issue with Fily completely by telling me to just lay her down the chairs.

    I was contemplating if I should lay her down on the long desk or the chairs because I figured that the desk was very high and thus a dangerous place for a sleeping heavy girl even if Fily sleeps like an unmoving dead person.

    To the chairs then.

    "Would you be able to bring her upstairs later?" Petunia asked.

    "I guess so," I replied sincerely, I didn''t think making the coat was enough to drain my powers but boy was I wrong!

    I did not expect the amount of time and effort we had to make in thinning the finished coat to make it look almost as if invisible when glued to the Gummy!

    So this was the culprit of the ruined stretched purple color from the other Gummy all along!

    I really commend Petunia for being able to make all the previous versions of Gummies with these by herself!

    "Just a few more!" Petunia shouted after seeing me rest for a little bit.

    I guess I have to finish this quickly to be able to bring Fily back to her room immediately.

    "Okay!" I said, getting all fired up again.

 Chapter 51 - Sleep

    We finished making the coat for Gummy a few minutes before 6 am and after an hour-long rest, we decided to clean up and bring Fily back into her room.

    I was the one carrying most of Fily from the front but Petunia was kind enough to lend her freshly made Gummy for help.

    My body was so beaten up from all of what happened down there that was why when I woke up, it was almost night time and I had already missed three out of my four classes!

    "Go back to sleep, it''s okay I have asked your teachers to excuse you for today''s lessons." Venedette pushed me back to my bed after forcing myself to wake up upon remembering the classes that I have to take.

    "I want to attend the class later," I insisted. "I want to be strong like you as soon as possible.."

    Venedette laughed when she heard this, "Being strong takes practice and patience, and if you neglect your health it will take a longer time than that."

    "I can just heal myself to stay healthy," I said absentmindedly.

    When I realized how wrong it sounds, I immediately acted to take it back but stopped when I saw Venedette''s expression.

    She looked at me as if she was very disappointed.

    "Your powers may seem infinite but you shouldn''t depend on it too much. Everything has its own limits. Use it wisely." she said sternly.

    I pouted and thought to myself how to end this misunderstanding. It was clearly my fault so I guess I should take responsibility for it...

    "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean it that way." I said and quickly hid under my blanket.

    I heard Venedette chuckle almost immediately after that. We''re good? She''s not mad?

    "You''re such a reliable child for your age, I can''t imagine how Von would have been if we were able to raise him properly."

    There was a pint of sadness in her voice but it was quickly overwhelmed by her joyous face so I was not sure if she actually meant it or if it was only a joke. I guess it was both.

    "Do you want your dinner to be brought here too or you''re going downstairs?" She asked, changing the topic of our conversation.

    "I''ll go down," I answered instead. I pulled myself out of the blanket and sat properly to face her.

    "Halma will be here later," she said. Her voice was so soft that it almost felt like a whisper.

    "Halma as in¡­ the Queen?!" I said, leaning forward to her even more. This was such unexpected news! Me is shocked!

    However, unlike me, Venedette did not seem excited about the news at all.

    "Is there¡­ something wrong?" I asked silently.

    I went closer to her when I noticed she was avoiding my eyes as if there was something she''s hiding from me.

    Subsequently, Venedette opened her mouth¡­ but nothing came out.

    "What is it?" I convinced her to spill it out but to no avail.

    "It''s nothing¡­" she said and smiled cheaply at me.

    "There''s something," I said, unconvinced.

    I moved my head to catch her eyes but she would just glance at me and look away quickly.

    "Ven!!" I insisted again.

    "It''s nothing!" she laughed, definitely teasing me!

    I straightened my body as I kneeled on the bed in front of her and pouted.

    "Ven¡­" I whined with a pouty face.

    When Venedette finally looked at me, it was like she was having an internal struggle so I gave her time to form a decision. I sat there watching her change emotions every second. I don''t know why but I have a feeling that this moment would be something that I would miss in the future.

    Snap. Venedette finally came to a conclusion.

    "Halma confiscated my Salamandite, remember?" she started with a sigh. "She''s going to stay here for three days, inspecting you before giving it back to me."

    I looked at her attentively. "And then?"

    Another sigh. "That''s it." she avoided my eyes again.

    I lingered along with the topic for a minute, looking for the ''concerning'' thing that would make Venedette act like this but there was nothing to be worried about.

    "You okay?" I said when I saw her bury her face in her hands.

    "Uhmm. Yes. Just promise me you''ll be a good kid okay?" she smiled at me again.

    I can still sense the worry in her smile and even though I do not know what it could be about, I thought of hugging her.

    This might help her feel better.

    "I promise."

    "Thank you," she whispered while caressing my silky hair.

    We stayed like that for a few more minutes before Venedette thought of getting me back to sleep.

    "Aren''t you tired? I heard you carried Fily all the way to her room this morning. You should go back to sleep, I''ll wake you up before dinnertime."

    "But I want to attend class¡­" I whispered reluctantly.

    "No, go to sleep. Your body needs rest okay? Don''t depend on your Healing slime too much."

    "Okay..." I muttered under my breath, still against the idea of wasting time but since she was the one who told me to do it, I guess I have no other choice but to follow.

    Lessons from superiors should be noted and never ignored, especially if I want to progress immediately.

    "Goodnight." she patted my head and left me to sleep.

    ***

    [Welcome to Solitude.]

    The Stat-hut''s voice suddenly rang from my head to the open space while the sudden bright light forced my eyes to wake up almost immediately.

    "What?" I groaned while rubbing my eyes.

    [Welcome to Solitude once again, Master.] this time it was Mr. Gemini who talked but his voice was also all over the place like the Stat-hut lady''s voice!

    "W-what''s happening?" I said while looking around the place and feeling small because of their voice. I was so used to hearing them directly from my head but this situation is just giving me the chills!

    And I''m all alone in this place. In this cold white space called Solitude.

 Chapter 52 - Faulty

    "Solitude!" I shouted after realizing what I just said in my head.

    That''s right! This is the place where Fily lost all of her memories! The anti-super place!

    But how did I get here?

    The last time I was able to come here was when the butcher man was trying to kill me!

    But I was just sleeping a while ago. And unless someone was trying to kill me while I sleep then I see no other reason as to why and how I was able to come here!

    [Please wait while I process the beginner''s manual for your training] Lady announced.

    I decided to call my Stat-hut Lady since Mr. Gemini has a name, I figured it would be hard for them to talk to each other without names.

    That aside, I am still curious as to how I was able to come here during a normal day. And oh my gosh! Halma is visiting later! I need to deal with this real quick!

    [Downloading Beginner''s training manual..]

    What was the thing I was trying to get from this place again? I can''t remember clearly¡­ was it the keys? But Mr. Gemini already told me how to get the keys and it was irrelevant from this place.

    [Download finished. Activating the training sequence.]

    Wait, what is happening? What is this training sequence?

    Ding!

    [Notification: A new skill has been added to your secret skill set, Solitude]

    A new skill? Solitude?

    But I thought Solitude was a place?

    Wait, I''ve got to see this in my status.

    ''Status please!'' I shouted in my head, but instead of the usual blue transparent screen that would pop in front of me, a concrete black screen rose from the empty white floor with active cyan circuits on the border which gave it a very contrasting look from this very pure white space.

    "What...?" I mumbled while watching it display the status that I was looking for.

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super''s Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Secret Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl.0, Solitude Lvl.0]

    [Fighter Skillset: None]

    "Solitude Lvl.0"

    Is this the skill she was talking about!? Another Lvl.0 skill?!

    "What is this? Are you joking with me?" I said.

    My eyes roamed around the room once again, looking for the system that I was talking to but it felt like they were inside and outside my mind at the same time in this place.

    I shook my head when none of them talked and proceeded to look at the definition of the new skill. But as I was commanding it to proceed to the definition page, the new Stat-hut system was not working!

    "Mr. Gemini!! Why is this not working?" I cried.

    [Forgive me master but-]

    "Okay, okay, you don''t know." I cut his words that were resonating inside the whole room. I already knew what he was going to say but still gave it a try anyway. But like always, Mr. Gemini can''t help me again so I''ve got to make this work by myself!

    Since it was being projected from the ground instead of just popping out in my mind, maybe I can''t control it with just my mind? And since Mr. Gemini and the Stat-hut lady''s voice was resonating around the whole space, maybe I''m inside the Gemstone or something similar to a dream where I could not control everything through my mind?

    That could be a plausible answer to this mystery¡­ but first, how could I make this work?

    I walked closer to the black and green projected ''screen'' and thought of touching it.

    I know, it''s a projection and I was just going to try, but I did not actually think I would be able to touch it!

    "Whoa!"

    I almost fell down the floor when I lost my balance after being creeped out about the fact that I can actually touch the board!

    "Ouch," I muttered while getting back to my feet.

    Now that my status is being displayed on a solid screen, I guess I can''t use my mind to control everything in it like with the old status screen¡­ right?

    I took my time tracing the black border with embedded green circuit lines before clicking the [Solitude Lvl.0] Skill that immediately changed the contents of the board into the definition of this particular skill.

    [Solitude - Ability to enter the phase of Solitude.]

    "Wait¡­ if Solitude is a level zero skill and I was able to use it in my sleep, does that mean I can actually use the level zero skills!? In my sleep...?"

    I shook my head upon that weird revelation, how useful could these level zero skills be during a fight if I could only use them in my sleep!?

    "Not cool. I shall learn how to upgrade these level zero skills in no time!"

    [Astral Training Lesson 1: Activation]

    I got goosebumps all around my body after hearing what Lady just said.

    Training lessons¡­ I''m actually here to train?

    [Congratulations! You have been chosen to be Astra''s [$%#^@#]-]

    I covered my ears when a loud screech suddenly ran across the room making it hard for me to hear the rest of what Mr. Gemini was saying.

    "What was that!?"

    I was literally caught by surprise. My heart almost fell from my chest!

    [Forgive the interruption master, it seems like the file is faulty.]

    Mr. Gemini responded immediately.

    But what did he say? Faulty??

    [We may get interrupted from time to time because of the damage, but would you still like to continue the lesson, master?]

    "Of course! What other choice do I have¡­ I need to learn how to use these powers immediately¡­"

    [Very well, master.]

    Sigh, just when I thought I''d be able to learn everything thanks to that manual, then there''s another problem, great.

    There''s really no easy way out of this huh?

 Chapter 53 - Weak

    "Ma, please return to your council. I don''t need your help. I''ve got everything here under my control just fine. And why are you trashing my place?!" Venedette''s eyes widened upon seeing the mess that her mother made in the throne room after arriving just minutes ago.

    The Queen was slouching on the biggest golden throne with food and cushions beside her, very unrespectful to the place that was supposed to be sacred!

    "Oh, right on time, dear! Please tell them this orange juice sucks." Halma said gracefully in disgust, completely ignoring what Venedette just said so she had to go again.

    "Ma, did you not hear what I just said?"

    "Hmm?" Halma shrugged and raised her eyebrows playfully at her while drinking a glass of rose wine.

    The air tightened around Venedette''s face after realizing how hopeless her mom was. She never listened to anybody other than herself. She''s the most stubborn, selfish, and insensitive person ever.. And now she wants to meet Gem? For what? To pressure the little girl about making the other gemstone''s magic work immediately?

    "Ma, please. I just don''t want any trouble tonight. I know you can''t resist yourself especially with things like this but let me handle this, okay? Trust me. You should go now."

    "Well, that''s the point, my dear. I''m afraid this little girl has already taken over your shallow heart and soul that you won''t listen to my logic anymore. Have you tried taking over this necklace of hers that has powers?"

    "Ma, what?"

    The gorgeous lady shook her head in disappointment while standing up with the wine still in her hands to get closer to Venedette. Her long fox-designed dress slicked behind her with matching thick fox fur wrapped around her neck that screamed elegance and feisty dominance over everyone in the room except for her daughter. She was undeniably the present Queen of the largest and oldest country in the world since the age of Doom.

    "You''re weak." She said fiercely to her daughter''s ear whose unwanted tears slowly filled the gaps of her eyes, sending her in a fit of flashbacks about all the wicked things that her mother had done to her and her brothers over the times.

    Making them fight for their rights as royals, giving them unfair privileges and unrealistic standards as an excuse to make them stronger, even tricking her into a jeopardizing deal just recently to which she could not refuse nor back out from anymore.

    The Queen sent her on a suicide mission with kids! Kids! It was her goal to kick Yumeki''s ass but when she found out the truth about the tournament from her Queen mother, it was already too late to walk away! The wicked Queen had no intention of taking her team out of the tournament and even made it clear she must profit from it instead!

    "I know my mistakes and I will own them, mother. But that doesn''t mean I''m weak. I will win this tournament regardless of your help and I will make sure to take back what you took from me, everything. My childhood, my brothers, Demi. I will make you pay for all of them." Venedette said and walked away from the throne room with a broken heart.

    Enough is enough, she had endured more than enough for that selfish person already. It was time to accept the truth and move forward with it.

    ''I won''t let her trick me again.'' she promised in a fit of rage, stomping her feet while walking along the empty corridors of the throne room which used to be so quiet but was now flocked with maids due to her attention-loving and selfish mother.

    She was too foolish to assume the Queen had no shenanigans in mind when she had helped her create a reliable team for the tournament and too blind to believe that everything was just a token of her repentance. And here she thought it would be nice of her as a daughter to witness her mother''s beliefs change for the better. Well, screw that! Everything was just a part of her big clever plan for more power all along!

    "Ah, I should have kicked her out first." Venedette stopped and inhaled a large amount of fresh air in one of the now quiet open corridors to calm her turbulent heart and mind down before proceeding to the kitchen where she was supposed to overlook everything the cooks will serve for her mother with her own eyes via safety procedures.

    She may hate the person but she was still her mother and the Queen of this country. High-security measures must be implemented for her safety all the time. Especially in this place where a royal still died despite the tight security.

    On the other side of the building, Gem could be found lying flat on the white surface of Solitude after a series of physical exercises the slightly scratched old school record tape manual tasked her to do regularly.

    "I was excited over nothing," said Gem exasperatedly.

    Instead of the new skills and arcane powers that the manual introduced to her at the beginning of the training, a good old boring set of exercises were given to her to practice in the real world regularly.

    "As if I don''t have enough classes already¡­" she murmured even more, but deep inside, she was very willing to do it in order to finally make use of her pesky level zero skills.

    No matter how painfully boring nor time-consuming these tasks were, as long as they give her the result she wants, she''s willing to go for it.

    [Would you like to return to the real world now, Master?] Mr. Gemini asked.

    "I would like to, but how am I going to return here?" Gem sighed. "You know? I really thought I would be able to learn how to go in and out of this place flawlessly through that ''beginner''s training manual'' today but instead, I was just given another set of attributes to take care of."

    Status:

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Stamina: 0/10 [Discipline: 0/10 [Mana: 0/10

    [Fighter Skillset: None]

    [Astral Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl.0, Solitude Lvl.0]

    "Stamina, discipline and mana? What a shame."

 Chapter 54 - Search

    [Would you like to stay in Solitude for a little bit more, Master?]

    "I guess so. What time is it in the real world anyway?"

    [It is now quarter to seven, Master.]

    "What?!

    Suddenly, Gem had the urge to stand up and panic after hearing what Mr. Gemini just said.

    "It''s already seven o''clock?! B-But... I thought¡­"

    Gem shook her head after realizing how careless she had been for assuming that time flows differently inside Solitude. She didn''t even bother to ask Mr.. Gemini about it!

    [Master?]

    "Oh no! Venedette and the others! They must be looking for me! What should I do? I still have fifteen days worth of physical training with the system! What should I do Mr. Gemini?"

    [Should I release the calming mist, Master?]

    "No! I need answers! If you don''t have them then please just shut up." Gem said in distress.

    [Releasing calming mist¡­]

    "What? B-But I said-" Gem was dumbfounded when Mr. Gemini ignored her order and instead of protesting, she ended up inhaling the sweet substance anyway. "Never mind, thank you, Mr. Gemini."

    [At your service.]

    And while Gem was busy weighing out her options and knowledge of the place called solitude, Venedette on the other hand was getting convinced that Gem had already gone missing the longer she looked for her.

    "Any idea where she could have gone to?" said Venedette.

    "I don''t know, I just came here to check on her but she was already gone by the time I got here," Fily said anxiously while checking every corner of Gem''s room for the nth time.

    A group of palace guards approached Venedette outside of Gem''s room.

    "Still nothing?" Venedette asked them.

    "Nothing, miss Dette." one of them said sympathetically.

    Everybody on the island knew about the tragic thing that happened to Demi, and although Gem was not a relative to the princess nor a substitute for her daughter, they all knew how much Venedette seemed to value her.

    "Heavens!" Venedette cried.

    "What should we do now, miss Dette?" the guard leader asked.

    "For now, expand the search area, she couldn''t have gone far away. Ask around town and the villages after that too if they have seen this girl, even a report of someone suspicious will do. Send a team to search in the forests too. I can''t believe this is happening on my watch, not again¡­"

    "Roger!" they said in unison before dispersing, but instead of being able to run along, the guards stopped on their tracks to kneel before the Queen after seeing her approaching unannounced. She was wearing her complete Royal attire with the long red cape, crown, and scepter as if she was on her way to bless a baby or a couple in marriage.

    "Mother? What are you doing here? Aren''t you supposed to be eating dinner with-" Venedette''s words hanged in the air when she saw the people she was referring to walking behind Halma. "-them."

    "We heard," Sir Grandoise simply said and went ahead to comfort Venedette.

    "Don''t bother." Halma said to the guards, "I know where the girl is."

    "You what?!" Venedette exploded in disbelief.

    Gasps were heard across the room where they were standing when Halma made this revelation.

    "I know where she is," Halma said again with a smile, sending shivers down Venedette''s spine who was on the verge of emotional exhaustion already.

    "What did you do to her?! Where is she?! Take her back here this instance! If this is another one of your ''part of the big plan'' bullshits I will make sure to make you regret your own decision mother!"

    Everybody was taken aback by Venedette''s sudden aggression, even the Queen who used to be immune to Venedette''s hatred seemed to have been affected by it, the permanent wicked smile on her face faded slowly and was replaced with a sad frown.

    "Is this how you''ve become after spending time with that girl? She hadn''t even been here for long yet here you are being disrespectful to me already. This is not how I raised you, Venedette. Don''t forget that I am still your mother." Halma''s voice was calm yet it was unsettling to hear, her words were like sharp blades to Venedette''s heart who had been hurting ever since she came to this Island.

    Even before that, Venedette had always been the understanding one. She never turned against her mother even in difficult times. Halma was a trouble-magnet and Venedette was her cleaner. And although Venedette might have her heart broken several times by her mother''s insensitive actions, this one was Venedette''s last straw.

    "Enough is enough, mother! Can''t you see?! Gem is a person like us! You can''t just run around controlling people as you please! That is not how life works!"

    "See, I knew you would react like this. I understand that you will never be able to understand my way of doing things, Venedette. But I was only intending to help. You''re making less progress because you''re always letting your emotions pull you back. Loosen up, child. Not everything can be achieved through your moral means."

    "What exactly did you do to her?" Venedette brushed off the argument and drove the conversation back to Gem.

    "I made her wish come true!" The Queen said cheerfully again which made Venedette even more suspicious of her.

    "What wish?"

    "She wanted to die, remember?" Halma looked at Fily meaningfully which signaled Venedette''s anger to burn even more.

    "You did what?!" She looked at both of them.

    And although Fily wanted to explain so badly, no words came out of her mouth. Only tears were seen streaming down her face when she realized how dangerous her words could be when given to the wicked Queen.

    "I killed her but she should have been back several hours ago. I wonder what''s taking her so long?" Halma said while hovering carelessly around Gem''s bed.

    "How could you do this?! You maniac!" Venedette shouted with a hoarse voice and fell on the floor, gasping for more air as she fell into a deep cry, her broken heart shattering into a million different pieces for the second time ever since Demi died.

 Chapter 55 - Emotional

    "You''re overreacting. The girl''s not even dead yet." Halma said in an arrogant tone, initially planning to continue her argument with Venedette after her sudden emotional breakdown.

    But instead, she was found speechless by the sudden invasion of Venedette''s images as a child in her mind over the years, crying over and over again.

    But it was not the main reason why she halted her part in the argument, seeing Venedette cry used to make her veins pop out of anger. Somehow, she always knew how to find her during these times.

    Halma would catch her in a far corner of the castle, or in the darkness, mostly. But instead of comfort, she would always scold her on how worthless crying over everything was. Indefinitely, her words left a deep wrong impression on Venedette.

    Halma assumed the real message of her words came across smoothly. Yet, it never occurred to her how that kind of practice would only lead to them faking their emotions..

    Family should have been the first ones to accept and acknowledge each other''s feelings and help them overcome things but she screened all that away from Venedette and her brothers by being strict.

    She was selfish. Yet despite all these emotions, Halma still was unable to cry. Sadness was hardly evident on her face as it was almost always as close to a blank face. She had mastered the next level of "emotional control" and stoic face that became one of her trademarks as this generation''s Queen.

    Yet deep inside, she still knew her emotions could no longer be contained in a single jar. They were bound to erupt someday.

    And that day would be today. Halma may not have noticed it but there was already a shimmering line reflecting the humble lights of the chandeliers under her eyes that Sir Grandoise could not believe his eyes for seeing for the first time.

    They looked like traces of tears. But how? Why?

    Sir Grandoise knitted his eyebrows and maximized the zoom feature of his eyes to confirm if what he was seeing was true, and indeed, they were tears from the Queen whose heart was said to be made of stone.

    Somehow, it was real.

    Too bad the room was drowned by everyone''s despair and Venedette''s inward sobs for anyone else to have seen Halma''s uncommon tears like how Sir Grandoise just happened to be on the lookout for Venedette if ever Halma tried to do something again.

    Yet aside from holding Venedette for support, Sir Grandoise was deeply disappointed in himself for not being able to do anything to support her through that heated argument with Halma earlier. Just what kind of husband is he?

    Powerless when faced with the Queen.

    Then he remembered, he was also just the son of a loser who had been forced to marry a princess to pay for his father''s debts. The poor guy who enchanted a princess despite being the most normal human ever in town. Did he use gayuma (love potion) to trick her into falling in love with a loser like him?

    But there was no trick involved. He sincerely loved Venedette and Venedette to him. That was why he was always trying so hard to be someone worthy of a Princess like her. But despite all his efforts, Venedette still had to lose face for three days just to beg Halma''s blessings for their marriage.

    In the end, he was just like a loser as his father was.

    His father had the chance of having it all, being married to the next in line of the throne and being her King for the rest of their lives, but he chose to live silently in the rural areas instead, obsessing over his little experiment and creations after sacrificing Halma''s love for at least five times before Halma completely became the heartless stone that she was known to be before now.

    All the efforts he put in were only replaced with sorrow and misery. He managed to not improve his reputation by even a little bit, yet he only succeeded in driving his children away. He was nowhere prepared nor there beside Venedette when Demi died, Von''s distance to him grew further to him, and now, Gem''s in a difficult situation with the Queen.

    Turns out, the scales of consequences were heavier for the side of his happiness than his request for a better reputation.

    It was all messed up, their parent''s past love story and their current situation right now.

    But as long as he was here¡­ he remembered Venedette''s words; "Everything''s okay, as long as you are here," she said. She would always say this to make him feel secure. But this was not the life he promised Venedette.

    Ever since Demi died, every single one of them became lost. Then Venedette found these kids, gave him a chance to be part of their lives once again as a teacher for this school with Von as one of his students.

    Halma was the one who gave them permission to do this, in exchange for a deal Venedette would not disclose to him. But Gem was obviously an important piece of the puzzle. Everything was going fine until Halma decided to help without anyone''s need for her eccentric ways of doing ''help''!

    "Bring her back." Sir Grandoise finally said, breaking the silence of his voice in fears of being judged by the Queen once more.

    But now that he had seen her ''weak'' side, he suddenly had the leverage to at least say his thoughts out loud in front of her arrogant mask.

    Halma, on the other side, had a grasp of the situation with her tears and Grandoise''s abrupt tone immediately.

    "She will come back on her own¡­ that is if she still wants to come back," she stated malevolently while clearing her throat in an attempt to gain back her grace. "Venedette! What have I told you about crying?!"

    Halma spent so much time spacing out that even her tears shed without her notice, sparking her old hobby of lashing out to others about this ''no tears'' rule of hers, particularly to poor Venedette whom she probably thinks was not having a long day enough all ready to listen to another one of her repetitive permanent scoldings since the day she was born.

    And when Sir Grandoise opened his mouth again to complain, a sudden burst of cold breeze suddenly blew all of them away like a bomb made of oxygen. It was damp... Perhaps mist? Which could only mean one thing...

    She''s back!

 Chapter 56 - Back

    "If, for instance, the reason why I was able to come here in the first place was because of a threat to my life, then I suppose that I can just do that again to go back here!" Gem exclaimed with an emphasized hand gesture to herself on the screen reflecting her face in the new Stat-hut interface.

    "But I need to confirm that first. If threat was not the answer, then I guess I would regret going out of this place rashly. I would lose my only chance of being able to upgrade these pesky level zero skills with these tasks! And heck! I''m not even sure if doing these tasks outside of Solitude would even count!"

    "I have a lot of questions yet none of you two could answer them¡­ gaah, how pathetic!"

    [I am sorry master.] Mr. Gemini''s voice was clear despite the thickening fog of calming mist that seemed to work on Gem but only to an extent where she could still be annoyed.

    Gem had been going about these concerns for an hour already and even managed to continue doing the physical exercises that were supposed to be the requirement for Solitude and Liquity''s level ups but there was another problem.

    It said daily tasks, which meant she needed to do them for a certain amount of days- that were not even stated until when.

    Time inside Solitude runs the same way as the real world''s time.. So if she were to assume that her tasks would take a month to complete, she was sure Venedette and the others wouldn''t like it very much. Plus she had important classes to attend in the real world aside from leveling up these skills. So she really had no choice but to go back.

    Good thing the calming mist was helping her think clearly amidst the pressure of being alone in this wide space of emptiness.

    So in summary, Gem had two choices in hand. One was to go back to the real world, which apparently, she could do willingly. But in doing so, there was no guarantee of return nor task completion from the outside world regarding the requirements for level up. So if she couldn''t level up her skills by the end of her daily tasks, she might need to face death again- if death was the reason why she was able to go to Solitude in the first place just like the last time.

    Or she could stay in Solitude until she finishes all the tasks for at least a month¡­ without food, communication, or the beautiful day and night skies.

    Just the white walls, Stat-hut''s new interface, her healing slimes, and nothing else.

    [Would you like to stay in Solitude for a little bit more, Master?] Mr. Gemini asked again after exactly an hour of him asking that same question before.

    But unlike an hour ago, Gem seemed to have come to a conclusion this time. She took a clue from Mr. Gemini''s cyclic alarms, making her decision also based on her and her companion''s sanity in the real world.

    She was willing to take the benefit of the doubt just to make the people she left behind in the real world feel secure. They were also the reason why she wanted to upgrade these level zero skills anyway.

    She was well aware of Venedette''s trauma with what happened to Demi, so why would she leave her without notice? She promised to repay her kindness and not run away from them.

    And although she was not actually running away from her promises, leaving without notice would make her look exactly like that.

    So she had to go back.

    She had a lot of questions to be answered from the outside, and if things didn''t work out, she still had her physical strengths to rely on. And the keys to the Salamandite''s locked book and storages.

    There were a lot of possible solutions for her problems in the outside world, unlike here where her two assistants could not even answer a simple question regarding her powers.

    "Yes please, take me back," she said reluctantly and started dispersing slowly within the thin air immediately right after Mr. Gemini''s response.

    [Affirmative, Master.]

    ***

    "BOMB!" Lei shouted abruptly following the mist smoke that he mistook for another one of his smoke grenade toys.

    But unlike a real smoke whose fog was dry and more opaque, this bomb felt cool against their skin. It was damp like mist and the smell was somewhat similar to a sweetened ice cube.

    "This smells too good to be a bomb." everyone thought in their minds.

    They were enticed by the refreshing feelings being brought to them by the sudden air gush.

    And Lei had no knowledge of such a bomb being made within his kind, so he calmed down naturally, but unbeknownst to them, it was the effects of the calming mist from Mr. Gemini all along.

    The fog was stronger in size and substance than a mere smoke grenade. It had a pleasant smell that would clear anyone''s minds from doubts and strong feelings including Venedette''s wrath to her mother and the Queen''s annoyance to her righteousness.

    It managed to leak from Solitude dimension when Gem went back to the real world. But instead of the energetic Gem that everyone was expecting, Gem flopped down to her bed without being noticed because of the thick calming mist clouding their vision out of each other.

    It was the muscle cramps and exhaustion that made Gem flop down on her bed immediately after leaving Solitude. She was too preoccupied with the pressure of making an immediate decision for her life earlier which caused a delay to all her painful senses, but when she finally had her rest, it was when everything bad kicked into her thin muscles.

    She did not realize the dangerous thing that she did to her body when she decided to jump into such an extensive routine without proper warm-ups and practice all in one go.

    Perhaps, she was too young to experience all of this. But on the bright side, she was able to enjoy the training slightly, despite the bad services she encountered within the broken records and them non-accomodating systems, she was still able to fill her hopes up of finally being helpful to Venedette and Fily''s research about Salamandites and their hidden powers.

 Chapter 57 - Wrong

    "W-What happened?" Von coughed aggressively and noticed Lei spacing out beside him while inhaling the cool substance of the said ''bomb'' against his bare skin.

    "Lei, are you okay?" he asked under the handkerchief he used to filter his nose from the mist.

    Lei came back to his senses when Von tugged his arms a little bit. "Yeah, I''m fine. Sorry, I freaked out a little bit there. Are you okay?" he asked Von in a composed manner that Von couldn''t help but feel that something was wrong with him.

    When things like this happened before, Lei would usually carry him out of the area to keep him safe, but why was he acting so calm right now? He was not even protecting himself from the suspicious substance that was surrounding them!

    "I guess? Aren''t you supposed to keep me safe? And why are you not protecting yourself from this... weird thing." Von said while fanning the area around his face..

    "Right," Lei said, seemingly contemplating about something- whether to tell Von about what he was thinking or to bring him out of there immediately. "But I don''t think this mist is dangerous."

    Von''s permanent scowl was emphasized even more when he heard Lei say this. He even inhaled the substance in front of Von just to prove his point.

    "See? Nothing. It even smells good like minted candy." Lei shrugged.

    Von was still unconvinced. He had no plans of letting go of his handkerchief until he confirmed Lei''s safety after a few minutes or until the fog subsided so he could finally see if his family was still safe whilst this mysterious fog.

    Who knows where this thing came from and what kind of purpose does it serve for being unleashed inside the castle, right where the Queen was currently there.

    "Is everyone alright?" Sir Grandoise suddenly said.

    "We are fine," Lei said in place of Von who was still refusing to remove the cover in his mouth and nose.

    "Same here." Petunia said in a calm voice instead of her emotionless voice that raised another suspicion to Von about the whole situation.

    He was expecting Petunia to freak out and be excited about the whole ''fog bomb'' thing, especially since she was the most interested in potions and mixtures here, but there was none of those evident in her voice. Instead, she was calm. Like Lei, Sir Grandoise and even Venedette''s cries disappeared completely.

    Von shook the thought out of his head and focused on Halma instead when she did not respond to Sir Grand''s question.

    "Halma? Are you there? You alright?" he shouted impulsively which gave way for the fog''s scent to reach his nose, ultimately sending him back to that time when he helped Lei cover-up Gem''s sudden release of a foggy substance from her necklace.

    "Wait, I think I remember this smell," he said to Lei, finally taking off the handkerchief from his nose.

    Halma, on the other hand, was speechless when she saw Gem lying on the bed beside her.

    She even jumped out of shock when Von called out to her. "I- uhhh. I''m fine," she answered with a shaky voice and came closer to inspect Gem.

    She was stunned again when Gem suddenly held her hands, whispering, "Water, please." with a voice so weak, she immediately assumed it was the result of her going in and out of another dimension.

    Halma was not completely unaware of their heirloom''s powers. In fact, she was so curious about these powers that when Vendette started babbling about it, she decided to send Fily, the daughter of Riveth, her most trusted Adviser in the whole country, to spy for her without Venedette''s knowledge.

    "Can someone bring water here to Little Gem please?!" Halma said in a loud voice that was then followed by gasps, particularly from Venedette who was so relieved to hear about Gem that she immediately flew across the room and to Halma''s side despite the blinding fog between them.

    "Where is she?"

    "She''s lying on the bed," Halma said while touching Gem up. Somehow, she was able to recognize Gem because of her voice and the faint cyan glow around her fog.

    Venedette took out a water bottle from her tool belt and tried to give it to Gem but was interrupted when Fily suddenly used her skill Super Puff. Consequently dispersing the thick fog around them and blowing it out of the window which Petunia opened up for her on the other side.

    When the fog disappeared, they were left with a clearer view of Gem laying flat on the bed. Her torn clothes and immense sweat gave them an idea of what might have happened to her all while she was gone.

    "Here''s your water Gem¡­" Venedette said gently, trying to get Gem''s attention.

    But she was already fast asleep.

    The breeze from Fily''s Super Puff was so comfortable that it became a hundred times easier for her to fall asleep even with her full body muscle cramps and dehydration.

    When Venedette confirmed that Gem was just sleeping and not dead, her anger towards Halma lessened a bit and was replaced with the thankful thought of Gem coming back to her alive.

    But Halma wouldn''t just let everything go without a word.

    "See, told you she''s alive. And my experiment worked! She can now go to Solitude whenever she likes by just simply dying! Isn''t that great!?" she clapped to humor herself but no one else was clapping alongside her.

    "What you did was wrong, Halma," Von said out of nowhere.

    Von''s boldness was a shock to everyone, especially since his relationship with Gem was not exactly that great, it was unlikely of him to be the one to talk back to Halma about this thing.

    But since he had the power to do so, he just let himself voice his own opinion regardless of what everyone would think of him.

    "Oh? Did I? So this how Venedette''s been raising you? Soft?"

    "Halma. Stop it. Please." Sir Grandoise looked at them with pleading eyes.

    But Venedette was far from backing up. And neither was Von. His pride just got hurt for defending Gem and his mother but he''s got to stick to his decision.

    "I''m not soft, grandma. I just know the difference between what is right and what is not." Von answered with so much conviction that even Halma was taken aback by his words.

 Chapter 58 - Spy

    With the disappearance of the Calming Mist, another wave of argument came between Venedette, Halma, and now with Lei which they then continued during dinner while Gem was transferred to the infirmary for more maintenance and medical care.

    "Don''t. Lecture me." Halma said in a tone that was final after Von''s explanation.

    They were continuing their dinner after what happened to Gem but this time, instead of getting straight to the argument, they decided to finish eating first before they could proceed.

    And when Von decided to go first by explaining why he thought Halma was in the wrong, Halma got irritated by his cleverness and way of words.

    "Let him talk, Halma. I''m not letting him grow up without a voice like what you once did to me and my brothers. He is free to express himself and his beliefs."

    "But not to me.. Be careful with your words, child." Halma said, rebutting Venedette''s words immediately to Von who on the other hand, seemed like he didn''t care much about the argument anymore.

    He already said what''s on his mind and that was enough for him. No need to prolong the argument with repetitive words if he knew the other party wouldn''t listen to him anyway.

    Dinner was done and there were desserts on the table, but the room felt more like a courtroom than a dining room due to Halma and Venedette''s heavy auras filling inside.

    Since the calming mist helped them calm down a little earlier, they were able to tone down their emotions, most especially Venedette and Fily''s emotional breakdowns, but since it was only for a short time, Venedette and Fily was only able to clear their emotions, not their minds nor the thoughts that bothered them the most about Halma''s involvement with Gem''s wishes and powers.

    "I did what I had to do to help the progress of your mission, Venedette. Don''t tell me what I did was wrong because from what I can see, the plan actually worked. And it was not even my plan in the first place! Gem was the one who thought of doing such a thing! I just helped her do something that you, soft-hearted people, wouldn''t help her do." Halma ranted.

    Fily''s eyes widened upon hearing this.

    "How did you know that?" she said bravely despite not being able to look at Halma''s eyes.

    It was true that Gem was the first one who said she needed to die in order to enter that Solitude place again, but Fily had no recollection of when and how she told anyone anything about it.

    She was the most aggravated when she heard those words from Gem''s mouth, and although she was convinced by the theory, she was not a fan of it. She even promised Gem that she would find another way for her to enter Solitude so how-? And why?

    "Oh? You really didn''t know?"

    Somehow, the Queen''s tone managed to scare her off from digging too deep into this. But she deserves to know the truth! She wouldn''t be able to last a day thinking she betrayed Gem. Or would she ever let her friends think she betrayed them because of this! So she swallowed the huge lump on her throat and looked at the Queen''s flaming eyes to answer "Yes." despite her shaky voice.

    The Queen''s smirk told her how she would look stupid the moment her mouth opens up, and what she thought was right.

    "You have a connection with Riveth, your mom, so she was able to see everything you have been doing for the past few days while you were here so it was only natural for me to get wind of everything too."

    Fily knew she had a connection with her mom, and every other kin she had a strong blood relationship to. But she was not aware of her mom being able to see everything that she could see! In short, she was made a spy by the Queen without her knowledge!

    "Halma! What you''re doing is beyond despicable now! From killing Gem to even invading Fily''s privacy!" Venedette exhaled deeply.

    "What are you talking about?! I did not invade her privacy! It was her mom who had been watching everything for me and just telling me the important facts that I should know from your research!"

    "So why did you even call me this morning to ask about things? I thought I betrayed my friends because of you!" Fily suddenly exploded, her face was so red after discovering that disturbing thing but what bothered her the most was the fact that she had been used by her mother of all people for that silly information that she would have otherwise given to her mother willingly!

    "And you even had the nerve to lie to me about some things! Just be thankful I adore your mother too much or else you would have already been punished for your lies against the Queen." Halma said with much grace that even if she was in a one-versus-six situation, she was still able to stand proud and gracefully powerful just like her animal symbol ''the fox''.

    "How could she do this to me?" Fily gasped, tears started filling her eyes once again as her knees weakened below her.

    Petunia, on the other hand, who genuinely thought Fily actually betrayed them, went closer to comfort her.

    She was still angry from the fact that Fily, one of the most intelligent super humans on this planet, was not aware of her mom''s ability to connect to her without her consent. But that was just it. It was not Fily''s fault that her mom, the Queen''s adviser, was more intelligent than her.

    "You are too much Halma!"

    "And you''re not listening to a word I said!" Halma slammed on the table.

    She was still wearing her complete Queen attire even during dinner for some unknown reason but they were all too immersed in the argument that none of them bothered to ask why she was wearing such a sacred thing out of the throne room.

    "That''s because you make no sense at all!"

    "Do I now?" she said in a cunning tone before leaving the dining room filled with despaired faces once again.

 Chapter 59 - Practical

    Venedette and Petunia followed after Halma outside of the dining room and now inside the throne room, where a lot of attendants were present to serve for the Queen.

    And although Halma was able to bring the heavy atmosphere with her from the dining room, it was still undeniably awkward inside the dining room where Fily, Lei, Von, and Sir Grand were left.

    No one dared to talk amongst them. They were still internalizing the words that were exchanged from Venedette and Halma and also from Von. And although it may sound absurd to accept what Halma did, they secretly couldn''t deny the fact that she was right. Her method worked.

    It was risky but it gave them more results about their research that they would have spent months on completing before arriving at the same conclusion otherwise.

    Halma was a practical woman. She loves making progress the most no matter what kind of method she uses. She would even step on people willingly just to achieve her goals, and would likely sacrifice her family for the better of more people in her country. That was her ultimate purpose in this world.. To be her people''s stronghold.

    And what better way to be free of this burden than by making her country the best and leading one amongst the nine remaining countries of this world? The only thing stopping her now was the great flame borders that also served as their first line of defense against the outside world.

    If only she knew how to configure or even expand this border to conquer more lands, she would be able to make more progress for her country just like what the current number one country, Heixilia, was able to do nowadays thanks to Yumeki.

    So her team had to win the tournament. And research more about the Salamandite''s connection to the borders. She had a strong hunch about the Salamandite''s involvement with the borders and she was not backing out from it. Especially after confirming the gemstone''s powers with her own eyes.

    If only Venedette could activate her gemstone now just like how Gem was able to activate hers.

    "Don''t tell Gem about what actually happened. I don''t want her to try killing herself just to go back to that place. What if she actually dies in the process? I really can''t afford to lose another child, Ma. Please do understand." Venedette said while following after Halma in the throne room.

    She didn''t even notice Petunia following behind them. It seems like the cat also had inquiries to the Queen but she let Venedette go first.

    "The girl will decide whether or not she''s willing to kill herself to go back there or not, Vendette. And besides, didn''t the events earlier just proved how effective that method was in bringing Gem to that dimension?" Halma raised an eyebrow at her while sitting comfortably on her throne.

    "I will tell her at the right time. Just please¡­ don''t say or do anything to her anymore without my permission, mother. Or else you''ll lose me too like how you lost my brothers'' loyalty to that other country." Venedette said with a subtle shade being thrown at Halma about her dark past with her betrayers of a son.

    "Fine," Halma said, finally getting to an agreement with Venedette despite all that argument that they just discussed at the dining table.

    "Thank you," Venedette said before walking out of the throne room in a rush.

    Petunia then stepped up before the Queen.

    "The talking cat! Is that right? You''re the talking cat, aren''t you? Come here." Halma said, seemingly adoring her.

    Petunia did what Halma said and sat on the Queen''s lap while swirling around as if trying to find a good spot to sit on.

    When Halma noticed Petunia was not talking, she tried to talk to her again.

    "Why aren''t you talking? From what I can remember, Riveth told me you''re that potions master who went missing during the 4010''s tournament where your family was chosen to be the prize." Halma said insensitively yet again.

    Petunia was trying so hard to keep her patience long while hearing everything that was coming out from Halma''s foul mouth.

    She just wanted to steal the flask from Halma''s bracelet that she sensed was a very rare and expensive material for advanced potion-making. But of course, the Queen was not dumb.

    She could read what Petunia was thinking based on her fidgeting movements around her lap and grasping actions to her wrists.

    "Looking for this?" Halma said and raised her hand, flashing a small flask from her bracelet under the white robe.

    The flask was holding a clear water-like elixir in it with a glowing yellow bead floating violently inside as if it was trying to escape the bottle.

    "Is¡­ Is it real?" Petunia said, seemingly being mesmerized by the poison.

    What she was seeing right now, was the ever-rare ingredient next to Energy slimes, the Dandeloin spirit! It was a poison that could only be obtained from the soul of a Dandelion flower being born on the highest ground of the world. And since that place was not part of the safe zones, obtaining one was as hard as finding one needle in a haystack!

    "Do you want it?" Halma offered it to her.

    And of course, she wants it! What more would an alchemist nerd want the most in the world but a super rare toxic substance that was a hundred times more dangerous than the current poison in her Gummy Cloud''s defense system?!

    "H-How?" Petunia was stuttering real bad.

    Her mind couldn''t focus on the conversation because of the seductive stare she was getting from the shining Dandeloin spirit in Halma''s hands!

    "So you can really talk! That''s so cool!" Halma said excitedly and hid the flask inside her thick fur scarf which called Petunia back to her senses after the seductive poison disappeared from her sight completely.

    "Did you use that to kill Gem?" Petunia shot immediately which made Halma speechless... yet again.

 Chapter 60 - Pet

    "Why yes of course!" Halma laughed nervously.

    She knew Petunia was not just a simple cat nor a simple alchemist, and using an ultra-rare potion such as Dandeloin to kill her friend was not really pleasant to hear.

    "WHY?!"

    Suddenly, Halma forgot her position as the Queen because of Petunia''s violent outburst. She looked so cute yet there was a demanding authority to her voice that Halma couldn''t deny got her in the first half.

    Halma cleared her throat and recollected her grace. "How dare you talk to me like that," she said calmly.

    Petunia did not mind her words and even gave her a sharp stare while still sitting on the Queen''s lap.

    "Do you know how rare that thing is?" Petunia asked.

    "Of course! I''m the Queen, I only use expensive things!"

    "So that''s why you used that ultra-rare potion to kill Gem, knowing she would live through it, just because you only have expensive things with you?!"

    Petunia could not believe Halma''s reason for using such an important item for her experiments just to kill Gem. It broke her heart even more than finding out about Gem''s death or Fily''s betrayal! Such an impulsive person!

    "So, what do I do to get the only remaining Dandeloin spirit in your hands?" Petunia sat down carefully, trying to strike a deal with the Queen whom she didn''t even care about disrespecting anymore.

    "Right¡­ uhmm."

    The Queen had always dreamt of having a magical fox for a pet. And because most of the magical animals from outside of the borders were either violent or not magical enough, she couldn''t hire anyone to tame one of the more advanced foxes for her.

    But Petunia was a furry cat, not a fox. She may be special but she still used to be a human before actually being a cat.

    "What is it?" Petunia said impatiently while Halma was still busy thinking.

    ''Maybe I should just dare her to be my pet for the rest of my days here in this castle?'' Halma thought.

    In her eyes, having Petunia''s cat form could already be the closest experience she would get from having a special fox from the outside world as a pet.

    "Be my pet." Halma simply said.

    "What!?"

    Subsequently, this bold offer made Petunia blush. Her pride being crushed the more she thought about it.

    ''Being the Queen''s pet? In exchange for a super-ultra rare item from her? Well, I guess it isn''t that bad¡­'' she pondered about it more.

    "For how long?" Petunia asked.

    "For only as long as I am here¡­ will that be enough?" Halma said nervously. She was lenient to Petunia since she thought about how Venedette would be so against this and the chances of Petunia not agreeing to go back with her to her own castle.

    She had to be conservative, or else she would miss her only shot of making her little childish dream come true.

    "Fine. But let us discuss the terms first." Petunia said, seemingly taking the lead for this deal instead of her supposedly ''owner''.

    "Okay, whatever you prefer." Halma took the bait.

    Deep inside, Petunia was making fun of her for being too naive. But she knew too well not to underestimate Halma for things like this, she still needed to keep her guards high just so she wouldn''t fall under the Queen''s trap if ever she had another purpose in mind for making Petunia her pet.

    "Why would she ask you to be her pet though, isn''t that just weird?" Fily shared Petunia''s concern right after being told of what just happened with the Queen in the throne room.

    "Wait. Why am I telling you this? How do I know if this will get broadcasted to your mom or not?" Petunia suddenly stood back in an alert stance against Fily when they coincidentally bumped into each other on the highest tower of this castle and naturally started talking about their worries.

    "Right¡­ Should I ask my mom about it?" Fily said seriously, even preparing her Stat-hut on standby just in case.

    "S-Sure. Go ahead."

    Within the time Petunia spent on the Queen''s lap, she had a clearer view of how dangerous the Queen''s passive powers of spreading despair actually was. Almost every maid who approached them instantly had grudges surface against each other after serving the Queen.

    And although it was not enough for them to actually kill each other, it sure did affect their competitiveness and service quality.

    They wanted to impress the Queen so much that they even resorted to sabotaging each other behind the scenes!

    So Petunia, as the second most mature in Leviathan, decided to come up with a strategy that might be able to help them overcome this underlying challenge with ease.

    "We have to be straightforward with each other at all times to avoid misunderstandings."

    "That''s right." Fily agreed whole still ringing her mom with the shared Stat-hut feature with Petunia.

    This feature allowed them to spectate what each other was doing with their own Stat-huts without being seen by the other parties.

    "I''m really sorry about earlier. I had no idea my mom was spying on me the whole time." Fily said solemnly when her mom suddenly answered her call.

    "What''s up?" her mom said with an intimidating voice that Petunia was least expecting since Fily''s voice was as light and soothing as air.

    "Can you really watch what I was doing this whole time?" Fily whined.

    "What? Don''t tell me you hadn''t noticed me watching over you this whole time? Are you dumb?" Riveth hissed violently which made Fily look embarrassingly at Petunia for being able to witness that.

    Petunia nodded at Fily to tell her it was okay but Fily was too embarrassed, she had to cut the call immediately. She even had a hard time looking back at Petunia after that.

    "You did great." Petunia patted her back using her small paws which made Fily''s heart sting a little bit.

    "I''m sorry." Fily apologized again.

    Now, she had to find a way to cut her mother''s connection with her, or else she wouldn''t be able to have her privacy anymore. She would be too embarrassed to even stay with Leviathan because of this!

 Chapter 61 - Somehow

    "You should go rest." Sir Grand said after seeing Venedette watching over Gem at four in the morning with eyes as sleepy as a panda''s.

    "Watch over her please."

    "I will." Sir Grand said and grabbed a blanket from the nurse''s cabinet to put on Venedette.

    Venedette laid down on Gem''s bed and immediately fell asleep after that.

    The longer Sir Grand stayed beside his family, the more he realized how little he actually knew them.

    Venedette was obviously still suffering from the loss of Demi. And although Demi was also Sir Grand''s daughter, he was not able to spend too much time with her to miss her as much as Venedette and Von did.

    Her loss was not much of an impact for him, which only proved how bad of a father he was for his family.

    While watching over Gem and Venedette sleep, Sir Grand noticed a faint cyan glow under Gem''s blanket.

    He was aware of the magical gemstone in her neck but he was not informed much about it. He would only ever hear it from Venedette when she tends to overshare sometimes, or from the kid''s conversations.

    But because he was not considered important enough by Halma to be aware of these kinds of confidential information, his curiosity peaked while seeing the cyan light in the midst of this darkened room.

    Sir Grand was not in favor of sending his wife and son to this dangerous tournament. But at the same time, their involvement with the tournament gave him a rare opportunity of being able to spend time with them. He could still work on his image while staying beside them and knowing more about them.

    But this gemstone. It was the key item for this mission to succeed. Either because of its extraordinary powers or its tendency to attract danger from those who were aware of its capabilities.

    "If only I could get it to be mine." Sir Grandoise thought.

    He wouldn''t need to involve his family anymore in this tournament and Venedette could even keep Gem safe and alive in the castle with Von and the others while still being able to make her dreams come true of turning this castle into a school. Without the need of risking her life first.

    Could that be possible? Sir Grand''s knowledge of the gemstones was still far inferior to those around him. But if that was possible, he thought, then shouldn''t the gemstone be in Halma''s possession by now?

    Sir Grand stopped his hand from reaching the gemstone.

    That''s right, he shouldn''t underestimate the Queen''s shenanigans especially after seeing her emotional outburst earlier. That unexpected action just made her more unpredictable than she was before. But also softer. She might change her mind and spare Venedette and the kids'' lives because of this.

    He just needs to make sure Halma would form an attachment with the kids so she would have no choice but to provide them the best for the tournament. And even let them back out of it entirely if his plan works perfectly.

    ***

    The next day, Halma was the first one to arrive in Gem''s room. She was carrying the sleeping Petunia in her arms which surprised Venedette to life after that short slumber.

    "What''s happening?" said Venedette while rubbing her eyes.

    "Come, Gem is going to get blessed by me today." Halma urged Venedette to stand up and leave the room with them.

    The sun was already at its peak when Venedette woke up, it was also the same time she noticed that she was alone in the room and was now lying on the bed instead of Gem.

    Surprisingly, Halma was in a good mood today, making the sun seem more cheerful than it usually was at this time.

    "What are you planning to do now?" said Venedette to Halma while Petunia was just rolling her eyes from Halma''s arms.

    "You are going to get dressed for today''s event."

    "What event?"

    Venedette was still half-asleep but her instincts were already telling her Halma was up to something not good again.

    "Just go eat breakfast first and¡­ Take care of her." Halma ordered the maids behind her, giving up on answering Venedette''s question about what her actual plan for today was.

    The maids immediately moved to take care of Venedette, and when she was gone, Gem approached Halma and Petunia in the middle of the hallway, seemingly energetic and feeling better as if she didn''t just come back from the dead.

    Somehow, her dying and waking up from the dead was becoming more and more common for her even without her noticing it.

    "Where did Venedette go? I''m sure I just saw her here earlier."  Gem said.

    "Oh, she''s preparing for the ceremony honey." Halma smiled at Gem.

    Somehow, Halma was able to land a good first impression on Gem, without being aware of her shady past and present, Gem was able to immediately feel secure and safe around her.

    "Okay!" Gem said and brought her attention back to the toy in her hands.

    It was a circle that retracts whenever she drops it due to the rope connecting its body to her hands. It was a heavy LED mint green yoyo with handwritten designs of flowers all around it. This was the first thing Gem saw from Halma''s porcelain hands when she woke up.

    Gem was caught off-guard so she tried to wake Venedette up immediately after seeing someone unfamiliar, but when she recognized Petunia sleeping in Halma''s arms, she was able to calm down and put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

    She was informed that there would be a special visitor in this castle right before she was transported to the Solitude but she was only able to recall it now. The woman''s attire screamed royalty which really helped Gem guess who it was.

    "Halma?" Gem said cutely which made Halma laugh under her breath.

    "How did you know my name?" Halma answered, basically confirming Gem''s assumption which shocked her even more.

    In Gem''s mind, Halma was an old woman with a wrinkled face, like their history teacher or the other old maids in this castle. But Halma looks waay younger than her supposed age.

    It was confusing at first, but when Gem saw the similarities between Halma and Venedette''s sleeping face, she became more convinced of this.

    As expected, the Queen really was on a whole other level than everybody else on this planet, even Venedette included.

 Chapter 62 - Gift

    "The Queen? You''re the Queen¡­ " Gem freaking out, still unable to believe the fact that the Queen actually went here, in this room, just to see her. And she even brought Petunia with her!

    "That''s right." The Queen smiled.

    Somehow, Gem was able to familiarize Halma''s features that were similar to Venedette''s even with the little tinted light coming from the thing in Halma''s hands against this new darkroom during dawn.

    "What''s that?" Gem asked while eyeing the roughly cut circle crystal between Halma''s fingers that were glowing in different fascinating hues of blue to green alternatively. (Like an LED light inside a crystal yoyo.)

    "This is my gift to you," Halma whispered and placed the tip of her index finger to her lips which indicated silence since Venedette was still sleeping between them.

    "Come, let''s go outside." Halma mouthed which Gem was able to understand immediately thanks to her super hearing ability.

    When Gem followed Halma to the door, she was caught off-guard when Petunia suddenly handed her the object from the Queen''s hands. Not because she thought Petunia was actually sleeping this whole time, but because of the fact that this stone was heavier than what she was expecting!

    "This is heavy." Gem whispered enthusiastically which Halma only responded to with a giggle.

    The glowing thing was just as small as her hands yet it was heavier than the total weight of Fily and her combined!

    So this was just one of the Queen''s many capabilities from her pureblood superpowers! Unlike Venedette whose powers have become more saturated, the Queen can actually lift anything easily with just a fingertip!

    And Petunia was not even that different from her. I mean, how could a human in a cat''s body hold this thing so easily as if it was just nothing?!

    Gem shook her head and exerted more effort instead in carrying the glowing object which she still did not know the use of until Halma decided to educate her on it afterward.

    Outside the room, Sir Grand was leaning patiently against one of the walls across the door from Gem''s room since he was kicked out by the Queen for simply looking like a loser inside.

    "Sir Grand!" Gem greeted him after closing the door behind her.

    "What are you doing here? Do we have a class later? I''m feeling super energetic right now and there''s this task that I need to test out for later but I''m sure I could still manage to attend your class later!" Gem said in one breath which made Sir Grand look at Halma for her decision about this whole class thing while she''s visiting.

    "Oh honey, don''t worry about that for now. I have a lot of things to discuss with you first before you continue your lessons with this... teacher. And do you mind if I..?" Halma answered in Sir Grand''s stead and asked for the yoyo in Gem''s hands.

    "Oh? What is it for?" Gem''s eyes sparkled while watching Halma let go and retract the heavy crystal thing using the thin strings in between them, subsequently forgetting all about Sir Grand and his pitiful experience with the Queen which Gem did not focus on clearly.

    ***

    "What did you do to her? Did you tell her about the..?" Venedette intentionally trailed off her sentence while watching Gem enjoying her new toy peacefully beside Fily and Lei on the outdoor dining table where Halma decided she would do the newborn ceremony for Gem.

    And although Gem was not actually a newborn, Halma thought it was necessary for Gem to obtain her blessings anyway since she would be a representative to their country soon as part of the Princess'' squad Leviathan.

    "We didn''t tell her anything about it. Even though I am very against this¡­ keeping a secret from her thing-"

    "Me too." Petunia suddenly pitched in.

    "I just hope you''ll tell her soon enough. When you''re ready, of course." Halma said in concern which really creeped Vendette out this time.

    "What are you planning? Why are you carrying around Petunia as your pet?" Venedette said and looked at Petunia meaningfully.

    Petunia on the other hand just shrugged at her and looked away immediately while Halma laughed nervously at her question.

    "Nothing. Just let the old lady have her fun while I''m here," she said which made Venedette narrow her eyes even more.

    "I''m watching you, ma. Please, just don''t try doing something at all while you''re here. Just¡­ stay still and let me do the job for you. Trust me." Venedette said before leaving the flowery stage made especially for Halma during this one-time event.

    "Venedette!" Gem called to her after making her presence known at this table.

    "Are you feeling okay now? How about your powers? Are they working just fine?"

    "They are. Although I haven''t tried doing the tasks, I''m afraid they might not work while I''m still here in the real world." Gem said without any background information which confused Venedette.

    "What tasks?"

    "Oh, I haven''t told you yet? I was given a bunch of tasks when I went inside--"

    Thankfully, Venedette was quick to cover Gem''s mouth before was able to say the word ''Solitude'' in this crowded place.

    "Okay, we''ll talk about that later okay?"

    "Okay! By the way, what''s the ceremony for?" Gem asked.

    "It''s for you dummy," Fily answered after surprising Gem with her arrival.

    "Hey! You''re not asleep!" It was not a question but rather a shocked expression from Gem and even Venedette too on the inside.

    "That''s right! The Queen gave me this medicine, the same one my mom was using to maximize her awake time while on duty." Fily smiled while showing them a clear glass bottle with purple pills inside.

    "What''s it made of?" Venedette asked cautiously.

    "She wouldn''t say. But Petunia helped me guess, uhmm Guimerra fruit and Michocho? I''m still not sure, so far all we know is that it''s safe and yes, pretty expensive. I''m guessing this came from Maharlika, you know? My family''s home country." Fily said expressively while Gem was just nodding the whole time.

    "As long as it''s safe," Venedette said and shrugged right before the ceremony started.

 Chapter 63 - Demi Is Here

    "Mom. Is she really going to be part of our family? Demi hasn''t even been gone for too long and you''re already going to replace her?!"

    "Who said anything about replacing Demi, Von?"

    "No one has to say it, mom! You''re being too obvious! And here I thought you care about Demi as much as I did. Turns out you don''t care about her anymore! All you care about is this¡­ tournament! And collecting all these girls to replace Demi. You''re the worst-"

    "Don''t talk to your mother like that, Von!" Sir Grand''s voice suddenly thundered across the dim room.

    "No! You shut up! You don''t even know what Demi''s favorite food was! You were never here so why are you even here now?!"

    "Von, son, please calm down." Venedette tried to woo him while keeping her own tears at bay.

    "You''re overstepping your boundaries, Von." Sir Grand growled in a very low voice, ready to teach his son a lesson but Venedette stopped him by intercepting his way and pushing his chest softly.

    "I got this." Venedette''s whispered with a sore voice.

    The bareness of the bunker allowed their voices to travel from one end to another without much effort, but unlike Venedette''s soft voice, Von was clearly aggravated by this mistaken impression that Gem will replace Demi as his sister after the ceremony.

    "People will forget about Demi. If Gem''s last name becomes Lorestifa, people will forget Demi even existed."

    "Why would you say that Von?"

    "Because it''s true! I''m the only one who remembers her. You even gave the stat-hut we were saving for Demi''s ninth birthday to her! How am I supposed to understand that?" Von said with a dried throat from crying too much.

    "I-" Venedette tried to say something but because what Von said was true, she couldn''t make a word come out of her mouth.

    "See? You don''t care about Demi''s feelings at all! All you did was satisfy your own greed by replacing Demi so you wouldn''t feel sad anymore. But what about me? What about Demi''s feelings? Demi is irreplaceable to me! And if you think the same then you shouldn''t let this ceremony happen! You shouldn''t let Halma bless Gem as the official replacement for Demi no matter how different you think it is! Please! Stop this."

    "It was not our decision, Von," Venedette said with a weak, shaky voice. Unlike Von whose voice was as clear as a violent wave in the sea, determined to get his message across.

    Incidentally, hearing those words from Von made Venedette realize something from her deepest and darkest intentions from all of the things she had been doing all this time.

    She knew to herself that what Von said was right.

    But at the same time, he was also wrong.

    It was so wrong to the point where all Venedette could do was to deny everything to her grave.

    She didn''t take in Gem just because she was missing Demi. She took Gem in because being there at that exact moment seemed too much of a coincidence for her. It was as if she was meant to be there, to save Gem and to take care of her.

    It was as if the Heavens made it so Gem was not just a normal person, they made her special so she would have a reason to stay beside Venedette. And eventually, Venedette believed that Gem was the Heaven''s way of saying sorry to her. For taking her real child away from her at such an early age.

    Gem helped to fill the void in Venedette''s heart. And as if it wasn''t enough, Gem also became the key for her to finally enact her revenge on Yumeki. Everything fitted so perfectly in Venedette''s mind that it became safe to say that having Gem here was her destiny. And ultimately being spared from thinking about the obvious fact that she was already replacing the hole that Demi caused in her heart through this mission.

    "But none of this was Gem''s fault. She didn''t come here just to simply replace Demi. She came here in her stead, offering a helping hand to avenge your fallen sister, Von. Gem is willing to make the people who hurt Demi pay. Isn''t that what you want?"

    "No! I don''t want to lose my family any more mom. I told you, I don''t want you to participate in this tournament! You of all people should know about the real deal when going outside of those borders for the tournament! Killing over there is not illegal! Just please, stay here with me. Demi doesn''t want you to go too."

    "Demi is not here anymore, Von!" Sir Grand shouted out of frustration.

    This was the effect of losing Demi for Von aside from having attitude disorders, Von also developed an imaginary image of Demi in his mind for missing her too much. Von was not really a good brother to Demi but Demi was a good little sister to him. She would always make these silly faces to make his grumpy face smile but she would always end up being ignored.

    And when Von finally came to his senses and decided he would want to be a good sibling to Demi too, she was suddenly gone. He couldn''t accept how unfair Demi was for not giving him a chance to be a good brother to her.

    "Step out of it! Demi is not here anymore!"

    "No! She''s here. She''s here." Von kept on insisting while shaking his head, refusing to listen to his father.

    "Grand!" Venedette became alarmed after realizing Von''s panic attack. "Stop it!"

    "He needs to get out of it as soon as possible or he won''t be able to get over it when he grows old."

    "Lei! Call the nurse!" Venedette shouted to Lei who was on standby beside the door.

    "You don''t understand! The doctor told us to take it slowly! You can''t force him to accept Demi''s death just like that!"

    "No! Demi is still here!"

    "Yes, yes, you''re right Von. Demi is here. She''s here." Venedette tried to woo him down by pointing at her heart.

    "Demi is here," she told him again with a clenched heart.

 Chapter 64 - Special

    "I now hereby declare Crystal Gemma Lorestifa as an official part of this family as a protector and future hero of this country for the upcoming Dekadalaw tournament in the year 4020, along with the Princess of Yvandir and her team members in Leviathan, with the hopes of neverending wisdom and guidance from the Heavens above. May they always be with you through your journey into the wastelands. To victory!"

    "To victory!" The people shouted in unison after hearing Halma''s very long speech before lunch.

    Then they all returned to their stations afterward to do their remaining task in this very small yet eloquent banquet for only Venedette''s family and the other kids that she was taking care of. Which was safer to refer to as her first students in this soon-to-be-transformed school in a castle.

    But Venedette did not attend the ceremony, nor did Sir Grand, Von, and Lei.

    The ceremony was already done when a maid showed up, sweating bullets while telling them about what happened to Von and his sudden panic attack. Why his whole family could not attend the ceremony.

    "Oh no, Von," Fily said, seemingly sympathizing with Venedette''s little brat for having such an ugly response to his trauma.

    When they arrived at the clinic once again, Gem had a better grasp of what was going on.

    At first, she was mad at Venedette for missing out on her first official ceremony, but after seeing Von, she immediately understood why Venedette had to be beside him instead.

    "Von had a panic attack." Fily simply said to Gem and Petunia who had no idea of what was going on in this castle long before they arrived.

    "That''s too bad. I guess that''s another reason why Von wouldn''t join Leviathan." Petunia pitched in the conversation, finally getting out of the Queen''s hands for the first time today and being able to walk freely since only relatives were allowed to visit Von in that room for today.

    Coincidentally, Lei was also outside and overheard the girl''s conversation regarding his invitation to Leviathan along with Von.

    "If I were you, I would refrain myself from mentioning anything about the tournament and Leviathan to Von especially if he ends up becoming a tad more sensitive about the topic after this panic attack," he said, joining in the conversation.

    "Then we should just avoid talking about those things whenever he''s near, and he''s not here right now so we can talk freely about anything, thank you very much," Fily said cheerfully which really annoyed Lei but since he was the benevolent type of guy, he just let it go altogether while still trying to make these girls back off.

    "Still, watch your mouths."

    "Let''s talk about the ceremony instead." Fily changed the topic and went closer to Gem while giggling. "Does this mean you''re now on the same level as me and Lei? Since you know, Lei was also blessed as Von''s protector from birth? And my ancestors were blessed way before that to be in service to this family for generations including mine!"

    "But Gem was given a new name with Lorestifa as her surname. Does that mean she''s actually part of the royal family now?" Petunia also asked out of curiosity.

    "Is that weird?" Gem asked, having the same questions in mind too.

    "It''s not weird but it''s not common either. Usually, Royals cannot adopt strangers into their family due to the unique properties in their blood that could only be shared with their relatives. But in Gem''s case, I''m guessing it was because of the fact that she had unknown blood relatives and even unknown blood status that was why she was able to be adopted into the Royal family despite not having royal superpowers¡­ which if we put her Salamandite powers into account, she doesn''t need royal attributes to be a royal anymore. In short, you have a special case, Gem." Fily explained to them in the briefest way she possibly could but still ended up saying something really long.

    ''And also, if I think about it, the person who gained more privilege and power through this ceremony was Halma, the Queen. By giving her surname to Gem, it was inevitable that Gem would have to serve her for the rest of her life with her Salamandite powers under her control!'' Fily pondered about it silently. ''Talk about owning the owner of a Salamandite by subtle means!'' she exclaimed even more.

    The Queen was really someone whom she could never underestimate. Her every step always had a hidden genius purpose behind it! Just like a real Queen in the game of chess, her moves were always planned perfectly beforehand. And her tactics were very subtle, showing up with pure intentions but also with hidden agendas all along? Who wouldn''t fall for that?

    "The more I get to know you the more I realize how special you actually are, kid. Just where exactly did you come from in this world?" Petunia sighed, throwing wonders in the air.

    "I told you, I just came from an orphanage in the wastelands." Gem answered with a playful tone.

    "You''re really special Crystal Gem, and I hope you do realize that," Fily said with a hidden meaning behind it.

    But Gem couldn''t realize it just yet. Fily just couldn''t get the courage to burst Gem''s happy little bubble this early on adventures together, especially right after being accepted into a real family whom she believed would take care of her for good.

    There''s just no reason for Gem to revoke this seemingly perfect arrangement for her right now. But soon, maybe. When she finally found her own value. Maybe Gem would be willing to break out from Halma''s shackles in the mistaken impression of repaying Venedette''s kindness to her.

    And when she does that, who knows what kind of purpose Gem might have with the powers she will soon acquire from the Salamandite.

    "If you''ll be awake more than twice a week now Fily, then how about unlocking the locked chapters in the manual book?"

    "It will be postponed, Halma is a really important person. She said she didn''t come here just to watch me sleep. She even wanted me to fill her in on our progress for the tournament. Even though she''s actually not helping either."

    "Well, I guess that is because she''s the Queen. She rules this country." Gem said innocently which made both Petunia and Fily cringe so violently.

 Chapter 65 - Sisterhood

    "Why? What''s wrong? Do you not like the Queen? I think she''s very cool." Gem said innocently yet again which harbored the same reactions from Fily and Petunia.

    "Oh Gem, if you only knew of the horrible things that she has done while you were away," Fily said, trying hard not to spill anything too serious from her mouth in the courtesy of poor little Gem and in respect to Venedette''s wish.

    Petunia squinted her eyes at Fily for this leading remark but Fily just shrugged her off.

    In Fily''s mind, she couldn''t help but think so deeply about the Queen''s purpose of making her awake longer than her supposed awake time, even sacrificing her progress rate at this point. Surely, she didn''t do it just for the sake of not watching Fily sleep, right?

    Maybe this was another one of her plans all along! Keeping Fily awake so she wouldn''t always tell the truth to Gem when she asks about something, especially during her asleep and half-asleep modes also known as her open encyclopedia mode.

    "What horrible things?" asked Gem.

    "Nothing. Don''t mind that, we just have our own personal grudges to the Queen, that''s all.. You should be careful around her too. We wouldn''t want you having a personal grudge against her too, do we now?" Petunia said convincingly, trying to cover up for what Fily said which seemed to work just fine thanks to Gem''s very light mood today.

    Gem, Petunia, and Fily''s chemistry class was postponed because of the ceremony and Von''s issue, which was why Petunia decided to take over this class in hopes of untangling herself from the Queen''s hold for at least an hour while still doing something actually productive with her time.

    Series of questions were exchanged throughout their walk along the corridors but the most important ones were; "So what happened to you inside that Solitude?" "How did I even manage to go into Solitude in the first place?" and "What do you plan to do now?" to which were all directed to Gem and to her disappearance to Solitude yesterday.

    "I''m actually still very nervous about my decision. I still haven''t the slightest idea about how I was able to go there in the first place. And I''m guessing you still don''t know about what happened to me too, right?"

    "Uhuh."

    "I was just sleeping, and then suddenly, Mr. Gemini woke me up saying ''Welcome to Solitude.'' And it wasn''t even my first time going there. Fily might not remember this but I actually brought her to Solitude before."

    "Really?"

    "Yes. But Solitude was an anti-superpowers place so your knowledge was blocked."

    "What?!" Fily said, suddenly freaking out by the thought of losing her superpowers.

    "That''s rad." Petunia remarked which made Fily pout at her.

    ''She''s probably imagining me being brainless right now!'' she thought, assuming Petunia''s changed impression of her now after hearing about the possibility of a dumb Fily.

    "That''s so disgusting!" Fily complained again which made Gem smile a little.

    "That''s why I didn''t try bringing you back there again, even Petunia. I didn''t want you guys to lose your powers because of me," said Gem.

    "Oh, Gem."

    "But since I don''t know anything about how to go back there or if this task would even work, I guess we''ll just see what will happen next." Gem said in a forcibly positive note.

    "I hope it works." Fily and Petunia said sincerely, pertaining to Gem''s plan so they wouldn''t be too guilty of keeping a very important piece of information from her via Venedette''s wish.

    "Too bad the unlocking of chapters would be delayed because of Halma." Gem said while smiling weakly at Fily.

    Somehow, they could both understand how each other felt about the delay of their progress being made simply because of Halma''s involvement.

    "That''s not a big deal, she''ll only stay here for two weeks anyway. Go and enjoy your childhood first, celebrate this new milestone you had just achieved today, and don''t go out stressing over life every day just like what I used to do when I was young. I don''t want to end up seeing you guys go through the same regrets I''m having right now especially when I learned about how my life is going to end sooner than everybody else. You have a lifetime ahead of you, kids. Do spend it wisely. Listen to the words of this wise cat attentively."

    "Petunia! Don''t say such things! We''re going to save you okay? You just wait. You''re going to live a full life without regrets soon. Just trust us, okay?" Fily said sensibly which made Gem pout and almost cry because of Petunia''s sudden life lessons.

    "I just told you, don''t stress about it. I''m not expecting anything from anyone anymore, especially from you guys. I don''t trust you." Petunia said jokingly but Gem was not able to catch up.

    Her fragile heart bursted out in flames of hugs and more hugs to furry Petunia and Fily''s thick body, stifling her sobs while her face was buried in them in hopes of making herself feel better about all these situations altogether.

    "Whoa, I was just joking, special lady." Petunia tried to get away from Gem''s embrace but she was too strong for her.

    Suddenly, the seemingly awkward tension in the air of the empty classroom where the three of them were currently inside was magically replaced with a whimsical feeling of comfort and warmth, especially after hearing Fily''s giggle across the four corners of the room while Gem was busy keeping her embrace.

    Was this the thing they called sisterhood? Teamwork? Something along the lines, somehow Petunia was able to feel the sincerity of Gem and Fily''s intentions upon saving her. Lowkey sparkling a little hope in her heart that she may, just may, be able to live a fuller life with them no matter the amount of time she has left, as long as she had them by her side¡­

    "Okay, that''s enough Gem, you''re squeezing me." Fily squeaked while tapping Gem''s head lightly.

    And when Gem let go of them, she immediately turned around to still hide her tears from them.

    "I almost died right there." Petunia said, scratching Gem''s blond hair away from her damp face after jumping on Gem''s right shoulder while Fily''s face popped out from the left side.

    "Come on, we still have a class to do," Fily said with a cheerful smile which was inevitably very contagious to Gem, spreading from her smile to her actions that soon enough became cheerful again.

    "That''s it, Crystal Gemma, life is supposed to be this way!"

    And they ended up fooling around instead.

    Enjoying life as much as they could for it was the most special gift in the world, something they wouldn''t be able to return to anymore, especially when the time finally comes where all that was left for them to do was to court death to the foolest while wishing on a star for a once in a lifetime miracle.

 Chapter 66 - Problems

    Winning the tournament, that was the goal.

    But along the way, they all knew it wouldn''t be easy.

    Reaching the goal was much more than a smooth ride uphill. Bumps were everywhere and right now, they haven''t even reached the midpoint of their goal.

    "Our group needs three more members to be complete. And instead of being able to go around and look for more talented children, Halma wouldn''t let me leave this place until she''s gone! And Von too. I can''t leave him yet." Venedette said, voicing out her concerns with a worn-out face.

    Not only was she having a problem with their team''s composition, but Halma was also getting in her way along with Von.

    And although this was Von''s initial plan all along, having panic attacks just made Venedette more concerned about him and even thought about dropping the entire plan of joining the tournament completely..

    But then she remembered, she can''t drop it. She can''t back out from it according to her pact with Halma.

    This sight of Venedette walking around the room and being unsettled raised a concern on the girl''s faces.

    They did have their fun, but this meeting was just too overwhelming after everything that happened in this single day.

    "You know, I think you should spend your precious time with Von first. The tournament wouldn''t be happening anytime soon. And besides, the three of us each have their own things to deal with first. Like my issue with my level zero skills, or Fily being awake longer which lessens her ability to unlock more chapters from the manual book¡­" Gem looked at them meaningfully while trying to convince Venedette to calm down. "And Petunia. We still need to find a way to help her live longer¡­" Gem trailed off.

    She realized how her words sounded more like giving Venedette more reasons to panic instead of comfort, which was not her intention initially, but since it already happened, Gem shut her eyes out of frustration and prayed to the gods instead that her message may be delivered to Venedette in a good shape.

    Fily noticed Gem''s expression so she pitched in to salvage her missed intention, "What Gem was trying to say here, is that, you shouldn''t let all these problems hit you all at once, Venedette. I''m sure you''re strong but no one could evade an avalanche of problems all at the same time. You''ve got to give it its own time, at the right time. Give Von space to change his decision while being there for him in his times of need."

    "That''s right." Petunia said, "The tournament''s a long way from now, Venedette. We''ve got a lot of time in our hands to deal with these problems. Well, at least you guys do-"

    "Petunia." Gem said pouting again.

    "Just kidding. But still, deal with these problems slowly and surely. That way we wouldn''t end up being prey for the monsters outside."

    Venedette let out a heavy sigh after hearing these words from, of all people, kids.

    But what did she expect?

    She chose the best kids in her country, after all.

    "Okay. Give me a brief description of your problems." Venedette said which made the girls groan out of frustration.

    "No. We''re not going to add up to your problems Venedette," said Fily.

    "That''s not what I''m trying to do here. I just need to be aware of the things you''re dealing with. That''s all." Venedette said, defending herself after finally calming down and sitting on a chair in front of the girls.

    "Mine''s about the new training manual I discovered upon chance inside Solitude. It''s called ''Astra Training Lesson'' and the number one lesson was Activation." Gem shared willingly.

    "She can''t do anything to help with my problem so I thought it''s fine sharing." Gem whispered to Fily who was glaring at her for biting into Venedette''s twisted logic.

    "Activation? As in how to activate the gemstone?" Venedette said attentively.

    "N-No?" Gem''s brows curled upon hearing Venedette''s assumption. "I assumed it was a training manual for my new skills, so naturally, I thought it was an activation for my hidden skill Solitude."

    "Oh." The excitement from Venedette''s voice died down. "Okay, then what''s the problem with it?"

    "The problem is I don''t know whether the tasks I was given from that manual will work outside of Solitude, which is over here, in the real world. I tried summoning the manual over here but it didn''t work. I''m afraid the tasks may not count over here either."

    "Then why don''t you just try doing the tasks right now and see if it works immediately?" Venedette asked.

    "I''m scared." Gem answered truthfully, calming down the storm of questions preparing to shoot at her because of this newfound information.

    "It''s okay, hon. Take your time." Fily said, reaching to pat Gem''s hair who was just seated beside her.

    "But hey, at least that''s progress, right?" Petunia said, trying to cheer up the gloomy mood inside of this library.

    "Right," Venedette answered in deep thoughts.

    ''So this was why Halma killed her? To make her go inside that Solitude for the training manual? But how did Halma know of this? Gem couldn''t possibly have found that manual out of pure coincidence. Halma must be hiding something from me about these gemstones!'' Venedette thought.

    "Okay next, let''s go with mine... since it''s not really a secret anymore, yeah?" Petunia said, dropping her ''cheerful'' face and just being her more stoic self this time.

    "I need to transform back into a human or else I die. Simple, right? All I need is Gem''s little Energy slime and some other pretty expensive rare ingredients, which I''m sure the Queen already has in store, so I''m trying my best to be a good pet for her. So there you go, see you guys either in the afterlife or¡­ also in the afterlife. Since we''re going on that dangerous tour afterward anyway. Well, a tooth for a tooth I''d say."

    "Don''t worry Petunia. I''ll really do my best to help you," said Gem.

    "Sure sure." Petunia just said with a shrug.

    "How about you, Fily?"

    "Oh, nothing much." Fily laughed nervously, trying to evade Venedette''s question since it was related to the secret they were trying to hide from Gem.

    "Right, your intelligent ass would have been able to solve pretty much everything in just a heartbeat, right?" Petunia said, trying to cover up for her now.

    "Yup, yup. That''s right. That''s totally it. Haha, problem who?" Fily said humorously which actually convinced both Venedette and Gem impeccably at this point. "We have enough time for me to unlock those chapters before the tournament anyway, so it''s not really a big deal."

    "That''s good to hear," Venedette said with a smile on the outside, but a cooking theory on the inside, trying to piece all these puzzles together of what seemed to be Halma''s great big plan behind all these things that were going on with them.

 Chapter 67 - Convince

    Coincidentally, Fily was also thinking the same as Venedette. And since she was now aware of her connection with her mother, she was trying her best to not learn anything new about their research and get away as much as possible when her friends were talking about important things.

    She couldn''t risk being the group''s loophole again. And as much as she was aware that Halma was on their side. She still could not trust the lady whose sole purpose of existence was to spread despair to her surroundings.

    Either she''ll have to cut this connection with her mother first or cover her eyes and ears whenever there''s new information being shared through their meetings.

    Just like what happened earlier when Gem was talking about her experiences with Solitude, and how there was a new training manual called ''Astral'' inside of it.

    "What have I done?" Fily complained to Petunia after the meeting where Venedette was now on her way back to Von. And Gem was outside of the library, stalling Halma so Petunia could have more time with Fily inside the library.

    "Firstly, beg your mom to not tell this information to Halma just yet.." Petunia advised her.

    "Okay," Fily said, rushing to contact her mom through the stat-hut but realized how her mom could watch her every movement anyway so she just went in front of a mirror and started begging with her puppy eyes.

    "Please don''t tell that information to Halma, please mom. Halma promised Venedette she wouldn''t do anything to harm Gem anymore but I''m afraid if she gets wind of this information, she might not stop herself from killing her again!"

    "And there''s one more dose of Dandeloin soul in her pocket, which means she can try and hurt Gem again with it. So please don''t tell her about the Astral training inside Solitude yet. Not until Halma gives me that one dose of Dandeloin soul first to secure Gem''s safety, pretty please?"

    *Ding!*

    A notification appeared in Fily''s personalized red and black stat-hut interface.

    "A message," Fily whispered to Petunia which indicated a go signal for her to connect Fily''s stat-hut so they could both see the message in real-time.

    [Riveth: You girls are silly. What makes you think I''ll betray the Queen for you?]

    Fily''s mother started a conversation with her, which meant she was actually spying on them since the beginning of the meeting!

    [Fily: Because I''m your daughter? And parents would do anything for their child.] Fily tried to reason.

    [Riveth: Well, you know, I''m not a normal parent like everybody else is.]

    [Fily: Then don''t you love me?]

    [Riveth: Of course I do! But professionals know how to separate their work from their personal lives, so stop this now or I''ll report you to the Queen in this instance!]

    [Fily: Fine! Report me then! I''m just trying to save my friends here.]

    [Riveth: Come on, we all know how that girl is unable to die, so you''re not actually saving anybody here.]

    [Fily: I am!! Petunia needs that Dandeloin soul for her transformation! If Halma uses that thing to kill Gem again instead of giving it to Petunia then we''ll both be doomed!]

    [Riveth: I''ll just tell her to use a different method then.]

    [Fily: She won''t be able to touch Gem anyway because of her promise to Venedette!]

    [Riveth: Then what are you so worried about?! Stop this nonsense now lady, I am in the middle of work.]

    [Fily: How do you spy on me anyway?! Isn''t that violating my privacy?!]

    [Riveth: I''m your mother. That much should explain it.]

    [Fily: But mothers aren''t supposed to spy on their kids and know every single thing about them!]

    [Riveth: Well, that''s not my problem anymore child. Now go. I won''t reply anymore.]

    [Fily: Promise me you won''t tell Halma please?! Or I''ll cut my connection to you so you wouldn''t be able to hear from me ever again!]

    ---

    "Nothing?" Petunia said.

    "Nothing," Fily replied in despair.

    At the same time, Halma came strolling through the library''s 2nd floor where their meeting room was located to pick up Petunia¡­ which made the two girls stiffen after their failed attempt to convince Fily''s mom about Gem''s discovery with the new training manual.

    "You girls." Halma''s English accent boomed across the silent room.

    Subsequently, Fily and Petunia''s hearts started beating at a faster rate than normal.

    "Look! I got it, Halma!" Gem''s jolly voice suddenly interrupted the tension in the air which Petunia and Fily were so thankful for.

    They thought they were going to die of a heart attack at that instance. Thinking about the response of Fily''s mom to their request, they immediately assumed that she would report everything to Halma immediately.

    But thank goodness Halma was still unaware of their conversation with Riveth at that moment.

    Instead, she was busy teaching Gem how to play that glowing rolling thing with string which apparently was called a yoyo.

    "Good job!" Halma clapped excitedly for Gem after seeing her maneuver the thing back and forth from her hands skillfully using the string, after just one or two series of explanations from her.

    Fily and Petunia on the back clapped nervously along with Halma after that. They were still worried about Halma''s reaction if Riveth would actually pass on to her that piece of information, regardless of Fily''s begging, which was why they couldn''t sit or move properly in her presence.

    "What are you doing back there, girls?" Halma asked them casually which made them jump out of instinct.

    Fily and Petunia intercepted her words as a threat rather than the simple question that she was intending to ask them since earlier.

    "Oh, uhhh¡­ nothing much. Hehe. We were just, uhmm¡­." Fily stuttered while looking at Petunia with teary eyes for help.

    "We were just looking at the design-"

    "Of the wall. Yes, the wall. Hehe." Fily completed Petunia''s sentence which earned her a threatening glare from Petunia for saying something very nonsense with her level of intelligence that was supposed to be above average already.

    "You could''ve said something more meaningful!" Petunia complained while shaking her head at Fily who just shrugged the whole thing while still walking nervously towards Halma.

    Oh, how they wish they could just escape this suffocating room safely and without any foreboding questions.

 Chapter 68 - Point Of Training

    "Hey." Petunia whispered to Fily across Halma who was seated in between them.

    "What?" Fily mouthed to her and received a text message instead.

    [Petunia: Until when do we have to be stuck in this room with her?] she said while looking like an annoyed cat statue between Halma''s hands that were scraping her face and back fur both at the same time, wrinkling her respectably ironed witch''s hat and well primed silver fur to destruction.

    [Fily: Well, I''m guessing ten minutes more before we get called for dinner.] Fily answered while stifling her laugh that was then interrupted when Halma suddenly glanced at her.

    [Petunia: Okay.] said Petunia and let out a heavy sigh before transferring all her body weight to Halma''s thigh who was now trying to direct their attention to Gem.

    Gem asked for Halma, Fily, and Petunia''s presence in this room after Venedette has gone because of the experiment that will decide if she still needs to go back to Solitude or not after today.

    And after a few hours of exercising and practicing her yoyo skills in between, Gem finally dropped to the nearest sofa, gasping for air just like she did yesterday after completing all the tasks for her hidden skill''s level-ups.

    "Water, water. Give her water." Halma ordered Fily to move since she was the one sitting closest to the table where the water jar and glasses were served.

    While Fily was busy getting Gem her water, Petunia on the other hand was getting more furious at Halma for ruining her well-groomed attire.

    Even though she was a furry animal, Petunia still cared a lot about her appearance. She did not sign up for this when she agreed to become the Queen''s pet.

    All the Queen did was baby her and ruin her majestic fur to oblivion!

    [Petunia: I really want to get out of here, now. It is very suffocating!] Petunia complained to Fily even more, who just shook her head at her message while still taking care of Gem.

    "Eat a lot so you can recover the energy you''ve lost through exercising okay?" she reminded Gem sweetly before making way for Halma who was now approaching Gem.

    "How do we know if it''ll work or not? Does the system say anything about a streak or you can leave days of absence in between?" Halma asked Gem seriously and even kneeled before her just so she could be at the same eye level.

    "I-- uhh, I''m not very sure about that. But I guess if it doesn''t work and there''s supposed to be a streak, I can just start by day zero again." Gem said in between her deep breaths.

    "Okay, that''s fair. But do let me know if it worked or not. I''ll find a way to get you back to Solitude if ever you really need to." Halma said, which garnered a lot of disapproving faces from Fily and Petunia who were now on the edge of holding back.

    "How do we know if it worked or not?" Petunia said with a muffled voice from being buried under Halma''s thick and loose royal robes.

    When Halma noticed this, she quickly pushed the silky white robes aside to make space for Petunia''s reunion with the fresh library air around them.

    "Ah, finally." Petunia exhaled out loud, emphasizing the unfairness that she felt while being buried alive under those thick and silky clothes.

    "I don''t exactly know how, but if the streak continues to count to three tomorrow instead of repeating at zero, then I guess I can just continue doing these exercises here in the real world instead of going back and forth inside Solitude every day."

    "I hope it works," Fily said meaningfully. She can almost hear her heart beating so loud because of the thought of lying to Gem twice in a row now.

    She couldn''t even understand the logic behind Gem''s hidden level zero abilities. If there was something the great Fily and all her family hates the most, it was not being able to understand something.

    It makes them go crazy and careless. She couldn''t even understand how her mom was able to connect with her all this time and how she will cut this connection. Everything was just adding up. It was making her furious and impatient.

    Not even mentioning the passive effect that they get from simply being around Halma. It was as if the whole world was crushing her spirit intentionally, all at the same time.

    [Petunia: I am so angry. Please stop me from thinking about yeeting outside the windows. I still love my life but this mood is making me hate it!]

    [Fily: Oh no, don''t ask me. I have a pinch of positivity left and so I can''t help you with anything. Let''s just hope for the maids to barge in and call us all out for dinner already.]

    [Petunia: Okay, how many minutes left?]

    [Fily: Five.]

    [Petunia: That''ll do.]

    She sent and closed her eyes, inhaling a large amount of bookish gas from her small nose as Halma was still busy talking to Gem.

    "Here, is it relaxing?" Halma asked Gem after handing her the crystal yoyo again.

    Gem pulled herself up from laying on that sofa that was now drenched in her sweat to try and play with the crystal yoyo again.

    "The more I play with it, the easier it becomes."

    "Well, that''s exactly the point of training."

    [Petunia: How could Gem still smile despite all of these circumstances? With Halma around and her problem with the tasks, isn''t she supposed to be the most nervous one amongst us?] Petunia couldn''t help but ask, after noticing Gem smiling at Halma this whole time whilst doing all sorts of exhausting things like what she was doing now with the heavy crystal yoyo.

    She even had the nerve to say that it was getting easier as if she was immune to Halma''s toxic charms.

    [Fily: Oh my gosh, please don''t give me more things to think about, Petunia.]

    [Petunia: What? It''s just a simple question.]

    [Fily: Then answer it yourself. I''m feeling really weird right now.]

    [Petunia: Weird as in, annoyed?]

    [Fily: I guess so.]

    [Petunia: Okay, that''s it. We have to get away from Halma as soon as possible, or else we''ll go crazy. Gosh, I so regret being her pet right now. The more I spend time with her, the more I realize what kind of hell I got myself into.]

    [Fily: And she declared me as her favorite godchild thanks to my mother being her favorite assistant. I should stop taking the pills she gave me and do more productive things instead through sleeping.]

    [Petunia: What? No fair. You''ve got to accompany me through all of this.]

    [Fily: Gem could accompany you.]

    [Petunia: But she''s immune!]

    [Fily: Not my problem.] Fily sent coldly and was really set on her plan so that she wouldn''t suffer under Halma''s influence anymore.

    It was a brilliant plan.

    But then¡­

 Chapter 69 - No

    "Can you walk now?" Halma said worriedly to Gem who was still full of energy even after all that training.

    "Yup! I''ve got a lot of energy in me." Gem said meaningfully, pertaining to the energy slimes inside her Salamandite crystal gem.

    [Petunia: Finally, dinnertime.] Petunia started chatting with Fily again even after being ignored earlier thanks to her questions that weren''t very helpful for Fily.

    And now, they were marching with the maids across the hallway to the dining room, which was, again, a very weird sight for them since maids don''t usually march behind the Princess, but since the Queen is different in so many ways, it was easy to deduce the reason behind all of it this time.

    [Fily: The Queen is really too much.] Fily typed and sent to Petunia once again, rolling her eyes from the annoying sound of a marching band behind them.

    "That''s cool, where did they come from? And why are they here? Is it because of my ceremony?" Gem said enthusiastically on the other hand to Halma.

    Yay. Such an optimistic child.

    [Petunia: Why, in the world, would Halma make the maids play instruments while marching behind us to the dining room when Venedette''s family is literally grieving over Von''s panic attack because of Demi?]

    [Fily: I don''t know. She may be a masochist or something.] Fily rolled her eyes again, and when she stared at the chat, she almost screamed from reading the words "I don''t know" from her profile.

    ''No, no, no, no¡­ I don''t like this. It can''t be! I should not get used to not knowing anything!'' Fily complained to herself while keeping her tears at bay.

    "Are you okay?" Gem suddenly appeared before her.

    Fily was not paying attention to Gem and Halma''s conversation which was why when she was dragged into it, she didn''t even notice her name being mentioned by them.

    [Petunia: They''re talking about the Salamandite manual and where it actually came from.]

    [Fily: W-What should I say?]

    [Petunia: Tell them you don''t know.]

    [Fily: NO!]

    [Petunia: Whoa, easy there. I''m just trying to help, you know?]

    [Fily: No.]

    "I''m sorry I wasn''t paying attention, what was the question again?" Fily smiled forcefully at Gem and Halma who also smiled kindly back to her.

    "Halma said she might know who hid the book inside that mountain where Von found it by chance."

    "Oh really?"

    "Yes really! And did you know it was your mom who found out about it through an ancient book found in the very basement of Halma''s castle!?"

    "N-No," Fily said reluctantly. She had been saying ''no'' more than a dozen times already today and it was not sitting well with her pride at all.

    "That''s such a shame, you should talk to your mom more, Fily. She might be missing you a lot already given that she always used to talk about you nonstop before I got here," said Halma with a sinister smile.

    "How about now? Did she tell you anything about me? Like, very recently?"

    Fily stole a glance at Halma''s arms where Petunia also seemed as nervous as her because of the question.

    "Well, not really. She hadn''t talked to me yet. But if she does tell me anything, I''ll let you know." Halma said with that creepy smile of hers again which made Petunia and Fily more nervous.

    [Petunia: She doesn''t know about it yet!]

    [Fily: I know.]

    Fily shook her head and focused on her next step after stepping inside of the dining room with them.

    ''Should I thank my mom or not?'' she pondered closely before stopping her mind from thinking about anything else when the food was finally served in front of them.

    Von and Lei were the only ones who were not present during dinner which only meant that Von was still feeling unwell.

    And although there were a lot of things each of them wanted to say to each other, everybody kept their mouths shut throughout the entire dinner.

    With despaired faces except for Halma''s snicker and Gem''s bright face, it was not hard to notice the leap that Gem''s emotions took before and after the dinner where she could be seen struggling from something towards the end.

    Her face became pale and she was sweating bullets which Fily noticed too late when she just suddenly fell down on the empty chair beside her where Lei was supposed to sit.

    "Gem!!" Fily shouted after seeing her fall.

    "What happened?!" Venedette asked and stood from her seat, alarmed.

    "She just suddenly passed out!" Fily said, starting to panic now and even looked at Petunia under Halma''s robe to confirm if it was her doing, but the Dandeloin soul was still in Halma''s bracelet so she was not the culprit this time according to Petunia.

    "Bring her to the hospital wing, now!"

    And along with Venedette; Halma, Petunia, and even Sir Grand immediately moved to bring her to the hospital wing where Von and Lei were staying all this time, doing fine.

    "Von! You''re¡­ okay?" Venedette paused for a second at the clinic''s open-door after seeing Von giggling while playing a board game with Lei on his hospital bed.

    This shocked Von to the core when his mom just suddenly barged into his room, carrying a passed-out Gem in her arms as if something really bad just happened to her.

    "Mom? Aren''t you supposed to be at dinner? And what happened to her?" Von asked with pouty lips and furrowed eyebrows.

    "We''re going to have our talk later, son, but right now, I need you to tell me where the nurse is!"

    "She''s eating dinner with the doctor," Von said quickly and hid behind Lei for being caught guilty of his disappointing crime.

    "Okay then, I''ll leave her here and look for the doctor immediately. Watch over her for me, will you?" Venedette said, giving them a task under pressure and so many more different emotions mixed up that before they could even complain and disagree, she was already gone.

    Leaving Gem''s pale and sweaty body on one of the beds inside their room, particularly the white one that was situated closest to the door, two beds away from the boys'' beds.

 Chapter 70 - Mischiefs

    "What happened to you?" Von whispered to Gem who was now whimpering from the sudden pain in her stomach.

    "H-Help." a squeak escaped her voice but Von''s attention was quickly shifted to Lei when he suddenly held Von''s shoulder from behind.

    "Von. Your mom saw you faking your sickness. What are you planning to do now?" he said and pulled Von away from Gem to close the curtains between them immediately, leaving the poor girl alone and unattended behind that thick white curtain for privacy.

    "Right," Von said, seemingly speechless from the shock of not expecting the unexpected.

    "Since Gem is in some sort of trouble, I''m guessing Venedette will focus on her first before confronting you-"

    "Which gives me more time to run away from them in the meantime!" Von said exasperatedly, following Lei''s ideas in his sentence before.

    But that was not what Lei was trying to say..

    "No, that''s not what I-"

    "And you will help me again, okay?" Von said restlessly, walking back and forth in front of Lei who, on the other hand, was having an internal conflict between his thoughts of what is right and what is wrong to do in this situation.

    He didn''t want another problem to arise between Von and his family again, but the more he tried to help, the more tricky their situation got.

    It was as if falling into a one-way deep trap of lying and never being able to make things right again after just doing one mistake.

    It first happened when he agreed to help Von kill Gem at the manor. And now, he couldn''t even say no to Von''s petty requests anymore. Or else he would probably feel alone in this world again just like what he told him before about how he''s feeling sad and lonely whenever he''s around Venedette and the others in this castle lately.

    Surrounded by people but still lonely. And he was the only one there for him.

    But Lei hoped, for the first time in his life, that he could convince Von to turn around before everything turns into a mess that he wouldn''t be able to fix anymore.

    He knew the consequences of tolerating Von''s lies and wrongdoings, but he also thought about his position as Von''s best friend and bodyguard, and the things that he should do for him because of this position no matter what.

    "Tell them someone scary in a flying vehicle took me, like an alien but don''t tell them it was an alien. Just describe the flying saucer and the laser lights." Von said with matching hand movements, seemingly more excited than worried for his life after this mischievous plan of his again.

    "Wait, Von. Are you seriously telling me to lie to them and let you leave this castle alone?"

    "Yes. You can''t fly. Are you suggesting I should carry you with me while I escape?"

    "And where are you going? Why couldn''t you just come clean to them and tell them that you''re sorry?"

    "Because I know what they''re going to say to me after all of that. Besides, they won''t be able to understand why I had to do it anyway, so what''s the point?"

    "No. I am not letting you leave this place alone." Lei said and moved to the window where he was stopped by Von from closing it.

    "Fine, I''ll take you with me," Von said and flew outside the window, waiting for Lei to jump to him but the boy was just staring at him with furrowed eyebrows.

    "I really think you should just go and come clean to Venedette. I''m sure she would understand you the most even if Sir Grand or Halma doesn''t."

    "Well, you''re wrong. All Venedette cares about is Gem right now so if you won''t go with me then just explain to them what happened to me okay?" Von said impatiently and was really ready to leave now when suddenly, Halma and the others came rushing in through the door, attending to Gem about her sudden stomach ache.

    Thankfully, the curtains were thick enough to hide what Von and Lei were doing, so when Lei decided to go with Von, no one saw him jumping off the window in the middle of the night and being carried by Von along the way into a place where they think no one would be able to find them for at least several days.

    "The sensors will sense us, you know?" Lei tried to make Von go back for the last time but the boy was already set on running away.

    "They won''t be able to know where we''re going anyway," Von said and completely took off with Lei outside of the castle in the middle of the night.

    ***

    "Gem!" Fily let out a deep sigh of relief after finally finding the room where Venedette brought Gem amongst the twenty empty rooms that she opened inside of this whole hospital wing.

    And after her was Halma, Petunia, and Sir Grand who all came worriedly to her.

    "Wait, isn''t this the room where Von and Lei are staying in?" Sir Grand recognized the room the more he looked around it.

    "But where are they?" Petunia stressed the question even more after seeing the wrinkled bed filled with toys that most likely belonged to Von and it looked as if he was just there a minute ago.

    "He just probably went to the bathroom." Halma shrugged.

    "Right." Petunia agreed with her but Sir Grand was not convinced. He felt uneasy after seeing the window wide open and the fact that Venedette just left them alone with Gem in this room made him worry even more.

    Especially since Von was really sensitive against Gem these days. So he checked the bathroom and found no one there.

    "He''s not here," he announced to them, getting more worried about it now.

    But since everyone''s attention was directed to Gem, he just silently took off to look for them on his own instead.

 Chapter 71 - Evolution

    "Poor child, what kind of human would do this to you," Halma said while removing the damp pieces of stray hair in front of Gem''s face.

    When Fily and Petunia both saw this, their faces immediately turned sour while recalling that time when Halma intentionally killed Gem so that she could go to that place called Solitude.

    The irony of Halma to say such words when she herself was the one responsible for Gem''s suffering just a few days ago.

    "What do you think happened to her?" Petunia asked Fily on their way to Gem from collecting a clean towel and cold water from the sink.

    "Judging from her twisted figure," Fily started explaining while wiping Gem''s sweat using the clean towels, "I think she''s having a really bad cramp down there."

    When Petunia and Halma heard of this, they immediately understood what Fily was trying to say.

    "Is it perhaps¡­?" Petunia stood up from the shock of it.

    "Oh, I''m positive it is.." Fily said confidently even before the doctors or the nurses confirm it, finally having encountered something that she was knowledgeable of, unlike the several "I don''t know" that crushed her pride earlier that day.

    "Woah, she''s in that stage of her life already?!" Petunia shouted, still shocked about everything so Halma took her outside of the room to calm herself down and away from Gem who might be having a harder time from Petunia''s high-pitched screams along with her stomach cramps.

    "I-It hurts." Gem said weakly to Fily while trying to smear Healing slimes around her stomach where the pain was concentrated inside.

    When Fily saw this, she was immediately mesmerized by the clear slime mixed with glowing cyan liquid that Gem was swirling around her stomach.

    "Is it not working?" she asked Gem while collecting the details of the Healing slime in her mind for future purposes.

    Gem shook her head which alarmed Fily to the highest level since the Healing slimes were supposed to either cure the anomaly entirely or at least lessen the pain of the person being cured but none of which seemed to be working with Gem''s cramps.

    But then she remembered, Gem''s muscles couldn''t also be cured by her Healing slimes that day, so she had to sleep through the night just to lessen the pain that she felt back then.

    "Do you have something that would help you sleep?" Fily asked Gem while searching for a safe sleeping pill located in this castle through her mind.

    Then Gem thought of Mr. Gemini''s hidden abilities are just like the calming mist that he can summon for her whenever she needs them.

    ''Mr. Gemini, do you have something in there that could make me sleep instantly?'' Gem asked Mr. Gemini while enduring the pain of her stomach cramps.

    Since Gem didn''t have anyone to lecture her about the science behind her own body, she grew up knowing nothing about puberty and menstruation. All she wanted to do was fight for the people who cared about her, but why was her body making her suffer?

    Was this the price of overexerting her body for two straight days now?

    [Your body is currently undergoing a process of evolution right now, Master.]

    "E-Evolution?" Gem said out loud.

    "No, it''s called menstruation." Fily corrected her since she couldn''t hear what Mr. Gemini was saying.

    But Gem had no more strength to argue with her, instead, she just laid her back flat against the bed and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down while taking note of the things that Mr. Gemini was telling her.

    [Astral Evolution. Since you were chosen even before your birth as the master of Salamandite Astra, the Astral Salamandite was programmed to evolve with you along the way.]

    ''So that was why my hair suddenly turned blond from being black?'' Gem thought to herself, finally having a clear understanding of how the Salamandite''s restrictions and abilities work on par with her current age and form, and also why the Salamandite wouldn''t let her die no matter what.

    [That''s correct, Master.]

    ''But why are you only telling me this now? And how is this connected to what Fily is saying, something called menstrupation?''

    [I could only tell you facts about the things that you discovered for yourself, Master.]

    ''Which means, if I don''t discover something first, you won''t talk about it until I finally mention it?''

    [Yes, Master.]

    ''But I only mentioned evolution after you did. Are you allowed to give me clues about the topic?''

    [Yes, Master. Since this gemstone is part of another, I''m afraid I could only catch you up to this extent of information about the topics that you want to ask about, Master.]

    ''Well, at least you''ll still give me clues about the topic, then that''s fine. So how do I- ouch. Get rid of this pain first?''

    [You can''t.]

    ''What?!''

    [You''ve got to endure through it master, and one by one, several changes will be brought to your appearance soon, to which, if you cannot unlock the remaining storage for more Healing slimes by then, then you won''t have another choice but to endure through all of it too, Master.]

    ''What?! No!! I don''t think I can do that!'' Gem complained in her mind and complained even more when the pain started swirling inside her stomach again.

    "Un¡­ lock¡­"

    Fily heard Gem whispering something which brought her back to reality after searching for an available child-friendly sleeping potion in her mind map, but there was none in the castle at all.

    There were many sleeping pills for adults, stored inside the Doctor''s office.

    But since it was not for children, Fily just decided to make a children''s sleeping syrup with additional anesthesia to help ease the pain in Gem''s stomach.

    She already contacted Fily to meet her at the door of the basement to help her collect ingredients and make the syrup after getting the key from Venedette.

    But since Venedette was still nowhere to be found, Fily was caught deep in her thoughts for thinking so hard about a temporary solution to ease Gem''s pain such as heat, tea, or pain relievers.

    "What was that? Unlock? Unlock what?" Fily''s brows furrowed after hearing the words that Gem was trying to say despite her extreme cramps.

    "Unlock¡­ the¡­ book¡­" she said, which furrowed Fily''s eyebrows even more.

 Chapter 72 - Jump

    "Are you sure it''s them?"

    "Positive, Miss Dette. Stored data matches with what we have of them leaving ten minutes ago.'''' the head guard of the castle''s security team answered confidently while projecting a recording of Von and Lei on the biggest screen of the security''s headquarters, leaving in the middle of the night together.

    "Why would they suddenly leave without saying anything?" Venedette complained out loud, stressing herself more than she can handle at once so Sir Grand moved closer to her for comfort.

    "We''ll look for them, don''t worry. You should go back to your room and rest. You''re stressing yourself too much." Sir Grand said, trying to calm Venedette down but instead of calm, Venedette became even more furious because of what he said.

    "How can I not?!" she shouted, removing Sir Grand''s hold off of her and walked towards the screen where the image of Von carrying Lei was frozen in front of her, she then let her tears fall silently while recalling the last time she saw him.

    Von lied to her, to all of them.. He was probably afraid of the consequences he will face when she comes back so he ran away before they could even talk about it.

    "All I''m saying is that you should calm yourself down first, Venedette. You shouldn''t stress yourself too much or else it would be harder for you to look for them."

    "How can I calm myself down? Our son ran away, for god''s sake, Grandoise!"

    "I know, and I will look for him, okay? I promise you, I''ll bring them back by tomorrow morning."

    "No. I''ll help you look for them," Venedette said stubbornly, consecutively having an idea of how to contact them immediately.

    "Have you tried texting them?" she said restlessly and opened her Stat-hut to contact either Von and Lei directly.

    "No." Sir Grand said and did the same as Venedette, opened his Stat-hut, and contacted Von and Lei but neither of them responded.

    "Nothing." Sir Grand said regretfully to Venedette.

    Stat-huts have built-in trackers in them, but only guilds can use them to actually track each other''s current locations precisely. The only thing that Venedette and Sir Grand can rely on right now was their knowledge of Von and Lei and the people''s sightings of them.

    Venedette sighed and closed her eyes to calm herself down after not being able to get in touch with either Von or Lei.

    Sir Grandoise, on the other hand, was looking at her with much spite to himself once again. He couldn''t believe he let Venedette suffer again under his watch. He can see how much Venedette was breaking inside right now but all he could do was stand beside her and tell her that everything would be fine.

    Just recently Gem went missing under his watch and now, after being diagnosed with a panic disorder, Von slipped out of his hold too.

    Just how do they expect Venedette to handle all of these without breaking? Even with him beside her, he was still as useless as a broken record player that Vendette couldn''t let go of because of his sentimental value to her. And Von, what the heck was he thinking when he decided to run away from them?

    "Signals say they''re staying in a village near the cliffs, Miss Dette." a guard barged in the security room to deliver the news to them immediately.

    "Okay, let''s move!" the head guard said to his people before following after Venedette and Sir Grand who went ahead of them already.

    ***

    "Are you sure about this Von?" Lei said while standing on the edge of the island, watching Von''s silhouette float in front of the orange sun that was slowly rising from the horizon.

    "Come on. Trust me." Von said and offered his hand to Lei.

    "I don''t know if this is really a good idea Von. Haven''t you thought about how Miss Dette would feel after finding out that we''re actually gone?" Lei said and took Von''s hands reluctantly. But instead of jumping with him to the cliffs, Lei''s feet were still firm on the ground below him.

    "Of course I do. That''s exactly the point why I''m doing this. So I''ll know if they really care about me or not." Von said and looked down at the empty space below him. "Come on, I''ll make sure to land us safely."

    "I don''t know Von."

    "Are you scared?"

    "Of course," Lei said honestly. Since he can''t fly and Von was still as weak as a stick, he couldn''t really trust him to bring him down there safely. "And besides, they''re your parents. Of course, they care about you."

    Von looked at Lei bitterly after hearing his remark.

    "If you really think that then just stay here. I''ll just go on my own." Von said and tried to let go of Lei''s hands but Lei wouldn''t let him go.

    Von knew about Lei''s weakness and he can use it quite well. He knew too well about Lei''s loyalty to him and his life quest of always protecting him from danger. That was why he could always make Lei follow him through his craziest of ideas and still get away with it because Lei was always there to save him.

    He was there to take the blow for him no matter what.

    "What? You won''t let go?"

    "No," Lei said and shook his head slightly.

    "Then jump," Von said before pulling his hands forcefully from Lei, making him stand on the very edge of the island where they decided to jump together this morning.

    "Come on," Von said, offering his hands again to Lei but Lei stepped back from him, shaking his head.

    "I really don''t think this is a good idea, Von," Lei said, once again trying to convince Von to just go back and apologize but the kid was as stubborn as a rock.

    "This is your last chance, Lei. Jump."

    "I''m sorry Von. I can''t let you have your way this time."

    "Then goodbye," Von said and finally let go of his flight.

 Chapter 73 - Silver

    "I can''t believe that traitor." Von thought to himself while looking at the sky directly above him.

    "Von!!!" Lei shouted not far from him.

    "Lei?" Von stopped himself from falling and looked in the direction of the voice, but instead of Lei, he saw several ropes being let down from the cliff where Lei was.

    "What are those?" Von whispered to himself as the ropes got closer and closer to him, and when he finally had a clear image of what they were, he quickly let go of his flight so that he could fall again even before the ropes reached him, but they were quicker than he thought.

    One by one, the ropes grabbed each of his limbs, starting from his legs, arms, and even until his neck, the ropes wrapped themselves around him and prevented him from falling even further.

    "Damn you, Lei! Let go!!!" Von complained while struggling to get out of the ropes, but the more he struggled, the tighter he felt the rope''s grip on him was becoming.

    "I am not letting you get into more trouble, Von. You may think I don''t care about you by doing this but just so you know, it''s the complete opposite! I''m only doing this because I care about you!" Lei said, using more power to counter Von''s attempt of flying away from his ropes..

    "How is strangling me the same as caring about me!?" Von complained even more when the ropes on his neck started tightening too.

    "Just come back here willingly so it''ll stop strangling you!" Lei shouted at him, which Von followed reluctantly after, in fear of being strangled to death.

    Von landed at the land full of sand beside Lei which made them both fall softly on the ground despite the impact.

    "Ouch! What was that!?" Von said and frowned at Lei who was now busy tying his feet and hands with the same rope he used to strangle him earlier.

    "Sticky rope. One of the most dangerous tools I have in this tool belt." Lei answered his query while still busy tying his hands and feet together.

    "How am I going to walk?! Come on Lei!!"

    "I''m bringing you home." Lei simply said and carried him like a rice sack in his back.

    "What?! No!!! Then why did you even escape with me last night?! Just so you can bring me back home right after?! Do you think they won''t scold you too?! They will! And you better be prepared for it."

    "I can handle it." Lei glared at him before going to the village where they decided to leave their Stat-huts earlier so they couldn''t be tracked.

    "You''re a traitor. I thought you''re on my side but turns out you''re also one of them too. Traitor." Von sighed and rolled his eyes while shifting to a more comfortable position behind him.

    "You''ll be able to understand someday." Lei only said instead of getting into an argument with him as the more mature one.

    ***

    "Not here."

    "Not here either."

    "The signal is not moving. Where could they be?" Venedette said impatiently to Sir Grand while tapping the tracking device violently so Sir Grand had to snatch it from her softly, in fears that she might destroy it soon enough.

    "Calm down." Sir Grand said softly which gained him a sharp glare from Venedette once again.

    "Sorry." Sir Grand instinctively said while looking away from her with guilt.

    Consequently, Sir Grand spotted two familiar things lying at a shabby store''s counter on display.

    "Isn''t that¡­?" he said reluctantly and grabbed Venedette to come with him to the store.

    "What is it?" Venedette said without looking at him. Her attention was fully focused on the tracking device that she grabbed from Sir Grand''s hands on the way.

    She noticed the signal strengthening the more they came closer to the store so ultimately, her focus shifted to the store where Sir Grand was taking her.

    When they entered the store that seemed to be on the brink of destruction, Sir Grand immediately went to talk with the store cashier while Venedette went around looking for Von and Lei.

    "Von? Lei? Are you guys here?" she whispered softly while checking every corner where Von or Lei could have been hiding in.

    "Have you seen these boys, perhaps?" Sir Grand asked the lady clerk nicely while showing her a picture of the boys but she was too busy organizing stuff under the counter to notice him.

    "Excuse me," he said, knocking on the fragile wooden counter where the lady''s counter was.

    Finally, the lady stood up, and as it turns out, she was an old granny all along! Hence the late reactions.

    "Oh I''m sorry, but did you perhaps see these kids come here?" Sir Grandoise showed her the picture again.

    The old granny took a closer look at the picture and smiled upon seeing them.

    "Ah, these boys gave me silver." she said, slowly reaching over the display counter for the ''silver'' that the boys gave her that morning.

    "Would you like to buy them?" she said before placing Von and Lei''s Stat-huts on the counter in front of Sir Grandoise.

    "I knew it," he whispered to himself after seeing the boys'' earrings that he recognized earlier.

    "How much?" Sir Grand asked the wrinkled old lady with a big mole on her nose who was smiling creepily at him.

    "One million pog for each," she said.

    And as much as Sir Grand would want to complain, he just shut his mouth and paid for the price that the old lady put on these accessories that were just given to her for free, to begin with.

    When Sir Grand looked back to get his money, he noticed that Venedette was not behind him anymore. He also couldn''t sense her using his super sense.

    At first, he thought that it was because of the sense-defying steel on the walls of this place, but when he gave the payment to the old lady by cash, he noticed that this place was not made of sense-defying steel at all.

    "Have you seen your Princess?" He asked the guards on patrol outside after retrieving Von and Lei''s Stat-hut from that shabby store but none of them seemed to have seen the Princess yet which alarmed Sir Grand even more.

    He thought of the store where he last saw Venedette and went back there, but the store was already empty and deserted when he came back.

    "Oh no," he said, his heart beating faster now for not noticing something crucial about that old lady earlier.

 Chapter 74 - Beach

    "Guards! Scatter around the store and see if there''s any place that Venedette might have gone to! Check everything!" Sir Grand said frantically to the Guards while looking around the now-empty shabby store again for traces of where the old lady could have disappeared along with Venedette.

    "The last time I sensed her was inside this shabby store, looking for Von and Lei at the back, then when I started talking to the old lady that was here a minute ago, she suddenly disappeared." Sir Grand thought out loud while following Venedette''s footsteps in his mind.

    "Are you sure you saw an old lady here, Sire? Villagers say this place has been abandoned long ago and no one was selling anything here when our team checked this place earlier." the guard, who was obviously being weirded out by what Sir Grand was saying, saluted nonetheless.

    "No. I''m sure I talked to an old sales lady here. She even sold me back Von and Lei''s earrings here, see?" he insisted even more while showing him the silver earrings which he bought just earlier.

    The guard gave the earrings a swift look before nodding reluctantly to Sir Grand, "We''ll dispatch more people to search the area, sire." he said before finally leaving the old cranky place and Sir Grand alone inside.

    Consequently, while Sir Grand was looking around at the very corner of the poorly lit wooden store, in between the aisles, he noticed a faint light coming from the gaps of the wooden floor where there seems to be an empty place inside. A perfect place for a hidden door to a basement, perhaps?

    So Sir Grand used his night vision to search for an opening to it, but since he couldn''t find anything, he decided he should just punch the wooden door open instead of wasting time looking for a decent way to open it.

    And there it was, a deep black hole that looked just like an old empty well, built using medium-sized rocks that stretched all the way down to a dark crystal-filled one-way tunnel.

    Sir Grand noticed the tiny bits of laser-like rays that stretched from the end of the tunnel until the roof of the store thanks to the black crystals on the wall that seemed like they were positioned cohesively to direct the sunlight to each other perfectly.

    Which was undeniably amazing, but since Sir Grand had another priority in mind, he quickly swooshed over to the exit, ruining some of the crystals'' positions on the way since the tunnel was too narrow for his mediocrely built body.

    At the end of the tunnel, there was an open cave directly beside a cliff that seemed to be part of the floating island''s underlayer. Furthermore, the ceiling of this place was wider in comparison to the cave''s floor that was full of sand, similar to that formation of a beach hidden inside a cave.

    But instead of water, it was a sea of clouds that connected the morning sunlight to this hidden cave beach inside Yvandir, lighting the place up perfectly from the horizon with its lively bright sunlight that stung Sir Grand''s night visioned eyes abruptly before he could even turn it off.

    "Grandoise!" he heard Venedette''s voice call him from a distance.

    When he went to look over the beach''s cliff, he found Venedette on a lower level with Von and Lei by her side.

    "Oh my gosh, thank god you''re okay," he said and flew to them flawlessly.

    "Are you okay?" he asked Von who was not talking behind Venedette with a frown directed towards Lei who, on the other hand, was just ignoring him by taking his time on coiling the long sticky rope on the floor together.

    "What happened to them?" he whispered to Venedette who was just too happy and relieved to have finally found them after a cold and long night of looking for them throughout the whole island.

    "He''s a traitor," Von said while glaring at Lei while Venedette only shrugged.

    "Why? What happened?" Sir Grand kneeled in front of him in hopes of finally being able to communicate with his son properly but Von shook his head with no plans of saying anything regarding the treacherous thing that Lei did to him earlier.

    "Nothing. I''ll just handle it on my own." Von said stubbornly and even ''hmph''-ed to his father before quickly hiding behind Venedette again, still glaring his eyeballs at Lei who was just peacefully enjoying the view now.

    Sir Grand let out a deep sigh, surrendering from Von''s stubbornness, and opted to ask Lei instead.

    At least Lei would be more responsive towards him.

    "What happened?" he asked with that baritone voice of his that Lei instinctively saluted to immediately.

    "No need for that," he said calmly while shaking his head which made things more awkward for Lei.

    Lei thought deep and hard about how wrong his decisions were and how he would be punished because of it. But no matter how he thought about it, he just thought those were not enough reasons for them to run away just like that.

    They were still kids after all, and as much as Von felt like he was being ostracized inside the castle, it was still their home. Something that they were lucky enough to have compared to most of the kids back in his hometown.

    As the more mature one, he felt like it was his responsibility to bring Von back to the right path of life. He wanted to teach Von how to do things the right way and not tolerate his twisted logic anymore. Even if it meant breaking Von''s trust and expectations that he would always be there to defend him no matter what.

    Sometimes, the right way isn''t exactly the easiest way around a problem. Lei needed to take a risk to finally change how things work between him and Von.

    "Von asked me to come with him down there and start a new life without everybody else. I didn''t think it was a good idea so I pulled him right back here and tied him to this rope. I just thought he''d need some fresh air and alone time away from you since the castle was suffocating him. That''s why I accompanied him outside of the protective bubble, but I didn''t really think that he would plan as far as running away from the island completely. I''m really sorry, Sir Grand." Lei said regretfully before putting the sticky rope back to his tool belt.

    "It''s okay. You did a great job protecting Von, Lei." Sir Grand said and patted the kid''s head softly.

 Chapter 75 - Accept My Invitation!

    "Gem asked me to unlock the book. Do you think it had something to do with what''s happening to her right now?" Fily shared to Petunia immediately after being kicked out of the room where Gem was staying as per the doctor''s orders.

    "I''m not sure. But you did say it was just because of her first menstruation, right?" Petunia answered while swirling around the chair in front of Fily on one of the Castle''s open balconies.

    They decided to have breakfast here because it was the closest table they could get to where Gem was and additionally, they were also waiting for Venedette and the boys outside so they could finally go to the basement and grab the ingredients that they need for Gem''s medicine.

    "That''s what I thought at first, but Gem told me it was not the case at all. She couldn''t sleep the whole night and the pain looked much more painful than just a normal menstrual cramp."

    "So that was why you''re asking me to help you create a sleeping syrup and pain killer for her? As if the doctors haven''t thought about that yet?" Petunia said sarcastically while munching on her sophisticated royal cat''s breakfast in comparison to Fily''s humble tea and croissant.

    "Uhuh. And I don''t trust the doctors simply because I''m more intelligent than them.." Fily said arrogantly before brainstorming even more about why Gem was asking her to prioritize unlocking the book first and its connection to her current condition.

    ***

    "Why did you do that Von?" Venedette said after finally getting back to her senses while flying beside Von and Sir Grand who was carrying Lei with him back to the castle.

    But instead of answering, Von only rolled his eyes at them which made Venedette furious at him.

    "Answer me or I will send you to a real school." Venedette threatened, which seemed to work based on Von''s expression immediately turning sour.

    "I just want you to stop caring too much about that damn tournament-"

    "Language, Von." Sir Grand suddenly interrupted which made Von roll his eyes again and eventually stop what he was saying mid-way.

    "Aren''t you going to say sorry?" Venedette asked with a pout while catching up to Von''s speed and holding his hand on the way.

    "No way," he said stubbornly but as soon as he saw Sir Grand''s piercing death glare, he immediately followed his words reluctantly, trying to negotiate. "You say it first."

    And even though Sir Grand had a lot of things he wanted to commect about Von''s attitude, he just let Von and Venedette have their moment together without getting in the way too much and ruining the mood for them.

    "Okay. I''m sorry for neglecting you. I know I have been a bad mother to you these past few days and I''m sorry for that. Also about the things you said about Gem. I admit I was wrong for trying to replace Demi with her, but please don''t deny the girl of a better life inside these borders. She''s just trying to survive by being good help to us."

    "But still! She doesn''t deserve to get treated like she''s on the same level as me!  She''s just an outsider! How dare her to try and take my place away from me!" Von lashed out and tried to shake Venedette''s hold off of him but Venedette''s grip on him became tighter instead.

    "What did I tell you about looking down on other people, Von? Didn''t I tell you to always be humble and caring to everyone around you?" Venedette said with authority which made Von curl slightly out of fear.

    "I''m sorry I just got carried away, mom. I won''t do it again. Just please don''t send me to a real school okay? I hate all the people there."

    "Von." Sir Grand said and shook his head.

    "Okay, fine. I won''t hate anyone anymore. Just please don''t send me there okay?"

    "Okay. But on one condition." Venedette said with a straight face which scared Von a little bit.

    He could read what his mom was going to say to him at that time but he still waited for her to say it first before reacting.

    "Accept my invitation to Leviathan along with Lei. That''s your condition. Also, promise me you won''t lie about your condition or run away like this ever again just because you feel neglected. You can just talk to us anytime about your feelings and we will do our best to make things better for you. We''re your parents Von, not fortune-tellers. Don''t expect us to understand why you suddenly ran away like that without an explanation. And since you tried running away from your mistakes and responsibilities, I think this will be enough punishment for the both of you."

    "Okay okay! Fine! I''ll join." Von said irritatedly and even pouted at Lei for having the same punishment as him, with him.

    ''How will I make him pay for his betrayal if we''re going to be in the same team together?!'' Von thought to himself, immediately regretting the repulsive decision that he made just because his mom was being too noisy for him to handle.

    "Okay, we''re all good then," Venedette said, finally smiling after that scary frown of hers that she just put on for show because, in reality, all she cared about was the safety of her son and Lei and nothing else.

    "Ven." Sir Grand called for her attention softly, but since they were flying too fast, Venedette was unable to hear his call which he just decided to tell her later.

    When the four of them neared the castle, they were immediately spotted by Fily and Petunia on the balcony, so naturally, Petunia went to Gem''s room to inform Halma of their arrival while Fily was the one to greet them back into the castle.

    "Oh my god, I''ve totally forgotten about Gem," Venedette said frantically as soon as she landed on the balcony beside Fily.

    "Why? What happened to Gem?" Lei said innocently, briefly forgetting about the fact that he just ignored Gem inside the clinic last night.

    "She''s¡­ uhmmmm¡­" Fily thought for a moment before finally deciding to not tell them about it, "You don''t need to know. It''s just¡­ girl things, you know?" Fily said with a bright smile which weirded both Lei and Von out.

    "O-Okay." Von, who was also curious about what happened, just said, letting it go, before floating straight to his room while Lei just stood there for a little bit longer beside Fily.

 Chapter 76 - New Teammate

    "Where''s Gem?"

    "She''s inside the room with Halma and the nurses."

    "You let her stay with Halma alone?" Venedette exclaimed in disappointment, stopping halfway to the room where Fily was directing her to because of the sudden realization.

    "Well, I thought Halma wouldn''t do anything dangerous to her¡­" Fily said, sounding guilty for falling under Halma''s charms once again.

    "Oh no, no no no no¡­" Venedette said frantically before turning the doorknob open only to find Halma and the others actually taking care of Gem inside.

    "Gem!" Venedette exclaimed and ran towards her immediately.

    "What happened?" Fily whispered to Petunia who quietly went to her after informing Halma of Venedette''s arrival just now.

    "Halma''s not letting them give Gem any type of medicine after Gem told her not to do anything."

    "What?!" Fily exclaimed, carrying Petunia outside with her so that they could have a proper conversation without disturbing any of them inside.

    "Gem requested to not give her any medicine," Petunia said with more context this time which made Fily''s brows curl.

    "Why would she do that?"

    Suddenly, Fily once again fell deep into her mind''s sanctuary, searching for answers about Gem''s unusual condition and her much more unusual response to it.

    "Right, why would she ask them to do nothing and just let her suffer like that?" said Petunia and swirled around Fily''s lap out of habit, "You know what? I think you''re right. Gem''s stomach cramps didn''t look normal to me too when I saw her earlier. I mean, the way she was holding her stomach and sweating a lot without even being able to sleep a wink last night says a lot, right? It''s not normal. At least, based on my experience."

    "Me too. Do you think it has something to do with the gemstone?" Fily said, taking a wild guess about the intriguing situation but as much as she wanted to discover the answer to their questions at once, she immediately covered her mouth right after remembering the fact that her mother was still spying on her and she needed to deal with it first. "Never mind about that, let''s just make her a painkiller and a sleeping aid potion first."

    "Just like that? But what if Gem doesn''t want it?" Petunia said, pouting after Fily who suddenly just dropped her on the sofa carelessly.

    "Then at least she''ll know we care about her," Fily said and smiled weakly to Petunia before leaving to get Venedette''s key to the basement where they''ll get the ingredients that they need for the experiment.

    ***

    "Are you sure that''s just it?" Venedette inquired to the lead Doctor who was suddenly having a dilemma about his life due to Venedette''s brooding expression to his brief summary report of all that happened with Gem while she was gone the whole night.

    "Y-Yes," he answered nervously as if he was at the mercy of the most dangerous lioness in the pack.

    "Don''t bother." Halma cut him off, swiftly removing Venedette''s hold on the doctor''s collar and standing gracefully in between them.

    "It was Gem''s request to not get treatment from any of us. Last night, she said she needed to deal with it all on her own, although we''re still here on standby if she ever asks for help, so far all we did was wipe her sweat and improve the environment around her." Halma said calmly which calmed Venedette''s raging concern down too.

    "So you''re not the one who did this?" Venedette said suspiciously at Halma which she only responded with a soft sigh.

    "No," she added before getting out of the way which gave Venedette another good view of the young Doctor who was now coiling in fear and looking away from her as much as possible.

    "W-Water, please." Venedette heard Gem whisper from behind which made her lose interest in the doctor who looked nothing like the type who would do anything as gutsy as harming Gem in front of her so she just decided to let him go off the hook.

    "Here you go¡­" Venedette said, handing Gem a bottle of water carefully while trying her best to keep a smile.

    "Venedette?" Fily whispered softly while peeking from the door.

    "Yes?" she said and brushed Gem''s hair out of the way first before going out to Fily. "What''s wrong?"

    "Nothing''s wrong. We just want to ask if you could lend us the key to the basement, please? Petunia and I had some unfinished business there and the door was locked so..." Fily said cutely with matching puppy eyes which gave Venedette no choice but to give her the keys immediately.

    "Be careful with the ingredients, okay?"

    "Okay. Thank you, Venedette." Fily said and smiled brightly before closing the door between them, revealing Lei who had been unnoticeably eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time from behind the door.

    "Whoa! I didn''t notice your presence there." Fily said and shook her head abruptly to check if she''s not just imagining things.

    "What are you guys planning to do in the basement?" he said nonchalantly while sharpening his small dagger.

    "Oh, nothing¡­ Just¡­ girl things." Fily said and laughed nervously. She tried to devise a different excuse but since the word already came out of her mouth, she just decided to stick with it no matter how weird it sounded like for Lei.

    "Girl¡­ things?" Lei said, unconvinced.

    "Yeah, uhuh." Fily nodded multiple times which made Lei more sure about his guess.

    "You''re lying," he said with a smug smile before walking ahead of Fily to the basement where Petunia was already waiting for her with her gummy cloud.

    Lei felt that there was something off with how both Petunia and Fily were acting ever since they came back to the castle, and now that he got wind of what happened to Gem, he could only guess what these two were planning behind the Queen''s back in order to save the little girl from her supposedly wickedness just like what everyone else in the castle was assuming.

    And since Lei had nothing to do anyway, after probably being demoted as Von''s bodyguard and joining Leviathan as an assassin instead, he thought it would be a good idea to come with his new team members to waste time and apparently help them to make something that would help their other team member too, which was Gem.

    "Wait, you''re not planning to come with us, are you?" Fily said after a moment of realization and walked after him slowly since her metabolism wouldn''t allow her to catch up to him immediately.

 Chapter 77 - Welcome To The Club

    "Wait, you''re not planning to come with us, are you?" Fily shouted along the hallway which caught Von''s attention on his way to Venedette.

    When Von saw Fily trying to catch up to Lei after saying those words, he immediately hid behind a pillar and decided to watch what was going on between Fily and Lei

    "Where are they going? And what plan? What are they trying to do?" he thought out loud, stuck between wanting to go and follow after them instead of sticking to his original plan which was to go visit Gem and his mom in the clinic.

    "This may be a chance for me to make Lei repay the betrayal he did to me this morning." he thought sinisterly before creeping behind Fily, trying to be discreet as much as possible on her way to the basement''s camouflaged door with Petunia and Lei who just suddenly tagged along with them for unknown reasons.

    ***

    "How are you feeling?" asked Venedette to Gem with a careworn face.

    Somehow, Gem had been enduring all kinds of pain ever since last night, and although it did stop from time to time, Venedette still couldn''t help herself but feel weak in the knees whenever she had to watch Gem endure such extreme pains in her stomach.

    She couldn''t even sleep last night because of it. But the thing that made Venedette wonder the most, was the fact that Gem didn''t want help from the doctors or take any kind of medication for the pain..

    Why was that? Why did she choose to suffer instead of taking medications to ease her pain?

    "N-Not good." Gem said with a forced smile, along with the words that she forced to say out her dehydrated throat.

    "Oh my gosh." Venedette sighed and handed Gem the bottle of water again after hearing her dry voice and seeing her chapped pale lips.

    "Are you sure you don''t want to take some painkillers? Although these ones are for adults, maybe you can take it if I cut it in half?" Venedette said, trying to make Gem take the pills again but the girl was stubborn.

    Gem shook her head at Venedette''s offer and held her hand softy with a smile. "I can-"

    "Okay, I''m sorry, I''m just really worried, you know? Drink this water first then talk okay? Or take a rest at least, don''t strain your voice too hard. I''ll just be here to take care of you." Venedette said restlessly and flashed a smile to Gem to show her that she''s going to be okay.

    Gem nodded softly and smiled weakly to Venedette before turning around and crunching her stomach once again.

    Since Venedette knew there was nothing she could do anymore, she just let Gem go and watched her overcome the pain patiently on her own. Which was why when Sir Grand knocked on the door and asked to talk to her, she immediately went outside with him to avoid seeing Gem in pain again.

    "What''s wrong?" Venedette asked Sir Grand who was fidgeting around with a stone tablet in his hands as if he had a very big problem with it.

    "Remember the store where I found Von and Lei''s earrings?"

    "Uhuh?"

    "Did you see an old lady at the counter? The one I was talking to?"

    "No?" Venedette said truthfully.

    "You didn''t see the old lady that I was talking to? Even inside that cave? You didn''t see her go there after you?"

    "No. When I went there, I immediately went to Von and Lei on the lower level where I heard them shouting at each other." Venedette said with a sweet and caring voice which she thought would help ease out the situation since Sir Grand was looking really anxious with his fidgeting and clearing of throat multiple times in between.

    "What is it?" Venedette held Sir Grand''s hands and looked at his dark, brooding eyes with sympathy.

    "I think I just saw a crone on your island, Princess."

    ***

    "Is this what I think it is?" Petunia asked Fily while looking suspiciously at Lei who was just standing innocently beside her.

    Fily raised her index finger to signal Petunia to wait while she was catching her breath after walk-running behind Lei just to catch up to his long steps while trying to shoo him away.

    "Where''s Von? Aren''t you supposed to be beside him 24/7? What are you doing here without him?" Petunia said, striking Lei''s most sensitive ego as of the moment which made him scoff at her before deciding to throw a sarcastic remark instead.

    "Do you want me to call him and tell him to spoil your plan for me?"

    "Call me to spoil their plan for him? how dare he think I would do something like that for his sake?" Von recklessly whispered not far from the group in the hallway which alerted their senses instantaneously.

    "Did you hear that?" Petunia, who had the keenest senses among them said to Fily who was also feeling weird since earlier.

    "I think so. While I was following Lei earlier, I felt like there was also someone following me from behind but I didn''t pay much attention to it. I thought it was just my imagination from the exhaustion of following Lei. But now that you mentioned it, I guess there really might be someone following us since earlier."

    "You only noticed him now? He''s been following you since he saw us talking in front of Gem''s room. How could you miss that?" Lei, who literally just disappeared for a second, came back holding Von in the back of his shirt while floating and sporting a very annoyed scowl at everyone present in this hallway.

    "Ah. I knew it was you, your annoying voice was very hard to miss. I guess you and Lei are really inseparable, huh? Just when I thought I could finally hang out with Lei without having you in the way." Petunia said, smiling arrogantly at the both of them who instinctively moved away from each other because of her remark.

    "Well, welcome to the club¡­ I guess?" Fily said sarcastically before unlocking the door to the basement in front of them with her signature big friendly (but also fake) smile.

 Chapter 78 - Prophecy

    "Would you stop playing with my seat?! For god''s sake!" Petunia sighed and rolled her eyes at Von who was making her Gummy cloud his own personal toy on their way downstairs, poking and pushing it around like a floating ball of soccer just for fun, making Petunia''s trip downstairs very turbulent and unsatisfactory.

    "Don''t wanna," Von answered abruptly before pushing and pulling it again between his hands.

    And not only was Petunia the only one having a hard time dealing with what Von was doing, since Lei and Fily were both just walking along the stairs and relying on Petunia''s Gummy cloud for light, having Von play with it made their trip much more dangerous and inefficient in comparison to the two of them who can just fly.

    "Stop it Von, you''re making me¡­ dizzy," Fily said, catching her breath in between each word after arriving on the final step since she came down here totally unprepared and forgetful of the fact that Gem actually helped carry her down and up this flight the very first time they went in here.

    And now that she''s bedridden, all of Fily''s thoughts were suddenly just focused on making Gem feel better, making herself miss such trivial details such as her own weakness into account upon planning to go down here.

    "You sure you don''t want my help?" Lei asked Fily again after seeing her tired and breathless.

    "Yes." Fily smiled at her, keeping in mind the fact that Riveth is still watching her and she mustn''t do something such as asking Lei for help since Riveth is strict with her with boys.

    "Fayn! Suit yourself!" Von said, seemingly clowning Petunia who, on the other hand, was just staring at him blankly the whole time while sitting on her cloud.

    "Tch. You''re so boring." Von added before trying to play with Petunia''s Gummy cloud once again, but since Petunia actually removed the protective layer off of her Gummy cloud while Von was busy mocking her, Von''s hands sank directly inside the cloud, sparkling tiny ardents of pain around his skin that made him screech unintentionally before pulling it back outside with all of his might.

    "Ouch! It hurts! Get it off! Get it off!" he shouted while flying around trying to shake the sticky gummy off of his hands.

    "Serves you right, you disrespectful child," Petunia said, lowkey reminding them all about her position and authority in this party as the eldest before lighting the rest of the lamps using her magic wand shaped lighter.

    "Will you tell us now why we''re here?" Lei said, approaching Petunia who was still busy lighting the rest of the lamps beside the doors.

    "Help me get rid of this first! Please?" Von said to Petunia, pushing Lei aside and changing his tone abruptly in the last sentence, finally succumbing to Petunia''s authority even if it meant going against his most valuable pride¡­ in front of Lei.

    Petunia rolled her big cat eyes and raised her paw grouchily, retrieving the Gummies from Von''s hand with just a simple movement using her Gummy manipulation skill. "There you go," she said before going back to Fily, leaving Von engrossed with the blots on his hand that the toxic Gummy left on him.

    "Ahhh, how will I get rid of this!?" he thought to himself before following after them to the door where Fily was directing them to.

    ***

    "A crone? You mean one of those old witches from %^%$#?" Venedette asked Sir Grand like he just said something ridiculous.

    "Yes! I saw¡­ I saw a crone!" he said, seemingly overwhelmed about the whole situation before pulling Venedette into an empty room beside Gem''s.

    "And then I found this! I remember seeing this in the library several years ago and I just thought nothing of it, but now¡­ everything''s starting to make sense! It''s happening. It''s starting!"

    "What? What''s starting?"

    "The prophecy!" Sir Grand whispered eagerly while shoving the clay tablet to Venedette''s hands secretly as if they weren''t the only people inside that empty room.

    Venedette''s eyebrows furrowed as soon as she held the clay tablet in her hands. It was a roughly cut brick-colored sliding puzzle that Sir Grand had already solved, revealing a portrait of a little girl floating in the middle of a star pattern above a grassy meadow where hooded people were seemingly gathered to watch her do some sort of a spell.

    "I don''t understand," Venedette said, giving the tablet back to Sir Grand and when Sir Grand saw the image that Venedette was looking at, he almost dropped the fragile tablet to the floor out of shock.

    "What happened to this? Did I grab the wrong one?" he said and turned the tablet around, seemingly looking for something else so Venedette had to hold his hands to calm him down.

    However, when Venedette made contact with Sir Grandoise''s hands, the image on the tablet disappeared and changed into another one. This time it was an image of a little girl being blessed by what seemed to be a goddess judging from the image of a bright halo around her head while blessing the little girl.

    This phenomenon made both Venedette and Sir Grand second guess what was happening with the tablet in their hands.

    "This tablet is called Prophecy, it was a device made in the early three thousands which people could only use once for a particular Prophecy each. And although I know the history behind this thing, I don''t exactly know how to make it work since there were only three versions of this in the whole world. Each with their own Prophecy which meant that there were only three Prophecies that we should look out for."

    "And the first one was the ''Prophecy of the end of the world'' which my great-great-grandfather used as an inspiration to create the legendary Super formula that spared our species from it." Venedette said, adding to Sir Grand''s quick trivia about the fortune tablet called ''Prophecy'' that was now in their hands.

    "Wow! I thought that was just a myth! Who knew this thing could actually work?" Venedette said excitedly, covering up for the fact that she was actually scared on the inside for recognizing the girl in the images that they saw just earlier.

    "This is Gem¡­ right?" Sir Grand said carefully while pointing at the image of the little girl on the tablet.

 Chapter 79 - Filys History Lesson

    "You''re going to make a sleeping potion and painkiller for Gem? But I thought she doesn''t want to take any kind of medication for her condition?" Lei said while carrying the ingredients that Fily was grabbing and giving to him from the shelves.

    "Exactly. I already told her that exact same thing but she''s not listening." Petunia said not far from them, pointing at a little bottle of dried passionflower which Von grabbed and carried for her instead.

    "We''re doing this for Gem okay? Whether she likes it or not." Fily said while double-checking the ingredients in Lei''s basket before proceeding to the door where Petunia and Von were already waiting for her.

    "Is that all we need?" Fily asked and checked Petunia''s basket in Von''s hands outside the door of storage number four while Petunia was busy putting off the candles inside the storage room.

    "Yes. Do we have a laboratory here or is it upstairs?" Petunia asked after putting off the last candle inside.

    "Actually, we do," Fily said confidently before locking the door behind them and leading them to another room on the far left..

    "I wonder why this place is off-limits to most people," Von said his thoughts out loud which caught Fily''s attention.

    "You know how expensive the things in here are, right?"

    "I know. But the most common things are also in here plus there are actual rooms for research and development but no one ever uses them, why is that?"

    Since Von already started voicing his questions out loud, why not just make use of the opportunity and learn something new from Fily? Even though Fily was just new here, her knowledge about the place was still unrivaled compared to Von''s.

    "This place actually used to be a research hotspot for scientists. Have you forgotten about the fact that your great-great-great-great-grandpa was a scientist?"

    "Of course not. Are you saying he actually did his research on this place?"

    "Not exactly. This place was built by Dr. Lectric''s grand-grand-daughter Queen Frida which meant that he was already dead by that time, but since your great-great-great-grandfather was too great to forget (pun intended), Queen Frida built this place underground that was  dedicated to him."

    "Which explains why no one actually uses it." Petunia concluded.

    "Well, actually, since the tools and overall facilities in this place is still functional to the most efficient level, people like us or Venedette can still make use of it just like what we''re doing right now."

    "Right¡­" Lei said, finally speaking for the first time since the conversation started when they arrived at the room where Fily said the laboratory was in.

    "Welcome to the laboratory," Fily said, opening a steel door into a room where the lights automatically opened for them.

    "Well, this is different." Petunia remarked after seeing an unfamiliar setup of a more modern-like Laboratory filled with white tiles and blinding LED lights before them.

    "This is how laboratories normally looked back in the days," Fily said as if reminiscing something before going on ahead of them to the glass door which automatically opened the moment she stepped in front of it.

    "This is cool. I have never seen a place this advanced before." Von said and followed after Fily while his eyes were shining from the reflection of the bright LED lights at the ceiling.

    "Whoa!" Petunia exclaimed after almost getting crushed by the automatic doors and being saved by Lei. "Thank you."

    "No problem," Lei said and gestured her to go ahead.

    "What other cool rooms are in here, Fily?" Von asked excitedly while passing by the modern steel rooms in the bright hallway.

    "Well, there''s this room where you can fix cars and store airplanes and also build machines in the third room."

    "Can we go there?"

    "I don''t think so. The keys to those rooms aren''t here so I guess we''re not allowed to go there." Fily said and showed him the set of keys that Venedette lent to her earlier this morning.

    "Then maybe we can just go next time? I''ll ask mom for the keys there." Von said while daydreaming about the different rooms that Fily was talking about.

    "This place is like a live-action museum! Heavens!" Petunia exclaimed while still in awe of the place where she only used to see in history books and old movies from the past about chemistry, her favorite subject.

    "This place is actually built like a museum with each of their own themes from the past. Queen Frida loved the past so much that she even tried inventing a time machine using her skills. She obsessed over it for a few years before finally giving up when it didn''t work."

    "She''s still awesome," Petunia said while recalling the fact that she''s actually living on one of the old Queen''s greatest inventions, the floating islands.

    "So she built this place instead, to relive the past that the Great Doom ruined for everybody," Fily said, concluding her brief history lesson with Von, Lei, and Petunia along the hallways of this historically designed laboratory inside Yvandir.

    "Here we are." Fily stopped in front of a steel door which she mysteriously managed to open using a card.

    "Cool!" Von exclaimed and followed after her to the laboratory specially made for making medicine.

    "Have the doctors in the castle''s hospital wing been in this place?" Petunia asked Fily out of curiosity which she answered immediately in delight.

    "Of course not. This place is off-limits to outsiders, remember?"

    "But aren''t we outsiders too?" Petunia asked Fily reluctantly.

    "You''re Leviathan which makes you guys one of us now." Von suddenly said which shocked everyone in the room while they were putting on their protective suits for sterilization before proceeding to the actual lab.

    "What?" Von said when he noticed the weird stares they were all sharing with each other.

    "Nothing. It''s just weird hearing that from you." Fily said and shrugged at him, still with that signature bright smile of hers which made Von less worried about spending his precious time with them down here.

    "Okay then, let''s make Gem better!" Petunia said for fun as they all entered the sterilized area of the laboratory in complete battlesuits.

 Chapter 80 - Curiosity And The Cat

    "Is it done yet?" Gem asked herself while looking at her belly under the blanket that was still hurting from the inside as if something was cooking in it.

    When she realized there was no one in the room with her anymore, she let out a deep sigh and laid her body flat on the fairly soft white bed, staring at the ceiling as she waited for the next wave of pain in her stomach once again.

    "How long do these things usually take before settling down, Mr. Gemini?" she asked while thinking deeply about the training and lessons that she was missing because of it.

    [Four to seven days, Master.] Sir Grand answered immediately, making Gem''s eyes widen with the utter shock of spending another three days of laying in this bed, enduring this kind of pain that comes and goes every other minute, just by herself without being able to take any medicine or attend the classes and training that she was really looking forward to.

    "That''s too long! How will I complete¡­ my daily tasks¡­ in this¡­ in this condition, ouch." Gem said, feeling the currents of a million needle-like pain inside her stomach once again.

    [You don''t.] Mr.. Gemini suddenly said, which aggravated Gem.

    "What do you mean I don''t?! You just told me earlier that I could get over with this easily using my Healing slimes! I just have to find a way to-"

    Suddenly, Gem felt like puking.

    But instead of letting it all out, Gem gathered her breath and swallowed it like the brave warrior that she was aiming to become, tasting the sour thing at the end of her tongue like it was just nothing. It was an unpleasant feeling but still nothing compared to the horror of not being able to train and make progress for three straight days of suffering.

    "I just have to find a way to feed this little baby, right?" she continued what she was saying earlier to Mr. Gemini, pertaining to the Salamandite gemstone hanging from her neck.

    [Yes, Master.] Mr. Gemini said which was then suddenly interrupted by Lady, showing a notification about their guild Leviathan on the virtual screen twice with the same unread message that was sent earlier this morning but was just silently delivered to her.

    *Ding!*

    [Notification: Two new members have joined the guild Leviathan.] showing both Lei and Von''s profiles under Petunia''s name as the fourth and fifth members.

    "Venedette isn''t counted as one of us?" Gem thought, distracting herself with irrelevant thoughts instead of thinking about her annoying condition ''which was also called evolution or menstruation or whatever they prefer,'' she thought bitterly.

    "Ahhhh, I should have asked them to bring my tablet up here with me so I could at least play with it while killing time."

    [Sending message to Leviathan.] Lady suddenly announced out of nowhere which alarmed Gem. And then she remembered, Lady''s settings were actually still in the voice mode and not just pure typing which apparently also gave her an idea of what she could do in the meantime.

    Messages:

    [Venedette: I will ask Sir Fred to bring it to you immediately.] Venedette replied coldly which made Gem pout and wonder what happened to her.

    [Fily: Gem!! How are you feeling now? Petunia and I are actually in the basement so we can''t bring you your tablet. Sorry! But we may be able to bring you a different tablet instead, soon.]

    [Gem: Oh, cool. I wish I could say I''m fine but I''m really upset about this handicap. But don''t worry about me, the pain is already getting tolerable the more I get to experience it, although It''s still upsetting, I think I can handle it just fine. Anyways, what are you guys doing back down there?]

    "She had been to the basement before?" Von suddenly assumed while they were in the middle of waiting for the mixture to be mixed perfectly by a machine.

    "Yes." Petunia simply answered before turning her attention back to their conversation with Gem.

    [Petunia: Helping you recover.] Petunia typed but her message was immediately blocked by Fily before she could even send it.

    "What?!" Petunia exclaimed in disbelief.

    "What?" Fily raised her brows innocently but then she immediately dropped the act and warned them instead, "No one''s going to tell her what we''re actually doing here right now, got it? Just think of it as our surprise to her." She said, even flexing her ability to hack effortlessly to Petunia who was the only one who saw what she did.

    "Fine." Petunia sighed and changed her reply to Gem.

    [Petunia: Just finishing some unfinished business.]

    "What did you guys talk about?" Von asked when he saw the two girls exchanging meaningful looks to each other as if they could communicate without using words.

    And when none of them answered, he just shrugged it off and typed a comment to Petunia''s message, saying:

    [Von: We''re also here to stroll around the hidden historical artifacts under the castle which I had no idea was just here the entire time.] Von typed bitterly with the intention of making his mother see how upset he was for not knowing anything about this place at all before Fily came.

    [Venedette: What are you doing down there, Von? And is Lei with you?]

    [Petunia: He is.]

    [Venedette: Oh, okay. Just be careful there, alright?]

    "Be careful? Why would she say that when she literally just forced us to join your suicide squad earlier this morning." Von said bitterly yet again which gave him a diverse set of stares, some of which were looking down on him and others were just either furious or concerned.

    "Right¡­ How did she even make you join when you were dead set on breaking us apart in the beginning?" Petunia asked Von out of curiosity which he thought was a great opportunity to strike back at her for scarring his ego.

    "Do you know how many cats die every day because of curiosity, Petunia?"

    "I was just asking. Tch." Petunia said, deliberately forming a not-so-good relationship with Von once again because of his arrogant nature.

 Chapter 81 - Trick Destiny

    "That''s Gem¡­. right?" Sir Grand said carefully, pointing at the girl on the tablet.

    "We don''t know that for sure," Venedette said, laughing nervously at him for being silly. But deep inside, she was just scared of the possibility that Gem might really be the girl in that picture all along.

    "Can you move away for a second?" Sir Grand suddenly said, which flustered Venedette.

    "Why?"

    "Just¡­" When Sir Grand let go of Venedette''s hands, he saw the image in the tablet shifting into another picture violently as if there were ghosts fighting to escape from it.

    But aside from the spine-chilling transition that the tablet did when he let go of Venedette''s hands, he was also utterly dumbfounded by the picture that the tablet was now showing in a monochromatic brick colored-scheme.

    "This! Are you also seeing this?" Sir Grand said, carefully facing the tablet to Venedette without making skin contact with her.

    "Is that¡­?" Venedette was also lost for words.

    She just saw a Crone holding two boys captive outside a worn-down store with chaos in the background. But the most shocking part of it was the store''s resemblance to the place where they found the well and tunnel where Von and Lei were hiding that morning.

    Sir Grand was meaning to ask Von and Lei first about the old lady in the store, in case they also saw her as he did, but since Von and Lei were both caught up in Fily and Petunia''s rendezvous, Sir Grand had no chance to ask them about it yet.

    "What in the world¡­" Venedette mouthed with concern as she strode near the picture. "This is Von¡­ and Lei¡­ and the Crone that you said you saw earlier. But what is this? Why is the village behind them on fire? Don''t tell me¡­" Venedette said as she started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

    "Since this is a Prophecy, it might happen soon which means we have to keep both Von and Lei safe and away from that village or that Crone." Sir Grand concluded.

    "No. This isn''t happening." Venedette said under pressure.

    "Shh, it''s okay. We''re going to be fine." Sir Grand whispered to her and hugged her tightly, "We''ll keep them safe, okay?"

    "H-How did a Crone get here without being noticed? Crones can''t fly and we don''t allow aircrafts to travel on our island, so how? How could it go past the borders and even set foot on this island without being noticed?!" Venedette went from feeling despair to pure wrath and anger.

    Someone within their ranks must be a traitor. It was the only plausible answer as to how a Crone with the same lowly abilities as the Goblins among all the other monsters outside their protective border could do such a thing.

    Crones were the epitome of longing since their only nature was to lure children into living with them and eating them afterward. They used to be humans too a very long time ago, but during the dark areas of the great doom, their cities became deprived of any source of agricultural environment, leading to the development of their sickening nature of cannibalism and incestry, making their genetics unstable and eventually too defective to be even considered as humans.

    They refused to eat anything other than humans which made them one of the most savage monsters in the wastelands. And since they are cannibals, Crones could be rarely seen traveling in packs. It was even a surprise to Venedette to hear about Crones when she thought all along that they were already dead from eating each other.

    But as it turns out, some of them were still alive, continuing their traditions silently amongst Superhumans. And although Superhumans were undeniably stronger than just a mere Crone, it was still hard to assume for sure that superhuman children would be safe from this sly and cunning monster who uses every child''s curiosity to lure them in.

    "Oh my gosh." Venedette covered her mouth upon realizing the fact that her son and Lei were both almost killed by a Crone!

    "Shhh, they''re safe now, okay?" Sir Grand caressed her hair quietly and even kissed her forehead which made Venedette cry even more. "We will hunt that monster down I promise you, I won''t let that monster near our children anymore."

    "I can''t believe I-" Venedette tried to make the words out of her mouth but she was just too traumatized to say it all in one go while sobbing. "I arrived there just on time, and if it wasn''t for Lei..."

    "Shhhh¡­" Sir Grand tried to comfort her once again.

    When Venedette finally calmed down, she asked Sir Grand to hold the clay tablet in his hands once again, revealing the same scenery of the Crone with the boys in front of a burning village which looked like the same village where Sir Grandoise first saw the Crone and also where they found Von and Lei.

    "Here. This is a prophecy," Venedette started. "And prophecies don''t lie. Which means that this will happen, one way or another."

    "I won''t let that happen-'''' Sir Grand said but was cut by Venedette immediately.

    "It will happen." She said firmly, "My great-great-great-grandfather knew about how the ''End of the world'' would happen including the meteor shower that he used to his advantage in order to save our species, but he could only save us and not the whole planet, why is that?"

    "Because he didn''t have enough time?" Sir Grand guessed quietly, unable to follow along with Venedette''s theory which she only shook her head on his wrong guess.

    "Because Prophecies don''t lie! Which means that this image right here, will and should happen! Or else something far worse would happen that we wouldn''t be prepared for." Venedette said exasperatedly.

    "But how about Von and Lei?" Sir Grand said out of confusion.

    "It doesn''t have to be Von and Lei. We just need to complete this picture right here and do exactly like what Dr. Lectric and his team did to trick destiny."

 Chapter 82 - Left Out

    [Venedette: Can you guys meet me at the library after you''re done with whatever you''re doing down there?]

    [Venedette: All except for Gem.]

    [Venedette: I really need to tell you guys about something very important as soon as possible.]

    [Fily: What is it? Is there a problem?]

    [Gem: Why am I excluded? :( ]

    [Venedette: We''ll just tell you later.]

    The moment Fily and the others saw Venedette''s alarming message, anticipation about the news suddenly rushed in their blood..

    Somehow, they could feel that it was going to be bad news based on Venedette''s overly serious tone.

    "How long yet do we need to wait for this to finish so we can go up there immediately?" Von asked while fidgeting up and down as if he really needed to go to the bathroom already.

    "Fifteen more minutes. Don''t worry, Venedette won''t be gone when we go back there anyway, Sissy." Petunia said, lowkey dissing Von but Von was now too curious about Venedette''s news to even care about her insult anymore so he just rolled his eyes at her.

    ***

    "Ahhhh, I also want to go there with them." Gem said while throwing herself at the bed once again after doing a handstand in an attempt to lessen the pain in her stomach.

    Somehow, she thought the pain was lessening because of the different positions and experiments that she was trying, but in reality, she was only being tricked by the fact that her body was just eventually getting used to the pain the more she endured it which made it more tolerable for her even without the weird positions and experiments that she tried doing on her own in this big room.

    The positions though, were helping her deal with her other issue instead which was boredom.

    She found herself so bored and sad about not being able to hang out with Fily and the others in the basement today and then she received a message saying she couldn''t even join the meeting with Venedette later which pissed her even more.

    So she thought she had to do something to distract herself, or else she would be too consumed by the sudden waves of madness and negative emotions that were traveling in her mind uncontrollably.

    "Right, I haven''t checked my daily task yet," she thought, remembering about the daily exercises she needed to complete to level up the secret level zero skills in her stat-hut.

    [Mr. Gemini, show me the details of my Activation daily task #1]

    [Affirmative, Master.]

    [Daily Task: Day 3]

    [Progress status: 0%]

    "It worked!" Gem shouted out of disbelief which triggered the pain in her stomach again, "Ouch."

    When Gem finally got a hold of the pricking pain in her stomach again, she focused her attention on the screen in front of her and blinked several times to make sure that she''s not just seeing things. "It worked?" she asked again, still in shock about the whole thing.

    But this time, she knew it was real, and that she can continue doing the given tasks in the real world which would allow her to enter Solitude on her own accord soon¡­ only if she could still complete the tasks despite the pain in her stomach.

    "Ahhh! It worked! But now I can''t even do the tasks because of this¡­ condition¡­" she said and looked down at her stomach once again, preparing for another handstand which she thought would help her think better.

    *Knock knock knock*

    But then, suddenly, there was a series of soft knocks on Gem''s door, making her fall down out of shock so she just decided to tuck herself under the bed, hoping to look presentable to the person suddenly knocking on the door to her room.

    Gem couldn''t respond nor open the door for Sir Fred, unfortunately, since the pain felt more painful when she''s walking or talking, she had no other choice but to just let the knocks continue until Sir Fred finally decided to open the door by himself.

    "Pardon my interruption but I am here to deliver your tablet, Miss Gem," he said formally before entering the room, carrying a big porcelain tray and silver cloche on his right arm which Gem immediately thought was food.

    She recognized the thing in Sir Fred''s hand as the thing that the maids usually use to carry around food to their rooms or the dining room before mealtime so naturally, she thought it was food, and the thought made her craving for it, so one could only imagine the disappointment in her eyes when Sir Fred opened the cloche.

    "T-Thank you." She said politely with her dry throat despite being deeply disappointed about the tablet being inside the cloche instead of food! She hasn''t even had her breakfast or lunch yet despite the time being 1 in the afternoon already because of her fear of just puking everything out after consuming them.

    But instead of voicing out her concerns, Gem could only pout and take the tablet from the fancy food tray with small cushions on the plate Sir Fred was holding.

    And when she lifted the glass tablet from it, Sir Fred immediately moved the tray away and turned around to leave Gem in the room alone, pouting because of her concerns that she couldn''t voice out loud, even to Venedette and the others who were now telling her to just take a rest instead of trying to join their meeting later.

    [Venedette: It''s because you still need to rest, Gem. We''ll tell you all about it soon after you finish overcoming the pain by yourself.]

    And the others even agreed to Venedette which made her even more annoyed for some reason.

    [Fily: That''s right, you should focus on taking care of yourself first, especially since you told us not to help. But if you do need our help though, you can just ask away and we''ll do our best to help you either way. ^-^]

    [Petunia: I suppose this news could be bad news then, which is the last thing you need right now Gem so you just stay there and rest. That''s your mission right now.]

    [Von: Right, we can deal with the problem by ourselves anyway without your help :p]

    [Lei: We''ll just share it with you later.]

    [Fily: Just focus on taking care of yourself first, okay? Bye!]

    "But I don''t like feeling left out," she thought out loud.

 Chapter 83 - Petunia, The Eldest

    "Status please."

    [Name: Gemma [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super Attributes:]

    [Sense: 15/30 [Hearing: 7 [Vision: 5 [Smell: 3

    [Agility: 10/20 [Strength: 4 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 1

    [Stamina: 0/10 [Discipline: 0/10 [Mana: 0/10

    [Fighter Skillset: None]

    [Astral Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl..0, Solitude Lvl.0]

    "Wow. I never cared about this before, but why is my Resistance only 1?!" Gem complained and groaned even more when the pain kicked in her stomach once again for shouting out loud.

    "Why can''t I do anything to help myself?" she whispered softly while curling up in her bed again.

    The tears that she was holding back since the beginning while convincing herself that she can handle it all suddenly fell down on her cheek, breaking her positive spirit and making her slowly succumb to the uncontrollable feeling of negativeness that the evolution seemed to be giving her aside from the stomach cramps.

    "I¡­ I need to complete the tasks," she said, trying to bring back her optimistic outlook in life once again but the darkness was just too strong to compete.

    "Come on, Gem. I need to complete it! Or else, we would need to find another way to go back to Solitude again. And I don''t want to die." She thought while silently sobbing in between her knees. "Not again."

    ***

    "Come on Fily! Faster!" Von shouted to Fily while they were on their way upstairs.

    Since Fily''s weakness was her physical strength, she couldn''t really catch up to all of them especially since Lei was fit and the other two can fly!

    "Come on, I''ll help you," Lei said with his eyebrows crossed while offering a hand to Fily but she refused his offer while saying,

    "No thanks. I''m fine. You two can go ahead, I don''t mind." She said to them continuously before taking a deep breath and recovering her pace that was slowing down everybody even though they were still just twenty steps away from the basement''s floor as of the moment.

    "By the two of us, you mean me and Von?" Lei said as if Fily said something offensive to him.

    And when Von heard this, he immediately crossed his arms and looked away from the both of them.

    "I''ve been meaning to ask this since earlier, but I thought that was not a great time¡­ But are you guys fighting? I mean did you fight? You used to be this close together!" Petunia said and moved her face closer to Fily''s face, exaggerating the closeness that she thought was just normal for the both of them.

    "What? Eww!" Von said with a very disgusted face while Lei was just sporting a blank expression the whole time.

    "So you did fight! Well, that''s new." Petunia said as if she was happy for them.

    "Why did you fight?" Fily said even though she was already busy fighting for her life against the stairs.

    "He''s a traitor," Von answered without hesitation which made Lei''s expression harden.

    He tried opening his mouth to defend himself, but since Von was still a little immature, he just chose to close his mouth again, letting Von think whatever he wanted to.

    "See? He didn''t even deny it." Von said, further proving his point which Fily and Petunia were both not convinced of.

    "I doubt that. Lei is the most loyal person I have ever met and that is coming from a thou- I mean  fourteen-year-old girl, don''t you agree, Petunia?" Fily said and laughed nervously for almost saying something she wasn''t supposed to say.

    "Right¡­ I also believe Lei is not the kind of person that would easily betray you. Why don''t you just tell us exactly what happened out there? I mean, he even accompanied you when you ran away from the castle! If that isn''t enough loyalty for you then I don''t know what is!" Petunia exclaimed excitedly, apparently convincing Von to spill the tea while they take their time striding upstairs thanks to Fily.

    "You planned to jump off the island and live a new life with Von on the ground?! On the ground?! Really?! Why would you want to live there where all kinds of nasty and ugly monsters exist!!" Petunia exclaimed exaggeratedly after hearing Von''s side of the story.

    And although Fily also wanted to say her two cents on the whole thing, she couldn''t say a word while dealing with her breathing and annoying disadvantage of weakness.

    "Okay, Fily is busy so¡­ you. What''s your take on the story?" Petunia said while pointing at Lei. "I am totally on your side even if you don''t say a single word." She followed with a whisper to Lei which Von could still hear thanks to his supersenses.

    "What? So you''re teaming against me now, huh?"

    "We''re not teaming against you, Von. We''re just trying to knock some sense into you." Lei said, finally exceeding his usual five to ten words dialog.

    "Well said." Petunia stated.

    "See? You''re teaming up against me!" Von said stubbornly which would only make the rest of them facepalm out of frustration.

    "He''s so immature." Petunia whispered to Lei, ignoring Von''s presence beside her.

    "He''ll be able to understand us soon," Lei said.

    "Ughhh, I hate it here. Will you please go faster Fily so I can leave this suffocating environment now?" Von said, ignoring the fact that Fily was already having a hard time as it is.

    "Von. Can''t you just accept that Lei saved you from making the dumbest decision in your life?" Petunia started, seemingly prepared for an argument with Von, unlike Lei.

    "What is dumb about wanting to be free?! Free from all of this¡­ from all of you!" Von stressed even more which offended Petunia.

    "What''s wrong with being with us? It''s not as if we did something very bad to you unlike what you''re usually doing to us!"

    "What did I do?!"

    "You''re rude, selfish, and immature. And you always hate people for no reason! Including me, Fily, Gem, and most especially Lei. You should stop planting hate in your heart as you please, we''re going to be teammates now and teammates shouldn''t be fighting amongst themselves." Petunia said, seeing the situation as an opportunity to finally knock some sense into Von as the eldest in the team.

 Chapter 84 - Hot Chocolate

    *Knock knock knock*

    From lying on her bed peacefully while using her tablet for distraction, Gem suddenly heard the same three knocks from the door which she could recognize immediately as Sir Fred.

    But instead of waiting like the last time, Sir Fred immediately opened the door after knocking, pushing a tray that surprised Gem because she didn''t remember telling anyone about being hungry.

    "I thought you could use some food, miss Gem." He said politely while setting up the table attached to the tray beside Gem''s bed.

    "T-Thank you." Gem said despite the weakness in her voice.

    Sir Fred noticed Gem squeezing her stomach earlier when he came to visit and thought that it was because she was hungry. And although Gem was actually avoiding the smell of real food for making her feel like she wanted to puke, she was still grateful to Sir Fred''s kind gesture and even surprised when the food that Sir Fred brought to her was not making her feel disgusted.

    "I figured you were hungry," he said after seeing Gem ogling the sweets that he brought for her on the tray..

    When Sir Fred saw Gem contemplating whether to eat the food or not, he immediately followed up with the information that he gathered from the kitchen maids to help her make a decision about it.

    He thought Gem was probably scared of having stronger stomach cramps after eating which was usually the case for women on their periods but the maids told him otherwise.

    "They say, hot chocolate is the best remedy for stomach aches and you should give it a try," he said while offering the freshly made hot chocolate to Gem in a thick cup.

    Gem looked at him for a moment before grabbing the hot chocolate from his hands.

    "Be careful though, you should blow on it first before drinking, it''s still hot." He said with concern before proceeding to arrange the various types of sweets he was grabbing from the tray into the table bed that he set up for Gem earlier.

    When Gem finished the cup of hot chocolate that she patiently waited to cool down first, a slight smile immediately escaped her lips, indicating the warmth and fullness that she immediately felt from the chocolate along with the kind words and actions from Sir Fred.

    It was exactly the kind of comfort that she was looking for after kicking out everybody and feeling lonely right away due to the unstableness of her emotions. It was the kind of irritating and conflicting emotions that Gem had never felt before which made it even more terrifying for her.

    "I''ll leave this here for you to eat whenever you''re hungry and if you need anything else you can contact me or the other servants using this button over here," he said while pointing at a red button on the cart, waiting for Gem to nod first before turning around and leaving the room quietly.

    "He''s so kind." Gem thought to herself while eating a set of various cookies that Sir Fred prepared for her beforehand.

    "Why didn''t I think of this earlier?" she said and filled her cup with another serving of the hot chocolate that she could get infinitely from an automatic hot chocolate maker that Sir Fred left with her on the second layer of the food tray.

    "I wonder if this would be considered as cheating by the system? I mean it''s not like I''m not allowed to eat, right?" Gem thought to herself while still munching on the delicious cookies that the cooks made especially just for her according to Sir Fred earlier.

    [The proper procedure for evolution is by using Energy slimes 100x the mass of the host to create a cocoon that would store the body for three to four days, depending on the kind of evolution that the host will be receiving. This cocoon will then harden into a stone and open like an egg after the evolution has been done. Although the system does not prevent the host from using any kind of medication during evolution, the use of alternative medications below the level of Energy slimes has 1% of success, 29% of malfunction, and 70% of no effect on the host''s body during evolution.] Lady announced with that robotic voice of hers.

    [So be careful using human medication, Master.] Mr. Gemini followed up.

    "But¡­ Is hot chocolate also considered as medication?"

    [Hot chocolate''s effect on evolution: No effect.] Lady said after a quick scan throughout her body.

    "But how did it cure the pain in my stomach?"

    [Hot chocolate''s effect on the host''s body: temporary muscle gratification and increase of temperature.]

    "Oh, does that mean I should keep my stomach warm so it wouldn''t hurt as much?" Gem thought to herself, finally done eating her first serving of cookies and second serving of hot chocolate.

    [It is advisable for the host to endure the pain if there are no Energy slimes available.] Lady said.

    "But then I wouldn''t be able to do anything during that time!"

    [It is advisable for the host to stay still during Evolution.] Mr. Gemini said this time.

    "But I need to complete my daily task!"

    [Daily tasks are advised to be done in Solitude for more efficiency.] Lady announced which was news to Gem.

    "But it worked yesterday, right?"

    [Astral training lessons should be done inside Solitude, Master. The system belongs in Solitude and bringing it out in the real world would disrupt the signal around the whole world, attracting more power-hungry people towards you. I hope you understand, Master.]

    "But do I have another choice?! I can''t go back there using normal means! Am I allowed to die while undergoing evolution?"

    [No.] Mr. Gemini answered.

    "See?! I can''t go there! I''m not letting go of this chance to finally upgrade my level zero skills! I will do it whether you like it or not! This is the only way for me to finally be useful." Gem said and drank another cup of hot chocolate stubbornly, hoping it could save her from the pain while she completes her daily task.

 Chapter 85 - Poser

    "Hmph!" Von grunted after hearing Petunia''s lecture to him about teamwork.

    "But I applaud your courage for trying to spend time with us despite the rifts. At least we can start somewhere-" Petunia said but was rudely interrupted when Von suddenly grabbed the back of Fily''s shirt and her Gummy cloud, aiming for a flying sprint to the exit even without their consent, leaving Lei to run by himself through the stairs.

    "Hey!!" Petunia tried to complain but since the stairs were kind of like a spiral staircase, all she could do was grab hold of her Gummy cloud, or else she''ll fall from Von''s speedy glide to the top.

    ***

    "Whoo! That was kind of relaxing." Fily giggled when they finally arrived back at the castle.

    "You''re heavy," Von grunted while catching his breath.

    "W-Wh...y dyu." Petunia tried forming some words but she seemed too dizzy to do so.

    "Where''s Lei?" asked Fily while looking around for him.

    And then, as if on cue, Lei came running from the stairs, even failing to put a stop to his sprint on the right time which caused him to bump with Petunia''s Gummy cloud, making the both of them dizzier than ever.

    "Oh, there you are!" Fily giggled and locked the Basement''s camouflage door close carefully.

    Not long after that, a "Tch," could be heard from Von, trying to get himself to leave the group but was seemingly being held back by his conscience that everybody thought was already non-existent.

    "You are being summoned by the Princess, Young masters, please follow me." Sir Fred suddenly said which startled all of them except for Lei for either being dizzy or lost in their own thoughts.

    "Oh, hello Sir Fred! How''s life?!" Fily said enthusiastically making it fairly obvious that she had fun during that ride, unlike Von and Petunia.

    "Life is good, I suppose." Sir Fred answered out of courtesy. "Please follow me." He said again which raised a question mark on Fily''s smiley face.

    "Why? We can just go to the Library ourselves." She said and led the way while pulling Petunia''s Gummy cloud with her.

    But when she looked back to check on Von and the others, they were suddenly gone!

    "Von? Lei? Sir Fred?" Fily said out loud, her smile fading every second that she realized they were actually really gone!

    "Petunia, did you see where Von and the others went?" Fily asked while slapping Petunia''s dizzy head softly.

    "Huh? What happened?" Petunia said in confusion, shaking her head in an attempt to cure the illness she was feeling. And when she had a little grasp of reality back to her, she sluggishly grabbed a bottle of potion from her cloud and drank it out of instinct, immediately recovering her senses after that.

    "Whoo! I should have done that earlier." She said and looked at Fily who was now on the edge of paranoia. She was not even blinking which made Petunia even more concerned.

    "Hey, what happened?" Petunia said and tugged Fily''s shirt slightly.

    And when she did not answer, Petunia tried recalling the last memories that she could gather before Fily went blank. Weirdly enough, the first thing that came to her mind was Von, Lei, and Sir Fred disappearing out of nowhere.

    "Oh no, are they gone?" Petunia said insensitively which pulled Fily back to reality.

    "I think that''s not Sir Fred and we have to tell Venedette immediately!" Fily said frantically after spending some time with her thoughts.

    "I think you''re right." Petunia said when she realized how recent that memory was and how miraculous Von and Lei''s disappearance was from her superior senses!

    "Venedette!!!" Petunia shouted after being the first one to arrive in the Library where their meeting was supposed to take place.

    Surely enough, Von and Lei were not there, although Petunia already knew they wouldn''t be here, she still hoped that this was just a prank and not some kind of serious trouble that she could feel was already brewing the moment Venedette said she had something important to say.

    "What''s wrong? Where''s everyone?" Venedette said, standing up from her seat that was full of paperwork.

    "T-They''re gone! Von and Lei! The moment we stepped out of the basement Sir Fred- I mean something that looked like Sir Fred took them immediately!"

    "What?!"

    "What did you say?" Sir Grand said from behind the door holding Sir Fred beside him.

    "It was not me." Sir Fred immediately said, defending himself from the deathly glare he was receiving from the parents of Von.

    "Right, it was not him. I was with him the whole time." Sir Grand said while letting go of Sir Fred''s shirt with an apologetic look.

    "How did they disappear? Can you tell us more in detail?" Vendette said frantically.

    "Wait, aren''t we supposed to find them first?" Petunia asked, confused.

    "We know where to find them but you''ve got to tell us how they disappeared first," said Venedette while breathing heavily as if trying to calm herself down.

    "Well, as I said, I think they were taken by someone that was posing as Sir Fred."

    "And? You did not notice them?"

    "I-I was dizzy because of Von, and Fily was walking ahead of us."

    "Someone posing as Sir Fred¡­ A Crone who can pose as someone else?"

    "A Crone? With powers?" Fily repeated between her breaths after just arriving. "Well, that isn''t completely impossible."

    "And why is that?" Venedette asked which Fily answered with a pause sign.

    "Let me breathe first-" said Fily and was interrupted when Petunia suddenly plopped a bottle of healing potion to her mouth.

    "Mmm, sh- cool thanks," Fily said after immediately recovering her strength even though she had none of those, to begin with.

    "You see, we thought all Crones were already dead, right? But that is exactly what they wanted us to think. They wanted to get under the radar so we would let our guards down while they were busy making deals with the devil."

    "They?" Petunia further inquired.

    "Yes, they. Crones travel in packs contrary to everyone''s beliefs. They travel in packs and appear as one another, one at a time."

 Chapter 86 - Play The Picture

    "Here''s the plan," Venedette said and stood abruptly, holding the Prophecy tablet in her hands.

    "Is that Prophecy-?" Fily gasped when she recognized the tablet.

    "Yes." Venedette simply said before giving it to Sir Grand.

    "This is where we found Von and Lei," she said and showed them the picture of a Crone beside Von and Lei in front of a burning village.

    "Gamora''s Village," Fily uttered under her breath, recognizing the place from her mind map.

    "Yes and we already put an order for the people there to evacuate silently, one by one being replaced by our palace guards to make the picture complete. Although some of them doesn''t want to cooperate, we made sure to fireproof their houses for prevention. But now that you''re telling us Crones travel in pack, this means they might have gotten wind of what was happening in that village already so we need to move quickly."

    "What do we need to do?" Petunia asked.

    "Are we going to play the picture like what Dr. Lectric and his team did?" Fily said, seemingly excited about the fact that they would do something that the legendary savior did for them generations ago.

    "Yes! Exactly! See, the picture does not show Von or Lei being captured by the Crones, and since there is only one Crone in the frame, we could capture one Crone and take care of the others behind the camera."

    "Camera? Wait, are you saying we''re really going to take a picture of that exact same moment with the Village burning and a Crone next to Von and Lei?" Petunia asked, confused.

    "Yes. That''s right." Venedette said.

    "Well, technically, no," Fily said, stepping into the discussion with her knowledge. "Tricking destiny is tricky. And we all know how pictures could be easily altered, right? This means we can''t just take a picture of them in this exact same pose and call it a day. We''re going to need a lot of people''s raw and innocent memories without the knowledge of the Prophecy to make it work."

    "Okay¡­" Venedette said, paying attention to Fily''s plan this time.

    "To call it destiny, we need people to believe this actually happened by chance and not because we let it happen-"

    "Wait, why can''t we just rescue Von and Lei from those lowly creatures and kill them silently without the people''s knowledge? I mean that''s going to be an easier task for us, right?" Petunia chipped in, still having no clue of how Prophecies in that tablet works.

    "We can''t. Once we prevent this picture from happening, something worse will happen and we wouldn''t have enough time to prepare for it anymore." Venedette explained.

    "Also that, aren''t we supposed to be there already? Who knows if this is happening now?" Petunia said frantically, looking at the monochromatic picture that was supposed to be colored brick red for the normal human eye but since Petunia is a cat, all she could see was a faded and low contrasting red color.

    "I can''t believe this is happening now, why do Crones move so fast? It''s so annoying." Venedette complained while Fily was explaining the picture to Petunia.

    "See the contrast between the fire and the sky? It''s so far, right? Which means this prophecy will happen at night. Although we''re unsure of which night, tonight''s the most probable day as what Venedette said, Crones move fast. They don''t like wasting time."

    "Okay. So what''s the plan?"

    "We''re going to play the picture," Fily said.

    "And what does that exactly mean?"

    "We''re going to let it happen."

    "We''re not going to do anything?"

    "Of course we''re going to do something¡­" Fily said and smiled before spilling the plan to them.

    ***

    "Where are you taking us, Sir Fred?" Lei asked when he felt something wrong with the way that Sir Fred was walking.

    "To the meeting place." He said without looking back at them as he continued leading them to the most secluded area in the castle that was supposed to be a dead-end if Lei could remember clearly.

    "Those two are really dumb, they didn''t even see us disappear from behind them!" Von laughed while they were walking along the hallways.

    But the weird thing was, even if Lei tried signaling the maids to come to them, none of them responded or even saw them. It was as if they became invisible, disappearing from other people''s vision and senses completely even though they were just in the same space without any sense-defying structures.

    ''Could this be some kind of a magic trick or new technology?'' Lei thought while moving closer to Von who snickered at him for getting too close.

    "I think there''s something wrong here," Lei whispered to Von which he just ignored.

    "You always say that," Von said, paying no attention to where they were going or what was happening around him.

    "This is not the way to the library and that''s not how my uncle walks!" he said, trying to convince Von even more but the boy was just too annoyed at him to even care about anything else.

    "You''re so overreacting, Lei. And what do you even mean he''s not Sir Fred. That''s completely Sir Fred, alright?" Von said and tried floating to get away from Lei but the moment he reached Sir Fred''s head level, he suddenly bumped into something in the air although there was nothing there.

    When Lei saw this, he immediately grabbed one of his smoke grenades from his tool belt and threw it to the ground just before the fake Sir Fred could turn around.

    And although Lei had Von in his arms already like a kid running away with a balloon, they both stumbled in the ground when an invisible wall suddenly appeared before them, just two feet away from the fake Sir Fred who was now scratching his face, revealing the face of an old ugly woman who they both recognized immediately as the old lady in the shop where they sold their Stat-huts at.

    "I knew it," Lei muttered as he noticed the smoke from his smoke grenade being secluded in a square space only.

 Chapter 87 - Von Rocket

    "What the hell, Lei." Von complained while coughing and booting up his flight amidst the smoke.

    "Shh, be quiet," Lei whispered while grabbing his feet again like a string on a balloon.

    "Get off!" Von whispered to him while kicking his feet that Lei was holding sternly.

    "You boys are so cute, I want to pinch your cheeks!" The old lady laughed menacingly while still walking towards the dead-end of this secluded hallway in the castle, dragging Von and Lei along with her using the ends of the invisible cage that was designed to follow her every movement and keep her in the center of it all.

    And even though none of them could see anything thanks to the smoke grenade that Lei used to conceal where they were, the Crone knows where she''s supposed to go and it was in this fake wall that she and her sisters designed as part of the intensive plan that they prepared months ago to kidnap these two in exchange for more power and influence for their kind.

    "Mekeni mekeni, dug dug doremi." The old woman suddenly said, kind of like a password to a door which was, in this case, a concealed door in a wall on this very secluded area of the castle, a hallway to a dead-end which was originally designed to be an emergency exit for humans, but since superhumans didn''t need them it was covered with a wall and became a forgettable dead-end for everyone else in this castle.

    When the old Crone heard the sound of the door opening, she made sure to check if the little boys were still with him inside the cage by tuning down the smokescreen using a small vacuum that she and her sisters prepared in advance in case this kind of scenario actually happens, and it did happen..

    Since Lei was a very famous ninja in this area serving for the Prince, it was not really that hard for them to gather information and scheme ways on how to counter his skills and gadgets.

    Although Lei was not part of the original mission, which was to kidnap the prince of Yvandir in exchange for freedom and more power for their kind, the Crone sisters thought it would be better for them to take Lei as well. Even as a bonus for them since they were forbidden by their boss to eat Von.

    Thankfully, their plan was flawless.

    All they had to do was impersonate the most trusted people in this palace and use very advanced technology from the wealthiest country that neither the Princess nor the Queen would expect for them to use thanks to their ignorance of what their kind could actually do aside from eating children from the danger zones.

    "Who are you and why are you doing this to us?" Lei said while pulling Von back with him to the end of the invisible square cage where the division of smoke from the air outside the invisible cage could be seen clearly.

    "Hihihihi, you don''t need to know all those silly little things. All you have to do is come with us and you''ll be safe." The old lady''s high-pitched and scary voice echoed across the small space while still trying to reduce the smoke between them.

    When the Crone saw Von and Lei''s face, she immediately had the urge to step towards them, but the more she stepped forward the more space Von and Lei had to move away from her.

    "Right. Silly me." She laughed and stopped walking after realizing what was happening and why she couldn''t reach the boys at all even though they were just two feet away from her.

    Just as the old lady and the invisible cage stopped moving, Lei noticed the smoke thinning out, but it was not entirely because of the old lady''s small vacuum that seemed to need more time to work, it was a leak from the cage''s feet connected to the floor!

    "I think I know how we can get out of here," Lei said to Von, finally being able to make his brain work.

    But Von, on the other hand, was just sticking to him the whole time like a monkey on a tree.

    "Get me out of here," he said quietly while trying to tame his heart that was beating so loudly.

    Out of all the things that Von feared, it was being enclosed in a small room with no space to fly that terrified him the most. Aside from feeling like he had no air to breathe, not being able to fly anywhere was the greatest disadvantage that Von couldn''t afford to have in a fight, especially since flight was just his greatest skill.

    "Okay," Lei said and pushed Von''s arms away from his neck slightly to keep his hands and blades in position against the scary-looking old woman inside the cage with them.

    "Firstly, I need you to tumble her down. I think there''s no floor in this cage and if we manage to get the angle right, we might be able to escape from here completely," he said while tying his sticky ropes to Von''s waist.

    "Oh dears, you''re planning to escape? After all the effort that I did to kidnap you? I don''t think that''s a right way of treating your old lady-"

    "We don''t care about you lady so shut up!" Von said while launching himself to her with eyes closed.

    Since they could barely see from across the smoke, Lei guessed that the old granny must be in the very center of this rectangle, based on the distance that the fake Sir Fred was making while they were walking earlier so they wouldn''t bump on the invisible walls around them.

    "Gahhhh!!!" Von shouted even more, head first towards the lady that was caught of guard by their sudden and reckless move making them both stumble on the floor as Lei was busy tying the sticky rope to his waist.

    And as expected, the cage really didn''t have a floor. The moment the old lady fell on her back, the wall behind Lei seemed to disappear.

    "Ow!" "Go!" The old lady and Von both cried, signaling the start of Lei''s run while holding the sticky rope with him that was also attached to Von as leverage for him to be pulled by Lei while he was still a bit dizzy from the sudden impact.

    "Get them!!!" the Crone suddenly shouted to her sisters who were just waiting around near them for some action.

 Chapter 88 - Army Of Fake Maids

    "Did you hear that?" Petunia suddenly said, interrupting Fily''s presentation about their individual tasks later.

    "What?" asked Venedette. As the most focused one when it comes to saving her kid, Venedette did not appreciate Petunia''s sudden interruption which was only followed by a long silence before she finally responded.

    "Von and Lei, I heard their voices. They''re still inside the castle''s protective bubble!" Petunia said, further proving her point by showing them the trackers from Von and Lei''s stat-huts getting back on track to their screens.

    "Should we save them?" Petunia quickly followed after seeing the conflicted faces of everyone in the room. Fily told them to let Von and Lei be captured, let the village burn and let the picture be complete. Complete¡­ but with substitutes. Instead of the real superhumans living in Gamora''s Village, there will be palace guards and fire protective measures on the inside of every house there.

    But for Von and Lei, Fily said they needed to find a substitute, which was almost as impossible as making a fish talk due to the people''s knowledge of Von as the island''s prince and Lei, his protector.

    "Where are they?" Fily suddenly asked which sparked a light of hope in Petunia that she will allow them to save the two.

    "They''re running from the end of the hallway," Venedette muttered while watching the two dots on her screen moving towards their direction at full speed as if they were being chased by someone¡­

    "I can hear more voices." Petunia said and jumped beside the window, kicking it open so that her senses would be keener and thus would be able to catch more of what was happening on the other side of the castle where Von and Lei were.

    But instead of more voices, all she could hear was a single voice of an old lady which she assumed was the Crone that kidnapped the boys. But here''s the catch, although the voice was undeniably just one, there were a lot of overlapping words being uttered by the same voice at the very same time!

    And then Petunia remembered Fily''s words, "Contrary to everyone''s belief, Crones travel in packs and pretend as one another, one by one."

    This realization made Petunia shrink from her confident pose.

    "Why? What''s the matter?" Fily said with concern etched on her face after seeing Petunia back off from the window without any words being uttered from her mouth.

    "Petunia?" Venedette said and went closer to her too, giving her a slight shake on her shoulder to bring her back to reality, which seemed to work as Petunia was now shaking her head mysteriously.

    "What''s wrong??" Fily said, now having a wild guess of what Petunia might have seen or heard with her supersenses.

    "T-They''re here," Petunia muttered in disbelief.

    "And the boys are running away from them," Venedette said before flying over the window, across the fountain that was situated at the same axis as the Castle''s front doors, in hopes of seeing her child once more from the shadows before she makes a riskier decision than making Von join the tournament.

    But this time, it was a choice between Von or everyone else, and as a Princess, Venedette knew that her responsibilities to her people must come first before anything else.

    And so she flew and saw the two being chased by a bunch of maids along the hallways.

    But wait, maids? Why are they chasing them?

    Did they assume wrong about the Crones striking today?

    Could the two of them have anything in their possession that could explain their sudden disappearance from the radars?

    But no matter how Venedette tries and recall anything that could help make them disappear like that, there was nothing that popped out of her mind.

    "Mom!" Von shouted from the hallways after seeing her floating around.

    But since Venedette was still too busy wondering if these are actually her maids or just crones in disguise, she thought it would be just better to let them go with those monsters either way.

    The maids may, or may not be the Crones that also managed to break in the highest level of security that they have right now but if it''s Von and Lei''s destiny to be kidnapped right here, then that was it. She knew the both of them would be safe until midnight anyway so there was still time. Time to complete the Prophecy and save Von and Lei after the audience picture taking right away.

    ***

    "Why is she not answering? Can''t she see me?" Von snickered while flying at the same speed as Lei was running away from the maids that were now following them suddenly out of nowhere.

    "Shout louder!" Lei advised while still balancing his speed.

    "MOM!! HELP!! We''re being kidnapped!!!" Von said and flew closer to Venedette just as where the sticky ropes could take him.

    "Wait, can you try that again? And carry me this time." Lei suggested while they were nearing the open walls of the castle''s hallway.

    "What?!" Von shouted back when he couldn''t hear what Lei said because of the speed that they were running (or flying) with.

    "Take me to your mom-" Lei shouted even more but then when he looked back at the bright sky beyond Von, Venedette was already gone.

    "Where did she go?" Lei said to Von who only looked back now, trying not to hit his head to the pillars while looking for Venedette.

    "She''s gone?!" Von shouted back, his heart sinking more than ever when his mom just ignored him while they were being chased by imposer palace maids.

    Maybe she thought they were just playing?

    But she didn''t even notice when their stat-huts suddenly getting off the radars while they were inside the invisible box with the fake Sir Fred that turned out to be the same old woman in the store last night where he got the idea of running away to the ground and living a new life there with Lei and was now trying to kidnap them along with these maids.

    "Von!! Pull me up!" Lei shouted which made Von come back to his senses.

    And although Von was confident that he could carry Lei with him using the sticky ropes, Von''s performance was affected completely by his saddened emotions with his mother, bumping Lei to the roof of the hallway which he immediately said sorry for.

    "I''m so sorry!" he said and tried pulling Lei closer to him with all of his strength.

    "I''ll take us to the roof and ask the others for help," Von said and took Lei to the highest point of the castle where they could always see Fily and Petunia hanging out.

    [Von: HELP!!! We''re being chased by an old lady and her army of fake maids! Lei is injured, amd we''re here on the highest point of the castle where you guys always hang out. Please send help, hurry!] Von typed rapidly and hit sent.

    And even though he was still mad at Lei for disagreeing with him earlier that morning, no one can deny how much he still cared about him. They were best friends, and still are. Maybe it was because Von just felt very weird when Lei does something out of his character as disagreeing with him. That was actually the first time Lei disagreed with Von''s idea which made Von uncomfortable enough to think that he betrayed him already.

    But after seeing that the old woman who encouraged him to jump and start a new life on the ground was now trying to kidnap them, he managed to have faith in Lei again, and his intentions that were only for his good.

    On the other hand, as soon as Petunia had seen the message that Von sent, she immediately jumped off the window and flew towards them even without Fily''s nor Venedette''s consent who had just arrived back at the meeting place where she saw both Petunia and Fily leaving in separate ways.

    "What should I do now?" she asked to herself while staring blankly at the Prophecy in Sir Grand''s hands.

    "This will work. You''ve got to trust us, my Princess," he answered, feeling the need to comfort her again as if it was the only thing he could give to help her feel better.

    "Where is Fily going?" she inquired after realizing that Fily was actually going the opposite way as Petunia.

    "She''s told me she''s going to Gem''s room and give her something real quick before coming back." Sir Grand answered abruptly.

    "But what about Petunia?"

    "I think she''s going there to help Lei with his injury?"

    "Should we tell them about all of this?" Venedette said, feeling worried now about how Von and even Lei would easily misunderstand their intentions without context or any heads up about the whole thing.

    "Fily said it would be best if we don''t tell them anything otherwise the whole plan could go to waste."

    "What? I don''t remember Fily saying something like that."

    "She just said that before you came in."

    "And why is that?"

    "Because Von''s reaction to the whole situation would change from supposedly being the victim to becoming an egoistic ''hostage'' that wouldn''t convince the watchers much that he was actually being abducted and not in some kind of a grand plan, according to Fily." Sir Grand explained while putting down the tablet on Venedette''s table.

    "Oh my gosh, Von will hate us more because of this." Venedette said and sat down quietly to her chair in front of Sir Grand.

    "We need to do this, or else every one''s life is going to be at stake," Sir Grand said and hugged her gently giving her the best comfort that he can give at the moment.

    "Eherm, I should go and do my part now." Sir Fred coughed fakely before excusing himself from the Prince and the Princess'' presence.

 Chapter 89 - Filys Visit

    "Gem!!!" Fily said enthusiastically while opening the door to Gem''s room when suddenly, Gem fell down on the floor from her bed.

    "Gem!!!" Fily shouted once again after seeing the sweaty and now injured Gem after falling down.

    "What happened? Are you alright? What are you doing on the edge of the bed?"

    "What are you doing here? Ouch." Gem answered back while complaining about her butt that fell down on the floor because of Fily''s sudden visit.

    "I came here to give you this," Fily said while showing her a glass of orange juice.

    "Uhmm¡­" Gem said while glancing at the food tray beside her bed.

    "Oh," Fily said when she saw the table in Gem''s bed full of spilled hot chocolate. "What were you doing?"

    "Nothing! I was just, uhh¡­ grabbing my slippers." Gem said and laughed nervously.

    But then she got into thinking, Fily doesn''t know about her restrictions.

    "It''s not hurting anymore?" Fily said while putting the orange juice beside her cup of hot chocolate on the makeshift table pertaining to her stomach cramps.

    "Uhh, it still hurts. But like I said, it''s getting more tolerable- ouch," she said while sweating nervously and holding her stomach. She then lifted herself back to the bed with the pain getting worse now that her five-minute Hot chocolate cure is gone.

    "You''re moving too much, look at that sweat! I told you to stay still and take a rest, here, an orange juice to help you sleep." Fily said and offered her the orange juice, but instead of taking it, Gem grabbed the empty cup beside it on the table and filled it in with Hot chocolate instead, despite the cramps that were slowly creeping in her stomach again.

    "Thanks but I like Hot chocolate more," she said and drank the hot chocolate straight from the cup in just one take even though it was still freshly hot.

    "Hey!" Fily said and tried to stop her but Gem signed her to wait.

    "Have you been drinking this the whole time? Is that why you''re sweating buckets?"

    "Uhuh¡­ that''s totally it."

    Fily''s eyes narrowed the moment she heard Gem''s overly defensive response.

    "You''re lying."

    "No, I''m not!"

    "You can''t fool me, Gem." Fily said with her kind voice and even handed Gem a clean towel to dry herself with despite being disappointed in her for trying to lie.

    "Okay, fine." Gem said and plopped herself to the bed, "I was trying to complete my daily task." She confessed.

    "You mean, the thing you were saying about your level zero abilities?"

    "Yep. But because of this pain, I could only do it once in a while. I haven''t even passed the midpoint yet. At this rate, I''m not sure if I can finish the tasks before midnight¡­" Gem said while sulking and covering herself with the blanket slowly after putting the cup back to the makeshift table beside the orange juice.

    Even though she was already sweaty, Gem still felt cold because of the cold temperature in the room that the nurses thought would help her feel better, but contrary to their belief, being under the blanket helped Gem feel warm, and thus, better than staying in the cold.

    "We actually made something that could help you," Fily said which made Gem peek out her blanket.

    She saw Fily holding the orange juice again and three small bottles of condensed red and yellow potions on the other hand.

    "What''s that?" Gem asked. Could it be medicine?

    "Strawberry and Mango juice concentrate." Fily lied and tried handing the bottle to Gem but she refused.

    "How could this make me feel better?" she asked cautiously.

    "The red one will help you sleep while the yellow one will help relieve your pain for a short amount of time, thirty minutes maybe? Combining the two would help you get both results more efficiently." Fily explained without actually explaining how it would help Gem feel better.

    "So¡­ it''s medicine?" Gem asked again, contemplating whether to reveal her restrictions to Fily now or not.

    ''Or maybe I should just take it to use it if I need it later?'' she thought even more.

    "Y-Yes." Fily smiled nervously, "You don''t need to take it if you don''t want to though. We just made these to show you how we actually care about your help-"

    "Thank you." Gem cut Fily''s kind words by reaching for her hands, "I''ll make good use of these." She said and smiled despite the pain that was corrupting her stomach.

    At the very least, even though Fily came to her room at the wrong time, Gem was still happy to hear about their efforts just to help her feel better. At least the negative thoughts on her mind were washed off by this sudden visit and she doesn''t feel lonely or neglected anymore.

    It was funny for Gem, not once had she ever felt lonely when she ran off the orphanage nor when the ice wolves left her at Wayeland. Not even when her old friends died on that border. Instead of feeling lonely, Gem''s longing for being strong grew even more.

    But when she thought about Venedette, Petunia, and the others forgetting about her, there was this ugly feeling in her heart that she couldn''t describe with words. It was as if her heart was getting crushed and beat into a million pieces ruthlessly that hurt even more than the constant cramps in her stomach.

    When Fily heard of Gem''s response, a bright smile was immediately etched on her face, making the room feel warmer and the mood much better than when Gem was just staying there on her own.

    "Okay, take care then," Fily said and stood up while leaving the orange juice that Gem didn''t grab from her back to the makeshift table on her bed.

    "Where are you going?" Gem asked while putting the potions under her pillow.

    "I''m going to betray Von and Lei." She said while smiling which Gem thought was just a joke before saying their goodbyes to each other.

    And little did Gem know that Fily was actually telling the truth, just in a different context that she wouldn''t understand without any knowledge of the plan nor about the Prophecy that was going to happen later.

 Chapter 90 - Petunia Is Expert At Lying

    "Petunia!" Von said enthusiastically while looking at Petunia on her Gummy cloud that was floating towards them with an annoyed face.

    "What happened?" she asked while looking around cautiously.

    "I accidentally hit Lei to the ceiling," Von confessed while pushing Lei back to the ground when he tried to sit up.

    "I''m fine," Lei said stubbornly and tried to sit up again but Von was really more stubborn than him.

    "For all I know, you did it on purpose to make Lei repay for his ''betrayal'', am I right?" Petunia said while grabbing the healing potion from her cloud.

    "I did not! I was just too distracted when I pulled him off the ground and the rope was just too unstable!" he said, trying to defend himself so eagerly.

    "I don''t buy that." Petunia said even though she actually believed him.

    "Tch!" Von could only exclaim while sporting an intense frown at Petunia who was now giving Lei the very basic healing potion that is the most essential potion in Petunia''s hidden kit.

    "All good?" Petunia asked while packing the healing potion back to her secret stash inside the Gummy cloud.

    "Mmm." Lei only answered while looking down to the area where the fake maids were running after them earlier.

    "On second thought, you should just take this." Petunia said and handed Lei the same bottle of healing potion that was now refilled.

    "Aren''t you going to ask about what happened?" Von asked which took Petunia aback for a few seconds.

    "No," Petunia answered with a blank face, keeping her cold endeavor for use so the two of them wouldn''t raise any more questions to her.

    But then, Fily suddenly sent her a message saying;

    [Fily: Keep them there. I already told the Crones where they are.]

    "Cheeky child, do you want to be our food as well?" one of the old crones in disguise laughed at Fily for telling them where Von and Lei were hiding.

    "Little girl thought we needed her help." Another one said using the same voice and a bunch of them laughed after her.

    "Come on you hags, I''m just trying to make your work easier for your dumb a*ses," Fily said with a deeper voice than usual and a smile that was so bright even her eyes were smiling.

    "This kid," the same one with properly tied brown hair and maid''s clothing said while laughing dryly at Fily, "Get her."

    Suddenly, the rest of them who were also impersonating the palace maids lunged at Fily, but Fily quickly reacted by using her super puff so the maids couldn''t go near her.

    "You''re lucky I''m not allowed to hurt you till tonight," Fily said after sending them all five doors away from her.

    "And why is that?" the leader asked which Fily only responded with a smiley shrug.

    "Get her." The leader Crone said again which her sisters followed immediately

    "Well, I guess I could still kill some of you and leave the others to capture Von and Lei," Fily said and took a handful of powder from her pocket.

    "What made you so sure you could kill us anyway?" the first one to arrive near her said while throwing a claw at Fily''s face which Fily immediately dodged thanks to her mediocre senses and superior calculations of how these Crones would move.

    "One." Fily simply said and blew the powder to the first Crone''s face, stinging her eyes and face with the hot chili powder in her hands.

    "Two." Fily turned around and blew a convenient amount to the second Crone''s eyes and nose.

    "Three." She said and continued jumping around and spraying the powder directly on their openings without wasting a single powder thanks to the precision of her calculations.

    "Fifteen," Fily said and landed in front of the remaining thirty Crones including the leader who was now surprised after underestimating her earlier.

    Fily knew Crones aren''t really the strongest opponent there is and if Crones could outsmart children, Fily''s not your typical kid that would get attracted to candies absentmindedly.

    "So, how many of you should I spare?" Fily asked amidst the crying voices of old women behind her.

    "W-We''ll just take the boys." The leader said. "Can you take us to them?"

    "Sure." Fily said and led the way slowly, still with that confident smile of hers that served as a warning for the rest of the Crones who were now carrying their injured sisters to not try and do anything funny with her.

    ***

    "Have you seen my mom though? I just saw her earlier but then she suddenly disappeared without even helping us." Von said with spite in his voice, trying his best not to hate his mom even though he could feel that Venedette actually saw them and just chose to ignore them earlier without any explanations.

    "No." Petunia lied again, but this time she was actually willing to answer Von''s question even if they were just lying so that she could keep them staying in here like what Fily told her to do.

    "Is the meeting done?" Lei asked this time.

    "Actually no. Since you guys disappeared, Venedette told us to look for you first before we start the meeting." Petunia answered, improvising a new disaster prevention lie that would, at least, help lessen Venedette and their hate sentence from Von or even Lei.

    "Mom''s looking for us? Does that mean she actually didn''t see us back there earlier?" Von said when he heard Petunia''s lies that sparked hope in his heart once again.

    "But where are they? Why are you the only one here? Didn''t they see the message that I sent?" Von asked restlessly while peeking his head over the tower''s railings to look for Venedette and the others, but since Venedette was still inside the building and the library''s windows were tinted black, he couldn''t really see anyone inside of it.

    "Should we just go there?" Von asked himself which alarmed Petunia immediately.

    "Actually, I just remembered, Venedette told me to tell you guys that we should just wait for them here while they deal with the enemy downstairs!"

    "I''m going to help." Lei offered, which Petunia immediately opposed.

    "No, she specifically told me to make sure you boys stay up here while they deal with those people downstairs. So please, sit down and let me do my job." Petunia said sternly which convinced the boys easily.

    "Okay, fine," Von said and moved closer to Lei.

    ''At least I know my mom really cares about me.'' Von thought to himself with a smile before sitting down as per Fily''s request.

 Chapter 91 - Old Women With Trust Issues

    "Are we really going to follow her?" one of the Crones at the back asked the closest Crone to her, pertaining to Fily.

    "I don''t know, ask Posa." The Crone snubbed at her, telling her to ask their supposedly ''leader'' instead.

    "Tch." The one who asked moved away from her and then went closer to Posa, their leader at the front, for a whisper.

    "What are we doing?" she asked.

    "We''re going to capture the boys."

    "And?"

    "That''s it," Posa said and pushed her as if telling her to be quiet and get back to her position.

    "I don''t understand. Why is she telling us where the boys are? And why is no one coming after us? Aren''t they going to protect them?"

    "Yorela''s right. I want some action, Posa." Another one of them complained along with the first Crone.

    "Shh-" Posa said, trying to silence her sisters from complaining too much since Fily was just in front of them and could probably hear what they were saying, but to no avail, Posa''s sisters started murmuring to each other already about their complaints and concerns about Fily''s intentions.

    "What if she''s just setting us up for a trap?"

    "They''re looking down on us for sending a child on our way."

    "Does she think she could fool us?"

    "Do something, Posa." The Crone closest to her whispered.

    "Do you really trust her?" another one from Posa''s right asked out loud, igniting a noisy argument from the same voices that made Fily stop in her tracks and warn them for being too noisy.

    "As I''ve said, I''m here to help your dumba**ses catch those two annoying creatures. So if you don''t want my help, you''re free to go as you please." Fily said firmly while standing on the highest step of the emergency stairs that she decided to use so they wouldn''t garner too much attention from the innocent maids on the hallways.

    "How do we know if you''re telling the truth?" Yorela asked, seemingly the smallest among them.

    "Just trust me.." Fily sighed, almost making a facepalm because of the stress of dealing with these old women with trust issues.

    "I don''t trust you," Yorela said while squinting her eyes at Fily.

    "Yorela," Posa said as a warning and held her sister back. "I trust her so let''s go and get this done with."

    "Posa."

    "Posa." Their other sisters said, agreeing with Posa since they hate hassle as much as her.

    "Are we really going to let this girl trick us this easily?!" Yorela said, getting angry now.

    "You''re too young to understand," Posa said, which shocked Fily a little bit.

    "Young? How is an old-looking woman young?" she thought to herself before paying attention to the rest of Posa''s words.

    "You might not know this yet but we know how to distinguish liars from those who are telling the truth. And this girl, no matter how ridiculous her reasons are for betraying her friends, she''s still telling the truth and I can feel it."

    "Posa is right."

    "We shall continue. Move, girl." The others followed up, ordering Fily to move which she only did after thinking about why they were educating the shortest in the group that way and calling her young even though she''s obviously old-looking already.

    "Is she just new to this kind of thing?" Fily asked Posa which she nodded to reluctantly.

    "Enough with the chit-chat young lady, just bring us there as fast as you can," Posa said after looking at the sun that was now at its highest peak of the day.

    ''But I''m weak.'' Fily thought to herself while taking her dear time walking upstairs without any intentions of telling them about her true weakness.

    "No wonder they''re doubting your intentions. Why are you so slow? Are we there yet?" Posa said impatiently again, demanding an answer from Fily who was now taking a break from walking too much.

    "Just go to the highest point and you''ll find them there," Fily said.

    "Highest point? You mean the tower?" Posa said, finally having an idea of where the two might be hiding all this time.

    "Yes. And please don''t tell them about what I did," Fily answered, which made Posa a little bit mad and excited at the same time.

    "Why didn''t you just say so earlier?" she said and leaped towards the stairs, her sisters following after her and overtaking Fily immediately with a wicked smile etched on their faces even if some of them were still under the influence of the chili powder.

    "Do we really trust that girl? What if she''s just planning to push us all off of that tower?"

    "Could you just shut up, Yorela. I can smell the boys from up there." The Crone beside Yorela said as they passed through Fily''s position.

    "Tsk," Fily complained and sighed after realizing how far she would have to walk back to the library again.

    ''Should I just build something like Petunia''s flying Gummy cloud?'' she thought and started her long journey back to the library.

    ***

    "Is that Fily? I think I just heard Fily¡­ talking to an old woman." Lei said reluctantly and moved closer to the tower''s wooden trap door where the voices came from.

    "That''s not Fily." Petunia lied again while thinking of an escape route that wouldn''t make her an obvious accomplice to this abduction along with Fily.

    "I''m sure that''s her," Lei argued again while sticking his ear closer to the trap door when suddenly, he heard loud footsteps of what seemed to be the same people that were running after them just earlier.

    "What the heck! They''re here!" Lei said frantically and moved around to look for another exit but since he can''t fly, there was no other way for him to escape this.

    "What? Who''s here?" Petunia tried to play dumb but was surprised when Lei suddenly carried her to her Gummy cloud and pushed it away from the tower.

    "Hey what are you-?" Petunia tried to complain but was stunned when she realized what Lei was trying to do.

    "Go," Lei said to Von and tried pushing him off the tower too but the boy wouldn''t let go of him.

    "But you¡­"

    "Just go," Lei said again while grabbing two small blades from his pocket. "I''ll stall them."

    "I''ll carry you, come on. They can''t fly." Von tried to persuade him but Lei was already sure of his decision.

    "Just go!" he said and waited for the trap door to open before them.

 Chapter 92 - Halved

    "Lei!!!" Von exclaimed while trying to pull Lei away from the tower but the boy wouldn''t budge even after hearing the heavy footsteps and old women''s laughter nearing them.

    "Come on!!!!" Von tugged Lei''s shirt even more but Lei only pushed him away.

    "I won''t leave until you come with me," Von said and flew in front of Lei, aiming to grab his foot and lift him off the ground.

    Von almost succeeded but the moment the fake maids came banging on the wooden trapdoor not far from them, Von suddenly lost his balance and fell down with Lei on top of him.

    "Just go, Von! I will kill them all and I don''t think you can handle watching me do it in front of you!" Lei said which shocked Von.

    "What?! What if you get killed instead?!"

    "If you don''t go now I will surely get killed because of you," Lei said confidently which made Von think thoroughly about the situation.

    "Can''t we just run away together?" Von tried to bargain again but Lei shook his head sternly.

    "Just go." He said, which finally made Von fly towards Petunia reluctantly.

    "I thought the others dealt with them already?" he asked absentmindedly while watching Lei anticipate the wave of fake maids trying to break in the wooden trap door.

    "I thought so too." Petunia said and brainstormed a thousand different scenarios of how she could help the Crones who couldn''t fly from capturing Von.

    ''Should I give him a sleeping potion?'' Petunia thought and searched for the same sleeping potion they made earlier for Gem.

    On the other hand, while Lei was anticipating for the Crones to come breaking the trap door in front of him, he was surprised when the noise suddenly went down so he went closer to inspect.

    But at that moment, the door suddenly flew beyond the roof making him step backward.

    And there they were.

    Maids of different faces but all with the same wicked smile as if they were looking at their dinner.

    And indeed they were planning to make him dinner that day.

    "I like unborn children more but I think this kid would also satisfy my hunger for today." One of them said while using her long snake-like lips to lick her watery mouth just by looking at Lei and Von not far from him on the back.

    Somehow, Lei was sure he heard at least more than thirty people downstairs, but there were only three in front of him right now.

    ''Are they giving me the advantage of a three vs. One so I could beat them all up one by one?'' he thought and just shrugged it off with a confident smirk plastered on his face.

    But little did Lei know, the other Crones were actually hanging on the walls of the brick tower already, just waiting for their signal to jump at him from Posy, their leader.

    "There are people behind you, Lei! You''ve got to watch out!" Von shouted, trying to warn Lei who only nodded at him.

    "People behind me?" Lei quickly looked back and when he saw no one, he immediately thought Von was just joking.

    "The other one''s flying," Yorela whispered to Posy enthusiastically as if she was looking at the most exciting part of her life right now.

    "That one''s yours," Posy said, giving Yorela the permission that she was waiting for since forever.

    "Okay!" Yorela laughed like crazy and stood at the stone railings of the circular tower.

    "Charge," Posy whispered with a rosy smile without even moving an inch which confused Lei even more, but then, when he looked back, there were a bunch of crawling creeps that suddenly leaped towards him, stacking like dirty clothes in a laundry basket and he was at the bottom of them all.

    "Ouch! Sh*t!" he exclaimed while trying hard not to let go of the blades in his hands while they were suspending his limbs one by one.

    When Lei finally got wind of the weight that was preventing him from moving earlier, he expertly maneuvered his blades with his fingers to cut off the nearest thing that he could cut off from the disgusting old people around him, but instead of red blood, all he saw was black liquid leaking from the light cuts that he intentionally made just to make them let go of him.

    "Oh no, Lei!" Von shouted after seeing the number of fake maids jumping towards him.

    Momentarily having this urge to help him by flying towards them and knocking them off of Lei but because he was weak and cowardly, Von could only stare and watch them as his muscles stiffen out of frustration in mid-air.

    ''Lei could do it.'' He thought positively while remembering Lei''s confident words, taking a deep breath along the way to calm himself down before looking back at them again.

    But this time, instead of Lei being pinned to the ground, he was now slowly picking himself up by cutting his way through the crowd using the small blades that he was carrying earlier.

    And since the Crones were supposed to bring Lei back to their base alive, they really had no other choice but to hold back what they could do in order to capture him as alive as possible.

    Whilst Lei on the other hand was just enjoying the scenario, spinning like a tornado, Lei was able to free himself from the Crones'' old and sickly hands, jumping up and down the ceiling and the floor and smashing their heads using his short but sharp blades.

    Lei was having the time of his life! Especially after seeing that their blood was demon black instead of human red, he just gained more than enough reasons to kill them ruthlessly.

    However, on the edge of Von''s eyes, there was a lady that was standing on the railings and taking her own precious time, stretching around as if she was getting ready to attend a Zumba session while also ripping off the fake face that she used to camouflage her way inside the castle to reveal her real old wrinkled face and a body that was just skin and bones. But unlike the others, she was a hunchback and shorter than them which made Von''s eyebrows furrow at her movements even more.

    Especially when a pair of black bat-like wings suddenly appeared from her back.

    And when it flapped, her body was suddenly halved into two!

    A lower body that was left standing on its own on the railings of the tower where she was just standing earlier and her upper body with wings that was now flying towards him and Petunia in full speed!

    "Watch out!!!" Von shouted before pushing Petunia out of the way.

 Chapter 93 - Wings

    "Watch out!" Von shouted and pushed Petunia out of the way.

    "Got you!" the Crone laughed maniacally upon catching Von with her severed upper body even after just a few flaps of her big bat-like wings.

    When Von noticed this, he immediately closed his eyes and tried to struggle his way out of her clawing long fingernails that were hugging him from the back.

    But to no avail, his efforts were put to shove when he felt the thick liquid spreading from the old woman''s lower body to his shirt from the back, making his courage disappear completely.

    Von didn''t want to believe what was happening in front of him right now. He tried his best to stay still and close his mouth from shouting too much especially when he felt these disgusting slimy things hanging from the old lady''s severed lower body but he just can''t control himself from not shouting nor from not touching it.

    Even without looking, Von could almost swear that those were the old lady''s intestines. They were black and slimy which only made the thought of it more disgusting, black internal organs hanging down from her flying upper body? Who would like to think about such things?

    "H-Help!" Von cried weakly while shutting his eyes desperately from looking at his black bloody hands which only made him shiver and cry even more.

    He couldn''t believe how disgusting this situation was and that it was actually happening in real life, right now. Even the thought of flying in mid-air was not able to save Von from feeling suffocated and helpless from all of it.

    When the old lady saw Von''s reactions, she couldn''t help herself but laugh at his reactions hard, spinning him around with her huge wings that were creating a tornado because of its extraordinary shape.

    She even tightened her hold on Von while preparing for a takeoff when Petunia suddenly got in their way.

    "Wait!" Petunia said while trying her best not to fall from her Gummy while grabbing a sleeping potion from it.

    When Petunia finally found what she was looking for, she immediately shut her eyes tight and fed it to Von without hesitation, alarming the both of them from her sudden actions.

    "Hey!" Von complained which was then followed by a sudden pull backward from Yorela.

    "What are you doing?" Yorela said with her high-pitched old lady voice which immediately made Petunia shiver in fear.

    "N-Nothing." Petunia said nervously and rushed away from them as quickly as she could.

    ''If only I was allowed to save you¡­'' Petunia thought to herself while looking apologetically at Von.

    "The cat can talk?" Yorela said and laughed as if she was amused which Von only ignored.

    ''What was she thinking?'' Von thought to himself while looking at Petunia that was now staring at him from afar.

    "Von!!!" Lei shouted from a distance, grabbing both his and Yorela''s attention back to him and the tower where he was being harassed by everybody else.

    But what was more surprising though, was the fact that even though Lei had already been striking critical blows to his opponents, they were still standing and fighting with him as if they weren''t even hurt by it a little bit.

    ''Is it possible that they also have regeneration powers?'' Lei thought after having a reality check that his opponents weren''t even budging from his attacks.

    ''I can''t let them reach Von. I need to find their weak spots quickly!'' Lei thought and gathered more willpower to fight with these people that were now all covered in their own black blood.

    "Sisters! I got him!" Yorela shouted to them excitedly from a distance.

    ''Why does she have wings?!'' Lei thought to himself and got into thinking even more while jumping around and escaping from the hold of these old sickly women... demons.

    "Bring him back here immediately!" Posa said while trying her best to catch Lei despite being slimy because of their blood being spilled everywhere.

    "Coming!" Yorela said enthusiastically and started flapping her big wings slowly, giving Von a good look and estimation of its size from their shadows on the roofs below them.

    Yorela''s wings measured twice her upper body each if Von was to measure it, but other than the size of Yorela''s wings, the other thing that caught Von''s attention was the track of black liquid that she was leaving on their tracks.

    ''Isn''t it painful?'' Von wondered while secretly taking glances at Yorela''s waist that was cut perfectly in half.

    ''How could she be this strong?'' he wondered even more while suddenly feeling his eyelids becoming heavier.

    "Lei¡­" Von said when they finally arrived back at the tower.

    Yorela threw Von carelessly to the floor while retracting her wings and attaching her upper body back to her lifeless lower body that was still standing on the wall railings exactly as she left it there before.

    "Nice work, Yorela," Posy said and approached Von slowly.

    "Von!!" Lei shouted and tried running to him but the others prevented him from doing so.

    "You should just surrender, kid. Look at your friend, he''s being polite and friendly to his elders." One of them said and laughed while still trying hard to grab Lei''s blades away from him.

    "No!! Von! Wake up! Von!" Lei shouted even more when he saw Von laying comfortably on the ground.

    "P-Petunia¡­" Von murmured, remembering the potion that Petunia shoved in his mouth just earlier.

    "So that cat is also our ally? Just like that girl from down there?" Yorela said carelessly which made Posy cover her mouth immediately.

    "Let''s go," Posy said and led the group back downstairs.

    "What girl? What did Petunia do? Von? Von! Wake up, Von!" Lei said, finally being able to approach Von when the Crones let him be.

    "Just come with us silently if you don''t want to see your friend die in front of you." Another Crone said, trying to get Lei to come with them voluntarily which worked spectacularly even though they weren''t really allowed to kill Von just yet.

    "Come," Posy said and grabbed Lei''s shirt while Yorela separated Von from his view using her wings that were still out from her fake hunchback.

 Chapter 94 - Sensitive Queen

    "That crone has wings¡­" Venedette muttered under her breath while watching her kids fight those Crones on their own from the tinted one-way mirror of the library.

    "And they can regenerate," Petunia added after arriving beside Venedette inside of the library.

    "Venedette, come here. Why are you watching that?" Sir Grand said thoughtfully while patting the chair beside him, away from the window which Venedette followed reluctantly.

    "I don''t know¡­ I guess I''m still worried about them, you know?"

    "I know, but trust the process, hon. Everything will go well." Sir Grand said while patting Venedette''s hair softly after arriving beside him.

    "I''m so sorry, your highnesses, but may I ask how these creatures were able to pass through our heavy security? Especially since the Queen is currently here, I doubt anyone would be able to pass through our very meticulous security just like that¡­" Sir Fred said, voicing his opinions out of concern.

    "We should ask Fily that.." Venedette only answered since she also has no idea of how they were able to do that.

    "Speaking of the Queen, I wonder what she''s doing right now? She hadn''t called me yet since this morning, which was actually a lot weirder than her calling me every second before¡­" Petunia murmured while still watching the action outside.

    When everything seemed to be dying down, Petunia was able to guess that it was because of the sleeping potion that she gave Von directly.

    "I guess he will hate me more now." She thought to herself while looking at the now deserted tower where the Crones and Lei were just fighting before.

    "Maybe I should have given the sleeping potion to Lei too? Or will that be too much of a betrayal to them?" Petunia thought and laughed secretly to herself, actually enjoying the thought of betraying Von and Lei for a much better cause which they totally had no idea of.

    "I should stop thinking about that." Petunia thought to herself and shook the thoughts out of her mind.

    But the moment Petunia set her eyes outside of the windows, she immediately became alert after seeing the Queen walking towards the direction where the disgusting Crones were.

    "Oh no, the Queen!" She thought out loud which alarmed the rest of them inside the library room.

    ***

    "What are they doing? Why isn''t anyone coming to help? And Petunia¡­ I''m sure she gave something to Von but what was it? Was that the reason why Von''s dead-asleep despite being abducted by these ugly demons?" Lei thought to himself while looking at the real palace maids who were just bypassing towards them as if they were invisible.

    "They must be using the same trick as earlier." Lei thought again while looking fondly at Von.

    "Don''t worry Von. I''ll find a way to get us out of here, no matter what." He promised and looked around, finding another way to escape with Von even though he was just by himself this time, versus more regenerating Demons from who knows where.

    "Where are you even taking us?" he asked the closest Crone from him.

    "You''re going to be our dinner." She answered honestly with a very stern face, unlike her sisters.

    "Caution," Posy said which echoed from all four corners of their very long invisible train while passing through the main hallway of the castle.

    "The Queen!" Lei thought to himself while watching the Queen bypass them from the center of the hallway.

    "Halma!! Halma help us, please!!! Halm-!" Lei shouted while kicking the invisible wall beside him which made all the Crones glare at him intensively.

    Hope sparked in Lei''s heart when he saw Halma pause for a minute.

    "I think I heard my name." She said which made Lei struggle out of the Crone''s hands even more.

    "Hma! Hlma!" Lei''s muffled voice continued which irritated Halma even more.

    "I feel something wrong," Halma said with furrowed eyebrows.

    "If you don''t keep quiet I will kill your friend in this instance!" the same Crone who threatened Lei earlier whispered which made Lei stiffen at the thought.

    "That''s right. You just keep quiet, child." She whispered once again, but little to her knowledge, Halma could actually hear her voice as little buzzes like from a bee.

    Between Halma''s doubts, she decided to use her ultra senses and Supersight just to get the irritating feeling off her skin, but instead of the playful boys just talking bad about her again like what she was expecting, Halma was genuinely surprised to see a lot of concealed presence beside her, near the walls of the hallway as if they all stepped aside to make way for her to pass through.

    ''Halma!'' Lei called to her in his mind desperately.

    "What''s happening here?" Halma said out loud, making the Crones tremble with fear and even sweat nervously.

    "Can she still see us beyond this Illinox?" one of the most nervous Crone asked innocently which made her the first target of Halma who immediately burned her head precisely using her lazer eyes even without actually seeing anything.

    "Halma! What are you doing?" Petunia suddenly appeared before Halma, blocking the hole that she just made from that invisible sense-defying box called Illinox.

    "Oh, I''m sorry, I thought I heard something weird. Could you also hear them?" Halma asked Petunia with a smile which Petunia only responded with a shrug.

    "W-What are you talking about?" Petunia laughed nervously.

    "Your senses are beyond advanced right? Because you''re a cat."

    "Yes¡­"

    "So, could you also feel them?" Halma said while pointing at where she could feel the disruption of senses were at. "I could hear a little buzzing sound from these disrupted areas so I thought there was something here¡­"

    "Uhmm¡­ Are you okay, Halma?" Petunia said as if Halma was saying something ridiculous.

    "No?" Halma asked again and when Petunia shook her head, Halma just laughed it off while saying, "Sorry, I think I''m just a little bit too sensitive right now after waking up  late and without you by my side."

    "Oh? Is that so? Why didn''t you just call me earlier?" Petunia laughed nervously while signaling the Crones to continue on their way now.

    "It''s okay, at least you''re here now," Halma said and carried Petunia out of her Gummy cloud, just like what she usually does.

    "What the hell, Petunia?" Lei''s eyebrows furrowed even more while letting himself get dragged by the Crones away from them.

    Somehow, he had a feeling that Petunia could actually sense them even from inside this sense-defying structure but for some reason, chose to betray them intentionally.

    Why would Petunia do something so despicable such as offering them to the devils?

    "I thought we were friends¡­" Lei contemplated in his mind even more.

 Chapter 95 - Among Us

    "Ninety-nine¡­ One hundred!" Gem exclaimed with a heavy sigh before laying down on the floor out of exhaustion.

    [Daily Quest progress = 50%] Lady announced briefly.

    "Okay, now for the discipline tests¡­" Gem said with her worn-out voice.

    "I wonder what they''re doing right now?" Gem thought to herself while reaching the lights on the ceiling wishfully with her hands.

    The warmth of her body clashing with the cold wind that was breezing inside her room from the open window.

    Gem thought opening the window would help her feel the heat from the bright sun more but instead, she was met with the cold breeze that was still better than the still conditioned air inside her room that the maids thought would be better for her.

    "More Hot Chocolate¡­" Gem murmured while reaching for the cup of hot chocolate on her bed but since she was too tired and weak to do so, she couldn''t help but feel dizzy and almost as if she was on the verge of death.

    She was feeling just fine whenever she was moving her body but when she stopped, it was when every pain felt like it was streaming to her all at once.. But Gem knew she couldn''t continue moving forever, especially since there were still at least three days for this ''evolution'' to be finished, Gem knew she had to look for another way to complete her tasks and stay moving at the same time.

    [Astral training is advised to be done inside Solitude.] Sir Gemini repeated the words he had been repeating since that morning.

    "Why do you keep saying that Mr. Gemini? You know I won''t do it anyway, right?"

    [Astral training is advised to be done inside Solitude-]

    "Because this and because that¡­ Blah, blah, blah." Gem cut Mr. Gemini''s words off. "Okay, I remember now¡­ Something about the risks of letting something that belongs to Solitude out to the world, right?"

    [More than that, Master, your health is at stake here.]

    "Why does that even matter? It''s not like I''m going to die."

    [You can die, Master.]

    Upon hearing this, Gem''s eyebrows immediately furrowed as if Mr. Gemini just said something so ridiculous.

    "What?"

    [Solitude can''t help with exhaustion, master. Please know your limits.]

    "Tch," Gem said before shifting her position to the floor.

    "Here it goes again¡­" Gem said and squeezed her stomach the moment she felt the wave of cramps coming at her again, "Hot¡­ Choco¡­"

    ***

    "I can''t believe them! How could no one notice us? I mean even if we were inside those weird invisible things, it''s impossible that no one noticed us fighting up that tower, right?" Lei ranted while kicking the straw scattered on the floor of their cave with electrical bars on the front while Von was just sulking on a corner not far from him.

    Somehow, Lei and Von seemed to have switched places since Lei was usually the quiet one and Von would most probably be the one who was supposed to bombard Lei''s ears with complaints now but it went the other way around.

    "How could they even pass through the protective bubbles?" Von murmured while looking down at his feet like the sad boy that he is.

    "Exactly! And Petunia! I''m sure she had something to do with it!" Lei said, feeling more irritated now that he recalled what Petunia just did in front of his face.

    "Petunia made me drink a sleeping potion¡­" Von said and pouted even more after realizing that Petunia might really be their enemy after all.

    "She''s a traitor."

    "I wonder who else is a traitor among us¡­" Von said and buried his face between his knees.

    "Hey, you alright?" Lei looked at him with concern and moved closer to comfort him.

    "I just feel like everything''s been a lie, you know? Petunia, mom, everybody else. It''s like they have been avoiding me on purpose and they even let us get abducted like this¡­"

    "That''s not true, we haven''t heard from their side yet¡­" Lei said, giving the girls the benefit of a doubt and trying to calm the situation down even though he was as angry as Von himself in the first place.

    "Does that matter?"

    "Of course it does," Lei said and hugged Von even though he was just lying.

    "In the end, you''re still the only one I have left," Von said and buried his face even more between his knees because of embarrassment. "I''m sorry."

    When Lei heard this, he was genuinely surprised.

    "It''s not your fault."

    "If only I didn''t drink that potion we could still have the opportunity to run away from them. Heck! We didn''t even see where they brought us and how they did it¡­" Von complained while punching the dry dirt below them that was also full of scattered straws.

    "I''ll get us out of here," Lei said and stood up, looking at the electric bars that the Crones used to lock them inside a small cave, Lei could guess that these old people aren''t just brainless kidnappers that kidnapped them for no reason.

    Lei only knew about the old women''s intention of eating him for dinner which meant they only have until midnight to escape, but how?

    "The electric border is too dangerous for us even with our current resistance levels¡­" he murmured while trying not to touch the electricity that was blocking their view from whatever''s outside of this cave.

    "We need something non-conductive, like a thick shirt¡­ or something," Lei said while still observing the sparkling electric bars in front of them.

    "Will this do?" Von said and offered his hoodie to Lei.

    "I''ll try," Lei said and tightened the black leather gloves from his hand before clutching onto Von''s gray hoodie for protection.

    "Be careful," Von said and stepped aside.

    Lei was actually hoping for the shirt to protect him from the electric bars'' explosiveness, but to their dismay, the electric bars only burned Von''s hoodie in just a second without letting Lei''s hands even an inch out of the electric bars.

    "Ouch!"

    "Oh no! My hoodie¡­" Von said and mourned for his favorite hoodie that was now turned into ashes along with the dusty brown land beneath them.

 Chapter 96 - Oxymedize

    "Here." Petunia whispered to the guards following her and pointed at the tunnel where the Crones brought Von and Lei in.

    Right after Petunia''s encounter with the Queen and after helping the Crones get out of the Queen''s senses safely, she immediately followed after them and took note of the routes they took, avoiding the most secured parts of the Castle and using a forgotten underground tunnel that was almost connected to the basement where they were just hiding in that morning.

    "Where are you going, Pet?" the Queen asked when Petunia tried to go away from her subtly.

    "Uhh, I forgot something at the library." Petunia said and laughed awkwardly.

    "Oh," the Queen nodded and let her go. "Go to my office immediately, okay? I can''t believe I almost skipped work today, *yawns*"

    Upon hearing the Queen yawn, Petunia suddenly had an overused idea popped into her mind once again.

    ''I should make her sleep again so she wouldn''t bother with our operation later.." Petunia thought but was conflicted about whether to follow after the Crones first or lose them while making Halma sleep again.

    "Petunia!" Fily shouted from across the hallway.

    "Fily! Thank goodness!"

    "Is that Fily?" Halma asked with a smile after seeing her second most favorite person on this team.

    "Yup." Petunia smiled and signaled Fily to slow down.

    When Fily finally arrived before Petunia and the Queen, she immediately took a ninety-degree bow which Petunia took as an opportunity to pass the sleeping potion to her.

    And when Fily''s confused expression met Petunia, she only widened her eyes at Fily while looking at her and the Queen back and forth which Fily immediately understood what she was trying to say even without words.

    "I shall go now." Petunia said and took off as fast as she could to catch on to those sly devil incarnates a.k.a. the new generation of Crones who made deals with the devil for more power.

    When Petunia arrived at the dead-end where the Crones brought Lei and Von earlier, she could immediately tell that there was something wrong there, like the wall was not supposed to be there and there was this more powerful distortion in her senses that she could easily tell was the same work of these Crones.

    [Petunia: Fily, is something supposed to be here?] Petunia asked Fily through the Stat-hut which she immediately answered.

    [Fily: Yes, there''s a useless elevator over there.]

    [Petunia: Elevator? What''s that?]

    [Fily: Something like a moving room, wait I''m coming over there.]

    [Petunia: Is she asleep?]

    [Fily: Sooner or later. I added a clear powder to the syrup and mixed it with her usual bath wine which she will most definitely take later while taking a bath so she''s surely going to go to bed again after her bath.]

    [Petunia: Okay, good job. Where are you at?]

    [Fily: Living room.]

    [Petunia: Oh my god that''s so far! We don''t have much time left! They might have gone somewhere untraceable already!]

    [Fily: Don''t worry, I know this place like the back of my palm, including all the secret doors and passages that used to be very useful back in the day when this castle was still on the ground.]

    [Petunia: Okay, I trust you. But please hurry, I''m getting worried about them now.]

    [Venedette: Where are you guys at?]

    [Petunia: Dead-end. Are you coming?]

    [Venedette: No, I''m going straight to the village.]

    [Petunia: Okay, that''s a better call. We''ll take them from all sides.]

    "Petunia!" Fily shouted from a distance.

    When Fily finally arrived in front of the supposedly ''dead-end'', Petunia immediately gave her the same healing potion for quick recovery which let them explore the hidden elevator more.

    "Wow, this is the first time I''ve heard of this thing. What do they use it for?" Petunia said while admiring herself from the mirrors on all four walls of the elevator.

    "It helps you go up and down at a certain point," Fily explained briefly while thinking about all the time that she spent running around this castle with that weak body of hers.

    *Ding!* The elevator rang while the doors automatically opened before them.

    There they found old debris of a fallen building under the castle which if Fily could remember clearly was a small mall that was built back in the 19th century before this castle was restored above it.

    "This is new," Fily said after seeing the very poorly dug tunnel in front of them.

    But what fascinated Fily the most was the glass from the old mall building that was reflecting the lights perfectly from the entrance until where they were standing as if it was calculated perfectly to do so.

    "Wait." Fily gestured Petunia to get away from the old glass shards that were reflecting a straight line of light across this dark tunnel.

    "I think this light is their key," Fily whispered to Petunia which Petunia only understood when the door to the tunnel was closed from the Crone''s side and they were left inside the small and damp tunnel alone, only with Petunia''s glowing gummy cloud once again.

    "So that''s how they were able to pass through the protective bubble," Fily said after finally getting the genius behind these old monsters.

    "What? What did they do?" Petunia asked desperately while consciously trying hard not to make any loud noises or bump into the fragile glass shards and break them.

    "Angles. They made the passageway underground so the bubble would be less stronger down here."

    "And the lights?"

    "Lazer lights, like Halma''s lazer eyes. When the sunlight refracts on many different layers of  oxymedized crystal, or oxymedize painted glass, they could create a disruption to the waves of the bubble without being noticed!" Fily said as if she was getting excited from all these theories.

    But what worried her the most, was the fact that she knew all of this.

    "How come I have never heard of that compound before?" Petunia asked and looked at Fily suspiciously.

    "Because I have greater knowledge than you," Fily said confidently which convinced Petunia easily.

 Chapter 97 - Certain Glass Shard

    "Finally!" Petunia said after arriving in front of the wooden door where the long and narrow tunnel led them into.

    "Wait¡­" Fily said while catching her breath.

    When Petunia noticed Fily having a hard time breathing after that lengthy walk, or jog, or walk-run, she immediately pulled out a healing potion and gave it to Fily out of concern, "Here."

    "Thank you," Fily said and drank the potionlike water. Somehow, Fily had been drinking more healing potion than water lately and she had been getting used to it, which was bad, but since healing potions taste better and have more benefits than water anyway, Fily just saw no use in complaining about it at all.

    "Let''s go?" Petunia asked after seeing Fily''s energy going back to her.

    "Wait," Fily said again and gestured to Petunia to light up the candles on the hanging candle holders beside the arched wooden door in front of them. "I think that''s their base right there."

    "Their base? That easily?" Petunia asked while lighting up the lights automatically with her magic lighter wand..

    "Yes. Crones aren''t the type who make very complicated puzzles since they know more than anyone that they would be the first victims of their traps and puzzles." Fily explained while looking back at the light system that the Crones used to get through the protective bubble.

    "But¡­ aren''t they supposed to be cunning?" Petunia asked again after finishing her job.

    "They are good with their old school tricks which they mostly use on naive children but they''re still not that good with advanced technology."

    "But then, if what you''re saying is correct, then how could they even come up with this madness?" Petunia said while gesturing at the pattern in front of them that the refracted lazer lights did open and disrupt the bubble border perfectly.

    "Exactly," Fily said while trying to get wind of where she had seen this pattern and type of tactic before.

    "Did they get some help from someone as intelligent as you?" Petunia said which made Fily''s heart beat faster than ever, not because of fear but because of the excitement of being challenged by this certain someone, once again.

    "Maybe," Fily said with a smile that freaked Petunia a little bit.

    "Uhmm¡­ so, are we going to destroy it?" Petunia asked nervously while glancing at the door behind them where she could hear several voices inside. Seems like Fily was right, those voices seemed like the Crones with some other old guys which convinced Petunia even more that this might already be their base behind this door.

    "Let''s destroy it," Fily said and grabbed a stone from the floor.

    "Whoa, wait¡­ are you actually just going to destroy it?" Petunia said while glancing at the medium stone in Fily''s hands.

    "Yes," Fily said with a smile before smashing the nearest oxymedized glass beside her.

    "Hey¡­" Petunia said and went in front of Fily for support when she almost fell down.

    "Was that an earthquake?" Petunia asked which made Fily even more excited.

    "It is, and I think I know what''s happening here." Fily said but was immediately cut by Petunia when she heard the people on the opposite side of the door whispering to each other about the earthquake.

    "They felt that too!" Petunia whispered to Fily aggressively before removing the fire from the candles and looking for a place to hide in this ruined underground building. "Quickly, hide!!"

    As soon as the fire disappeared from the candles, the pattern quickly disappeared which made the light earthquake stop.

    At the same time, some Crones from the base opened the door and looked for disruption in their system but thankfully for Petunia and Fily, the Gummy cloud hid them inside its opaque form and amidst the darkness of the tunnel!

    "Nothing here!" a crone said after looking inside the dark tunnel where she couldn''t really see nor sense anything thanks to her weak senses and her laziness to check even more.

    "Phew!" Petunia exclaimed when the Crone closed the door to their base immediately, bringing her Cloud back to its glowing form for light and Petunia scouting the perimeter beyond the door for more cautions with her super senses.

    [Venedette: What was that?]

    [Fily: Sorry, my fault.]

    [Venedette: What happened? Are you okay? Where are you?]

    [Petunia: I accidentally shattered a certain glass shard and we''re in front of the enemy''s door.]

    [Venedette: And where is that? I haven''t seen any of them here yet.]

    "Where is she again?" Petunia asked while fixing the shattered glass with her gummy control.

    "Village." Fily simply said while thinking about the logic behind this pattern.

    [Fily: We''re under Yuphoria. You know the old building here buried beside the castle? I think they built their base over here.]

    [Venedette: That can''t be. Yuphoria and Gamora''s village is so far away from each other¡­]

    [Fily: Which leads me to my next speculation, I think these Crones have a network of underground tunnels in this island.]

    [Venedette: Which could explain how they were able to avoid being caught by our guards or the public¡­]

    [Fily: Yes.]

    [Venedette: Any way we could know every single tunnel they built?]

    [Fily: Actually¡­ I think I can find a way to do that.]

    [Venedette: Okay, very good.]

    "Done!" Petunia said and lit the candles again that made the light disruption active again. "What were you guys talking about?"

    "The Crone''s tunnel system," Fily said while Petunia already backread to their messages.

    "Oh, so what do I do now?"

    "Observe their movements and warn me if someone''s coming."

    "Okay, Roger that." Petunia said and moved her ears closer to the door for more efficiency.

    "Now for this pattern," Fily said and smirked.

    Somehow, she could already guess who helped those crooked Crones and how they were able to make such plans without even having the brains to do so.

    "Are we going to destroy this tunnel?" Petunia asked out of the blue.

    "Yes, why?"

    "I don''t think there''s another way out of this place except for this tunnel." Petunia said after removing her ears from the door.

 Chapter 98 - Fily Hacks

    "What? Are you sure?" Fily''s eyes widened upon hearing Petunia''s concern.

    "I''m not sure, but there''s three very long tunnels like this one and I don''t know where they lead to. It might even be a dead-end which if we destroy this tunnel now, we might not have any way out of here."

    "Wait. I think I should look for the blueprint of this new tunnel system first." Fily said and shifted her attention from the light disruption pattern.

    "Okay," Petunia said and went back to her post, "But how will you do that?" she said while looking at Fily again.

    "Just¡­ trust me," Fily said and shut her eyes tightly.

    ===

    ''Okay, Mind Palace!'' Fily thought to herself before opening her eyes and finding herself in the sea of her thoughts which was currently filled with the light disruption pattern..

    "Scatter," Fily said in her mind and swayed her hands which made everything about the light disruption pattern disappear from floating around her mind, leaving her with an empty table inside her mind library.

    "Okay, now let''s hack," Fily said and sat on her favorite gaming chair from the 21st century.

    Suddenly, the library in Fily''s Mind Palace immediately shifted into a computer headquarters, with codes and numbers floating around her as if she was in space.

    "15 spice victims, let''s see what you''ve got," Fily said and fifteen monitors appeared in front of her, each with their own different footage of what the fifteen people she sprayed with spice and super puff earlier could currently see with their own eyes like her own personal surveillance cameras.

    "Von and Lei?" Fily whispered when she saw the two boys locked inside a glowing cave.

    "What''s up with that?" she complained after seeing almost nothing because of the flashy electric bars and the very poor vision of this Crone.

    Since the Crones could only see with blurred vision, it was really hard for Fily to monitor everything that they were doing on their own and the paths they were taking so she decided to take her hacking skills to the next level.

    "Mind hack," Fily said while manipulating the keyboard in front of her for codes and specific things that she was looking for.

    "Okay, route," Fily muttered when she finally found the information that she was looking for.

    A blue holographic file appeared in front of Fily coming from the monitor screen of the Crone whom she thought had the most knowledge when it comes to the routes they were taking, but before she could grab it, Fily''s mind palace suddenly glitched and the file disappeared in front of her.

    "Fily!!" Petunia''s voice echoed in her space dome. "Someone''s coming."

    ===

    "I was almost done-" Fily said and opened her eyes reluctantly.

    "Shh!" Petunia covered Fily''s mouth using her furry tail which irritated Fily even more.

    "Ew!" she mouthed at Petunia aggressively while pushing Petunia''s tail away from her mouth and closer to the door which Petunia immediately glued her ears to again.

    "Not that way, stupid!" a crone said while seemingly grabbing the other crone away from where Petunia and Fily were currently at.

    "Okay, I think they''re gone. You can sleep again." Petunia said while shrugging her little cat shoulders cutely.

    "Why did you even bother waking me up," Fily said while shaking her head to Petunia out of disappointment before closing her eyes.

    ===

    "Back, repeat," Fily commanded to her mind which immediately followed through her commands.

    "Naughty little girl, you think I''ll let you hack through my system? Dream on, sucker!" A warning message suddenly appeared in Fily''s commands.

    "What the heck?! Kuya! I knew it! It was your doing all along! Why are you sabotaging my work?!!" Fily stomped her feet and exploded in anger.

    She already had a hunch of whoever was responsible for the light disruption idea and since the pattern was very familiar, Fily knew her brother might be the one responsible for helping the Crones all along, but why? Why would he do that?

    "I am going to tell mom!" Fily said and started calling Riveth using her enhanced Stat-hut which Fily''s brother only responded with a :p emoticon.

    [Fily: Mom!! Have you any idea what Kuya''s been doing right now?! He''s sabotaging my work!!!]

    [Riveth: That''s not my problem, child.]

    [Fily: What?! But he''s putting the Queen in danger! You''ve got to help, mom!]

    [Riveth: I thought I''m not your mom anymore.]

    [Fily: Seriously?]

    "Grrr!! Out of all the people out there?! What the heck is he doing?! Is he that jealous of me getting the job as the Princess'' sage or what?!" Fily shouted out of anger.

    "No, no, and no. You already know why I did what I did but since you''re dumb, I''m guessing it''ll take you at least a few more days before acknowledging it. But still, welcome in advance! From your great big brother. Good luck stupid!" another message popped out of her computer screen as if her brother could hear what she was saying.

    "Good luck your ass! You can''t even speak proper English! Grr!" Fily stomped her feet again. "Now what do I do?"

    When Fily slouched on her gaming chair, she could hear Petunia''s voice disturbing her mind system again.

    "Can you hurry? I could hear several footsteps heading this way." Petunia said which made Fily''s blood boil even more.

    "You''re really asking for this, huh?" Fily whispered to herself as she remembered the fact that she''s actually more efficient than her brother in terms of cracking codes.

    "I will prove to you once again that I am the best! Let''s see how long you and your system can keep up with me." She said and prepared herself for an intensive battle against her brother''s system.

    "Oh? Finally! A worthy opponent." Fily''s brother suddenly sent a message again.

    "W-What? You can actually hear me?"

    "Hoho! You didn''t even notice?! I didn''t expect you to be this weak since the last time I challenged you!"

    "I am not weak!" Fily typed to her brother now while checking for bugs on her system, and when she saw the message that she sent, she immediately followed it up with a much calmer response.

    "Do you want to get humiliated again? Second?" she sent, calling him with the nickname that he hated the most.

    "Trying to tilt me, eh?" he responded with laughing emojis. "That''s not gonna work anymore."

    "Oh yes, it will. Just wait and see." Fily sent and trashed the bug that her brother secretly planted in her dress using the Crones.

 Chapter 99 - Hackathon

    "Let''s see how long you can keep up with my skills.''

    "Back at ya," Fily said and stretched her hands.

    "Fily?" Petunia called again from the outside.

    "Did you tell them to capture us?" Fily asked her brother on the chat.

    "Oh, right. I did~ HAHHAHA!" Kuya Koi laughed maniacally.

    "I see, you''re such a coward you''d rather cheat than challenge me huh?"

    "Fily they''re really coming if you don''t move I''ll have no choice but to distract them for you," Petunia whispered aggressively which pressured Fily.

    [Fily: Could you please shh..] Fily typed and sent in less than a second to Petunia who thankfully stopped making noise.

    "What cheat? I''m not cheating. It''s not my fault you revealed to me easily where you''re currently at." Fily''s brother said.

    "Here''s the deal, if those goons come and catch us right now, do you think we could still proceed with this challenge? Do you really want to win without putting up a fight? Is that what you want? A meaningless win."

    "Hey! Slow down there lady, how is utilizing my resources to the fullest cheating?"

    "You''re cheating by preventing me from fighting you! I thought you''re looking for a worthy opponent? Are you really just going to scrap this battle for an easy win?"

    "That sounds boring."

    "Exactly!" Fily typed with a smirk on her face. "Stop them from coming here, and if you win, I''ll gladly surrender myself along with Petunia. But if I win, you''re going to give me the map and the reverse pattern of this light disruption, deal?"

    "Okay, deal." Fily''s brother answered with the same smile as Fily.

    ''She really doesn''t know why I''m doing this, huh?'' he thought to himself while preparing his mind security for Fily''s attacks.

    When Fily saw the green light on the upper corner of her eyes, she immediately put her mind to work, cracking all the codes and puzzles that her brother made especially for her using his top-notch knowledge that could almost be on par with Fily''s intelligence, but only if Fily was isolated from her sisters.

    ===

    "What should I do?" Petunia thought to herself while looking back and forth from Fily and the door where she could clearly hear three guys and a crone talking nonsense while waiting for their Boss''s signal.

    Fily was concentrating deeply while sitting in a lotus position while the tunnel was just cold and bare.

    Aside from the glinting glasses on the wall, Petunia could almost mistake this place for an underground grave tomb. And not only was it because of the sharp glasses on the wall and the fallen underground building, Petunia could also smell dead people and all kinds of things underground.

    ''Were the people down here buried alive along with the whole building?" she thought while also looking for a hiding place.

    The underground tunnel was not exactly just a straight narrow tunnel that was dug straight up from the front to the back, but there were also spare spaces on the side that the old building managed to preserve thanks to its fairly strong foundations.

    There were rooms and mannequins which were very weird and unfamiliar for Petunia to look at using her night vision.

    "Their big eyes are creepy." She thought.

    Petunia found a steel rod from one of the spaces of the building and put it in the doorknobs, "If they really decide to go here, I will run away from you, Fily. As long as you can escape, I''m fine being the sacrifice. I''ll die soon anyway so, not that my life matters anymore." Petunia murmured while shrugging.

    And since Fily was super focused on her work, Petunia was almost sure she didn''t hear any of those things that she said, so Petunia just continued on looking for a bigger opening in this tunnel where she could hide Fily at.

    ===

    "Is this all you''ve got!?" Fily said while her eyes were burning in passion for burning her brother''s five primary securities out of fifteen in just three minutes.

    "That''s an easy level, and don''t worry, I''m currently making more codes for you to crack so just you wait." Fily''s brother said while Fily just rolled her eyes at her screen for having to solve a very obvious one.

    "What comes first, egg or chicken? Are you seriously asking me this?" Fily said after reading the question in front of her.

    "Yes. It''s that simple, innit?"

    "Tch." Fily said and entered egg.

    "Should I start asking personal questions now? Since you''re so weak even mom could hack your system now."

    "Stop it, I''m not a child who needs surveillance!" Fily said after remembering the fact that her mom had been watching her ever since she got here, even without her permission and without even being detected by Fily''s self-made advanced mind security.

    "Why are you so hostile towards us? But so soft with your friends¡­ It''s almost as if we''re not even family." Kuya Koi suddenly ranted.

    "Who do you think did it first? You''re the oldest, I think you should know the answer to that already." Fily answered with much certainty. "Ten!" Fily said out loud, counting all the checkpoints that she had smashed using her skills.

    ''Did mom lie to me? I thought Fily had been drastically losing her touch due to lack of practice? Or was she just faking it?'' Kuya Koi thought to himself while coding more challenges for Fily.

    "I think you''re underestimating me, Kuya. Why don''t you just sit down and let me code your mind security program for you? I''ll make sure to make it Fily proof just for you if you''ll let me." Fily said and laughed as if she was already taking the victory.

    "This ain''t good, my system is crashing and she''s targeting my comms instead of my files." Kuya Koi thought to himself while biting his lower lip out of pressure.

    Since Fily was desperate to get the map to this new tunnel system that her brother masterminded for the Crones along with the files for the light disruption system, Kuya Koi automatically assumed that Fily would target his file system first, but what Fily did was to target his communication to the Crones first, which she thought would buy her more time to destroy her brother''s system completely.

    "And now for the big bang," Fily said and pressed enter.

    "Goodbye, brother!" Fily said once again while watching her brother lose connection from all across the island, thanks to Venedette''s help and his lack of security in that area.

 Chapter 100 - Ant Map

    "Pet!" Fily whispered cautiously at Petunia who was now using her knowledge of chemicals for making traps on the door.

    And when Fily saw this, her initial instinct was to step back and look cluelessly at Petunia who already made the floor beneath her ice.

    "Oops, sorry I spilled." Petunia whispered while pointing at the door. "They''re just right there." She said and attempted on putting out the candle lights which Fily stopped her from doing so immediately.

    "I''ve got a plan," Fily said while watching her stat-hut connection die.

    "What happened to this?" Petunia said and clawed her Stat-hut bell softly.

    "I told Venedette to cut off all comms." Fily said and shook her head, "But that''s not important right now.."

    "You told Venedette what?!" Petunia whispered to her aggressively.

    "Just¡­" Fily tried to explain again, "I happened to get in contact with the Crone''s leader and I think I may have found a way to remove this light disruption system from the anti-gravity system of this island but first, we need to capture one of them."

    "Wait, slow down¡­ You did what? By just sitting there?" Petunia said while getting weirded out by the progression of events that just happened while Fily was just sitting in a corner.

    "The mastermind behind these Crones. I happened to get in contact with him and found an idea of how to destroy this light disruption system without getting the anti-gravity system of this island involved." Fily repeated with much emphasis on the most important words.

    "These Crones had a mastermind behind them? No wonder they were able to do such genius things without even being genius in the first place." Petunia said and exhaled in relief.

    "Yes, now help me capture one of them," Fily said, getting straight to the point due to their time limit of just how long Venedette and the whole island could last without the comms system.

    "O-Okay¡­ How long do you think that is? And are we going to just leave this- this lightsum like this?" Petunia said, pertaining to the light disruption system.

    "Light- what?"

    "Lightsum," Petunia said but quickly covered it up, "Never mind I just made up a name for it, I feel so pressured that I can''t help  but think of useless things to calm myself down, like naming new potions, etc." Petunia explained briefly while looking at Fily apologetically who, on the other hand, just smiled at her.

    "It''s okay, just calm down, we have at least ten minutes to kidnap them," Fily said with that signature smile of hers which comforted Petunia a little bit from feeling too paranoid but also pressured her more at the same time.

    "Okay¡­ so, how are we going to pull that?" Petunia asked as if doubting her own ability.

    "By using your skills!" Fily smiled excitedly.

    "Boss is taking too long to respond. Do you think this is broken?" one of the three guys from outside said.

    "Meow." Petunia meowed intentionally and loudly as she could for the people outside to notice her.

    "Y''all hear smth?" another guy said.

    "I think it came from here." The Crone said while her voice was getting closer to the door.

    "Well then? What are you waiting for granny? Go check it out, now!" the first guy said again and pushed the granny to the door based on the sound that it made.

    When the granny stepped back slowly, Petunia gave Fily a nod and went behind her immediately.

    "B-But, how about the boss'' orders? Shouldn''t we wait for his orders first?" The Crone said with her old granny voice as if she was scared but the guys were not falling for her tricks.

    "You should still go inside and check it out." The guy said which left the Crone with no choice.

    But the moment the Crone opened the door, she was immediately sucked into the pitch darkness which even the guys weren''t able to see.

    "What the-?" the other guys said and followed after the Crone, but the moment they stepped inside the pitch-black tunnel, their feet immediately slipped on the frozen floor and got stuck with gum all over their bodies.

    "Is that all?" Fily asked after seeing the three enemies wrapped around gum and sticking on the ice track in front of her feet.

    "There''s one missing-" Fily quickly realized when Petunia lit up the candles again.

    "Got you!" the other guy said when he almost caught Petunia by the door but Fily quickly reacted with her Super Puff, shutting the door behind the guy who managed to keep his balance despite the slippery ice on his feet but was still weak to Fily''s super Puff.

    Thankfully, Petunia was able to keep her balance using the Gummy cloud as her platform and go against the current of Fily''s Super Puff, tacking the guy to the door using her gummy control powers.

    "Good job," Fily said out of breath after Petunia finally finished gluing everybody either to the freezing floor or to the door using her sticky formulas.

    "Why can''t I communicate with them-" the Crone complained while struggling to get out of the sticky gums that were wrapped around their body and glued them to the frozen floor like it was a spider''s web.

    "Comm''s down, granny," Fily said after drinking a healing potion from Petunia''s stash and reached down for their foreheads.

    "Now let''s see your tunnel system down here," Fily said and proceeded with her mind hacking inside her Mind Palace where she would be most comfortable and efficient in doing so while Petunia placed fragile ice balls in their mouths with sleeping potions inside.

    "See you in dreamland~," Petunia said and smiled at them as she watched the ice balls crack and melt in their mouths.

    "I got it," Fily said not long after and proceeded to draw a sketch of the tunnel system''s map on the floor that resembled a random ant colony''s tunnel system at most.

    "Well, that''s unexpected," Fily said while thinking about her brother who literally made these people make a bigger version of an ant colony''s tunnel system.

    "Wow, that''s big." Petunia said after seeing Fily''s perfect drawing.

    "Okay let''s go, I''ll send this map to Venedette once the comms are up," Fily said and proceeded back to her Mind Palace for the isolation of the lightsum to the island''s Anti-gravity system.

 Chapter 101 - Lets Finish This (Step One)

    "Can they see us from the outside?" Lei asked Von while devising a lot of ways to escape this prison.

    "I don''t think so." Von said while trying to see something beyond the bright electric bars of their cell, "If we can''t see them from the inside, maybe they can''t see us from the outside too."

    "Good point," Lei said and focused his attention on the ground beneath them.

    "Are we in an actual cave or are we underground in the city? Because from what you said, I don''t think we''ve gone far enough to reach the mountains and the borders of this island." Von said while looking at the big bulks of rocks surrounding them.

    "I think we''re underground in the city and I think they''ve just built this cave recently," Lei said and grabbed a small shovel from his tool belt that the Crones did not even bother taking off of him since their bars were made of electricity anyway and they thought his tools wouldn''t be able to break it from the inside.

    "They built this cave? Really? Those old women built this place just recently?" Von said in astonishment.

    "Who knows? But I think I may have found a way for us to get out of here if only you would cooperate¡­" Lei said and gave him another one of his little shovels and started digging the soft dirt in front of him that was covered with straws as if those Crones thought they were horses that feed on straws.

    "We''re going to¡­?" Von said in both amazement and unwillingness of Lei''s idea.

    "Yes, come on, start digging," Lei said while exerting his maximum power to dig more efficiently which led him to dig at least one human sized-hole in just five minutes per his turn.

    "Ughhh, I hate this." Von complained while doing fifty percent of what Lei could do during those minutes, "But you don''t have a choice, Von."

    "They really can''t see us from out there, huh?" Lei said while grabbing all their things from the floor. "Come on, we need to work fast or they might catch us."

    "Okay, but aren''t we going to cover this hole?" Von asked while pointing at the hole above him.

    "We won''t have light if we do that¡­" Lei said which made Von think.

    "Give me that," Von said while grabbing a piece of cloth from Lei''s hands and wrapped it around the head of a hammer from Lei''s tool belt. "I''ll go and get us some light." He said and flew back to their holding cell.

    When Von arrived back at their holding cell, he immediately moved closer to the electric bars to try and get his makeshift torch lit up from the electricity''s current, but the moment he moved closer to it, he immediately heard something that made him even more paranoid and pressured.

    "The representatives would be coming in ten minutes so make sure they''ll be out here by then."

    "Okay, roger that," a Crone said to her sister after receiving the disturbing message for Von.

    "We need to cover our tracks and move quickly, they''re coming in ten minutes," Von whispered to Lei aggressively while trying hard to transfer the land they were digging in front of them back to the hole where they came from.

    "That light wouldn''t last long," Lei said while thinking of a better solution for their light situation other than Von''s temporary torch.

    "That doesn''t matter! We might only have inferior night vision compared to others but that''s still night vision! Help me cover up this hole first!" Von said which Lei followed right away.

    ***

    "What are we going to do to them now? Are we going inside this tunnel to look for the boys or are we just going to wait here for the next step?" Petunia asked impatiently while Fily was still inside her Mind Palace, looking for a way to isolate the destruction of the Lightsum from the island''s anti-gravity system.

    "We''re going to make a trap here. Since this exit is just one of their three and I will be telling Venedette and Sir Grand to cover the other two exits, I really think we should make a system here that would destroy this passageway on cue after I isolate it.

    "Which means?"

    "Which means you should go and start getting your magic to work, I don''t know about you but your techniques and new chemical reactions are on point!" Fily said with a big smile as if trying to cheer Petunia up.

    "Okay, how many people do you think I need to trap so we could destroy them along with the Lightsum?"

    "Maybe a hundred or so¡­"

    "A hundred?!-" Petunia exclaimed but was suddenly interrupted when a message from Venedette flashed on their Stat-hut screens.

    [Venedette: Comms up.] she simply said which ignited Fily and Petunia''s drive to work harder and more seriously.

    [Fily: Here''s the map of the tunnels.] Fily said and sent her an image of the drawing that she managed to create in her mind using the footage from these guys and Crone walking around the whole tunnel system.

    [Venedette: Okay, good gob. I''ll send some more people to these locations.] Venedette said and was immediately followed by another message of hers, saying;

    [Venedette: But please hurry up, the sun is almost setting and I need you guys here to complete the Painting.]

    [Fily: Roger that.] Fily said and remembered the codename they decided to use in the final step of their operation Paint the picture a.k.a. Painting.

    "How are we going to finish all of these in time?" Petunia said while worrying about the deteriorating amount of potion supply she had left inside her Gummy stash.

    "We can do it, just believe in yourself," Fily said optimistically while kicking the four sleeping goons out of her way.

    "I hear footsteps." Petunia suddenly whispered not long after Fily started working on her isolation task.

    "Of course," Fily said and exhaled in distress after remembering her wicked brother''s influence, "Let''s finish this, once and for all."

 Chapter 102 - Traps (Step Two)

    "Are we there yet?" Von asked anxiously while waiting for Lei to finish his turn digging.

    They might have been digging for more than fifteen minutes now which meant that the peeps outside had already seen them missing and would most probably be looking for them right now.

    "Almost¡­" Lei said while struggling to get the work done even if he himself was also unsure of where they were headed to or where they''re currently at thanks to the interception of the communication center that Fily requested to get her brother''s influence away.

    And since they were currently two feet underground the underground tunnel with no signs of where they''re currently at except for the fact that Lei only followed the direction which he thought was going to lead them back to the castle, Lei couldn''t really tell Von any confirmation about anything at all until the communications turn online again.

    "Can we check if we''re almost there?" Von said while walking behind Lei and poking the dirt ceiling continuously as if telling Lei to dig upwards so they could see the surface of the tunnel.

    "Do you want to get caught?" Lei said while looking back dryly at Von.

    "No¡­" Von said and looked down as if being scolded. "I just feel suffocated, that''s all. I wish Petunia, Fily, or even Gem were with us right now, I think they would have an infinite supply of air and water which would really be helpful."

    "Have you forgotten what Petunia did to us? She freaking made you drink a sleeping potion and even helped the Crones escape from Halma''s senses!" Lei said with an obvious amount of grudge against the cat.

    "Maybe there''s a reason why she did that¡­" Von said, still trying to defend the same person/cat that he would most likely bicker with if given a chance.

    "There''s always a reason why people do things, Von, but those reasons aren''t always the best one. People only do what''s best for themselves most of the time so don''t get your hopes up. I don''t want you to get hurt." Lei said trying to sound as calm as possible even though he was the most affected by Petunia''s betrayal.

    [Fily: Here''s the map.] Fily''s message to Leviathan''s group chat suddenly appeared in front of them, giving them the most important piece of information that they currently need in their situation.

    "Nice Fily!" Von cheered upon receiving the same message from her.

    "Communication''s back online and I think I can see Fily and Petunia not far from us," Lei said while looking at the red and purple dots on his team''s tracker screen.

    "Let''s just go there then!" Von said enthusiastically while Lei was thinking deeply of ''what exactly are they doing in this tunnel?''

    "Should we really trust them?" Lei said and turned off his tracking option manually.

    "They''re here to save us, right?" Von said wishfully.

    "I don''t think so."

    "You''re just being bitter," Von said which got Lei even more confused about his own thoughts on the whole thing.

    "First of all, you should turn off your tracking option manually too. Who knows if they''re on our side and who''s not. Second of all, I''ll be the one to show myself to Fily and Petunia first. If they said they''re here to help us, I''ll give you a sign to get out of our own little hiding pit and reveal yourself to them. But if I''m right and they''re not on our side, I''ll give you a different sign to continue hiding on your own while I distract them, okay? Is that a deal?" Lei said while keeping his cool and negative impression of the girls off of the bay.

    "Okay." Von said confidently and even offered to shake Lei''s hands to make a proper deal, "Just don''t tell them anything I''ve said to you about them to this point, it''s a little embarrassing." Von added and waited for Lei to nod first before letting go of their handshake.

    ***

    "Is it just me or did you also saw Von and Lei walking freely across the tunnels?" Fily asked softly to Petunia while hiding inside the space that Petunia created for her to hide in when someone peeks inside the tunnel-entry-1 where they were at right now.

    She even blinked several times just to check if what she was seeing was correct but then the dots suddenly disappeared from her tracking system which made her even more suspicious and anxious about what was happening inside that wooden door.

    Not only were the people who were supposed to catch them per her brother''s request suddenly started running off in a different direction but there were also a lot of people running back and forth across the door as if they were in a really big mess. But thankfully, none of them seemed to have any interest in checking out what''s happening in their exit route aside from peeking for a few seconds and going back to run around inside their tunnel-system-base.

    And being the anxious genius that Fily is, she really couldn''t help but think that the most possible scenario that could be the reason why they''re running around right now was the possibility of Von and Lei being able to get away from these filthy Crones and traitor''s holding cells.

    "I don''t know. Shh, two people are coming and think they''ll peek again." Petunia said while looking around as if thinking of another way to help Fily keep working on her job without having to be distracted every second from the mess on the other side.

    "Can''t we just lock this door?" Petunia finally asked after a moment of brainstorming. "-Or dry test my traps? I really don''t think we could finish anything at this rate without being seen by those filthy Crones." Petunia said while looking so desperate beside Fily.

    "Please?"

    "Okay. I only need to complete 30% of the job anyway so we can run away back to the castle immediately after that." Fily said.

    "Okay yes! Let''s go." Petunia said with a smile before gliding out of the dark space between the big debris of the fallen building that she created as a hiding place for Fily and back to the tunnel''s main way so that she could complete the set of traps she laid in the ground, same as she did earlier, with the ice floor, recycled sticky gummies and an automatic supply of her dreamy bomb. (Edible ice orbs with orange sedative potions inside for instant knock-out.)

 Chapter 103 - To The Elevator (Step 2.2)

    "And¡­ done!" Fily said after hustling to get the last 30% of the isolation work done in just under five minutes. "I just have to make sure this works from a distance," Fily added quickly, which raised their pressure meter by having almost all of Petunia''s traps full except for another five teeny tiny spaces of traps she just finished setting up a minute ago.

    "From a distance? Uhmm, how are we going to do that? There are at least fifty people running at the other side of this door and I don''t know how long I would be able to keep them from coming in here anymore."

    "Then¡­ Let''s just make a run for it." Fily said after setting up another set of codes on the light disruption system which she was planning to use as her plan b if things in her original plan do not work, particularly her remote destruction.

    "Are you sure about that?" Petunia asked while giving her latest captive a poorer quality of Dreamy bomb in the mouth due to her lacking resources of sedatives.

    "Yes, let''s go," Fily said and started running away from the door and across this lengthy tunnel once again.

    Since Fily made sure to separate the Light disruption system from the Anti-gravity system of this island completely, breaking the glass shards on the wall wouldn''t cause another earthquake anymore as they go farther back to the elevator.

    But Fily''s biggest concern was the elevator itself..

    Since the elevator was also working due to the stolen power from the Island''s anti-gravity system, the same power that the light disruption was used to power up the disruption of the light to the bubble the more it refracts on the glass shards, it was possible for them to be trapped inside this tunnel forever if the elevator would stop working immediately after getting cut out of the power system.

    "Petunia!" Fily shouted when she noticed Petunia taking her time feeding the latest Crone with the Dreamy bomb.

    But little did Fily know, that it was the Crone''s fault all along.

    "Spit it out." The Crone that was clutching Petunia''s Gummy cloud beside the one that she was feeding suddenly spoke. "You think I''m that dumb?" the Crone added while seeing all the people beside them laying on this icy floor and sleeping like babies.

    "Okay," her sister said and tried her best to spit out the Dreamy bomb from Petunia''s paws but Petunia shoved it even more to her throat.

    "Come on, I need to go now." Petunia said impatiently and waited for the ice to melt first before letting go of the Crone''s mouth. "And you." She said while looking at the other Crone who thought she had outsmarted everyone by pretending to be asleep.

    "Ahhh, you''re lucky I don''t have any more of these," Petunia said and ordered her Gummy to shift to its toxic layer, particularly the area where the Crone was holding it from her demise so she would let it go.

    "Tell your friends they''re too late." Petunia said and threw the last drop of snow potion she could gather from her gummy stash on the Crone''s hands before proceeding to follow Fily out of the tunnel.

    ***

    "Do you hear that?" Lei said cautiously while Von was busy looking at the map in front of him.

    "Hear what?"

    "I think it''s dangerous here, I hear a lot of footsteps."

    "What?" Von exclaimed and finally paid attention to the ground above them. "You''re right, that''s a lot."

    "Are we still going to follow them?" Lei asked for the nth time which Von could only sigh in indifference.

    "Didn''t we make a deal about this already?" Von said while reminding Lei of the deal that they made just five minutes ago.

    "But they''re now on the move, look! They''re running!" Lei said which made Von open his tracking device, and he was right, the girls were now running away from them.

    "We need to help them!" Von said and grabbed the small shovel from Lei and started digging more efficiently.

    "I don''t think they need our help," Lei said and helped Von in digging.

    "They''re running, which means they might be in trouble!" Von whined even more which really left Lei with no choice but to help him dig faster to catch up with both Petunia and Fily.

    ***

    "Twenty-nine¡­"

    "Eleven¡­" the two of them counted while breaking the glass shards on the wall as they run back to the elevator.

    "You did a great job!" Petunia shouted from a distance while Fily was still getting anxious about breaking the shards in front of her that might cause another earthquake if she did it too early.

    "I just hope we can catch up to the elevator, you know!?" Fily shouted back at her.

    "Fily! There''s someone coming from the ground!" Petunia shouted when she heard the sound of groundbreaking not far from her.

    "What did you say?!" Fily said while her heart was still beating from the anxiousness of not having enough time and data to compute the perfect timing of destroying the glass shards around her aside from losing the faint oxymedized yellow glow it got from the power sources.

    "There''s something, from the ground!" Petunia shouted with all her power but was immediately overtaken by Fily''s scream when the ground in front of her suddenly collapsed.

    "What the hell?!" Fily''s high-pitched scream reached the door to the Crone''s headquarters which gave the people over there more reason to run after them.

    "Oh no!! A lot of people are running after us!" Petunia and meowed while her Gummy cloud yeeted her across her distance to Fily, only to see Von and Lei trying to calm Fily down.

    "What are you two-?" Petunia asked but was suddenly alerted when her senses tingle from the number of people coming right after them.

    "Fily! Fily? Let''s go!" Petunia said and tried to pull Fily away from her stunned position but Lei and Von interrupted her.

    "How do we get out of here?" Von asked seriously.

    "Right, show us the way, I''ll carry Fily." Lei offered which Petunia really had a hard time refusing.

    "Just go straight to the elevator." Petunia murmured and flew faster than any of them back to the elevator.

    ''It was good to have Von and Lei''s help but they really shouldn''t be freed just yet!'' Petunia thought to herself while thinking of another way to surrender the two back to the Crones once and for all after making use of their offer to help.

 Chapter 104 - Trapped (Step 3)

    "Is that the elevator?" Von asked while flying just right behind Petunia.

    "Yes," Petunia said, giving Fily a knowing glance after gaining back her consciousness.

    "I told you they''re not traitors," Von whispered to Lei which Fily and Petunia both heard unintentionally, making their hearts sink even more for planning to betray them again for the last time.

    "Just how did you guys manage to escape those goons?" Fily asked as a distraction while getting ready for the real destruction she and Petunia had been planning just by looking at each other.

    "I''m sorry Von and Lei, but you guys really need to get captured again." Fily thought to herself while hearing Von''s answer.

    "We made our own little tunnel right in time when you sent us the map of this unfamiliar tunnel system." Von laughed in relief after hearing Fily and Petunia''s voices again.

    "It''s still on!" Fily cheered after seeing the bright elevator lights not far from them..

    "Are we going to ride that back to the castle?" Von asked, which was suddenly interrupted when Petunia used a portion of her gummy cloud to stick onto Von''s face, and soon to Lei''s face too, which made him and Fily both tumble on the soft ground.

    "Now!" Fily said while choking from the dirt on her face that she accidentally collected from tumbling on the ground with Lei.

    "Okay!" Petunia said and hammered a nice active oxymedized glass from the wall which caused another mild earthquake that should give them both more time to ride on the elevator and let Von and Lei get captured by the Crones on their backs again.

    "Come on, Fily!" Petunia shouted after being the first one to get inside the elevator, pressing the open button so hard to give time for the limping Fily to catch up to her.

    "Coming!" Fily grunted while doing her best to run despite the slight scratches on her elbow and knees.

    "Come on¡­" Petunia whispered and threw the last bottle of healing potion she could fill from her gummy stash to Fily which she then used to make their operation even faster.

    "Gahhh!! Traitors! Get this off! You won''t get away with this! I swear to tell mom and dad about what you''ve done!" Von said while struggling to get the sticky gummies off his face.

    "I told you we shouldn''t trust them!" Lei said while also trying to get the gummy off his face but to no avail.

    "Sorry boys, we''ve got to follow destiny''s rules," Petunia said lastly before closing the elevator doors and going back to the castle with Fily.

    "I wish we could just tell them about the whole plan instead of looking like pitiful dorks down there," Petunia murmured which Fily heard.

    "I thought you''re enjoying this."

    "What? No!" Petunia denied but immediately followed with, "Just a little bit."

    "You''re heartless." Fily laughed and went back to serious mode once again when the elevator doors opened to nighttime on the surface, reminding them of a more difficult level of job they had to complete once the clock strikes seven.

    "Are we ready for this?" Fily asked anxiously.

    "Definitely." Petunia replied confidently, "But first, let me gather more resources from my room." She said and went ahead to her room before the moment of truth really happens.

    ***

    [Venedette: Update?]

    [Team 1: We''re on standby, waiting for more orders, over.]

    [Team 2: In position, over.]

    "Do you think this is the right place?" Venedette asked Sir Grand worriedly after seeing no signs of the Crones in this village since sunset.

    "Should we send more teams to other villages?" Sir Grand said in response after having almost the same dilemma as Venedette.

    "They should have been here minutes ago," Venedette complained, referring to the Crones and the boys after spotting a foreign vehicle on the hidden beach under Gamora''s village which Venedette assumes as the vehicle that their enemies will use to deliver Von and Lei back to their headquarters along with the Crones that was still also nowhere to be found at the moment.

    "Do you recognize those people?" Venedette asked while watching what she would assume was the Crone''s customer or bosses that ordered them to kidnap Von and Lei.

    For what reason? Who knows? Maybe it was because of their exceptional talents or supergenes. But no matter what their reasons could be, Venedette wouldn''t let these people get away with their crimes. Not under her watch.

    "I don''t. Maybe if I could get a sample from their vehicle I could run a test and make a guess about where they might have come from."

    "Would the whole spaceship do?" Venedette said and almost stood up to kick those people''s assess off her island if only Sir Grand did not stop her.

    "Later, let''s wait first for Von and Lei in the village."

    "Okay," Venedette said and paid more attention to what those people were saying behind their backs.

    "They''re late!" one respectable-looking guy in a white lab coat raged while looking problematically at his expensive-looking watch.

    "Hacker said they caught the children back and are now on their way." A guy who looks like the other guy''s assistant in all black said while swiping away at the air in front of him, which was probably his stat-hut but definitely outdated based on the old-school swiping method that they still use amidst being in the 40th century already.

    "These people look like the type of people who thought getting supergenes from royals are much better than investing in their own potion-making department, huh?" Venedette said shamelessly after realizing the fact that her senses are far more superior than theirs in terms of scope and distance.

    "Are they ready yet?" Venedette changed the topic and flew back to the village reluctantly while still holding Sir Grand''s hand with her.

    "Very." Sir Grand replied as they both watched the pyro show that they specifically prepared just to attract more innocent people in this small village as the ''Cameras'' to their paint the picture with the pyro show as the ''Havoc'' being shown in the background of the picture along with the boys beside a filthy Crone in front of this shabby store near the edge of the island.

 Chapter 105 - Pyro Show (Step 4)

    "A pyro show," Fily said while drawing a rough sketch of fire around the village''s picture on the whiteboard.

    "A what?" Petunia, who most likely spent her time living under the rock, asked curiously.

    "A fire show." Fily said, emphasizing the word ''Fire''.

    "Oh," Petunia said and sat back as her eyes sparkled just by the mention of it.

    "Do you think we could pull that off?" Fily said while looking at Princess Venedette meaningfully.

    "Well, if we could get the village people to agree then I guess there won''t be any problem about that," Venedette said and whispered an order to Sir Fred who immediately made a call after.

    "What else?" Venedette said after that moment of silence.

    "So, here," Fily pointed at the edge of Gamora''s Village near the mountain on the edge of the island, "This is the backdrop of this store where Von and Lei would be brought to enter the same tunnel which you both saw inside the store, right?"

    "Yes," Venedette said.

    "And we can only see two to three houses being burned in the background," Fily said while pointing at the prophecy in Sir Grand''s hands, "Which means, we can just sacrifice these three houses right behind the store and save the rest by putting up a pyro show just beside it."

    "Okay, let''s do that," Venedette said, agreeing to Fily''s idea.

    "But do we really have to sacrifice those houses? I mean someone could still be living there, right?" Petunia pitched in.

    "Oh, don''t worry about that. I told my guards to put flame resistance inside the houses so only the outside could be burned." Said Venedette.

    "Oh, okay¡­ So, when do we start moving?"

    "As soon as possible," Fily said while looking at Von and Lei from the other side of the building, running away from the maids.

    ***

    "They''re coming," Venedette said when she spotted both Von and Lei looking defeated at the hands of an old stinky Crone.

    The Crone was even surprised by the number of people in front of their secret shop, anticipating for the pyro show to start.

    "This is it," Venedette said and flew closer to the store coming from the edge of the island.

    "Why are there so many people?" The Crone complained while pulling Von and Lei back to the tunnel''s door underground not far from the old shop.

    The two boys were so angry and distressed that they didn''t even bother to shout for help when they got out. All the thoughts in their head were just running around the concept of how they could make Petunia and Fily pay for what they''ve done to them.

    "Here, just don''t bump into people, alright?" another Crone said and gave Posy an invisible backpack, containing the same invisible mobile container they used inside the castle just earlier.

    "Why can''t they just connect the tunnel systems? This is so annoying." Yorela (the hunchback Crone) complained while wearing the invisible backpack.

    "You''re the only one with wings so it''s understandable for you to be the only one allowed to go there." Posa (Yorela''s sister) said before helping Posy push the boys out of their tunnel door and into the worn-down shop right across from it.

    "Where''s Petunia? Why are they so late? Those Crones are probably using their advanced technology yet again and I can''t sense them from this far!" Venedette exclaimed while starting to get annoyed by the noise of the event and slowly going into panic mode after not seeing any signs of Von and Lei on the ground.

    "Welcome friends to the Special last-minute Pyro show of 4016! Where today, we are going to celebrate the arrival of our Queen Halma to this island just this week!"

    "Huh?" A lot of people gasped because of what the event announcer said.

    "Ehhh? You had no idea that the Queen is on the island since last week? Well, at least now you know it! First of all, let us welcome our first performer, come out on stage Mr. Fire is the light guy!" the announcer said energetically which caused a lot of cheers from the crowd.

    "Whoo!"

    "It''s like a last-minute festival here! I''m glad we went here even if it was just to check it out." Someone in the crowd said.

    "I live here so it''s not really that hard to attend this last-minute event hihi." Another one replied which was then the beginning of the first pyro show even in Gamora''s Village.

    "We''re here!" Petunia said while catching her breath after arriving beside Venedette near the pyro stage where they were watching from.

    "Okay, I think they''re using the sense disruption box again. Could you sense where they are? The distance from the tunnel system''s exit isn''t that far from the store but I made sure to put a lot of obstacles on the way, especially this one." Venedette said and pointed at the very narrow puzzle-like passageway not far from them which she particularly made in front of the store as an obstacle course for the Crones disguising as a lining guide for the pyro show''s audience to follow.

    "Yes, they''re stuck over there," Petunia said while highlighting her senses even more just to double check her guess. "Yup, they''re really stuck over there."

    "Okay guards, your turn." Venedette signaled her people to start with the sting operation after getting the news of the Crone''s leader leaving the tunnels.

    The goal of the sting operation was to capture every single traitor on this island and the Crones left underground thanks to Fily''s expertise on hacking the tunnel''s blueprint which they were only supposed to start after getting a go signal from Venedette.

    "Is it our turn next?" Petunia said excitedly while anticipating for Fily to arrive soon after her.

    "Not yet," Venedette said while watching the Crone let go of her pesky little invisibility gadget just to pass through the narrow steel borders that Venedette set up in advance for the event.

    "Now," Venedette said and pressed the remote ignite button on her hands, causing two loud explosions on the houses behind the shabby store that removed everyone''s attention from the event and into the explosions beside them, exposing the two Crones who were now carrying both Von and Lei by their limbs shamelessly beside the pyro event.

    "Wait, is that the prince?"

    "What the heck are those old grandmas doing?"

    "Oh my gosh, Lei!!!"

    The people said with overlapping voices after recognizing the kids on the grandma''s shoulders as they tried their best to carry the two on their own.

 Chapter 106 - Flashes (Step 5)

    "Ah no, this isn''t good."

    "This is bad."

    "Should we make a run for it?"

    "Leave them to me, I''ll fly them to the meeting place real quick," Yorela said and grabbed Lei from Posa but Posa wouldn''t let go.

    "Old grandmas! What are you doing?! Did you blow up those houses?!" a liberated teen asked the two while they were still fighting for who''s going to bring Lei to the meeting place.

    "I''m the eldest here so do what I say! Leave this kid to me and bring that one to the meeting place if you don''t want to be disowned!" Posa said and used her best strength to make Yorela let go of Lei.

    "No! That''s our way home and I''m not going to waste this chance!" Yorela said and spread out her bat-like wings which caused several gasps from the crowd.

    "I think we should kill that winged one," Petunia said while preparing the deadliest chemical combination in her mind.

    "We shouldn''t let that winged one bring Von down to the underground beach," Venedette said and propelled herself to battle but Sir Grand immediately stopped her.

    "I''ll do it." Sir Grand said and zoomed in to the winged Crone instead.

    "Let him go Yorela!"

    "No, you let go Posa! I am tired of being told what to do when I''m clearly more powerful than you!"

    "You''re both just as weak as one another." Sir Grand said after appearing out of nowhere and aimed to punch Yorela''s stomach when she suddenly sliced herself in half, dropping Von back to the ground out of panic.

    "That''s the First Prince!"

    "The First Prince is here too?!" the crowd murmured while watching Sir Grand battle with a severed Crone with wings in mid-air.

    "Eww, that''s disgusting."

    "What the hell happened?" a lot of them gasped in confusion while watching Yorela''s severed lower body flop to the ground on its own.

    "Oh no, they''re here. I should make a run for it!" Posa said and carried Von and Lei like bags of rice on her shoulders across the obstacle but became quickly distracted when flashes suddenly started flooding her vision.

    "What th-?" she complained and fell to the ground when her poor old lady''s vision became blinded by it.

    "Say cheese!"

    "Is this some kind of new attraction? I am impressed by the efforts of these kids." A middle-aged man said and snapped a photo of himself with the chaos of the Prophecy behind him.

    "What is happening here?!" Venedette heard murmurs from the edge of the island when those foreigners finally went up to see what was happening on the surface of the floating island.

    "I think that is our target sir." The assistant said, "But there''s a lot of people watching. Should we expose ourselves to them and get the child as fast as we could?"

    "I can''t believe how inefficient our workers are! Is this how they do their jobs?! After being set up a meeting with the Devil! That''s how they''re going to use their new powers?" the white-haired scientist guy complained in a rage back at his spaceship. He didn''t even notice Venedette flying towards them until Venedette finally reached their aircraft and threw it to the mountain beside the chaos on the ground.

    *Boom!*

    "Ohh what the heck! Another one!?"

    "Is that a real spaceship or just for show?"

    "I don''t know, just take a picture man, this is the dopest thing that has happened with my life ever since I moved here on this island."

    "Me too! But unlike you, I have been living on this island my whole life and this seems to be the best day yet! Whoo!!" The teenagers cheered amidst the chaos without knowing that Von and Lei and the entire Leviathan crew just saved them from yet a minor Prophecy that could have gone wrong if not taken seriously.

    "WHAT HAPPENED!!?" the scientist complained after being saved by the old-school airbag on his spaceship.

    "You''re a scientist? Lame." Petunia said after examining his coat and gloves and his whole spaceship that doesn''t even contain half the essential potions that Petunia has on her Gummy stash.

    "A- t-t-talking cat?" the scientist stuttered while reaching his hands for Petunia but Petunia quickly slapped it away.

    "Yes I''m a talking cat, and oh, by the way, a master chemist, if you must." She said and dropped a temp negative potion to the scientist''s head which made him cold and frozen on the head a.k.a. brain freeze for at least fifty minutes before the effects of it melt.

    "Do we have a dungeon on this island?" Petunia asked Venedette who, on the other hand, was busy battling with the assistant who seemed pretty expert on using gadgets like a batman per se.

    "He''s not the leader here, is he?" Venedette said to her opponent, pertaining to the scientist, that Petunia just beat easily with a drop of chemicals.

    "No, but it''s not me either." The assistant in all black said with a smirk while jumping around the spaceship and the mountain flawlessly like a spider, evading Venedette''s attacks masterfully.

    "Then who is it?" Venedette said and attempted to strike again but was suddenly interrupted when Yorela flew in front of her and landed on the mountain''s face to her back.

    "Sorry about that." Sir Grand said and noticed Petunia being the assistant''s target this time. "Should we switch?"

    "No, I got this."

    "We should switch, I don''t feel good beating up an old lady." Sir Grand said and flew towards Petunia and the scientist inside the wrecked spaceship.

    "Okay, you''re really asking for it," Yorela growled and swiped the black blood on her lips after being beaten up pretty bad by Sir Grand.

    "Asking for what?" Venedette said and suddenly appeared beside Yorela but Yorela still managed to dodge her attack by simply being lighter than a normal human being for having a severed lower body.

    "Gahh!!" Yorela shouted and threw a bunch of black liquid to Venedette which Venedette immediately recognized as her disgusting devil''s blood.

    "Isn''t that going to kill you?"

    "Not if I managed to kill you first," Yorela said and laughed maniacally while transforming to her real face of a younger woman than her sisters but was still ugly and skinny to the bones.

 Chapter 107 - Gossips

    "What is happening?" Von asked in confusion to himself after being dropped by Yorela on the ground unintentionally for being attacked by Sir Grand.

    "Von! Are you there?" Lei asked while trying to get his hands behind him out of the shackles that were preventing him from taking off the blinds in his eyes.

    Similarly, Von was having a hard time guessing the situation himself, aside from the uncanny feeling of being surrounded by thousands of people that was almost as if they were pushing him farther to Lei and the Crone, Von had no idea if these people were his enemies or if they were just normal people whom he could ask for help. But nonetheless he still tried to ask for their help by giving them the benefit of his doubt.

    "Help! Somebody help get these things off!" he said pertaining to the strong shackles on his hands while flinching from every touch he would receive from those people.

    "Wait, is the Prince really asking for our help?"

    "Could this gimmick be real and that granny really kidnapped Von and Lei?"

    "I don''t know! For now let''s just help them get out of those shackles!" the people said simultaneously and went to work immediately.

    "Von!! Can you hear me?!!" Lei shouted desperately while kicking everyone that tried to get close to him.

    The Crone, on the other hand, was getting mobbed by the same people who found Yorela''s body splitting disgusting but also fascinating.

    "Did you really kidnap the Prince?"

    "Could you also do that?"

    "Do you also have wings? Why don''t you use it instead?" the people bombarded her with questions while still taking pictures that smelled like torture for the poor old Crone already.

    "Ahh!" Von shouted when people suddenly held his shackles.

    "Don''t worry we''re trying to help." One of them said and did his best to break the shackles on Von''s wrists while the other person tried to remove Von''s blindfold.

    "T-Thank you." Von said and stood straight from his embarrassing position while the normal island people whom he asked for help just smiled at him.

    "No worries little Prince. We''re always at your service." The guy who removed his shackles said with a shy smile. "Can we take pictures with you?" he added while scratching the back of his head.

    "S-Sure." Von said hesitantly and posed for an awkward picture with them before looking for Lei who was also being mobbed by the audience but unlike Von, Lei was now on stage with a lot of fangirls eyeing and asking for his photograph every second.

    Lei is really a famous person on this island, huh? Even more famous than the Prince whom he was dedicated to protecting with his whole life on the line.

    "Lei! What are you doing there?" Von tried to catch his attention but Lei''s attention was very far from him, particularly to the poor old Crone whom he thought would have Von beside her.

    Since Von and Lei were both moved by the crowd away from that creepy old Crone, Lei had a harder time finding Von amongst the loud and rowdy crowd especially since Von was the only child being lost in a crowd full of big and tall adults.

    Even from the stage, Lei still had a hard time looking for Von which he thought should naturally still be beside the Crone who was now also being mobbed like a main attraction in this event.

    "Lei!" Von called even more while moving towards him but was interrupted when Fily patted his back while catching her breath at the same time.

    "Gosh, you are so hard to find." Fily complained and attempted to pull Von to Lei but Von removed her hold from his wrist.

    "What are you doing, you traitor?" Von said indifferently while wiping his wrist like Fily''s touch had some sort of bacteria with it.

    "What? Oh, that was all part of the plan, silly!" Fily said and laughed but Von didn''t find it a laughing matter at all which made him even more upset.

    "Who knows what kind of betrayal would you do to me again? Go away." Von said with a straight face and went ahead of Fily to Lei against the crowd, thankfully Lei already saw them and was on his way to meet with them halfway.

    "Von!!! I''m sorry! I didn''t mean it! We just really needed the two of you to be captured for the plan to work!" Fily explained in between her tired breathing every now and then while also pushing through against the crowd but Von was still not convinced of her intentions.

    "Did mom know what you did to us?" Von asked which left Fily quite stunned.

    "Now that is a tricky question." Fily muttered subconsciously while trying to formulate the best answer in this situation.

    And when she looked up to finally answer, Von was already gone in the sea of crowd that was looking weirdly at Fily like she was some sort of an odd unwanted person in the group.

    "They left me. They left me!!" Fily shouted in frustration without paying attention to the number of people looking weirdly at her after remembering her efforts of traveling as fast as she could from the castle to this village in the outskirts just to help keep them both safe.

    "Are you lost?" a guy amongst the crowd asked Fily out of concern but Fily only frowned at him.

    "I''m not a kid!" Fily groaned before taking a deep breath and calming herself down. "Thank you for the concern but I am not lost," she said calmly before flashing her signature smile to the people who almost recognized her with it.

    "Isn''t that the famous Maharlika under the Princess'' care? Along with the outsider?" a girl asked the person beside her which started another gossip that followed Fily until she finally got out of that crowded place.

    "Does that mean the Princess is also here? I mean the Prince is here along with Lei and the first Prince too, and now that Maharlika girl?"

    "The event is for the Queen in the first place so I wouldn''t even be surprised if the Queen comes here herself."

    "Hey, that''s going too far. The Queen wouldn''t step in an unorganized place like this."

    The gossip that Fily heard on her way said that she could only shake her head.

    "What''s with people and gossips?" she asked herself while also letting go of the thought immediately after seeing Sir Grand and Venedette''s spectacular display of power on air against the flying Crone and a foreigner like herself which Fily immediately recognized at one glance.

    "Herim."

 Chapter 108 - Light Sensitivity

    "Herim. What is he doing here? And I thought my brother''s the only one involved in this." Fily muttered under her breath after recognizing Sir Grand''s opponent in all black that was hopping from trees to trees like a grasshopper and getting away from Sir Grand''s hold flawlessly like a snake.

    "What did you say? You know that person? How about this wimpy nerd, do you know him too?" Petunia said after suddenly appearing beside Fily at the mountain''s foot with the brain freezed scientist beside her.

    "Oh, hey. Didn''t notice you there." Fily said and laughed nervously.

    "Yeah, I saw you causing a commotion in the middle of the crowd and I thought I could use some of your help in cleaning up this mess." Petunia said, pertaining to the frozen guy below her.

    "What do you want me to do?" Fily said while looking for a way to escape Petunia''s questions.

    "Uhmm, get him captured, maybe? Although I would want to keep him as my own personal pet and experiment on him as I please, if Venedette will allow me to do so¡­ or should I ask for the Queen''s permission instead? This guy isn''t from this country anyway, right?" Petunia said while flashing a big puppy eyes at Fily who was really trying her best to avoid the conversation, but if Petunia''s questions were just for those trivial reasons then should Fily still keep her knowledge a secret from her?

    "I don''t know that guy and I don''t think he''s from this country either." Fily said honestly with a smile after getting a good look at the frozen scientist under Petunia''s floating Gummy cloud.

    "Okay! One last thing, help me get more help to bring him back to the castle, please?" Petunia said and used her big pleading cat eyes once again which Fily just couldn''t resist.

    "There''s a lot of guards protecting Von and Lei in the backstage, maybe you can ask for their help while I watch over this guy?" Fily offered which made Petunia purr out of happiness.

    "Okay, I''ll do that right away!" Petunia said and flew to the backstage immediately.

    ***

    "Where did you come from and what do you want with my child?" Sir Grand asked his opponent while having a hard time capturing him due to his slick moves and tactics that almost made Sir Grand think that he was a flying snake and not a human at all.

    "Why do I have the feeling that you already know the answer to that?" Herim said with a cool-toned voice and calm demeanor while hopping along the trees flawlessly without getting out of stamina.

    "This guy''s discipline is on point." Sir Grand remarked silently to himself while observing his opponent''s every movement.

    Somehow, this guy looks like a combination of power and technique, which, if Sir Grand could guess right, was the technique of copying animal''s movements and incorporating them with his natural powers to create a synergy that could help him move across spaces without spending too much stamina, therefore letting save up his stamina for a final blow that Sir Grand couldn''t afford to get hit with or else he might lose a part of his body because of the compounded blow.

    Of course Sir Grand was just guessing this, but among his guesses, the only one he was definitely sure of was the fact that this skill alone requires a lot more discipline than what most superhumans would be willing to practice and that he shouldn''t underestimate his opponent.

    "What could his weakness be?" Sir Grand thought to himself and paused his flight fifteen feet above the ground just to watch his opponent having fun jumping around the trees on top of the mountain as if gathering his power for an intensive blow.

    "Tsk, you''re just wasting my time, you coward." The guy complained and shifted his attention to Venedette instead who was now being choked by Yorela.

    Since Yorela did not have a lower body, it was really a challenge for Venedette to land a blow on her body, especially her deteriorating severed stomach. But since Venedette could turn her skin to steel, she used her skill ''Iron skill'' to make the back of her head harder and butt-headed Yorela''s face from behind, giving her an extra time to remove the black liquid Yorela had been using to blind her since the start of their fight before they started clashing once again.

    "He''s wearing all black which made the both of them advantageous in this situation especially since it''s night and the sky is dark, but his sunglasses are really giving him away for being so shiny¡­ Wait, what if he has some sort of light sensitivity like that Crone on the ground?" Sir Grand brainstormed while glancing at the Crone in the middle of the crowd being flooded with flashes from all corners of her poor sensitive eyes.

    "Hey! Look here!" Sir Grand shouted to his opponent before charging at him at full speed.

    Herim was anticipating Sir Grand''s attack to be the same as his previous attacks which he easily evaded once again, but the difference was that, instead of Herim, Sir Grand was actually aiming for his sunglasses all along!

    And with Herim''s predictable response to his same very basic move, Sir Grand was able to flick Herim''s sunglasses off of him to the ground which he immediately crushed with his shoes to the bits.

    "No!!" Herim''s emotions finally resurfaced when he saw his sunglasses being crushed to the dust by Sir Grand and was even more aggravated when the people beside Sir Grand just suddenly started flashing their cameras towards them.

    Herim was too careless to position himself near the crowd when his very weakness was their flashes in the first place.

    He thought getting Sir Grand to hurt his own people would be a good way to send a message to this island before running away but Sir Grand was quicker to notice his weakness without giving him a chance to put his plan to work.

    "Who wears sunglasses at night?" Sir Grand said and motioned his people backstage to capture Herim for him.

 Chapter 109 - Damaged Friendship

    "You!?" Petunia exclaimed after seeing Von and Lei backstage with a bunch of guards which she needed assistance from on one side and the performers on another.

    "Oh no, cat alert!" Lei said and faced his back at Petunia while blocking Von''s view of her.

    "What?" Von said while curling his eyebrows because of what Lei said. "What did you say?" he repeated while trying to see what Lei was preventing him from seeing but Petunia already made up her mind to approach them so Von still saw her despite Lei''s efforts.

    "Oh! It''s the traitor! Everyone arrest that puny little cat!" Von said and waited for the guards to move but none of them followed his order while Petunia was just shaking her head at them.

    "Can two of you come with me?" Petunia asked the guards who immediately followed after her which confused Von even more.

    "Wha-? Why are you listening to that traitor and not me?!" he said with his ears turning red out of anger and confusion. "Are you guys traitors too?!"

    When Lei also realized where Von was going with this conversation, he immediately stood in defense against the guards who were not paying them any attention at all.

    But unlike the guards, Petunia, on the other hand, could not tolerate Von and Lei''s ignorance from the whole plan anymore so she stopped in her tracks and approached them silently.

    "No, they''re not traitors, and neither are we." Petunia said while rolling her eyes, "Everything was just part of the plan that we made to save this island from crumbling to the ground, thank you very much."

    "What now?!" Von''s face turned even sour while shouting this at Petunia''s face. "Is getting us abducted by the Crones and suffering in their hands also a part of that great plan you got there?!"

    "Yes," Petunia answered honestly, "You guys did well." She added without showing many emotions which made Lei and Von more aggravated.

    "If this was all just part of a plan then why didn''t you guys at least inform us about it beforehand? You could have at least told us to let ourselves be captured so we wouldn''t try to escape just to get betrayed by you guys-"

    "You see that''s exactly it," Petunia said, cutting Lei''s words, "If we told you guys do you think they wouldn''t find it weird for you to cooperate on their ''kidnapping you'' shenanigans?"

    "And you helping them isn''t weird?!" Lei said, spitting out the grudge he was hiding deep inside his heart before it gets even deeper. "We thought you guys betrayed us! Out of all the people which we already started opening our hearts to!"

    "That''s right! I even defended you guys from Lei''s accusations only to get betrayed by you again for the second time!" Von added, confessing the same words he told Lei to not spill because it was embarrassing for him to expose.

    "Third time actually, Petunia betrayed us three times." Lei inserted, trying to get the facts straight which didn''t really matter as of the moment.

    "Who knows how many more times we''ll get betrayed by the Queen''s pet cat!" Von added, purposely shouting so loudly for everyone at the backstage to hear and make a commotion about.

    "That cat is the Queen''s pet?!"

    "Whattt??!!"

    They all freaked out which satisfied Von for getting the attention he initially intended on getting just to humiliate Petunia.

    "I am not just the Queen''s pet! I am a master chemist! And I am human!" Petunia tried to defend herself but nobody was listening to her.

    "Is that her? The talking cat?!" the people gossiped even more without paying attention to Petunia''s words all except for the fact that she can talk.

    "Grr." Petunia glared at Von.

    "Hmph!" Von said and crossed his arms at Petunia.

    In the end, Petunia just let Von and Lei think whatever they want and scooted out of the backstage knowing that she did something wrong herself for enjoying the fake betrayals she made to the boys.

    But since her pride was way above the sky, Petunia knew she would either ruin this new friendship with Von and Lei easily by being herself since she spent so much time in the woods on her own, Petunia really did not know how to maintain and manage relationships anymore.

    "I''m doomed," she thought and hit her head for being so stubborn and overthinking too much, "I don''t want to make a dent in our relationship but I already did it without even realizing! I don''t even know how to manage one, what more how to fix it with this pride of mine?! Aaaaa, I''m doomed!" Petunia complained to herself.

    "I''m sure if the tables turned they would probably also do what I did, right?" her optimistic self came in.

    "I wish that''s the case, or else I''ll end up being alone again¡­"

    "I think if they forgive Fily they would also end up forgiving me¡­ since at the end of the day we''re still teammates here and I did not actually betray them¡­" another one of the voices in her head said.

    "Or they won''t and we''ll be awkward forever!" The devil in her mind spoke of her fears which gave Petunia a mental breakdown on their way back to Fily and her personal subject.

    "Wait!! Stop overthinking Petunia! We don''t care! Whatever happens! You''re still the eldest in the group and you''re still teammates, and Fily''s here, you''re not alone!" Petunia said out loud while hitting her head and getting her thoughts straight.

    "You okay?" Fily suddenly asked which woke Petunia back to the reality that she had already arrived back to Fily''s spot without even realizing it thanks to her floating mind.

    "Huh? Oh, yes, I''m fine." Petunia said and flashed a fake smile to Fily which took her back from seeing her weird cat smile for the first time in forever even if it was only fake.

    "You''re definitely not okay." Fily concluded while nodding and looking at Petunia with concern etched on her face, "Let''s go," she added and guided Petunia back to the backstage where Petunia decided to keep the frozen scientist in check before asking for Halma''s permission to grant her wish.

 Chapter 110 - Disappearance

    "Fily go inside to Von and Lei and tell the guards to bring you the castle, immediately!" Venedette spent the time she bought from severing Yorela''s wings off of her and throwing her over the island''s cliff even though Venedette knows she could just regenerate it and fly back here soon.

    "What?!" Fily shouted after not getting Venedette''s words since Venedette was flying too far from her.

    "Take everyone back with you to the castle and stay as close to the Queen as possible! We can''t underestimate these people or else we''ll lose!" Venedette shouted once again which Fily understood right away this time.

    "Got that!" Fily shouted and flashed a thumbs up to Venedette who was now anticipating for Yorela to come back up to the island after regenerating her wings back.

    "Petunia, come faster please¡­" Fily whispered to herself instead of messaging Petunia and the others about what Venedette told her.

    And when Fily finally saw Petunia from a distance, looking like a walking mess from thinking about something too much, she immediately grabbed the frozen scientist''s feet and did her best to pull him closer to Petunia which was immediately noticed by the guards beside Petunia.

    "Thank you, bring him backstage and tell the people there to prepare the Zoomer for a trip back to the castle, alright?"

    "Roger that!" one of the guards said and proceeded with their tasks while Fily went closer to Petunia to help her with her problem.

    "Are you okay?" she asked which seemed to bring Petunia back to reality.

    "Huh? Oh, yes, I''m fine." Petunia said and flashed a fake smile on her cat''s face which was weird to see for the first time.

    "You''re definitely not okay," Fily concluded and just brought Petunia with her back to the backstage quietly beside the guards and the frozen scientist.

    ***

    "I''m back!!" Yorela said and laughed uncontrollably after seeing Venedette''s problematic face.

    "That was slower than I thought." Venedette lied to provoke her with her serious poker face which did not convince Yorela at all.

    "Try that again! Do you want to see me grow more wings?" Yorela said and threw her severed right-wing to the burning houses while stretching her head and new black wings that were still far from looking complete.

    "Let''s do that then!" Venedette said and charged herself to Yorela, targeting her wings once again but Yorela already saw through her target which allowed her to dodge it by dropping lower to the island''s ground.

    "Oops," Yorela said as if she was enjoying playing with Venedette.

    But unbeknownst to her, Venedette had already calculated the time that Yorela needed for her regeneration to be complete.

    "If I can only sever both of her wings at the same time¡­" Venedette said while looking at Yorela like she was some sort of an insect, a butterfly if you must, but an uglier and more disgusting one.

    "What? You''ve already given up?!" Yorela said and shot herself to the dark sky, once again disappearing among the dark clouds that were giving Venedette a hard time earlier.

    "Stop hiding, you coward!" Venedette said and relied on her other senses instead of guessing where Yorela would come from.

    "Tagu-taguan, maliwanag ang buwan HAHAHAHHAH!" Yorela chanted foreign words which gave away her location.

    She was flying against the moonlight, and since today was a full moon, her silhouette against the mood immediately became a hot attraction for the audience to take pictures of, removing their focus from Herim and Posa who were both suffering from light sensitivity as if she was a mermaid who called for their attention intentionally.

    But since both Posa and Herim were already captured by Sir Grand and his people, Yorela''s tactic did not work very much and only gave away her location to Venedette who was now flying directly to her.

    "Whatever, I''ll just burst her upper body!" Venedette thought and charged at full speed with her iron fists in front.

    But the moment Venedette''s fist almost touched Yorela''s body, Yorela just suddenly disappeared like a strip of light into thin air.

    "It was fun playing with you." Yorela''s last words were which she said so softly that it almost felt like a direct whisper to Venedette''s ears which gave her those unwanted creeps she had been trying so hard to ignore ever since she first saw Yorela and her sister Crones.

    So that was why Yorela did not even bother to dodge, huh?

    But wait, what happened? Why did Yorela suddenly disappear like a dozen strips of light turning off to nothingness?

    "Venedette!" Sir Grand shouted while approaching her who was still dumbfounded about what happened.

    Venedette''s punch created an impact on the second layer of the Earth''s atmosphere where both she and Yorela were standing which left Venedette even more confused as to how Yorela was suddenly able to disappear just like that, in front of her and in this empty space¡­

    "Did that Crone disappear too? My guy disappeared along with that Crone''s severed lower body which gave me the impression that she also disappeared along with them." Sir Grand said without organizing his thoughts first which made it harder for Venedette to understand what was happening right now.

    "T-The kids? Are they alright?" Venedette spilled the first concern that popped inside her mind.

    "Let''s go and check on that." Sir Grand pulled Venedette back to the island calmly while trying not to add to Venedette''s disappointment of losing her opponent that way.

    "Do you know what she said to me before disappearing?! She said ''It was fun playing with you.'' Like, who says that before running away from a fight like a coward?!" Venedette lashed out before proceeding to the backstage where she told Fily to take Von and Lei back to the castle immediately.

    And when Venedette did not see her children at the backstage tent, her heart suddenly sank and started beating faster while assuming for the worst-case scenario that might have happened to them along with the disappearance of their enemies.

    "It couldn''t be¡­" Venedette muttered while looking ghastly at Sir Grand in this empty backstage.

 Chapter 111 - Disappointed Halma

    "Gem! Gem!! You won''t believe what just happ-" Fily''s words stopped halfway through after opening the door enthusiastically only to see Halma taking care of a sleeping Gem.

    "Shh," Halma said and motioned for her to go away. But instead of going away, Fily closed the door to Gem''s clinic room and walked closer to them instead.

    "She fell asleep?" Fily asked while looking for the potion she gave Gem earlier that day.

    "Yes, shh. She''s tired." Halma said while wiping the sweat from Gem''s forehead which alarmed Fily.

    "What did you do to her?" Fily said with suspicion as she moved closer to Gem and removed Halma''s hold from the handkerchief slowly that she used to remove the sweat off of Gem''s forehead.

    Certainly, Fily was sure she put a stronger sleeping potion on Halma''s bath wine and she should still be asleep until tomorrow morning but what was she doing in Gem''s room, wide and awake?

    ''Unless she didn''t drink her daily wine¡­'' Fily pondered while observing Gem''s condition closely..

    "Don''t worry, I didn''t give her the sleeping potion in my wine. She was already asleep when I arrived here." Halma said and flexed the tidy room which she put an effort to clean with the help of the maids just before Fily arrived.

    When Fily heard this, her eyes immediately squinted with more suspicion towards Halma, "How did you know about that?" she said and immediately regretted opening her mouth for recalling the answer to her own question by herself.

    "Let''s talk outside?" Halma asked with a more formal and serious tone than her cunning wicked tactic which filled Fily''s thoughts with more confusion.

    ''Wait, Fily, Let''s get this straight. Riveth told Halma about the sleeping potion? But why didn''t I see her roaming around the castle when I came back here earlier? Did I actually miss that? And what about her unusual expression? Is she really asking me to talk with her outside in that serious tone or is she planning to punish me for targeting her?'' Fily thought to herself, brainstorming all the questions and possible answers to her question just based on what she was seeing right now.

    "Gem wouldn''t wake up that easily after taking my sleeping potion." Fily lied with a confident voice.

    ''This way I could test if Gem really took that personalized sleeping potion we created for her by herself or if Halma was just lying.'' Fily''s thoughts said while she was observing Gem''s reaction to her loud voice closely.

    "Oh, is that so?" Halma asked while not trying to hold back the volume from her voice and failing spectacularly for having doubts about Fily''s words.

    "It''s okay. We can just talk here comfortably." Fily tried to persuade her again.

    "Are you sure? I don''t want this poor child to wake up because of us."

    ''Wish she will or I won''t forgive you both, Halma and mom.'' Fily thought to herself before smiling fakely at Halma. "It''s really okay."

    "Okay, ehem," Halma said in a normal resonating voice and cleared her throat immediately to beat the awkwardness in the air between them.

    "What is it you want to tell me?" Fily said and took a few deep breaths to relax secretly.

    "I know what you did and what you were planning to do to me with that wine," Halma said straightforwardly which almost made Fily choke.

    "I''m sorry, say what?"

    "I said, I know what you guys did, your plans, everything. And I must say, I''m really disappointed about the outcome of this battle especially to you and Venedette," said Halma while looking down at her.

    "And why is that? W-Why are you disappointed in me and Venedette only?" Fily stood and tried to level with Halma''s vision but because Halma was way taller than her, she could only reach Halma''s chin and immediately looked away from the embarrassment.

    "Your plan was too weak. It took the most time and resources and that kind of plan making for a sage wouldn''t work in the tournament, believe me, I know what I am saying." Halma said and started to go into detail about what was wrong with Fily''s plan like how she was unable to utilize her teammate''s skills to the fullest in each situation, how inefficient her teamwork with Petunia was, and how immature was teaming up against Von and Lei was.

    "And Venedette," Halma added while shaking her head as if she was already very disappointed without even saying anything about it yet.

    "She''s still soft. Too soft to kill a small little butterfly who even managed to get away from her at the end." Halma said and wondered what was wrong with the way she raised her eldest daughter.

    "How did you know all of this? Aside from my mom, of course, I''m even surprised how Mom was able to get hold of this new information which I, myself, did not even know about."

    "That isn''t important right now! All you need to know is that I''m watching, okay? I know what you all are doing. I am your Queen, after all."

    "Yes but you''re not God, so stop playing like one." Fily almost said which she immediately prevented by closing her lips.

    Good thing her mom couldn''t really hack her head and hear all these ugly thoughts running inside as long as she doesn''t speak it out loud.

    "I am your Queen and yet the defenses of this castle were even worse than a mall''s defense system back at Mascarene." Halma said while shaking her head. "And for that exact same reason, I don''t think I should stay here any longer, and neither shall you, kids. I am taking you back to your mother whether you like it or not so prepare your things now before it''s too late-"

    "Wait, what!?" Fily exclaimed as her eyebrows almost met each other because of the confusion.

    "I said I am-" Halma attempted repeating her words again but Fily stopped her.

    "I know but why?! Why am I going back there? After what my brother has done¡­ I don''t want to go back!" Fily said stubbornly.

    "Oh? You want to stay with that wimpy of a daughter of mine?"

    "No! I want to stay here with my friends, and we''re already a team so there''s also that."

    "Fine, let''s see if your mom would allow you to-"

    "I don''t need her permission, I am old enough to make my own decisions and besides, we''re already an official team for the tournament which means I can''t back out now. I want to fight those evil monsters with my friends¡­"

 Chapter 112 - What Kind Of Queen?!

    "You do that," Halma said carelessly which she immediately regretted upon seeing an aggressive message from Riveth.

    [Riveth: No!! Why did you let her stay there?! Who gave you the permission to permit her to stay over there? Take it back!]

    "I mean, no. You''re not allowed to stay here anymore." Halma said after getting her pride stomped by Riveth for recklessly voicing out her opinions.

    "Fily is not staying here anymore? Why? Where are you going, Fily?" Gem suddenly spoke which surprised the both of them even if Fily was already anticipating for her to wake up.

    "T-That''s just nonsense. I''m not going anywhere, I''ll stay here with you." Fily said and placed her cheek beside Gem''s for a greeting while Gem was still stretching and yawning from being woken up from her slumber.

    "Let''s talk more about this outside," Halma said with a more serious tone now after just realizing why Fily was insisting on making her talk beside Gem.

    "Yes, my Queen." Fily suddenly said with a very polite tone which almost shocked Halma, only if she didn''t know Fily''s real identities.

    "Come," Halma motioned Fily to follow her and so she did, leaving Gem alone in her room to continue her suffering once again.

    "Wait, what time is it?" Gem thought to herself before proceeding to look at her Stat-hut with sleepy eyes which immediately turned awake after seeing 8:00 pm on the clock.

    "Four hours till midnight!" Gem panicked and stood up to proceed with the next batch of her daily exercises to complete today which were mostly the discipline exercises and more physical exercises which were always time-consuming.

    ***

    "Do you realize what you just did, Fily?" Halma said and faced Fily with a frown.

    "What? I just needed to make sure you didn''t give Gem the sleeping potion I put in your wine."

    "And do you think I''m that irresponsible to give a literal child a wine to drink?" Halma countered with an annoyed face.

    "Oh, right¡­" Fily said and scratched the back of her head while laughing nervously.

    "What happened to you, Fily? Did you go through some malfunction down there? Is the battery I gave you not working? Why are you so out of it-?"

    "I''m fine. I just configured some of my systems to malfunction because apparently, Mom is spying on me without my permission, so I thought I needed to do something about it by myself."

    "Why didn''t you just tell me? I could order for your mom to stop spying on you¡­" Halma said with concern which Fily never even thought about as a possible solution to her problem.

    "It''s okay. I''ll just fix myself in my sleep." Fily said and flashed a small smile to Halma before moving on to their next topic. ''As if she wasn''t the one who benefited from mom''s spying on me.''

    "Did you know about my brother''s involvement in all of this?" Fily asked while also giving Halma the benefit of the doubt. ''No way she put the island in danger while she was still here, did she?''

    "I didn''t know about it, but I gave permission to Riveth to do whatever she thinks she needed to help those crooks reaching this overly secured island. I just thought Venedette was getting too comfortable in here-"

    "Oh no, you didn''t¡­" Fily denied while shaking her head.

    "Oh yes I did, that''s my specialty after all," Halma said with that wicked smile of hers which almost made Fily cry.

    "You put my friends and all the people on this island in danger! What kind of Queen are you!?" Fily lashed out and immediately fixed her posture for getting carried away and too emotional for someone intelligent.

    "I should have let them burn this place down to the ground, I don''t know what it is but ever since you stepped on this island, you''ve become too emotional just like Venedette! Remember Fily, you''re not supposed to get too attached. I let you join this team for only one reason and that doesn''t include you investing too much in human emotions! Got it!?" Halma lashed out and immediately shifted back to her elegant self.

    "You let me join this tournament, so that means you can''t make me go back there, can you?" Fily tried her patience once again but Riveth was the only one who became furious about what she said.

    "Just let her be, Riveth." Halma tried to convince Riveth too but Fily''s mom even threatened to go to Yvandir instead just to take her child down.

    "Then do that. I''ll stay here and complete the tournament whether you like it or not, Mom." Fily said to Halma which she know was having a call with her mother right now.

    "She said just you wait." Halma delivered the message before turning off the noisy call to redeem her Queenly self away from Riveth''s insights and nagging most of the time.

    "I want to have one last bonding time with you guys before leaving next week, would that be possible?" Halma asked formally and immediately stopped Fily from answering. "I should ask Venedette." She said and proceeded to go down the hallway and on her own way now, leaving Fily confused and bothered them most about the thought of her mom coming here just to get her to come back to the Queen''s castle against her will.

    "Thank goodness I turned off most of my recording system for the meantime." Fily thought to herself before proceeding back to Gem''s clinic room to tell her the story of what just happened in the span of eight hours while she was suffering on her own in this room.

    "Did the potion work?"

    "Yep, thank you for that. It still feels weird tho," Gem said which immediately made her embarrassed about the fact that she was now growing.

    "It''s okay, you''ll get used to it, soon," Fily said and patted her head.

    ''Thank goodness the potions did not make my evolution malfunction.'' Gem thought to herself while keeping the fact that every time she uses a potion, she had a chance of having a malfunction with her evolution in doing so.

 Chapter 113 - Catching Up

    "I wish I was there," Gem said with a faint smile.

    "I wish you were there too, but you have things you need to do Gem, what''s important is that we''re fine and you''re doing fine yourself, we''ll get to experience a lot more things together soon," Fily said and patted Gem''s head before hugging her.

    "Let''s go to sleep now, shall we?" Fily added before letting go of Gem.

    "Okay, thank you for these again." Gem said and waved goodbye to Fily with the small bottles of different potions in her hands.

    "Phew, good thing I was able to finish all those tasks in a flash. I hope this will continue until the last day of my evolution. If only I could find another way to endure this pain." Gem murmured while staring at the potions after Fily left her room alone.

    She didn''t want to keep taking the potions as much as she could avoid taking them or drinking Hot chocolate but it''s just too painful for Gem to endure and get used to after just one night and one whole day..

    "I have three to four more days to endure this, I just really hope using the potions Fily gave me won''t cause some kind of malfunction, especially on the last days, please¡­" Gem prayed hard before putting another orange sedative potion in her orange juice and drinking it before going to bed.

    [Combined sedative''s effect on evolution: No effect.]

    "Okay phew," Gem sighed in relief before proceeding to sleep.

    ***

    [Venedette: Are you guys there? Please don''t tell me you''re still here on the island.]

    Venedette sent the message frantically while flying directly to the castle.

    Since Petunia, Fily, Von, and Lei were all riding the Zoomer, a speedy flying car that zooms directly to their destination without interruption which the guards of the Palace usually use when transporting troops, the four of them couldn''t even dare open their stat-huts just to see Venedette''s message.

    But since the Zoomer is fast and they arrived in the castle like a flash, Fily was able to answer Venedette''s inquiry first before proceeding to Gem''s clinic room.

    "Thank god so much you guys are safe," Venedette said while kissing Von''s cheek and hugging him along with Lei.

    "Mom please go away, you''re dirty!" Von complained while shrugging off the black liquid from Venedette even though he''s covered with dust himself from all that digging.

    "Say that for yourself." Petunia said carelessly before remembering the fact that her relationship with either Von or Lei wasn''t that good to be joking around anymore.

    "What''s with that look, Von?" Venedette asked when she noticed the glare that both Von and Lei were secretly giving to Petunia.

    "She betrayed us, mom! She gave me a temporary sleeping potion and handed me to those old people-"

    "Crones," Petunia interrupted, which made Von more annoyed.

    "Crones and even let them escape from grandma''s senses! She''s a complete psycho along with Fily and I don''t know why she thinks she''s still safe going in and out of this castle! She should be banished, mother!" Von complained in a whole paragraph before taking a deep breath to fill his empty lungs from all those complaints.

    "They gave us away to those old people purposely! She''s a traitor-'''' Lei added, which was immediately interrupted by Venedette.

    "Okay, stop. Both of you." She said, which made Von''s heart sink.

    ''But, she-"

    "I know, I told them to make sure you both are in the hands of those Crones no matter what."

    "But why?" Lei finally asked the million-dollar question.

    "Because of the Prophecy," Venedette said and released her stress by exhaling loudly before showing them the tablet in Sir Grand''s hands.

    "What is that?" Von''s eyebrows furrowed upon looking at the familiar scene in front of him. "You let them betray us because of a silly carving in a stone?"

    "No, it''s a prophecy, Von" Venedette said, trying to defend their actions but Von only thought it was silly.

    "And here I thought you actually cared about us," Von said with a pout before walking out of the room.

    "Is this THE prophecy? That legendary invention that saved us from the Doom age?" Lei said, showing his awareness of the gadget, unlike Von.

    "Yup," Petunia said, which made Lei less enthusiastic about it.

    "Lei, let''s go," Von said while peeking from up the stairs to the hallway where they were currently having a conversation.

    "You still owe us an apology, both you and Fily." Lei said to Petunia before walking away with Von.

    "He''s so hard to reason with," Venedette complained to herself and flopped on the sofa.

    "We''ll talk to him again later." Sir Grand said and put down the Prophecy beside Venedette to pat her back, "You did great today." He said and kissed her forehead.

    "Where did Fily go?" Petunia suddenly asked herself before taking off.

    "Come on, let''s clean you up." Sir Grand said and offered a hand for Venedette to take.

    "Okay," Venedette said and took Sir Grand''s hand before standing up with the Prophecy tablet in her other hand.

    ***

    "Riveth!" Halma exclaimed while walking on her own along the dark hallways of this castle.

    "I will go there, just you see," Riveth said and turned off the call she started just right after Halma left Fily to take care of Gem in the hospital wing.

    "You''re really stubborn," Halma muttered to herself before seeing Venedette walking along with Sir Grand on the other side of the castle.

    "Now what kind of trip do I want to experience on this island?" Halma thought to herself before proceeding to fly towards Venedette.

    "Ven," she started and was also startled when Venedette suddenly jumped to Sir Grand because of shock.

    "Ma! Oh my gosh, I did not sense you there. What is it?" Venedette said and went straight to the point immediately.

    "I want to go to a cloud beach."

    "A cloud what?"

    "A cloud beach, the one you guys saw down there at the edge of the island?"

    "How did you-?"

    "I''m the Queen, I know everything, so what do you say? I won''t take no for an answer."

    "But we just-"

    "Okay, tell them to prepare for our trip there next week, see you," Halma said and proceeded to the throne room after another successful day of being a great Queen to her people whose island almost burned because of her silly plans.

 Chapter 114 - Second Evolution

    "Fifth day, I hope the evolution''s done by now," Gem said wishfully before opening her eyes.

    [Evolution 100% Completed! Congratulations to you, our latest Astral holder!] Lady announced which was then followed by Mr. Gemini''s congratulatory remark.

    [Good work for enduring all of the pain, Master.]

    "Good work for being lucky, I guess." Gem said after recalling all the anxiety she had every time she would spin the roulette of death or life by drinking the potions whenever she desperately needed them to complete her tasks or just simply for sleeping.

    [Now that you''ve finished the 2nd level of Evolution, I hope you can find the keys to the locked storages in your Salamandite, Master.]

    "I hope so too, Mr. Gemini." Gem said and stepped out of the bed to celebrate the end of her nightmare..

    "I''m free-!" Gem exclaimed while spinning around happily.

    "Good morning Gem!-" Venedette exclaimed excitedly after opening the door to surprise Gem with the cupcake she baked earlier that morning.

    But instead of Gem being the surprised one, Venedette froze in the air after seeing the peculiar color of Gem''s eyes that almost made her drop the cupcake she was carrying in her hands.

    "W-Wh... What happened to y-your?-" Venedette stuttered while blinking so hard just to confirm if what she was seeing was real and not just an illusion.

    "Venedette!" Gem exclaimed and skipped towards her but was immediately stopped when Venedette put her hands between them.

    "Geeeem!" Fily''s voice echoed from along the hallways which were then battled by Petunia''s voice that also shouted her name.

    ''What are those two doing?'' Gem thought and peeked behind Venedette only to see Fily and Petunia racing along the hallways with Petunia''s gummy bear and Fily''s new flying scooter.

    And upon seeing Gem''s peculiar white eyes, Petunia and Fily almost bumped into each other for both being too shocked.

    "G-Gem," Venedette called to her after putting down a plate of cupcakes on the table beside the door.

    "Hmm?" Gem answered innocently.

    "Come here," Venedette said and brought Gem in front of the mirror while Fily and Petunia both followed after them.

    "Your eyes," Fily said and stared at the mirror in front of them on the right side of Gem while Venedette was on the left and Petunia on top of Gem with her Gummy cloud.

    "M-My eyes." Gem said while staring blankly at the mirror who was showing her the reflection of a blonde girl with clear white eyes as if her black pupils were both covered with white color.

    Somehow, Gem could still imagine the black in her eyes, but whenever she blinked and all she could see in the mirror was white, Gem knew there was no turning back now. This was the effect of her evolution and there''s nothing she could do about it anymore.

    "It''s so pretty," Petunia said while seemingly being mesmerized by Gem''s clear eyes.

    "It''s weird," Fily remarked while looking weirdly at Petunia for making a weird remark.

    "Wait," Venedette said and inspected Gem''s eyes on the mirror even more.

    "I meant the reflection of my Gummy in her eyes." Petunia said to Fily as if defending herself.

    "Let me see," Venedette said and faced Gem to her.

    "What is it?" Gem said in confusion.

    "It''s not white. I could see a pinch of baby blue in there."

    "Let me see," Fily said and faced Gem to her this time. "It''s still weird." She remarked before letting go of Gem.

    "I wonder what''s next." Gem said while sulking a little bit for having a weird feature that will make her stand out more in the crowd.

    "Don''t worry, you can just wear contact lenses if you don''t like it," Venedette said and smiled at her before grabbing the plate of cupcakes she left beside the door.

    "Here, try this cupcake I baked this morning!" Venedette said while trying to lift up the mood which Gem noticed.

    "Wow!" Gem said and admired the blue icing on the cake. ''I wish my eyes are this color, at least.''

    [Wish granted.] Mr. Gemini suddenly said, which stopped Gem from moving.

    ''Wait, I can make wishes like that?'' Gem said in confusion which Mr. Gemini did not answer.

    Right after Mr. Gemini''s announcement of her wish being granted, Gem suddenly felt a cooling sensation in her eyes which made her close it for a few minutes, and then, boom! Her eyes were now turquoise blue!

    "Gem!!! Your eyes turned blue!!" Fily said which surprised Venedette once again.

    "What? How? Wow, that''s cool!" Petunia said and sat properly on her cloud on top of Gem''s head once again to see the sudden transformation in the mirror.

    Venedette and Fily also went back to the same position while Gem was just staring silently at herself while holding the cupcake which was now the same color as her eyes.

    But then, instead of the turquoise color, Gem decided she wanted her eye color to be the same color as her Salamandite necklace instead so she wished for it.

    ''Can I have the same color as my Salamandite instead?'' Gem said to Mr. Gemini in her mind which Mr. Gemini immediately did without saying anything.

    "Whoa!! That''s so awesome!" Petunia exclaimed and tried copying Gem''s action of closing her eyes and opening with a different color this time.

    "I wonder if my hair has the same ability¡­" Gem said and thought the same wish to her hair which sent her an electrifying cool feeling on her scalp until the tip of her tailbone while transforming.

    "OH MY GOSH!!! That''s so awesome Gem!!!" Petunia exclaimed even more while Venedette and Fily were just silently admiring Gem''s new ability to change her hair and eye colors.

    "I wonder what part of my body would be next?" Gem thought to herself while giggling in front of the mirror with the girls.

    "Imagine being able to change your skin color!" Petunia said and rolled around her cloud out of excitement.

    ''But before that happens, I would need to unlock more Energy slimes first or suffer under the same painful experience of that bare Evolution without the slimes.'' Gem thought to herself while finally being able to appreciate her new subtle abilities and blue features.

 Chapter 115 - Matching Suits

    "Do you know what today is?" Fily asked Gem while brushing her new ocean blue hair.

    "No? The end of my second evolution?" Gem guessed which Fily responded with a slight shake of her head.

    "Halma developed the Cloud Beach and wanted us to be the first visitors there," Venedette said, which confused Gem.

    "The what?"

    "Oh, right. We haven''t told you about that pretty spot under the island yet." Petunia said and began explaining the details to Gem about how Venedette and her family were able to discover the place accidentally by looking for Von and Lei and inspecting the enemies who used that place as their landing pad and secret meeting place.

    "By the way, Halma let me make that guy from the spaceship my own personal pet. But she said she will only give me that scientist once I finish being her pet and after brainwashing that guy." Petunia said proudly which made Gem more confused.

    "Wait, did you say brainwash and human-pet in the same sentence? That sounds scary." Gem said with a judging face towards Petunia which Fily only laughed upon.

    "See, told you she''d also find it weird."

    "Why!? That guy is not worthy to live anyway. Imagine sneaking inside the most protected flying island in this Country and planning to kidnap the Prince, do you think the people and the higher-ups will just forgive that? He should be thankful to me for saving his life by being my pet!" Petunia defended herself by almost lashing out.

    "Okay, okay we got it-" Fily said, trying to stop her but also trying to stifle her own laughter but Petunia was far from done.

    "And besides, I''m not a real cat! My pride hurts just by being the Queen''s temporary pet so I deserve this much!"

    "What''s so wrong about being the Queen''s pet? I would brag about it to my fellow cats if I were you¡­" Gem joked which made Petunia a lot more frustrated.

    "I''m not a real cat and I don''t have cat friends!" Petunia said which made the two of them stop annoying her.

    "Okay, okay, we get it," Fily said and held Petunia''s limbs to stop her from scratching the air violently.

    "Sorry." Gem said while stifling her laugh just by watching Petunia and Fily''s small bickering.

    "We should get ready." Venedette suddenly butted in with hangers of clothes in her hands after meeting with the maids outside.

    "For what?" Gem asked and crawled out of the bed to help Venedette hang the clothes in the dressing room. (By the way, Gem already moved to her original room the day before.)

    "We are going on a trip," Venedette said, which was immediately interrupted by Fily''s enthusiastic words.

    "Right! That''s what I''ve been trying to tell you, Gem! We''re going on a trip today."

    "In courtesy of the Queen finally leaving this castle alone," Petunia added while silently judging the cat dress Venedette brought with her. "Am I going to wear that?"

    "Yes! Isn''t it cute?" Venedette said and lifted the breezy strapped white dress with a purple ribbon on the waist for babies and a matching beach (straw/sun) hat with the same purple ribbon on it, but since Petunia was a cat and cats don''t really need to wear clothes, Petunia only shook her head and grabbed the straw hat from the cushioned chair.

    "I''ll just wear this."

    "But why?? Isn''t this cute?" Venedette said and moved the dress closer to her.

    "Exactly, it''s too cute and I hate it." Petunia said as if being disgusted so Venedette had no choice but to move on already.

    "These are matching dresses though," Venedette said which made Gem drop her jaw after the realization that the dresses were in fact, all matching white breezy dresses, perfect for going to the beach which Gem had never experienced before.

    "I''m good," Fily said hesitantly after being Venedette''s next target.

    "Eungg, let''s wear matching dresses please?"

    "Do I wear this first or the dress first?" Gem said while holding the white dress on her right and the one-piece blue swimsuit on the left.

    "The swimsuit first," Venedette answered and faced Fily once again.

    "Can''t I at least have a red and black one?" Fily said and held her matching one-piece swimsuit hesitantly.

    "No black dresses on the beach," Venedette said firmly.

    "I don''t know if this will suit me, but I''ll try." Fily finally surrendered and was the first one to occupy Gem''s bathroom to have a change of outfit.

    From wearing their silky pajamas, Leviathan squad was now wearing breezy outfits for their beach venture on the newly renovated Cloud Beach at the edge of Yvandir.

    "Woohoo! Let''s go!" Venedette cheered after seeing Fily''s figure being highlighted by her swimsuit.

    "Looking good," Petunia said while looking away for being too embarrassed to admit Fily''s beauty.

    At the same time, Gem came out of her dressing room wearing the same type of blue one-piece swimsuit as Fily.

    "Ehhhh? Are we really wearing the same thing? How is yours so different than mine??" Gem whined after seeing Fily''s goddess figure being highlighted by the swimsuit.

    "Hahahhah it''s okay, you still have a long time to grow," Fily said and hugged Gem out of embarrassment after being the highlight of today''s fashion show.

    "Hmph." Gem expressed her embarrassment by hiding her reddened face between Fily''s boobs.

    "Okay, that''s enough," Petunia said while scratching Fily''s shoulders jokingly with a straight face for missing her own human body.

    "Aren''t you going to wear your''s?" Venedette said while pulling Petunia''s tail to the dressing room with her.

    "Ehh? Of course not! I''m not going to swim, waittt!!" Petunia said and panicked after seeing the sinister expression on Venedette''s face.

    "I prepared a swimsuit for you too," Venedette said and shut the door behind them.

    "Are they also coming?" Gem said after seeing Von flying with Lei not far from them.

    "Yep, everyone''s coming because it''s the Queen''s last request before departing from this island."

    "Halma''s leaving already?" Gem asked with wide eyes.

    "Oh, no one''s told you about it yet?" Fily asked which Gem answered with an enthusiastic nod.

    "She''s going to be leaving this afternoon," Fily said which made Gem pout.

    "That''s so fast¡­"

 Chapter 116 - Ocean Eyes

    "Halma! Why didn''t you tell me that you''re leaving soon?!" Gem said after seeing Halma in the hallway upon wandering alone.

    "Uhm, who are you?" Halma asked while looking around as if looking for Gem''s lost parents.

    "Oh!" Gem exclaimed after remembering the fact that she changed her hair and eye colors just this morning. "It''s me, Gem!" Gem said while showing Halma her original hair and eye colors.

    "G-Gem?" Halma asked, still not confused, and was now alarmed.

    "Yep, it''s me! Gem!" Gem said enthusiastically before changing her eye and hair colors to blue again.

    "H-How?"

    "It''s the effect of my evolution."

    "You mean your menstru-'''' Halma asked which Gem only shrugged as a response..

    "Why didn''t you tell me you''re leaving soon?! I was looking forward to spending more time with you!" Gem said while pouting.

    "I- uhhh, I have a lot of things to manage back at the capital," Halma said while admiring Gem''s new blue hair and eyes. "I''m sorry, I''m just not used to being kept in the dark, Riveth is acting up and I need to go back before she comes here herself and drag me with Fily back to the castle," Halma said in a goofy tone which confused Gem.

    ''What happened to the prideful and confident Queen?'' Gem thought to herself even more after seeing the Queen roaming around the hallways alone and in a normal beach attire instead of her flashy Queen-like dresses, similar but not exactly the same to the design of her own beach dress.

    "When are you going?" Gem asked and spotted the room to the basement behind Halma that was slightly open.

    "Just, preparing something," Halma responded in a nervous tone which made Gem decide to leave her alone for now.

    ''She must be busy,''

    "Okay! See you later then," Gem said energetically before walking away while waving at her goodbye.

    ''I wonder what she''s preparing?'' Gem thought to herself before going out of Halma''s sense radius.

    ***

    "Where''s Gem?" Von asked after seeing both Fily and Petunia beside them, waiting for the Zoomer to arrive.

    "She''s in-" Fily tried to answer with her usual bubbly personality but was suddenly interrupted when Petunia covered her mouth using her furry tail.

    "Shh, aren''t we supposed to be enemies?" Petunia said to Fily sarcastically.

    "Pfft, Petunia!" Fily said while covering her mouth from Petunia''s tail.

    "Hmph," Petunia only replied while walking around her Gummy cloud.

    "When are you going to apologize?" Lei said without looking at them.

    "Apologize for what?" Fily asked innocently which made Petunia proud.

    "We''re not going to apologize for helping save the island," Petunia added.

    "Oh? Is it about that time when we betrayed you and handed you to the Crones?" Fily said after realizing why Von and Lei must be angry at them.

    "Exactl-"

    "If that''s the case then I''m sorry! We really didn''t mean to do that but we have no choice." Fily said with a pleading expression which made Von and Lei look away out of embarrassment.

    "Okay, apology accepted," Von said without even trying to look at her which made Fily happier.

    "Yeyy! Are we good now?" Fily said that Lei, being the one standing near her, immediately responded with a "Yes," just to make her move away from them.

    "Gahh, I can''t believe this girl." Petunia shook her head after being betrayed by Fily for saying sorry to Von and Lei even though she''s the mastermind behind everything including keeping the plan from the both of them in the first place.

    "I''m here!!" Gem announced while hopping along the wide staircase.

    When the four of them looked, Von and Lei''s face immediately screamed confused while Fily was just her usual bubbly personality and Petunia her no-reaction snobbish face.

    "Gem!!" Fily shouted while anticipating for her while the two boys just stared at Gem strangely.

    "That''s Gem? What happened to her?" Lei said which was then followed by Von.

    "What happened to you!? You look uglier!" Von remarked the most discouraging words ever which made Gem frown from having a happy face.

    "You''re uglier! Hmph!" Gem said and rolled her eyes at Von.

    "What are you saying!? Gem is not ugly!" Fily exclaimed while putting her arms around Gem''s small shoulders.

    "Tsk," Von said and looked away while Lei couldn''t take his eyes off of Gem''s blue eyes.

    "Is that real? W-What happened?" Lei asked while still looking at Gem''s eyes which flustered her.

    "It''s just a perk from my evolution." Gem said while covering her face using her hair for being too flustered from Lei''s stare.

    "Evolu-?"

    "Just Salamandite things," Fily said with a smile before pulling Gem to her other side and away from Lei.

    "Cool," Lei said and cleared his throat after losing eye contact with Gem''s fascinating ocean eyes.

    ***

    "Have you been here before?" Von teased Petunia about being the first one to find this hidden scenery along with Lei.

    "It''s better to visit in the morning, you can really see the sunlight making a line across the clouds just like in a real beach," Von said which made Gem fascinated for not being able to see a real beach in her life before.

    "Let''s just wait for the sunset then?" Fily pitched in which made Petunia drop her jaw and applaud Fily for being smart.

    "As expected from our brainly sister!" Petunia said while clapping while Von was just bummed for having his flex interrupted by Fily''s smart remark.

    "I should have just continued my plan," Von said obnoxiously, which earned him a slap on the shoulders from Lei.

    "Life up here is a lot better than life down there so don''t even think about that again." Lei scolded him.

    "That''s right." Gem said, agreeing to Lei''s remark which gave Lei another chance to see her ocean eyes once again.

    "What did Halma add in this place anyway?" Fily said while moving forward to disrupt Lei''s vision from Gem again.

    "It''s mostly just the water," Von answered while looking weirdly at the hidden tension between Lei and Fily. "What''s wrong with both of you?" he added even though he did not really care much about it while Petunia and Gem were just busy admiring the view in front of them.

    Sitting on a sandy beach inside a cave at cloud level with an artificial infinity pool that connects with the clouds under the island, who wouldn''t be fascinated by such a view?

    "I wonder what the ocean looks like?" Gem asked out of nowhere which Lei answered nonchalantly. "Same as the reflection in your eyes."

 Chapter 117 - Gem Is Mine

    "Wow, that''s so cheesy! Reminds me of the people back in the day!" Fily remarked after hearing Lei''s honest response to Gem''s question.

    "What are you saying?" Von said while looking suspiciously at Fily for saying something so random.

    "Nothing."

    "Do you love the ocean, Lei?" Gem said and leaned her upper body backward to make eye contact with Lei which Fily couldn''t cover at the moment because of her ongoing argument with Von.

    "I do, I love it so much," Lei said while getting mesmerized in Gem''s eyes again but quickly blinked and looked away from her in efforts of not being weird.

    "Okay, I really wish to see a real ocean soon with you guys." Gem said with a happy smile just before Venedette called them to enjoy some barbecue while sightseeing.

    "Did you like it?" Halma asked Gem while soaking herself in the artificial beach-inspired infinity pool beside the island''s cliff.

    "I do! It''s so beautiful, thanks a lot for taking care of me, Halma. You don''t know how happy it makes me be accepted by the Queen of this Country despite being labeled as a monster by many," Gem said in all sincerity which made Halma ache a little bit in the heart for trying to hurt her using a poison.

    "If perhaps, I tell you not everything you see could be real, would you believe me?"

    "About what?" Gem asked innocently while eating her grilled hot dog with marshmallows in a stick.

    "About me-"

    "Those rumors about you being evil? Of course, I don''t believe that! All you have been doing during your stay here was to take care of me and of course I appreciate that so much. Thank you for being so kind to me, Halma." Gem said continuously which made it harder for Halma to even confess her sins anymore.

    ''Whatever, I''ll just give them the gift and be done with it. We won''t see each other until the start of the tournament anyway and she won''t use this information anymore so what''s the point?''

    "Are you ready to see the sunset?" Halma asked while carrying Gem with her on the very edge of the infinity pool made of glass.

    "Very." Gem said while being wary of where she steps on because of Halma''s long white beach dress. "This is kind of scary." She added and focused her eyes on the horizon filled with clouds instead.

    "There should be a place like this on your island, mine had more than just a swimming pool and we had more technology than this old land which let us do more royal work across the country. I hope you could visit us soon, although it would be hard to get a pass just to land over there." Halma said and chuckled on her own little mischievous thought, uncertified people such as Gem and Petunia wouldn''t have any chance of getting inside the capitol, moreover, Halma''s island had more security that isn''t as reachable as this one based on what just happened with the foreigners and the Crones.

    "I hope so too." Gem replied and carried on with their sightseeing.

    "Halma! Can I get my pet now? Please? Please?" Petunia suddenly said like a whining child to her parents to buy her a toy, announcing her presence from the ceiling of the cave with her Gummy cloud with no intentions of getting wet with them.

    "Petunia! Come on down here! Let''s swim!" Gem called to her after seeing her cloud fly amongst the real thick clouds in front of them.

    "As much as I deny being a cat and being a potions lover, my body hates the water! I can''t swim!" Petunia said while having fun riding her Gummy cloud across the clouds which Von spotted and soon played with her not long after.

    "Fily!!" Gem cheered after seeing Fily step inside of the pool along with a shirtless Lei.

    "Ooh, this is warm, I thought the water was cold," Fily said after touching the water with her toes while Lei just quietly swam across his distance with Gem and the others on the end of the pool.

    "This is scary," Lei said after stepping on the clear glass and seeing a bunch of clouds below them.

    "It is! I feel ticklish! Like I''m on a roller coaster!"

    "A what?" Gem said after hearing another one of Fily''s uncommon words.

    "Nothing," Fily said and laughed her heart out before finally reaching the end of the pool where they all watched the horizon as the sun went down.

    "Woah! This is amazing!" Fily was the one to react after seeing the orange lines of the sun bridging the clouds between them to the horizon.

    "This level is such a perfect level for this kind of view," Fily added which all of them agreed on.

    "Mom! Dad! Let''s go to the sun!" Von offered while still flying around with Petunia under the orange spotlight.

    "Should we?" Venedette said and stepped out of the pool which was then followed by Sir Grand immediately.

    "See ya!" Venedette greeted and flew so fast towards Von that even the drops of water from the pool that dampened her body were suddenly detached from her and were left to fall again exactly above Gem, Fily, and Halma''s place.

    "Watch out!" Lei shouted and stood up to cover Gem beside him while Fily just closed her eyes and felt the refreshing drops of water fall on her like a one-second rain shower.

    "Whoo!" Fily shouted while Halma just shrugged her shoulders.

    "Since they''re not coming back anytime soon, would you like to see my gift to your team now before them?" Halma offered while still standing like a statue because of her ruined hair and dampened upper body because of Venedette and Sir Grand.

    "Oops,"

    "T-Thanks." Gem said shyly to Lei for covering her from the raindrops.

    "No problem-"

    "Lei!! What did I tell you!?" Fily suddenly said and pulled Gem away from him.

    "Gem is mine."

    "Tch." Lei only replied which Gem found funny.

 Chapter 118 - Halmas Departure

    "Let''s go," Halma said after the sun completely disappeared from their vision and the sky turned to blue and dark blue to black not long after.

    "I thought the gift would be inside the castle?" Gem thought innocently after recalling the weird interaction she had with Halma back at the castle and in front of the secret storage room.

    "No, I wanted to give it to you as soon as possible since I won''t go back to the castle anymore after this," Halma said which made Gem sad to know that Halma will go back to the Capital now and she won''t be able to play with her again.

    "I''m going to miss you, Halma," Gem said, which caught Halma, and even Fily and Lei both by surprise.

    "I''m going to miss you too," Halma said while facing Gem to push the little strand of blue hair in front of her face to the back of her ears and give her a soft kiss on the forehead.

    "A blessing, since we won''t be seeing each other again soon," Halma said while the kiss on Gem''s forehead glowed red which Fily thought looked more like a curse rather than a blessing.

    "You can use it to see bad intentions from people around you, but use it wisely, you can only use it twice," Halma said, which Gem only nodded with fascination as she tried to touch her forehead and decided not to ruin the marking instead.

    "Come," Halma gestured them to enter one of the newly built rooms inside this new place where they could hang out, and beyond the short tunnel was another open space under the island..

    But unlike the sandy beach where they came from, this part was more like an indoor mechanical room with an abstract floor-to-ceiling window on the open, which Fily could only guess as the holographic one-way glass where you could only see rocks from the outside but everything from the inside.

    "Woah! What is this place?!" Gem exclaimed in astonishment while checking out the computers and screens and even a steering wheel in front of the huge crystal window.

    "This will be your new headquarters for the tournament. I hope you use it well." Halma said and smiled after seeing the fascinated smiles and sparkles in the children''s eyes, well except for Fily who only nodded her head out of respect for Halma''s thoughtful gift.

    "Is this a vehicle like the zoomer which we rode earlier?" Gem said upon approaching the driver''s seat which Halma was quick to stop her from touching anything.

    "Only Venedette is allowed in this area, Gem," Halma said, which Gem immediately understood as a very important role that she couldn''t fulfill yet without training, so she stepped out of the way and inspected the other parts instead.

    There was a complete set of things in the open kitchen just beside the living area which was on the back while there was also a staircase to the second floor of the ''headquarter'' which leads to a lot of rooms on the second floor.

    The ceiling of the most important room was the tallest which was also composed of the tall and wide glass window made of real crystal according to Halma which makes it impact-proof from different kinds of attacks that they could experience while traveling outside of the borders just like the walls made of hard stone.

    "Is this like a mini flying island?" Gem asked while looking at the stone walls.

    "That''s right," Halma answered, which made Gem''s eyes sparkle even more.

    "So it''s like a spaceship inside a small island? Cool!"

    "It''s totally cool indeed," Fily said while looking meaningfully at Halma.

    "What?"

    "I didn''t know you were this thoughtful about your daughter''s wish."

    "I''m not!" Halma denied with a calm face before clearing her throat and moving away from Fily in case she might notice Halma''s softness once more.

    "Why are there so many foods in here already? We won''t be traveling soon," Lei said while looking at the cupboards and the refrigerator.

    "Oh, about that." Gem said and moved closer to Halma, " Fily and I decided to go on a trip to find how to feed my gemstone and make more use of its powers during the weekends."

    "Just the two of you?"

    "If Venedette''s not available then yes, just the two of us."

    "That''s unfair!" Lei said, suddenly having his emotions get the best of him so he cleared his throat to keep his cool before proceeding with a normal tone, "I want to join too."

    "Okay? But aren''t you supposed to watch Von 24/7?" Gem asked out of consideration which made Lei want to join even more.

    "I''ll just bring him with me."

    "It''s too dangerous, Lei. We shouldn''t put Von in danger, he''s a prince after all." Fily said, trying to push Lei away but Lei wouldn''t forfeit.

    "And I''m his bodyguard, I''ll keep him safe," Lei said stubbornly, which was interrupted by the main door opening and closing with Von, Venedette, Sir Grand, and Petunia going inside.

    "Petunia! Look! There''s a dedicated room for your experiments here!" Gem said after hearing their entrances from the 2nd floor.

    "For real? This is so cool! How come we didn''t see anything from there?" Petunia said in confusion while pointing at the empty dark sky beyond the crystal glass window.

    "Come! I need to check on the other rooms too!" Gem said excitedly which left Petunia with no choice but to just follow her instead of asking Halma again for her personal pet.

    "Are you really going to go now?" Venedette said while approaching Halma, she couldn''t put into words how thankful she was for Halma''s treatment to both Gem and Petunia even though they were just nothing more than strangers to her.

    "I really need to go as soon as Riveth arrives. I''ll leave these kids to you Venedette, take care of them and raise them into the finest warriors we could get for this Country."

    "For Clandamascarene, and for Demi. I will raise them into fine warriors and the pride for this upcoming Dekadalaw tournament no matter what, Ma. You don''t need to worry about that."

    "I hope so," Halma said before stepping out of Leviyacht, her latest gift to Leviathan. "Please tell Gem I said goodbye, and take care," she added with a slight smile to everyone which almost made Venedette tear up before going to the other door which contained her Royal spaceship that would take her directly to her own Castle in less than just a few minutes.

 Chapter 119 - I Dont Want To Go

    "Did you get a good look at our newest headquarters?" Venedette asked the children on their way to the castle.

    "Yes! It''s so spacious and interesting! I feel like we''ll have a fun time living there." Gem answered energetically, without even knowing Halma was now back to the Capital and won''t come back here for at least, the rest of their lives.

    "Yeah, We''ll have fun trying to survive in there, somehow," Von replied to Gem''s response nonchalantly, trying hard not to show how impressed he was with the advanced technology and convenient design of the whole headquarters.

    "Come on Von, that''s too early for that." Fily scolded him which Von only ignored.

    "Does it have a name?" Petunia asked Venedette while Lei and Von were now arguing about the expedition that he wanted to be a part of with the girls.

    "Levi-yacht," Venedette answered Petunia''s question with a shrug.

    "I like it.." Gem said with an excited smile, "Sounds close to our group''s name, Leviathan." She added which made Venedette smile.

    "You''re so quick to catch these things Gem, I''m sure you will find a way to unlock my Salamandite soon and find ways on how to feed it to unlock the keys inside, I wonder if mine also has keys inside?" Venedette said continuously which made Gem''s eyes widen in shock.

    "You got your Salamandite back, Venedette?!" Gem exclaimed while searching for the necklace in Venedette''s shirt which she immediately picked up from the insides of her shirt to show it off to Gem and everyone.

    "Yup, I got it back!" Venedette announced which caused an uproar from her children.

    "That''s such a good news! But sadly I haven''t found anything that could help activate it yet," Gem said while frowning which made Venedette come closer to her and stretched her lips to a smile.

    "In the right time, Gem. There''s always a right time for everything." Venedette said which was a reminder for Gem to calm down and trust the process. "Nothing good comes from rushing, let''s take our time and deal with this one by one, okay?"

    "Okay!" Gem said which lifted the spirits of everyone around them again.

    "But I don''t want to go!" Von suddenly shouted which made Venedette and the others aware of his little argument with Lei at the back.

    "What''s wrong, Von?" Venedette said and motioned for Gem and the others to excuse her for a little bit.

    "Lei wants me to come with him on Fily''s trip around the country! I don''t want to go on the ground anymore! Why can''t you just go with them and leave me in the castle instead? It''s not like something bad''s going to happen soon. And besides, aren''t you demoted from being my bodyguard to a member of Leviathan by now!?"

    "Watch your tone, Von! That''s still your friend you''re talking to right there. I''m so sorry for his behavior, Lei. I hope you don''t mind." Venedette said out of embarrassment from Von''s rude behavior.

    "Not at all, Miss Dette," Lei answered as if he was used of Von''s nagging anyway.

    How are they only two years apart? Lei was always acting as the mature one and Von was taking him for granted.

    "I think you need an away time from Von this time, Lei," Fily suggested after seeing them fight even though she was the first person opposing Lei''s involvement with their travel.

    "Shouting is very unnecessary and rude, especially to a friend, Von. Why is it that you''re never listening to me?"

    "But I do listen to you. I was just upset, I''m sorry." Von said and quickly apologized to Lei and the guards behind them who were already falling behind from their team.

    "Do you really want to stay in the castle and miss this trip around the country? You know you won''t get to see your country for at least six months in the tournament, right?" Venedette said, trying hard to convince Von in joining their trip too so they could go on their first adventure as a team but Von had already made up his mind.

    "I don''t want to go," he said firmly after remembering the time when he desperately wanted to go down and live a new life there with Lei, but only to find out that it was the Crone''s idea all along and he was just tricked into believing that it was what he really wants. That logic didn''t even make sense for Von after thinking about it since he''s the Prince of this island and there was nothing else that he could wish for. He had everything.

    And besides, he knew his mom wouldn''t be able to make the trip either due to her busy schedule and limits in the team since she was only acting as the stand-in leader until they grow up.

    Unlike Gem, Von knew a lot about how teams in this tournament work, and if Venedette wouldn''t be there to always take care of him, he know neither of his teammates would volunteer to do so either, so it was best to get out of their way instead for being weak.

    "Okay, I''ll just ask your father to keep you company while we travel for at least two days and one night," Venedette said, agreeing to Von''s request but only with that condition.

    "Okay," Von said politely after getting into an agreement with his mom.

    "You can''t back out from your words now, okay?"

    "Okay," Von answered while nodding violently with a timid and slight smile.

    "What? We''re going to travel for that long?! But how about school and our training?" Gem complained.

    "We can always do that later, your safety comes first as well as finding more clues about the locked storages in your Salamandite." Petunia said and slouched on her gummy cloud right after.

    "I was really looking forward to seeing our teachers again and training though," Gem thought to herself.

    "Don''t worry, we''re going to leave at weekends next week anyways so you could still attend classes this week and the weeks after that," Fily said, comforting her.

    "Oh, really? That''s good then." Gem rejoiced as they finally reached the entrance of the castle.

 Chapter 120 - Levi-yacht

    It has been a week after Halma''s departure, Gem had her fun training and learning new things in school while Fily spent most of her time sleeping to hack the Salamandite guide book.

    On the other hand, Petunia was too caught up with her new experiments with her new brainwashed assistant, Sir Trevor to even care about the world.

    "That''s good, very good!" Petunia exclaimed after making progress on her feline potion that turned her into a cat in the first place after seeing a furry tail grow on the back of Sir Trevor.

    "Yes! I did a great job, didn''t I, Miss Pluto?" Sir Trevor said, calling Petunia by her code name that she used in case Sir Trevor here was still trying to contact his alien friends and report her by chance.

    "I think you deserve a raise in food for this." Petunia said and gave Sir Trevor a generous amount of processed food.

    "Don''t forget to drink your medicine, okay?" Petunia said before writing to her journal about the exact potions she was able to make for the feline potion replica that she''s trying to debunk and use as a basis to make her reversal potion formulas.

    "Of course, Miss Pluto!" Sir Trevor said like a pet before munching on his food.

    [Venedette: Meeting in thirty minutes.] Venedette suddenly sent in prior to their arranged meeting later when Fily finally woke up.

    "I''ve got to go." Petunia said and checked the obsidian locks behind Sir Trevor and the tranquilizers in place to shoot him automatically if he attempts to escape this room.

    "Be a good pet, okay?"

    "Roger that, meow." Sir Trevor, the bearded skinny scientist with disheveled bluish-white hair on a slightly tanned skin tone, said with an improvisation to flatter Petunia which she took more likely as an insult.

    "Say that again and I will cut off your tongue, save it till I turn you into a complete cat." Petunia said cold-heartedly before locking the door behind her.

    Witches like Petunia were raised to be selfish, and even though she actually felt bad for Sir Trevor on the inside, Petunia knew this was only his punishment for committing a severe crime against the Royal family of Clandamascarene.

    "Petunia!" Gem shouted from across the hallway after seeing that familiar purple gummy glow from afar.

    "Are you also heading to the meeting?" Petunia said with her normal robotic voice which tilted Gem''s energy a little bit off.

    "No, I''m going to Fily''s room, do you want to come?" Gem shouted from her place again even though she knew Petunia could still hear her from there even without shouting.

    "Okay, let''s go together." Petunia said and met with Gem in front of Fily''s room.

    "Is this who I think it is?" Fily said after opening the door briefly and getting a warm hug from Gem.

    "I missed you." Gem said and flaunted her new silver hair in front of her which Petunia did not even notice because of the dimmer lights in the hallway.

    "We have the same hair color." Petunia said after only noticing it, having flashbacks of her human form with the same healthy silver hair as Gem. She even wanted to deny it but because Gem was too small and skinny, Petunia couldn''t help but see her old self in her. The only difference she could notice between her human form and Gem was the bright expression on Gem''s face which she only usually wears a blank expression with.

    "I know right! I just said I want the same color as Petunia''s furs and look what I got!" Gem said and turned around again, her long hair flowing with her floral white dress and her white eyelashes shining with her blue eyes under a thin bang that Venedette cut for her a day prior to their trip.

    "Are we ready to go on a trip now?" Gem said excitedly while hopping on the way to the library.

    "Very ready," Fily said enthusiastically which gave Petunia and Gem a feeling that she just learned something new and very important from her long hibernation the whole week.

    "I''ve been looking forward to this since last week, I can''t wait!"

    "I thought you wanted to attend school and train instead?" Fily teased Gem with her own words.

    "But that doesn''t mean I don''t want to go on a trip! I just said I missed school and training, bleh!" Gem said and even stuck out her tongue to Fily which she only laughed upon.

    "Woah, am I just too excited, or is that Levi-yacht I''m seeing outside?" Fily stopped laughing around after seeing a smaller flying island in front of the library.

    "That''s how Levi-yacht looks from the outside?! That''s amazing!" Gem exclaimed while admiring the exotic view of almost a diamond-shaped island which seemed like a perfectly carved giant stone from the ground with greenery on the top and sides which made it look more natural.

    ''But there''s nothing so natural about a flying island anyway so why did they even bother?'' Petunia thought to herself which she quickly discarded after seeing two boys flashing in front of them and racing to the meeting room.

    "They''re so careless, as always." Petunia remarked and shook her head out of disappointment for what the boys did to the doorknob of the library.

    "It''s okay, no one''s coming in anyway." Gem only said and pushed Petunia and Fily both inside the library and tried to close the door using a chair not far from them.

    "Okay, that will do." Gem said with the contentment of her improvisation before proceeding to the second floor where the real meeting usually happens.

    "Have you prepared all the stuff you''ll need for this trip?" Venedette''s first question to the kids greeted Gem as soon as she stepped on the second floor.

    "Do we still need to bring our own things when everything''s there already?" Gem asked innocently before thinking about the stuff she might want to bring with her through the whole trip.

    "Wait, before that hear me out first, I think I just found our first location here in Clandamascarene," Fily said confidently which caught everyone''s attention immediately.

 Chapter 121 - Foreigners

    "What''s in that location? And what other things do we need to know before going on this trip first?" Venedette inquired while writing stuff on the clear board in front of them.

    "So here''s what I''ve got so far," Fily started, offering to be the first one to present her findings, "There''s this frozen falls near the capital region that everyone knows about, right?"

    Everyone nodded including Von and Lei who used to not participate every single time before.

    "Well, guess what? The first mutated salamanders after the meteorite''s touchdown happened to live in the rain forest near those areas before it went frozen by climate change!"

    "Which means, we may be able to find clues in this area," Venedette said and drew a red mark on the area that Fily was pointing to earlier near the capital.

    "And not only that! I was able to get in contact with one of the independent tribes living there and they confirmed the existence of Salamanders in those areas with their own information on what those Salamanders eat back in the day!" Fily exclaimed enthusiastically which made Gem''s eyes sparkle in anticipation of their upcoming trip.

    "That''s a great move Fily, we''ll go there and look for the Salamander''s food and hopefully fill Gem''s crystal enough to unlock the remaining storages, next."

    "I think I may be able to make use of our trouble in that place too," Petunia said while moving closer to the map on the clear board. "I believe this is also the place where they found the second main ingredient for flight potions along with the energy slimes from the Salamanders, which I think is also the reason why they chose to build the capital near it in the first place." Petunia said and ended her turn briefly..

    "I''m still trying to complete my mission till the end of this month and I''m afraid that''s all that I''ve got at this point." Gem said timidly before ending her turn with Fily and the others comforting her.

    "It''s okay, we''ll get there soon, Gem."

    "How about you, I thought you''re not joining this trip?" Petunia heartlessly questioned Von''s presence in the meeting.

    "I thought it was a trip, but now that I''m hearing your plans, this actually looks more like a mission than just a simple trip."

    "Which means?"

    "Which means it''s cool and I think I also want to come with," Von said, defending himself while shrugging a little bit.

    "Okay, here''s the plan." It was Venedette''s turn to speak now.

    "Since we''re not allowed to touch down in the capital, we''re going to have to travel straight through this frozen lake until the waterfall while avoiding as many eyes as we can since we''re probably the only team who has a floating island as an HQ, I want you guys to avoid exposing your identity to strangers as much and come back to the HQ as frequently as you can after our pit stops."

    "And since this is supposed to be a trip, we''re actually going to stop in at least two to three attraction spots to have fun and enjoy ourselves with, are you okay with that, guys?"

    "Okay! Sounds fun!" Gem raised her hand while encouraging everyone else to agree with her.

    "I''m cool with that," Fily said.

    "O-Okay," Petunia thought while thinking about her fear of being exposed as that one witch who accidentally turned herself into a cat permanently for refusing to be a prize in the previous Dekadalaw tournament.

    "I see no problem with that," said Lei, which Von agreed on with a slight nod.

    "But never keep your guards down, children. We''re most likely to encounter a lot of teams representing their own district in the Dekadalaw tournament that might challenge us for a fight. Don''t wander around on your own and just follow my lead, okay?"

    "Okay!" Gem exclaimed after hearing the possibilities for a fight to break out, "This will be fun," she thought and fantasized about kicking people''s faces and winning fights.

    "Do we really have to fight with them even before the tournament actually starts? And besides, we''re still inside the border which means it might be illegal." Von while still having second thoughts on joining this so-called trip.

    "We can only fight them if they initiate a fight with us first, but let''s keep it friendly as possible as we can, is that understood, kids?"

    "Yup!"

    "Yes,"

    "Got it,"

    Leviathan responded in unison but with different words.

    "Do we get to ride Levi-yacht now or do we wait until tomorrow morning?" Gem asked while watching their new headquarters outside the window impatiently.

    "We''re going to ride it now after this meeting, Gem," Venedette said while stifling her laughter for finding Gem''s impatience cute.

    "If that so then I should find my crystal yoyo and bring it back here immediately!" Gem said and stormed out of the library without hearing Venedette nor the other''s words.

    "Okay, since Gem went ahead to grab her things, I think we can conclude our meeting here and see each other again in one hour. Make sure to bring everything you need right now because we won''t be going back here until Monday or Tuesday if we experience some of the delays in our mission hunting."

    "Shall I get my boy from the bunker?" Von asked Lei which Lei agreed to accompany him with in grabbing it while Fily just sat on the sofa quietly.

    "Everything I need is right here already," she said while pointing at her brain, which Venedette immediately acknowledged.

    "How about you, Petunia?" Venedette asked after seeing Petunia unsettled near the window.

    "I''m worried about Sir Trevor. Can I bring him with us?" Petunia bargained.

    "As your assistant?"

    "Uhuh,"

    "Hmmm,"

    "I don''t think we should do that." Fily disagreed immediately.

    "The border within Urbia''s frozen waters is very prone to pirates and underwater monsters from the outside which makes it a hot spot for crossing the border illegally. Who knows if Sir Trevor''s friends got in contact with him and are planning to send us to our deaths? We can''t risk bringing him with us."

    "But isn''t Gem also a foreigner from outside the borders?" Petunia said with suspicion. "What if she''s also a part of them and she''s just trying to fool us with that innocent face of hers?"

 Chapter 122 - Virtual Reality

    "What are you saying? Gem is not our enemy here! She''s not even involved with what happened last week!" Fily said, defending Gem out of Petunia''s suspicion.

    "We''re not sure of that. Gem might be dealing with her own problem back there but what if she''s the one who orchestrated the whole thing in the first place?!" Petunia shot back at Fily, still unconvinced about Gem''s innocence about the whole thing.

    But since Fily knew all the people that were really responsible for what happened last week, she was a hundred percent sure that Gem was not involved in it in any way but still couldn''t say it because of her secret connection with it also.

    "What''s wrong with you, Petunia?" was all she could say before walking out of the library.

    "Gem is innocent, Petunia," Venedette said calmly after listening to Petunia''s short argument with Fily about it.

    "You should stop trusting people too easily, Venedette." Petunia only said and went out of the library to freshen up her annoyed mood.

    ***

    "Everyone ready?" Venedette asked everybody while making them line up in front of her to the Levi-yacht''s entrance that was temporarily connected to their meeting place.

    Gem and the others nodded without much noise which made Venedette concern about their energies.

    "Okay, before we proceed I have to ask you guys about this one last very important task to do that I forgot to tell you earlier."

    "What is it?" Gem asked after seeing the tablet in Venedette''s hands for the first time.

    "Prophecy," Fily whispered to her from the back.

    And since Gem was the first one in the line, Venedette asked her to step forward first.

    ''Stand there and hold this in front of us, okay?" Venedette said which Gem followed diligently despite having no clue of what it was about.

    "Here?" Gem asked awkwardly after realizing everyone''s attention on her and the board she was holding timidly in front of her body.

    "Okay, next," Venedette said after seeing the image quickly.

    "Fily," Fily said and carried the tablet the same way as Gem held it until finally, it was Petunia''s turn as the last one in the line.

    "I don''t think this will do," Venedette said after having a hard time giving Petunia the tablet, "Let''s just look at yours when you finally transformed back into your human form, okay?" Venedette said and let Petunia in the HQ, wrapping the little test quickly.

    "Welcome to our new headquarters!" Venedette exclaimed after closing the entrance door behind her.

    Somehow, Levi-yacht started moving the moment Venedette closed the door, and as it turned out, the auto-pilot was the cause of it all along!

    "Cool!" Gem laughed after almost losing her balance because of the sudden movement.

    Fily and the others took their dear time adjusting how they moved in this moving headquarters that was far more different than Yvandir in all aspects.

    Not only was it smaller, the gravity was much weaker up there which caused the kids to stumble at least once every thirty minutes.

    "This is fun!" Gem laughed after seeing Fily almost trip before offering a hand to help her.

    "So, how do we decide which room each of us will take?" Von inquired which made a good start for Venedette to train them with leadership.

    "We decide by playing rock, paper, and scissors."

    "Eh?" Lei couldn''t help but express his disagreement.

    "Why? Is there something wrong, Lei?"

    "Nothing. You can just give me the remaining room." Lei said and dropped out of the battle.

    "Petunia has her own specialized potions room so it''s just the four of us," Venedette said and started the battle of which room should go to which member.

    "I want the room near the stairs." Von started with his desired room which Gem also expressed her liking of that room.

    "Rock, paper, scissors! Paper!" Gem said simultaneously as Von''s "Rock!"

    "Ahh, I lost!" Von said and dropped dramatically on the wooden kitchen floor.

    "Yayy!" Gem celebrated by hugging and jumping around with Fily.

    "Are these video games?" Von''s eyes shot towards the widescreen embedded on the wall of the living room showing several game posters that Von recognized immediately.

    "Whoa, that wall is also a screen?!" Gem followed after Von and copied Von''s actions by grabbing the light helmet that Von equipped himself with.

    "What is this?" she asked Von after seeing a completely different world in front of her eyes. "Did I accidentally go into solitude again?"

    "Nope, you''re still here." Fily suddenly said from Gem''s behind while touching her shoulders, but when Gem turned around to look, there was no Fily behind her.

    "Huh? Where are you?" Gem said and waved her hand to touch Fily but even if she could touch Fily, the other girl was still nowhere to be found in front of her.

    The virtual reality seemed so real that Gem almost forgot about the fact that she wore the helmet-like thing to see the things she was seeing right now in the first place.

    "Hey, want to play this?" Von suddenly asked beside Gem which surprised her for seeing Von''s avatar beside her in the virtual world.

    "O-Okay?" she said and played with Von while Venedette and the others became busy organizing their things.

    "You kids should still go to sleep through the night, okay?" Venedette reminded the both of them who were all caught up in the game to even care about the outside world at the moment.

    "Ahh, I''m jealous. They have been playing that game for almost an hour now." Fily said while watching what Von and Gem were doing from the widescreen beside Lei who was also as bored as her.

    There was nothing much to see in the dark sky except for the bright stars above cloud level which Fily already memorized the constellations and their unchanging history throughout the years.

    "Uhh, guys? I think I can make a flight potion using the tools and equipment here¡­" Petunia said in disbelief after checking all the cabinets and equipment in the potions room that she wasn''t able to see before.

    "Really?!" Fily''s eyes widened in astonishment while Lei''s expression just turned a bit lighter although his heart was actually beating a lot faster than normal because of what Petunia said.

    "Yes really!" Petunia said with confidence while thinking about how she was almost able to perfect the flying potion that she used with her gummies before gaining access to Gem''s energy slimes.

 Chapter 123 - Am I In?

    "Gem! Von! Time to sleep!" Venedette called the two stubborn kids playing VR.

    "Wait, can''t we just finish this level first?" Von said, putting Gem''s helmet back when she tried to remove it and begged for Venedette to let them finish the game.

    "Okay, don''t dare ask for another round, okay?"

    "Okay, yes! Thank you!" Von celebrated and put his attention back to the game.

    "I guess the other two are now sleeping¡­" Venedette said and checked the steering wheels for any problem.

    But instead of checking out for problems, Venedette couldn''t help but adore the city lights below them just now.

    "I haven''t got the time to appreciate this view because I was always flying on my own, but now that I look at it, the city lights actually resemble the stars from up here," Venedette muttered to herself.

    "Alright! Nice work!" Von cheered after clearing the last level they could reach today in one session.

    "Yaay," Gem cheered timidly while being shy for being too serious about the game.

    As much as Gem didn''t like Von, she couldn''t deny that Von has a knack for these things and his senses were actually put to good use during the virtual battles.

    ''If only Von was as cool as that during real fights¡­'' Gem thought wishfully before bidding goodnight to Venedette and Von who were the only people left in the living room.

    "Ahhh, my room." Von contemplated while passing by Gem''s room and giving it a regretful glance before proceeding to the last room on the second floor''s narrow open hallway with railings made of glass just like the one-way screen in front of them.

    The next morning, Petunia was the first one to come out of her room due to the fact that she couldn''t sleep at all.

    "Good morning, Pet," Lei said casually from the second floor while peeking over to the kitchen where Petunia was preparing her breakfast.

    "I''m not Pet." Petunia said snobbishly while rolling her big eyes even though Lei couldn''t really see it since he''s facing her back.

    "I want to help make your flight potion," Lei said after sneaking down from the stairs to the kitchen which Petunia, even with her keen senses, didn''t even notice until she turned around and saw Lei leaning comfortably to the marble table.

    "Aaack, there you go again, trying to make people die from a heart attack!" Petunia exclaimed and pushed her cat version cereal away from Lei.

    "Sorry, habits," Lei said while following after Petunia''s place immediately.

    "Can you stop following me? I couldn''t sleep a wink last night due to my excitement but everything seemed more complicated the more I pondered about them so back off, I want to rest." Petunia said, using the least energy that she could spare for this useless interaction.

    "Do you want me to take care of you? I''ll do anything just let me in on the potion making." Lei offered, still stubborn about it.

    "Why are you so obsessed? I''ll still share it to everyone with a contribution or no once I''m so you don''t need to worry-"

    "I just don''t have anything to do, okay?" Lei spilled his other reason.

    "Hmm, I''ll think about it." Petunia said and moved away from Lei again.

    "Woahhh! Good Morning!!!" Gem exclaimed enthusiastically after opening the door and being welcomed by the slightly warm but very bright sunlight from the huge glass at the front of Levi-yacht which serves as the windshield but also a big interactive screen with a deceptive image of solid rock on the outside.

    "How could the sunlight reach here? Isn''t that insane! And what''s even weirder is that its heat could even pass through the glass!"

    "You should enjoy it while you can," Lei said before taking a bite from the freshly washed apple he took from the basket on the table.

    "Why is that? And what''s that?" Gem asked while pointing at what he''s eating.

    "It''s an apple, haven''t you seen one before?"

    "An apple? Aren''t those the cute little bunny-like sweet fruit we get served as a dessert back in the castle?" Gem asked innocently.

    "Yup, same apple but less decorated and more of just a normal apple," Lei said before taking another bite.

    "Me too, I also want a bite, aaahh~" Gem said while bunny hopping towards Lei which took him aback and accidentally blocked her face.

    "G-Get your own," Lei said and moved away from Gem while pointing at the basket full of different fruits on the table.

    "Mmmm," Gem complained in silence before taking an apple from the basket and biting it immediately.

    "You should wash it first¡­" Lei said awkwardly at Gem who was now looking innocently at him. "There, wash it."

    "Oh!" Gem said and spilled out the big bite she took from the apple after finally understanding what Lei was trying to say.

    "It actually tastes better like this." Gem said after she was done washing it and took another big bite from the other side.

    "Of course," Lei only said and smiled while silently watching the sun fill all the clouds in its bright-toned color.

    "We''ll be reaching the winter zone soon. I wonder if this place could keep us warm." Lei wondered by himself while Gem has now finished off her apple by taking one last big bite and throwing just the seeds away from it.

    "I wonder where''s Venedette," Gem suddenly said while taking interest in the games once again.

    "I think she went outside since the yacht''s just floating in this area," Lei said after noticing the stable floating of the Levi-yacht.

    "Can you wash the dishes for me?" Petunia said to Lei.

    "Okay, does this mean I''m in?" Lei asked casually which Petunia nodded to.

    "In on what?" Gem asked and looked back at them, but unfortunately for Gem, Petunia was too tired to even respond to her question.

    So even though Petunia knew she would upset Gem by ignoring her, she just flopped down on her Gummy cloud and let it cradle her to sleep on the way to her chemistry room.

    "Is she mad at me?" Gem asked Lei in an alarmed tone which Lei immediately shook his head to.

    "She''s just tired," he said, but Gem was not convinced.

    "I don''t think so¡­"

 Chapter 124 - Extreme Drop

    "Guys! Prepare your things, we''re going to an amusement park!" Venedette announced as soon as she entered the spaceship but the others were still asleep and both Von and Gem were busy playing the VR game again.

    "Hey, we''re going somewhere," Venedette whispered to the two who asked her to let them finish this round before going, which she agreed on.

    "Fily?" Venedette said after peeking inside Fily''s room, "Are you sleeping?"

    "Nope. Are we going somewhere?" Fily said and the lights suddenly turned on, "Oh, I was modifying some things," the tech-genius added.

    "We''re going to an amusement park."

    "For real?!" Fily''s excitement flew off to the roof.

    "Mmm, where are the others?" Venedette asked right after nodding which made Fily think for a minute.

    "Lei is planting stuff on the surface while Petunia is sleeping in her room."

    "Okay, I''ll go get Lei you wake Petunia up for me okay? And please stop those two from playing games, I think they might get too addicted and forget the purpose of our trip."

    "Okay, on it!" Fily said energetically, and as soon as she walked out of the door, every appliance inside seemed to turn off automatically.

    "Hmm," Venedette said in slight fascination before flying to the roof through the same glass trap door beside Gem''s room.

    Fily, on the other hand, was assigned to wake Petunia up and sabotage the game that Gem and Von were playing so they wouldn''t become addicts, but everything was easier said than done.

    Petunia didn''t want to wake up due to her obsession with the flight potion but Fily somehow convinced her to tag along while offering her precious help with the project while Gem and Von seemed too passionate about the game for Fily to cut off their fun all of a sudden.

    But when Venedette came back with Lei, Fily went into a panic and accidentally shut off all the electricity in the entertainment area, resetting Gem and Von''s scores to their latest checkpoint.

    "Eh? What happened?" Gem complained and quickly sealed her mouth after seeing Fily''s apologetic expression in front of her while pointing to the trapdoor.

    "Thank goodness we weren''t that far from the checkpoint yet!" Von shared the same enthusiasm as Gem but the moment he saw Lei being carried by Venedette, he immediately went into jealous mode and suddenly wanted a ride from Venedette too.

    "We''re going to the amusement park, I already arranged all the documentation we need and since we''re special, they decided to let us rent the whole place for ourselves!"

    "Really?!" Fily was the only one surprised.

    "No one goes to amusement parks anymore, Fily." Petunia said despite being the supposedly outdated one in the group.

    "But why? Amusement parks are fun!"

    "I think I''ve been to an Amusement park before." Gem said and started sharing her experiences in an abandoned Amusement park near the wasteland she used to stay in.

    "I climbed the highest cart in a Ferris wheel and got three eggs the size of my fist each from a huge nest which I was able to sell for a hefty amount every month. I didn''t bother looking at what kind of bird or animal it was, I''m just glad I didn''t fall nor get caught by it."

    "How high was it?" Lei sincerely asked while preparing to jump from Levi-yacht to the ground.

    "That high?" Gem said while pointing at the peak of a roller coaster.

    "I can just easily fly there," Von said, which really didn''t help nor contribute to the conversation.

    "I''m going first, make sure to jump thirty seconds away from each other, alright?" Venedette said.

    "I''ll jump next so I can also catch you guys with my super puff." Fily offered.

    "Okay, that''s a good plan."

    "I''ll go with you," Von said while sitting between Gem and Lei.

    "Okay, here I go," Fily said and jumped without hesitation.

    "Whoo! That looks fun and scary at the same time!" Gem shouted to Fily who was also shouting out of joy while trying hard to keep her clothes together against the piercing wind.

    "Adios," Petunia said and fell with the Gummy cloud under her.

    "Shall we go next?" Gem said and looked at Lei while making little jumps of excitement.

    "Twenty-nine, thirty! Let''s go!" Lei said and held Gem''s hands while Von pushed them on the edge together.

    "Leviathan out!" Von shouted which locked the yacht''s entrance using voice recognition before flying to catch up to Lei and Gem immediately.

    "Whoooo!!!" Gem screamed as if she was riding a ride at the amusement park which encouraged the others to do the same with her.

    "I can feel my soul detaching from my body! It''s a very different yet the same feeling from when we first jumped on the cliff, Von!"

    "Yeah, except this one is actually higher and you''re holding hands with Lei!"

    "Oh," Gem let out a nervous puff while letting go of Lei''s hands.

    But instead of letting go, Lei grabbed hold of her right hand and let go of the other, holding Von''s hands that automatically connected to her.

    "Whoooo!!" Gem shouted again just to break the thrilling sound effects they were getting from the wind while Von and Lei were just both watching her.

    "Gotcha!" Venedette flew calmly behind Fily while positioning her for a soft landing.

    "Meow!" Petunia growled after failing to control her speed and almost breaking her gummy cloud because of the air pressure.

    "You okay, Pet?!" Fily spoke both in front of Petunia and using her stat-hut which made the transmission even clearer and faster like they were in a call.

    "I guess?!" Petunia exclaimed while fearing for her life between her now a donut-shaped gummy cloud that broke when she lost balance and accidentally used the cloud as a parachute.

    "Come on, don''t fail me, Gummy." Petunia prayed and struggled to balance herself on the unstable cloud while Fily and Venedette had now succeeded with their first landing together.

    "That felt like the most extreme roller-coaster I have ridden in my entire life!" Fily laughed as they prepared for making Lei and Gem''s landing both safe.

    "You ready?" Venedette asked and immediately shot herself to the three when Fily nodded while Von already positioned himself behind Gem, carrying her the same way he did when he first rescued her.

    "I like your blonde hair better," Von said randomly which distracted Gem from looking at the nearing ground.

 Chapter 125 - Speechless

    "Fily!! Catch!" Petunia meowed as her ruined Gummy cloud was nearing the grassland of a hill near the amusement park where Venedette decided to park the Levi-yacht above.

    "Coming!" Fily said and stood in a lunge position to use her Super Puff for Petunia''s safe landing.

    "Slowly," Venedette directed Von while carrying Lei as their feet touched down on the ground.

    "Whooo! That was fun!"

    "And scary," Lei added after being let go of Venedette.

    While Gem was rolling around the hill to calm her senses down, Lei, on the other hand, chose to kneel and stay still while doing several breathing exercises to also calm down.

    "I''m dizzy," Petunia said while hanging on Fily''s shoulders like a handkerchief.

    "Oh no, how about your Gummy cloud, Pet?" Fily exclaimed while looking at the ruined purple cloud around her.

    "I''ll fix it later," Petunia said and almost puked because of the winding ride.

    "That''s high." Gem said while spotting Levi-yacht every now and then when the clouds opened and comparing it to the Ferris wheel in the distance.

    "Higher than the one you climbed?" Von asked while sitting in an Indian position between Lei and Gem.

    "Waaaay higher! I think the Ferris wheel I climbed was half buried to the ground already while that one''s just a giant!"

    "Cool," Lei said and laid down on the grass too.

    "Masuri-suri!" Petunia chanted and her Gummy cloud just suddenly fixed itself like magic.

    "Let''s go?" Venedette flew above them while offering a hand.

    "Ahhh, let''s go!" Gem grunted and stood energetically beside the boys.

    "I wish I could fly," Lei muttered under her breath, which Petunia heard.

    "I hope so too."

    ***

    "Why are there no people?! They''re missing out on all the fun!" Gem said while jumping around with her popcorn.

    Somehow, people still work here even without having customers, and when they heard that the Princess of Yvandir will be coming, the amusement park''s usual personnel suddenly tripled.

    "This is yummy." Gem said while stopping every time she sees a foreign delicacy such as street food and bread that the castle doesn''t serve during proper meal times.

    "Ahh! Stuff toys!" Fily squeaked which grabbed Gem''s attention.

    "Why are they inside this box?" Gem said, protruding her fist for a punch to free her little friends inside which Fily immediately blocked.

    "That''s not how the game works, Gem," Fily said, carefully pushing Gem''s fist away and positioning herself to the joysticks.

    "Hack," Fily whispered and the transparent box suddenly lit up.

    "Woah, what did you do?"

    "I just made it work." Fily shrugged and started manipulating the joystick which also made the claw inside move.

    "Eww, no." Petunia suddenly said while passing by.

    "Why are you trying to get those disgusting cat toys?"

    "Got ya!" Fily suddenly moved back and clapped her hands while the machine vibrated and threw out a cat stuff toy. "Yayy!"

    "Is that supposed to be a cat?" Petunia emerged from the distance after hearing Fily celebrate.

    "Doesn''t look like you though." Gem remarked while moving her eyes back and forth from Petunia and the doll.

    "This is Annyeong Kitty, you guys! Of course, it doesn''t look like a real cat, that would be scary and less cute." Fily explained.

    "What?! Are you saying I''m not cute?!" and there goes another bickering session with Petunia and Fily.

    "Are we going to ride this?" Gem asked after walking away from the girls and closer to  Venedette who was standing in front of a tower.

    "Do you want to? They said it had the same feeling of falling from the sky,"

    "Like what we did just earlier?" Gem asked innocently with her eyes sparkling with just the thought of free-falling from the sky again.

    "Maybe, let''s see?" Venedette shrugged her shoulders and went inside the booth, followed by Gem, Lei, and Von who had also been following Venedette.

    "I doubt it will feel the same though," Von remarked cynically.

    "You haven''t even tried it." Gem said and took the seat beside him while Lei took the other seat beside her.

    "Why are you sitting there, Lei?" Von asked loudly which Lei only shrugged his shoulders on.

    "I just want to," he said which made Von''s face a little annoyed and Gem impressed.

    "Now that''s how you get over your bad habits." Gem remarked before buckling up.

    From the top, the ''extreme'' dropper dropped them back and forth to the ground, making both Lei and Gem nervous as if their souls were trying to escape their bodies, similar to the feelings they felt while dropping from the sky earlier.

    But unlike the two of them, Venedette and Von were not having fun at all.

    Not only did Von find the safety belts a nuisance and a bit painful, but the act of raising them slowly to the top and dropping them at ''full'' speed made Von more irritated the more he thought about it.

    He couldn''t understand why Lei and Gem were both having fun while he''s just there, stuck in a seat with a grimaced face.

    "I used to do this as an exercise in kindergarten''s flight lessons." Von ranted to himself that was immediately drowned by the other''s screams.

    "Can''t we just go back and play VR, mom?" Von begged after the first ride they tried.

    "Why? Aren''t you having fun?" Gem interrupted him.

    "No! What''s so fun about riding those boring things? No wonder people don''t come here anymore." Von shouted after losing his temper which he immediately regretted after seeing Gem''s smile turn into a scowl.

    "Let''s just play VR in the yacht again, okay?" Von offered but Gem shook her head.

    "You can go back and play by yourself. Flightless people like me and Gem will just stay here and enjoy the rides that you find boring." Lei suddenly spoke two sentences which caught Von by surprise.

    "You also enjoyed the ride, Lei?" Gem said with a budding smile that satisfied Lei.

    "Yup, I''ve never felt so free."

    "Me too! It was almost as if we''re flying, right?!" Gem said as the sparkles returned in her eyes.

    "Yes. I guess flightless people like us are the only ones who can actually enjoy this place, yeah?"

    "I guess so." Gem shrugged and dragged Lei away from Von who was now just speechless.

 Chapter 126 - Amusement Park

    "I can''t believe those two," Von said after a moment of being lost in his thoughts and shook his head.

    ***

    "What should we ride next?" Gem asked after getting off the Viking ride.

    "Let''s try the Ferris wheel!" Fily offered which Petunia immediately declined.

    "That''s a slow ride, I''d rather do my research," Petunia said while sharing the same brain cells as Von who just wanted to go back to the Levi-yacht already and finish their unfinished businesses there.

    "How about you Lei, what do you want to ride next?" Gem asked the ever-quiet Lei.

    "I don''t know. I just follow along." Lei shrugged, which was immediately ignored by Gem after seeing the Carousel being brought to life by the lights against the darkness.

    "Shall we ride that next?" Fily said which Gem agreed on enthusiastically.

    Somehow, even without noticing it, Gem was the only one deciding where they should go next. And other than the rides that kids weren''t allowed, Gem was almost treated like a real Gem by both Fily and Lei who was always beside her.

    "What''s wrong with them?" Von whispered from a distance while watching them fuss over who gets to sit beside Gem''s horse in the carousel.

    "Go there, Lei!"

    "No, I got here first," Lei said while stubbornly taking all the space beside Gem''s horse.

    "Whoo! This is fun!" Gem shouted, not paying attention to the people fighting beside her.

    On the corner of her eyes, Gem accidentally saw Von watching them from a tall billboard ad post.

    "I wonder why he''s like that." Gem thought and finally moved to another horse which Fily immediately got the seat beside her.

    "Ha, in your face!" Fily tainted Lei but Lei only ignored her and moved in front of Gem.

    "What''s wrong?" he asked, which pulled Gem back to reality for over-thinking.

    "H-Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just dizzy, hehe." Gem said and excused herself from the spinning carousel.

    "Do you want to go somewhere else?" Lei asked while following her.

    Fily on the other hand was left on the spinning carousel for missing the chance to jump back down to the ground which Gem and Lei just flawlessly did so.

    "It''s Von. I think we''ve been too harsh on him." Gem whispered to him with concern which made Lei''s heart sting a little.

    "Don''t worry about him, he''d always been like that. It''s not your fault." Lei said, trying to comfort her which seemed to work, only if Von didn''t suddenly appear before them.

    "Are you guys done? Can we go back up now?" he said without a care in the world which made Lei more annoyed at him.

    "Gem feels sorry to you for not being able to enjoy the rides, Von."

    "Then let''s just go back up and continue the game we''ve been playing," Von said and grabbed Gem''s hands but Gem quickly removed her hands from him.

    "Can we at least go to the scary house together?" Gem said, not only to him but also to Petunia who was also refusing to go anywhere. "I just feel like this will be the last time we get to go to a place like this and I don''t want to miss this opportunity to make more memories with you, guys," Gem added which made Fily''s heart almost melt.

    "Of course we''re going to go, right Petunia?" Fily said while holding Petunia''s tail from behind which Petunia immediately recognized as her threatening her to go.

    "F-Fine." Petunia said and gave Fily an intense glare whereas Fily was just smiling the whole time.

    "How about you, Von?" Gem asked which almost made him blush out of embarrassment. "I specifically chose something that''s not a ride so we could all still enjoy so please say yes¡­"

    "Tch," Von said and immediately moved his face away from their stares which Gem quickly understood as a yes.

    "Yehey! Let''s go!" Gem said and pulled the group to the scary room.

    After the scary room where they found out that Von and Petunia were actually scaredy cats, the group moved on to the mini-games and had a blast as if they went on a festival.

    "Hey! That''s cheating Von!" Fily shouted after seeing Von fly over the boards in the games where they were supposed to throw the rings from a certain distance and land it on the bottles but Von''s flight along with his precision skill made it almost impossible to beat him in that game.

    "Bleh, just admit I''m the best and I''ll let you guys win," he cheekily said which the rest of the team immediately refused to do.

    "I''d rather lose my intelligence than admit you''re the best, loser!" Fily said and did her best to score a higher score than Von.

    At the end of the day, the group actually had fun under Venedette''s watch, and there was nothing else that Venedette could wish for other than Demi being here with them and experiencing the same fun that her new children were experiencing at the moment.

    "If only they didn''t kill you, Demi. You could still be here with us, having fun just like this. If only they didn''t kill you, we could have been a peaceful family. Why did they do that? Just for a mere necklace¡­ I promise to make those people pay, Demi. Just wait. I will bring you the justice you deserve."

    "Look at that, Venedette! It looks a lot like stars from here!" Gem said while pointing at the city near the Amusement park while they were at the peak of a Ferris wheel.

    "This is so slow," Von complained while riding the same cart but he was sitting on top of it beside Petunia.

    "Are we going to finally leave this place after this?" Petunia asked which Von confirmed.

    "Thank goodness. I can''t wait to return to my lab anymore!"

    "Same here, I want to go back and finally complete that last level with Gem." Von pondered and decided to enjoy the view for the last time even though they could still see the same view from the Yacht.

 Chapter 127 - Society

    "I''m going to miss this place," Gem whispered while watching Venedette talk with the manager of the place from a distance while Von and Petunia were now as impatient as ever.

    "Remember the plan, Gem. We''re going to split and I''m going to attack the monster from behind while you distract him with your shield. Just make sure not to die while I max my attacks to kill it in three blows, if plan A works I think we could succeed clearing that level with just one try!" Von muttered while floating around Gem and thinking about the hardest level that they have encountered so far.

    "I''ve never seen Von this enthusiastic before, what happened to him?" Fily scooted closer to Gem for a whisper.

    "It''s the game." Gem whispered back and pretended to be listening to Von when she was just focused on the lingering feeling that the roller coaster left her with, almost as if she actually experienced flying like a trial card from the rides in this amusement park..

    And speaking of flying, there was this cat that was now getting more obsessed with completing her task of making a Flight potion by brainstorming all the possible effects and side effects of all the combinations of the available ingredients that she had in mind so far.

    "No, I should put more rose berries to kill those useless fats off and allow the consumer to control his body easier. But if I add more rose berries then it will also cut off some mass, making it harder for gravity to affect our body even if we make contact with the ground. Von doesn''t look like someone who took rose berries. If I exceed the normal amount of it, I might turn the consumer into paper. That''s not good. Will the Energy slime help though? Right¡­ the energy slimes increase every potion''s effects by threefold. I should conserve rose berries and just use a 1:3 ratio to balance the body''s mass and volume and anti-gravity with Michinde."

    "Is your head not hurting?" Lei suddenly asked out of concern.

    "I don''t know," Petunia answered honestly, leaving out some important details such as ever since she reached the ground, her head''s been spinning when looking at random directions, but since she''s staying in her mind and ignoring the views, Petunia also happened to ignore the signs of drowsiness and fatigue accidentally and only took notice when Lei mentioned it.

    "Didn''t you say earlier that you haven''t slept yet? Are you not sleepy? Come on here, you can sleep in my arms while we wait for Venedette," Lei offered while holding his arms up like he was holding a baby.

    "Sure." Petunia did not argue and took the offer immediately. Since she couldn''t help but overthink anyway, maybe a sleeping potion could help, and when she''s finally awake, she could produce more favorable results rather than a rushed and impulsive one, "Thanks," she added and stretched her cloud to fit into Lei''s arms like a bed sheet and blanket.

    "Awww, isn''t she the cutest when asleep?" Fily suddenly said beside Lei while looking at Petunia''s sleeping cat face, an immediate effect of the sleeping potion that they made for Gem back at Yvandir.

    "Are you also going to help make the potion?" Fily said, now directed to Lei.

    "You too?" Lei said in surprise. He thought he was the only one interested in helping Petunia actually do something meaningful other than watching Von and Gem play games in the living room.

    "As much as I don''t want to work with you, I regretfully promised Petunia my help for doing me a favor," Fily said with a regretful smile that made Lei annoyed even more.

    "I don''t know anything about this potion-making thing but I want to help and I will help no matter what."

    "Why? Because you also want to fly?"

    "Don''t you?" Lei shot the question back at Fily.

    "Of course I do, but I don''t think I should mess with my skill set yet just because I wanted to fly. And besides, we don''t need to fly in Edelweiss yet. Flight will just slow us down because of the snow blizzards and hails over there." Fily revealed which led to Lei''s other question.

    "Do we have cold protection potions?"

    "Not that I know of, but I''m sure Petunia will have it prepared by tomorrow," Fily shrugged and returned beside Gem who was now lying on the grassy land and staring at Levi-yacht''s bottom.

    "Could they also see our mini-island from a distance?" Gem asked.

    "I think so, but most of them wouldn''t bother checking it out," Fily answered.

    "Why?"

    "Because most of the people here can''t fly and those who can have their own flying house just like ours."

    "Most of the people here can''t fly? But why is the Amusement park empty? Don''t they want to experience what flying feels like?"

    "I doubt that. People always want what they want and the only way to avoid that is to forget about the existence of something that they don''t have. I''m guessing the people over here who can''t fly probably avoid going to the amusement park to not be teased by those who can fly as a wannabe. But of course, I''m just guessing, who knows what actually goes in here? I don''t. I haven''t been here before," Fily chuckled.

    "That''s sad. Why are there always people who think bullying is cool? It''s not. It''s just sad."

    "I know, Gem. But this is society and it always has been this way since the start of time-"

    "Ah, I can''t take this anymore. Do you want to go ahead with me?" Von suddenly stopped swirling around Gem and offered her a hand.

    "Can you fly that high with me? Last time we flew together back at the manor you almost died out of exhaustion," Gem asked with concern.

    "Can''t you just do what you did back then? With your necklace and all?"

    "I thought you found this necklace scary?"

    "Not if it could help us," Von said and stressed his extended arms again.

 Chapter 128 - Wolf

    "Guys, I''m afraid we can''t leave this town yet. The headmaster just told me about a wolf roaming around this place every night and taking children away, one by one. Their local team of ''Superheroes'' has already been dispatched in here but they couldn''t seem to determine when and where exactly the wolf attacks despite their guards up. I don''t think we can just leave this town without doing anything. Those children need our help!" Venedette said urgently after arriving beside her team.

    But instead of enthusiastic remarks like what Venedette was expecting, she was met with groans and complaints about how they really need to go back to the yacht right now except for Gem and Fily who were just silently pondering about what Venedette said.

    "Hey! This is not why I brought you guys to this trip. Being a member of Leviathan, we must always extend our help to those in need and help them in every possible way that we can, be it small or big. I don''t want to hear another complaint from you so stand up and follow me. We''re going to save people like the real superheroes that we are." Venedette''s leadership kicked in, making Gem admire her even more.

    "Have they seen this wolf yet?" Fily asked while hopping to catch up to Venedette and Gem who were both marching like soldiers with confidence and elegance on while Von and Lei were just as tired as they could look like behind the two..

    "That''s another thing, they haven''t seen what the wolf looks like and where he lives."

    "Is it a guy? Do we have a profile of him?"

    "As I''ve said, there''s nothing on him."

    "But why do they call him a wolf?" Gem asked the same question that Fily was trying to say.

    "Because the people said they hear howls at night whenever kids disappear."

    "That''s it?" Fily said while thinking about all the plausible answers to this mystery.

    "Why would a wolf kidnap kids? We should look for their motive first."

    "The local team already did that and there''s no connection with the kids kidnapped at all, also, the wolf actually leaves trails but in the middle of the woods, those trails suddenly disappear as if the wolf disappears with it."

    "A disappearing wolf," Gem pondered and remembered her skill, Solitude. "Could it be?"

    "And one last thing, since you''re also kids and most likely will be nominated as the wolf''s next target, I ask you all not to wander around on your own. We will be staying in a hotel-manor owned by a friend of mine in the village but please be careful. We don''t want to lose a member even before our first actual mission together in Edelweiss." Venedette announced while watching her kids follow her like she''s pied piper.

    ***

    "A wolf that disappears randomly with a kidnapped kid. Where could they bring the kids? And what if it''s not actually a wolf?" Fily voiced her opinions to her roommates, Gem and Petunia who were still asleep at the moment.

    "What if it has the same ability as me, Solitude?" Gem also pitched in her idea.

    "Eyy, that''s impossible. Didn''t your skill only came with the Salamandite as a secret skill set?"

    "Yes, but what if?"

    "That''s very unlikely. Say, what about a human that can transform into a wolf? Or was it just a fake that the kidnapper wants these villagers to believe?"

    "That could also be the case. But why? Why would this human-wolf kidnap children and disappear at night?"

    "Could it be that it''s hungry?" Fily offered another possibility.

    "That''s the most plausible answer as of now. But what if the children he kidnapped are still alive and just waiting for help?"

    "Do you think it''ll visit tonight?" Fily asked while brushing her hair.

    "When was the last time it visited again?"

    "Last last night."

    "And before that?"

    "I think it skips a night every time," Fily said after realizing why Gem was asking those questions.

    "So it may show up tonight." Gem concluded. "Have the villagers tried setting up a fake and baiting this wolf into a trap?"

    "I don''t think so. The local team doesn''t have enough people and a volunteer to be a trap."

    "Should I volunteer?" Gem said while thinking really hard about it. "I won''t die anyway."

    "Up to you." Fily shrugged and proceeded with fixing Gem''s clothes.

    Since they were staying in a hotel-manor, the owner requested to be in their presence at dinner to say his gratitude for their help offering and so the girls have to dress up nicely as well as the boys.

    "As long as it''s not Von who gets kidnapped¡­" Gem whispered to herself which Fily heard.

    "Why Von?"

    "B-Because he can''t fight the wolf. He''s weak and he''s probably just going to fly away from it." Gem answered nervously which Fily just laughed upon.

    "You''re attracted to Von?!"

    "N-No! What are you saying? I''m just worried about him."

    "And how about me? You''re not worried about me?" Fily said, guilt-tripping her.

    "Of course I am! But I''m sure you can just outsmart that wolf." Gem said and covered her blushing face with her new purple hair.

    "What happened to your hair, by the way? It used to be glowing in blue but now it''s just a shiny, deep purple."

    "Ah, I saw a painting outside of a girl with the same purple hair so I tried to copy it."

    "Why?"

    "It just looks cool," Gem said and shrugged while wearing her dolly shoes.

    "The owner of this house really gave us the best of the best dresses out there, huh?" Fily said while looking at Gem''s solid doll dress in black with butterfly and shimmer design on the inside of the shorter skirt in front and long at the back with a big ribbon as the upper part that wrapped around Gem''s front and shoulders to the back. It was off-shoulder and the color was just an elegant combination of black and stars like the galaxy with gold and hidden flower patterns inside.

    "Your hair fits it well," Fily said.

    "And so do you," Gem said with a smile that almost reached her ears by seeing Fily in a gold and red thin dress with a lot of huge accessories such as the wide necklace made in gold that fit Fily''s color really well.

    "It''s the first time I''ve seen your hair let down and not braided. It''s beautiful." Gem said, admiring the fact that Fily''s natural hair color suits her very well.

    "Let''s go?"

    "Okay," Gem said and left Petunia to sleep peacefully in the room by herself.

 Chapter 129 - The Girl With Purple Hair

    "Welcome to my humble home, Princess Venedette."

    "It is my pleasure, Sir Graham," Venedette responded respectfully to the owner of the house that they were staying for the night and Venedette''s friend for a long time now.

    "Do we also greet?" Gem whispered to Fily that caught Sir Graham''s attention.

    "Who are these lovely kids, aside from Von and Lei, of course," Sir Graham said, meaning that Von and Lei had already been acquainted with him before.

    "This is Gem and Fily, Sir. Recruits for my team for the tournament." Venedette said to the old man with white hair and beard. He was fit, but also a little bit on the chubby side if you look at his tummy. A typical Lord, if you must say.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Sir.." Fily responded and signaled Gem to make a slight bow with her.

    "Oh," Gem whispered and followed Fily''s instructions immediately.

    "Are you saying these girls will also fight alongside your boys outside of the borders?"

    "Yes, Sir." Venedette said.

    "Why would you put these pretty little girls out there?"

    "We may look small and weak but we know how to fight, Sir." Gem suddenly responded which was then followed by the boy''s concerned look at her.

    But instead of getting angry, Sir Graham only laughed at what Gem said as if he was amused by the kid''s innocence.

    "You''re pretty brave for a little girl your age, I can see my girl in you, she was also that small with deep purple hair but she had always been as brave and strong on the outside." Sir Graham chuckled.

    "But where is she?" Gem whispered to Fily first out of courtesy.

    "She''s dead, or so they say." Fily whispered back which they thought the lord heard.

    "Sadly she''s not here anymore. Should I show you to the dining room now?" Sir Graham said as if avoiding the topic.

    And as much as Gem was sad to hear about Sir Graham''s daughter, they just respected Sir Graham''s privacy and followed along.

    "I thought there would be a party or some sort because of our clothes," Von whispered to Lei while walking in front of the girls which they also heard.

    "But there is a party over there." Fily said which stopped Von and Lei for a moment.

    "A formal party? For what?"

    "They always party during dinner, especially now since they heard about Venedette''s arrival." Fily explained briefly which made Von and Lei cautious of their crossed arms.

    "Do you want to be my partner?"

    "Do you want to be my-?" Von and Lei simultaneously said and offered their arms to Gem who was immediately flustered by the sudden moves.

    "Uhhh,"

    "Back off, she''s mine." Fily said with a pout and moved Gem away from the two of them.

    "Girl''s can''t go with girls to a party, Fily!" Von said and shoved Fily away from Gem by parting them with his hands.

    "You''re so childish!" Fily complained when Von pushed her and almost bumped onto the wall, but thankfully, Lei was there to shield her.

    "T-Thanks,"

    "I guess it''ll be just the two of us, then?" Lei said and offered her hand to Fily which Fily accepted reluctantly.

    "As if I have another choice." Fily said and continued walking to the huge dining room which turned out to be a ball at the Manor''s huge hallway.

    "Introducing, Princess of Yvandir," the announcer said as soon as Venedette stepped inside of the door with Sir Graham as her partner.

    "And Leviathan," Venedette whispered to the announcer, which he then followed immediately after clearing his throat.

    "Introducing the Princess of Yvandir and Leviathan," he said.

    "And the Prince of Yvandir too!" Von complained but Gem held his arms and stopped him from coming to the announcer''s side.

    "Why?" Von asked him calmly but Gem only shook her head as if being embarrassed.

    "What''s wrong?" Von asked again while trying to uncover her face that she was burying unconsciously with her face.

    "N-Nothing. Just go on," Gem said while slapping Von''s hands away from her face softly.

    And even though Von was hurt by Gem''s sudden coldness, Von only shrugged it off and brought Gem directly to the stall full of sweets and a chocolate fountain.

    ***

    "I didn''t know the party''s going to be this big." Venedette said to Sir Graham after arriving at the table where most of the elderly were seated.

    "They heard about your arrival so it''s only natural for them to attend, please feel at home, you seem nervous." Sir Graham said with a calming tone that Venedette couldn''t help but miss.

    Sir Graham was Venedette''s father figure down here whenever she needed a place to go after running away from the Queen. He used to be the coolest warrior among the royals but decided that he wanted to go away from all of it and ended up here.

    "How''s life in the countryside, Sir Graham?"

    "Oh it was fine, I even got a kid for myself. You know how I wanted to have my own kid back in the days, right?"

    "Yes, your kid is surely lucky to have you as their father, Sir Graham." Venedette said with a laugh that immediately disappeared after remembering what happened to Monica, Sir Graham''s first daughter.

    "I''m sorry about what happened to Monica."

    "Don''t be," Sir Graham said with a little smile that Venedette can surely recognize as the fake smile that he always uses when saying something like ''I''m still hurting but I''m already used to it.'' Which he also always used whenever he got injured during battles.

    "I''m also sorry about what happened to your child, Princess Demi."

    "I''m sure they''re in a good place now." Venedette added, trying to stay positive for Sir Graham even though she''s not really alright with it, at all.

    "I hope so too." Sir Graham said, ending the conversation about Venedette''s daughter that died two years ago and his daughter that he loved so much and was said to have passed away at the age of twelve because of an unknown chronic disease.

 Chapter 130 - Raven

    "Pst, are you dead?" a purple bird seemingly chirped while pecking on Petunia''s forehead every time she groans.

    "W-Wasjfgsfdhg!" Petunia said, trying to say something from her sleep but only ended up with jumbled letters and words.

    "What? Why are you such a sleepy head? I heard you talk to those people earlier, are you also cursed like me?" the raven asked while continuing her goal to wake Petunia up.

    "AJujuhsuhhh!" Petunia talked trash again which made the blue bird facepalm.

    "Why is it so hard to wake this cat up?" the raven croaked and used both of his wings to slap this sleeping silver cat to life.

    "Arggh! Who dare disturb my precious sleep!? Now I have to forget about that damn formula again just to sleep!" Petunia shouted with a fist on the air and her eyes, still shut closed before falling to the bed and snoring again.

    The bird who was caught aback by Petunia''s wrath suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. "She''s strong." Is all that he said before smacking the cat with his wings again..

    "Arrrrrghhhh!! Didn''t I warn you already-?!" Petunia stood up again with her balled paw in the air but suddenly halted when she saw the dark room and the yellow eyes in front of her.

    She was being illuminated by the moonlight from the open windows but the eyes in front of her weren''t and her heart began to beat a lot faster than normal after remembering the fact that Venedette and the others were out to get a wolf without her tonight.

    "Finally," the bird said with a deep voice.

    "W-What do you want from me? Who are you?! You''re not human so how can you talk?!"

    "I was about to ask the same-" the moment the raven took a step from his position, Petunia immediately glued his feet to the bed using her Gummy control powers.

    "What? You''re small!" Petunia exclaimed in relief after gluing a set of bird feet to the bed and illuminating it with Gummy cloud''s faint purple glow.

    "Of course I''m small! I''m a bird! What are you even expecting, didn''t you feel my wings flap on your face?" the bird said as if telling Petunia something obvious already.

    "Wait, you''re a talking bird¡­" Petunia said the obvious again, but this time, the bird was now paying attention to her words unlike before.

    "And you''re a talking cat."

    "I''m a human but I turned into a cat-"

    "Me too! I knew it! You''re just like me!" the bird said and flapped his wings out of excitement which made him realize that the gummy was still tucking his feet to the bed.

    "Do you know my name?" Petunia asked while cautiously moving closer to the black bird.

    "No, but I heard those people call you something earlier¡­ Was it Pet? Are you their pet?"

    "What?! No!! Of course not! Why would a talented alchemist like me end up as those people''s pet?!" Petunia exclaimed in anger which made the bird regret his words.

    "Okay, sorry. My name''s Monica, and you are?"

    "Monica? Why is your name so girly?"

    "Because I''m a girl," Monica said with a low voice which led to Petunia''s misunderstanding of her gender and overall form earlier.

    "Oh, okay. My name''s Petunia." Petunia said and reached for the gummy under Monica''s feet that she immediately removed in just one swift motion.

    "What happened to you? I haven''t heard of a girl named Monica in our village before." Petunia said while returning the used Gummy back to her cloud.

    "I got cursed," Monica simply said but Petunia didn''t understand what she meant by it immediately.

    "I''m sorry, what? You turned into a bird because you got cursed? Is that some kind of new power? I haven''t heard of that one before."

    "No, I don''t know for sure what happened to me. One day I was diagnosed with a terminal illness and the next day, I just suddenly turned into a bird." Monica explained in a hurry.

    "And when was that?"

    "Just two years ago."

    "Two years?! And you didn''t tell anyone about it?"

    "Because no one could understand me! For them, I was just an unlucky chirping bird that was always looking for attention! There''s even this wolf lately that kept calling to my name as if he knew what happened to me. I''m afraid he might eat me if I show myself so I try my best to hide while watching my family from a distance but I''m really running out of ideas right now."

    "Okay, first of all, let''s confirm one thing. You''re not from my village, right?"

    "I don''t know where that is but I''m sure I was born and raised in this village so no."

    "Okay, you''re not one of us but you turned into a bird and you can only communicate with animals." Petunia said out loud, listing all the things she has gathered from Monica so far.

    "How about you, what happened to you? Didn''t you say you were a human too? How did you turn into a cat?" Monica asked out of curiosity.

    "I cursed myself, I guess." Petunia answered as nonchalantly as ever because of the brewing formula in her mind.

    "You can curse people too?" the innocent Monica asked, seemingly believing Petunia''s misleading remarks.

    "Of course I can''t, dummy! Didn''t you pay attention to what I was saying earlier? That I''m a very talented alchemist?"

    "Oh, you make potions?"

    "Yes!"

    "But if you made the potion that turned you into a cat, then can''t you make something that can undo it?"

    "That''s the problem," Petunia said after getting Monica in the same lane as her, "I didn''t make the potion and I don''t know the exact ingredients of it."

    "What?! That''s bad! How long have you been a cat, though?"

    "For almost seven years now."

    "What?! That long?! And you haven''t found a cure yet?! Ahhh, I''m getting more hopeless the more I think about it!" Monica chirped in frustration.

 Chapter 131 - Acting

    "Do you want to dance?" Von suddenly said, blocking Gem''s view from the people dancing in the ballroom.

    "H-Huh? No. I don''t know how to dance like that," Gem said while covering her face.

    "You''ve been too shy today, what''s up? You''re not usually like this." Von said, putting down the plate and paying more attention to the conversation he suddenly started with Gem.

    "J-Just don''t mind me," Gem said and ran away from Von.

    "What''s wrong with her?" Von whispered to himself before paying attention to his food again.

    "Gem! What happened?" Fily waved at her while she was running towards the balcony but Gem did not notice her.

    "Is she crying?" Lei said and ran through the crowd to catch up to Gem..

    When Lei reached the exit, he immediately hid his presence as he went into a halt, watching Gem make deep breaths while watching the mountain in front of them.

    "What happened?" Fily suddenly held Lei''s shoulders which removed his concentration and revealed them both to Gem.

    "Fily! Lei! What are you doing?" Gem asked after seeing the two in a weird position where Fily looks like she was just about to jump to Lei for a piggyback.

    When the two heard this, their eyes suddenly wandered away from each other and answered with completely contradicting words.

    "Fily wanted to go to the bathroom,"/, "Lei said he wanted to bring me to the fountain," which made Gem crease her eyebrows and giggle silently.

    "Are you two okay?" she asked whilst laughing.

    "How about you? Why did you suddenly run away?" Fily asked with concern as she walked towards her.

    "N-Nothing. I just wanted to go out," Gem awkwardly said and covered it up by changing the topic, "Look! There''s a cat chasing a bird outside."

    "Is that Petunia?" Fily said after recognizing the silver-white fur and the purple ribbon wrapped around the cat''s neck from a distance.

    "Petunia? But isn''t she sleeping?" Gem said and finally paid attention to the accidental scene unfolding in front of them.

    "Why is she chasing a bird, wait, is she talking to that bird? Ah, Petunia lied to us. She said she couldn''t talk to animals!" Gem ranted which Lei and Fily only saw as cute.

    "Wait, I''ll message her." Fily offered and opened up her stat-hut.

    [Fily: What are you doing over there, Petunia?]

    [Petunia: Over where? How did you know I''m awake?]

    [Gem: Did you also lie to us about you being asleep? What are you doing?]

    [Petunia: No! Wait, I can hear your voices, I''m coming there with a new friend of mine.]

    Petunia said and ended the conversation which made the three of them confused about what just happened.

    "Is it just me or does Petunia seemed worked out?" Fily said which was then followed by Gem,

    "And she''s not riding her Gummy cloud, I wonder what''s wrong."

    "What are you guys doing here, and why is Petunia awake?" Von suddenly entered the balcony while munching on some dessert he picked up from earlier.

    "We don''t know," Fily said as Von offered them each a plate full of sweets.

    "Thank you," Gem said when Von finally gave her a cup full of her beloved hot chocolate.

    "I guess Petunia''s onto something," Lei said which was followed by another round of speculation from the kids before a raven landed on Gem''s head and started pecking it.

    "Huh? Why you-?" Gem groaned and tried to shoo the bird calmly but her reflexes told her to kill it.

    "H-Hey, wait!" Petunia suddenly shouted right before Gem''s hands crushed the bird she picked up from her head. "That''s Monica."

    "So? It disturbed my hot chocolate time!" Gem complained with a straight face while still clutching Monica using her right hand which made Petunia more concerned.

    "Monica? Where have I seen that name before?" Fily mumbled while recalling why the name sounded familiar.

    "She''s the princess of this house." Petunia simply said which made Gem and Fily simultaneously remember where they saw the name before.

    "The girl with purple hair from the paintings?" Gem said and loosened her hand slowly to let the raven go.

    "Yes, and we should be careful, the wolf has been looking for her since last month and we need to save her," Petunia said with a dramatic tone which the bird was nodding to.

    "Are you sure that this is Sir Graham''s daughter and not just some random bird?" Fily asked.

    "Yes! I don''t talk to real animals so how else could I understand her?"

    "What happened to her, though?" Gem asked while looking closely at the raven''s eyes.

    "She said she was cursed, but I believe she also took the same potion as mine," Petunia said, which the kids immediately understood.

    "But if you''re Sir Graham''s daughter then, shouldn''t we tell him now about your existence? I thought you were dead! What do you think about my purple hair?" Gem voiced out her thoughts enthusiastically without a break which made the rest exhausted for her.

    "What? Is that really her hair?" Monica asked Fily while marveling at Gem''s identical hair to her human form.

    "Nope, she can transform her hair."

    "She can transform?! Willingly?!" Monica said in surprise.

    "Yes, I guess so."

    "Tell her to change her hair this instant! She shouldn''t run around looking like me or else the wolf or the people who cursed me might treat her instead!"

    "And why is that?"

    "I don''t know, maybe because they hate me or they''re jealous of me? Our family is the richest in this place and there''s a lot of people who envy us."

    "And you think one of them is responsible for your so-called ''death''?" Petunia added to Monica''s argument.

    "Yes," Monica answered, which made Petunia agree with her.

    "Monica said you should change your hair color. It''s not even helping that you look a lot like her. One gossip about Sir Graham''s daughter coming back to life everybody will freak out and the killers might attack again targeting you, Gem."

    "Exactly, that''s what I want." Gem said with an innocent face which made Von understand why she was acting like that earlier.

    "Oh! So you, earlier¡­ you were just acting?"

    "Yes."

 Chapter 132 - Trust Me

    [Fily: What are you doing over there, Petunia?]

    [Petunia: Over where? How did you know I''m awake?]

    [Gem: Did you also lie to us about you being asleep? What are you doing?]

    [Petunia: No! Wait, I can hear your voices, I''m coming there with a new friend of mine.]

    "So, how did you manage to cope up with her death?" Venedette asked her old man casually while sipping tea and reading her children''s messages in secret.

    "You know, I just pretend she''s always here, watching me. I also talked to her sometimes, although I know I''m just hallucinating, I just can''t accept the fact that she''s gone."

    "I used to do that too, in fact, my eldest son had a hard time accepting Demi''s death. He always makes a big deal about not wanting to spend time with girls because of it. But for me, I decided the best way to cope is to move on,"

    ''Move on after getting my revenge on those who hurt my child.''

    "What kind of move on? Don''t tell me you''ve forgotten her already? I''ve heard rumors about you collecting kids because you want to replace Demi, I hope that''s not true," the old man said while shifting his position slightly as if he was uncomfortable with their topic.

    "No, of course not! I won''t forget about her ever, that''s like forgetting about your own identity as well. I always give time for Demi, whenever I need her spirit to keep me going and alive, she''s my driving force in life, and I hope you feel the same way too about your daughter."

    "She was the sweetest girl ever," Sir Graham said while wiping his light tears.

    "I bet she is," Venedette nodded and stood up to comfort Sir Graham.

    "They''re all telling me to stop searching for my child. That sick stepmother of hers even held a funeral for her but I don''t believe she''s already dead, not until I see her body with my own eyes," Sir Graham said, following up with the story of how his previous wife held Monica''s funeral without his consent and how he cut her off his life by splitting his properties and money just to get rid of his cunning wife.

    "What do you think happened to her?"

    "I don''t know. I just hope she''s still alive somewhere and to see her as soon as possible." Sir Grand said and hugged Venedette like how he used to hug her before when he was just dreaming to have children of his own to take care of.

    ***

    "Do you want us to tell your father about what happened to you? Or do you want to find the wolf first? We''ll help you with anything," Petunia said to Monica, translating Gem''s words to animal language which Petunia could somehow do for the first time.

    "I think we should find the wolf first, if I turn into a human you won''t be able to make use of my raven skills and save those kids from the wolf."

    "Did you see where that wolf brought those kids to?" It was Fily''s words this time that Petunia translated and got a response from Monica immediately.

    "I don''t really know where but there''s this spot in the forest where the wolf just kept disappearing into. I couldn''t see him because of the trees but I''m sure he''s just inside that forest."

    "The footsteps they''re talking about," Fily said, voicing out everyone''s thoughts.

    "I have a plan." Gem said and gathered everyone for a meeting.

    ***

    "We have four people in our local group so far and they haven''t got anything new since the other night."

    "Which means the wolf will most likely attack today," Venedette said, completing Sir Graham''s thoughts as he led her into the tower where they could see each of the four champion''s positions around the castle.

    There were two marksmen and two fighters, each of which was situated to watch the front and back of the house where the forest was located.

    In front of the house were the villager''s houses that looked humbly pleasing to the eyes from this perspective in the tower.

    "Where do the missing kids live in this village?" Venedette asked, but when she turned around, Sir Graham was nowhere to be seen in the tower already.

    "Awoooo!" a wolf suddenly growled from the top of the mountain where the moon was shining so brightly.

    "What''s happening?" Venedette muttered to herself after seeing a lot of wolves emerge from that small mountain. She didn''t even notice Sir Graham leaving his spot behind her and only found him later when she looked at the fighters in front of the house, forming a formation to face the wolves from the mountain on their right.

    [Venedette: Where are you?]

    [Fily: We''re at the forest.] Fily responded the earliest while Venedette was flying to join the guards at the front gate already.

    [Venedette: What are you doing there? We were called here to help with the wolves so come to the front gate immediately!]

    [Petunia: Wolves? I thought there was only one?]

    "Venedette said there are more wolves than one and they''re not here to kidnap kids secretly!" Petunia said to her friends immediately but was dumbfounded when Fily and the others didn''t seem to understand her.

    "Did I¡­?" Petunia pondered for a minute before trying again but was responded with the same reaction as earlier from her friends.

    "Is Petunia okay? Why is she just meowing?" Gem said out of concern while carefully calculating all the consequences that could happen with her plan.

    "Petunia, I think you forgot to turn off your animal language?" Fily said in concern while slapping Petunia''s cheeks softly who looked like she''s panicking right now, based on her unstable clutch to Fily''s hands and constant meowing.

    "What happened? Why can''t they understand you?" Monica said in panic after seeing the confusion in everyone''s face.

    "Are you sure we should wait here? Venedette said there are wolves at the front of the house already," Lei voiced out his concern which Gem immediately cut off by saying, "Trust me."

 Chapter 133 - Heart Of The Forest

    "I can''t speak human anymore! Damn it!" Petunia complained to the only person, rather an animal who was the only one left who could understand her.

    "Petunia, what''s happening??" Monica moved closer to her and pecked her forehead to keep her sane.

    "I lost my voice! I can''t talk to them!" Petunia said in panic which almost made Monica panic too.

    "What?! How are we going to talk to them now?!"

    "I don''t know!" Petunia meowed aggressively which caught everyone''s attention at the forest, the birds who flew away after her shout included.

    "Petunia? That''s enough, you can talk to us now," Von said with mixed feelings of annoyance and concern towards Petunia who used to always challenge him with logic.

    "I can''t! I don''t know what happened!" Petunia tried to shout again but no response.

    "Try chatting with us," Fily offered, which Petunia then agreed on.

    [Petunia: I can''t talk to humans anymore! I''m afraid the next would be my understanding of your language!]

    "What happened?" Fily murmured after reading Petunia''s message.

    "We''re almost there, guys," Gem said and led the group to the heart of the forest.

    "We''re in trouble, Gem! Petunia can''t speak anymore!"

    "Shh, we''re here," Gem covered Fily''s mouth to silence her while pulling her to the bushes simultaneously.

    "Gem! We''re in trouble!" Fily muttered under her breath but Gem did not let her mouth go.

    "Shh, can you hear that?" Gem said, mentioning the low growls and breathing of a hungry monster close to them.

    When Gem looked to the branches of the tall trees, she immediately saw Lei and Von hiding from one of them and signaling them that there was something heading towards them.

    "It''s the wolf," Monica said, recognizing the hungry and nasty growls of that wolf.

    "But Venedette said they''re heading to the front gate-" Petunia said and stopped when she came to a realization.

    [Petunia: Don''t hurt those wolves! I think they''re the kids, transformed as something else by this alpha in front of us.]

    [Venedette: Where are you again? Why aren''t you helping us and what nonsense are you saying?!] Venedette immediately sent, sounding angry based on her rushed message.

    [Petunia: The kids! I think they''ve been transformed into wolves or other animals! Don''t hurt them please?]

    [Venedette: How can we let these beasts wander around the town?! Just come here and help already!]

    [Fily: As I was saying, we''re dealing with the alpha!]

    Fily said, fishing off the conversation just before the alpha lunged into their direction but found nothing instead.

    "You okay?!" Gem mouthed to Fily on the other side of the now halved bushes where they hid in.

    "Over here, wolf!" Lei shouted from a distance, capturing the wolf''s attention and leading it to the exit of the forest where Petunia''s traps were using his control over his presence, concealing it when needed to make a distance with the angry wolf and slipping some of his scents for it to follow.

    "Now!" Gem signaled the raven to proceed and went ahead with Petunia, shooting potion pebbles to the wolf''s way and eventually trapping its feet to the now frozen ground.

    "Woooof!" the wolf howled, which made Gem''s group move twice as fast as he was now calling for reinforcements.

    "This better work," Petunia whispered while watching Gem walk confidently towards the now trapped wild wolf.

    "Let''s see how you jump through Solitude, mister." Gem said and picked up her phase, speeding up to the wolf with the Salamandite gem in her head and eventually punching it to the wolf''s forehead that was also glowing with some kind of black pearl. "Solitude!"

    "Aha!" Gem said after landing inside a black space with a damp floor.

    "You have it," the wolf said and howled while watching Gem from the darkness being shone upon by her blue crystal gem.

    "I knew it! But why is this black? I thought all Solitudes are white?" Gem took her necklace back and watched her back while searching for the wolf inside.

    The wolf had this sinister feeling that allowed Gem to tell where his movements were coming from but not its current position.

    "I''ll take it from you now," the wolf growled in a low voice before jumping to Gem from behind but Gem immediately dodged his movement, making him land on the damp floor and disappearing into the dark again.

    "My body is better here than in the outside world, and since there are no obstacles, I can beat you easily with my new skills, but before that, tell me what''s your goal? Why are you kidnapping kids and why are you after Monica?"

    "I need that necklace! Give it to me!" the wolf said, ignoring Gem''s question which made Gem impatient.

    "If asking nicely doesn''t work then I must force the answers from you instead," Gem said, putting her countless hours of training for good use while looking for the wolf''s weak spot.

    "I knew it, she''s just like Petunia. He''s probably desperate to obtain Energy slimes already since judging from its appearance, he''s old enough to reach the certain point of disappearance that Petunia was talking about."

    "I will give you Energy slimes, I just need your cooperation. Where did you take the kids you kidnap and what did you do to them?!" Gem tried to settle the situation by proposing a peaceful way of getting to an agreement but the wolf was not listening.

    "I just need a little bit of that and I''ll be free. Give it to me!" he growled and charged Gem using his shadow clone but Gem has already read through his tricks.

    "You''re making this harder for the both of us," Gem said, pulling a big bubble of Energy slime from her necklace and manipulating it using the movements she learned from the astral training manual.

    "That''s it, give it to me!" the wolf said cheekily before showing himself to Gem, seemingly fascinated by the Energy slime''s glow, floating between Gem''s hands.

    "I will give you another chance, Sir. Surrender now and no one gets hurt or we''ll have to do this the hard way. Oh, and just so you know, Solitude is my domain, mister."

 Chapter 134 - Solitude Is My Domain

    "Solitude is my domain, mister."

    "I don''t care, this place is a product of my hard work and I''m not going to let you take it all away from me!" the wolf said with a deep glare before retreating to the darkness once again.

    Gem, on the other hand, inhaled and recalled all the steps that she practiced so hard to perfect and be worthy of being able to control anything embedded with Energy slimes inside Solitude.

    "I just wish you could tell me how you were able to make this place without obtaining and activating a Salamandite first," Gem said with a concentrated exhale before closing her eyes and relying on her other senses instead of her eyes inside of this dark place.

    ***

    [Notification: New skill obtained, Liquity.]

    "Liquity?" Gem muttered to herself while repeating the same moves over and over again inside her room at night.

    "I thought I had this before, did it upgrade?" Gem wondered and opened her stat-hut to look for more details about this new skill the system notified her on.

    [Liquity Lvl.0] [Liquity- Allows the user to manipulate the matter of anything after being induced with the Energy slimes.]

    "What is this? It''s still level zero though? Why did you notify me about this, Mr. Gemini? Was it some kind of mistake?"

    [Not at all, Master. You have now obtained level one of Solitude and is ready for departure whenever you wish.]

    "My Solitude has already upgraded?! But why didn''t you notify me about that first?"

    "Would you like to go to Solitude, Master?" Mr. Gemini said, ignoring Gem''s question and tempting her to test it out, for real this time. Without having to die or endanger her life first.

    "Okay, I''ll go check it out if it actually works. Hopefully, the exit setting is still there, I don''t know what I would do if I get stuck there somehow. With no food and stuff, I don''t think I can survive over there aside from my training hours!" Gem said hysterically before closing her eyes and preparing to be disintegrated into the air.

    "Ah, I''m still not used to this!" Gem complained and fell on the cold white floor of Solitude after her long hours of training inside her room right after her last class.

    "Have I completed the first level of the Astral yet?"

    [Halfway there, Master.]

    "Oh, so I didn''t need to complete the full month of training and just master the skills as soon as possible instead, is that right?"

    [Yes, Master.]

    "Yes! I knew it!" Gem said and celebrated her success on her own by trying her new skill.

    "So, do I do it like this?" Gem said, sliding her hand from one side to another and causing the ball she was controlling to bounce off the floor violently.

    "Ouch! So it''s similar to Petunia''s gummy cloud? Can I also fly with this?" Gem murmured and tried riding the simple box she made using the now liquefied ball wrapped around Energy slimes.

    But instead of being able to ride it, like what was Gem expecting, her body, unfortunately, passed through the ball as if it was water.

    "Can I even use this as an attack?"

    [A new skill has been added to your secret skill set!] Lady announced, startling Gem from being too focused on her ''new skills'',

    "There''s another one?!"

    [Solidite - Hardens the property of Liquity.]

    "Huh? What''s that supposed to mean?" Gem said with confusion etched on her face.

    "Does Liquity and Solidite come in hand-in-hand?"

    [Yes, Master.]

    "But how do I use it? It says I need to put Energy slimes in things first before I manipulate them, but I don''t have any Energy slime left, right?"

    [There''s still Energy slimes in your unlocked storage, Master. Just not enough for evolution.]

    "Oh! So now I get it! But there''s nothing here, how do I add Energy slimes to objects if there''s nothing here to try it on?"

    "¡­"

    "Okay, I''ll just try with my handkerchief," Gem said optimistically and took off her outer dress. "I mean, this is bigger so I might just use this as well," she said while looking at her exposed legs and shoulders due to being used to wearing long sleeves and jogging pants all the time.

    But since she''s alone in that place anyway, Gem did not mind and proceeded with pulling out Energy slimes from the necklace instead.

    And when she finally covered the whole outskirt using her hands and the Energy slimes, the skirt glowed in faint sky blue and disappeared in an instant.

    "Huh? Oh no, what happened? Did I do that right? Where did my outer skirt go?" Gem murmured in panic.

    [You should do the poses, Master.] Mr. Gemini said, helping Gem out of that confused state as fast as he could.

    "What''s that supposed to do?" Gem asked, doubting Mr. Gemini''s advice but followed it still anyway.

    "Right, front, left, cross, stretch¡­" Gem muttered the keywords of each of the exercises she had to do for that Astral manual and eventually, the cyan tainted water bubbles started coming out of the necklace again and following Gem''s movements that were now flowing like water the more she enjoyed seeing the big water/Energy slime bubble follow her movements and become larger as the left out droplets finally caught up to them.

    "This is actually kind of relaxing!" Gem exclaimed, declaring just how fun she was having for unlocking a new skill which she hasn''t even had the slightest idea of how to use just yet until she finally got tired after an hour of doing the same moves over and over again.

    "Could I try new moves and my own moves instead? Would that still work with the floating water?" Gem asked her companions who responded to her with the most boring answers ever.

    "Yes/No."

    "No/Yes."

    [You can try new moves, Master. But only the textbook ones are the proven effective moves that work 100% with that skill, Master.] Mr. Gemini added before letting Gem make a decision on her own.

    "Okay, I shall master these new skills now that I can go back and forth from Solitude every once in a day!" Gem said on a positive note before ending the day with a smile on her face.

 Chapter 135 - Black Pearl

    "You don''t know how hard I worked just to come to this situation,"

    "And you don''t know mine either," Gem said, flowing her arms rhythmically to the direction where she could hear the wolf''s voice from.

    "Finally, it will be mine!" The wolf growled and came at Gem from three different directions.

    ''Wait, three? How did he do that?''

    But nevertheless, Gem was still able to dodge everything until the real wolf who was now trying to bite Gem''s feet off but was scurried away by Gem''s Energy ball.

    "No!" The wolf cried when he tried to eat the Energy ball and only ended up chomping on a piece of cloth.

    "Damn it!" he added and targeted Gem''s necklace this time, "Give me that!"

    "Oops, no." Gem took a step back and purposely dropped the Energy slime ball on the wolf''s face, bathing him with Energy slimes.

    The wolf quickly licked the slime off his face and body, thinking that it would save him, but no matter how much he licked it off, nothing was still happening to his trembling and deteriorating soul in that body..

    "You''re just like Petunia! And you''re dying!" Gem said upon opening her eyes after realizing it just now.

    "Why isn''t this working?!" the wolf complained, ignoring Gem''s laments.

    "Wait, you think Energy slimes would just magically solve your problems just like that?"

    "Yes! That''s why I even kidnapped kids for sacrifice to create this emblem," the wolf said in confusion while showing Gem the black pearl he had on his forehead.

    That was the thing that Gem saw from him earlier, shining like her pendant in this poorly lit place.

    "You did what?! You sacrificed kids to create this?!" Gem croaked in anger, emphasizing the fact that he just did it all to create this place and nothing else.

    "They''re not dead, yet. But the instructions said that if I was able to turn ten children into wolves, my curse would break on its own!" The wolf said, trying to scoot away from Gem and back into the darkness as possible but the liquid Gem showered him on was already showing him away.

    "What kind of bullshit is that?! There''s no such thing as a curse that could turn you into a wolf, sir. Just come here and talk to me before I burn you with that liquid!" Gem demanded while sitting down on the damp floor with a stressed face.

    And although the wolf did not come closer to her and sit down just like she demanded, he still stopped attacking and just stood defensively against her.

    "How many did you kidnap? And how are you able to make this place? What instructions are you talking about?" Gem followed up with so many questions that made the trembling wolf angry again.

    "Why am I supposed to answer this? You didn''t give me what I want-"

    "I need answers first before I decide if I should help you or not!" Gem''s loud volume overshadowed the wolf''s confidence, making him tremble even more than the fact that his soul was now closer than ever to deteriorating.

    "Who are you, and what''s your deal?!" Gem stressed her words to the wolf who found no other choice but to cooperate with Gem instead if he wanted to live longer.

    "I am Sir Graham''s confidant, Durish Gray and I have worked for him since the day of his first service and I look up to him dearly. I was also the one who tested the tea that was given to Miss Monica the day she disappeared. No one knew what happened to us but I found a script in the trash while I was looking for food as a wolf two years ago. It all happened so fast I felt like I had no other choice-"

    "So that script, what did it say? And you haven''t answered all of my questions yet," Gem said, reminding him of the unanswered questions yet again.

    "It was the instruction of the poison that Madame Lonnie used to transform Monica," he said while looking down on his trembling feet, "I don''t have much time, if I can''t obtain Energy slimes by today I would be doomed!"

    Durish, the wolf, looked up to Gem, scooting closer to her calmly while also begging for Gem''s mercy with his eyes.

    Gem knew what she had to do, but before making a final decision, she needed to know exactly what happened to the kids and if Sir Durish here deserves justice, like what he was implying he does.

    "How did you turn those kids into wolves?" Gem asked while picking up herself slowly and using her other hand to release bits of Energy slimes to taunt Sir Durish.

    "I sacrificed them to a tomb I built here in the woods. I needed their blood to make this stone a pearl and hopefully get closer to creating Energy slimes just like your pendant, but no matter how hard I try, it''s just¡­"

    "Not the same," Gem interrupted. "This is dark magic, making you think it''s a cure when it''s just a trick to sabotage you from the inside. Who told you to make this?"

    "A witch in the north. I visited her place after finding out the name and location of her store in the instructions of the potion and she told me these rituals and sacrifices. But even after all that I did, nothing seemed to be working! The stone looked nothing like your necklace and this place is just out of this world! I just wanted to live!"

    "I know, I know you just wanted to survive. But here''s the thing, why did you think sacrificing children would be worth it just to save yourself? Isn''t that selfish?"

    "I don''t know! I-I, uh, I just had this uncontrollable desire to do it, you know? It''s like being a real wolf, in a sense. And Monica, I need to find her! The witch told me I could only reverse the curse by drinking Energy slimes with her at the same time but the damn bird wouldn''t let me catch her!" Sir Durish panicked and uncontrollably howled in front of Gem.

    "Help," he whispered in between his uncontrollable desire to lunge on Gem and bite her.

    "I don''t think you deserve help, Sir Durish. I''m sorry," Gem said, making up her mind and opting to finish him off so she could leave Solitude as soon as possible and reunite with her friends.

 Chapter 136 - Confidence

    "Gem''s taking too long in there, I hope she''s okay," Fily muttered in distress while walking around to calm herself down.

    "Von and Lei are already headed to the castle to help, you don''t need to worry Fily, I''m sure Gem can handle that wolf on her own," Petunia said, totally forgetting about the fact that her language was still in cat mode.

    "What? I can''t understand what you''re saying Petunia, damn it!" Fily groaned, smashing a big stone she could hardly lift in front of her.

    "Guys!" Gem''s voice suddenly came from behind, landing on the snow that Petunia created and still hasn''t melted off.

    "Gem!!" Fily approached her dearly.

    "Are you okay? What happened? Is this blood?!" Fily panicked after seeing the black liquid stains in Gem''s shirt after switching the gown out for more comfortable hunting clothes back at the castle.

    "I need you to listen to me, okay? The wolf will come out in two minutes but we shouldn''t kill him. He''s not himself anymore and there''s only a little time we can work with to get him to the mansion''s swimming pool," Gem started while looking at Monica, "He''s going to go after you and you''re the one who''s going to lead him to the swimming pool. I just need more time to influence the pool''s water with Energy slimes and the two of you should drink it together, along with the wolves attacking the village tonight, did you understand what I''m saying?!" Gem said restlessly.

    "What about me, what do I do?" Fily asked, getting all worked out for a plan that Gem was leading for the first time.

    "Inform the others about it and make sure they won''t kill the wolves!"

    "But we''ll need more than Energy slimes to reverse the potion!" Petunia meowed before realizing her handicap and opting for the message function instead.

    "I didn''t think of that¡­" Gem said while fidgeting her fingers around the black pearl that she stole from the wolf earlier, "Send me the ingredients."

    [Petunia: ¡­ I don''t have enough of this in-store, but my lab might have some generous amount of spares.]

    "I just need a little bit of these and the Energy slimes should be able to multiply its effects," Gem said and prepared herself for the moment of truth.

    "Remember, just focus on bringing him to the pool, okay?" Gem said as a reminder to Monica with Petunia translating it before hiding behind the trees and waiting for the wolf to come back to the real world.

    "He''s here!" Monica muttered to herself and flapped her wings to dive on a lower level, catching the wolf''s attention before proceeding to the Mansion.

    [Petunia: I don''t have chamomile tea.] Petunia chatted after showing Gem all the ingredients that she needs to mix with the Energy slimes in the pool.

    "They should have that in the castle, Fily?"

    "Okay," Fily responded to Gem''s words immediately.

    "This better go well," Petunia wished while sacrificing all the ingredients she saved for her own cure.

    ***

    "Mom! We''re here to help!" Von shouted from a distance after passing through the mansion and into the front yard where the young wolves were currently being caged at.

    "They''re¡­ small," Lei muttered after dropping safely to the ground while Von stretched his arms immediately from carrying Lei all alone.

    "We''re done. What happened to the big wolf you said you were dealing with?" Venedette greeted the two while clapping dirt off her hands.

    "Gem''s dealing with it," Von said and moved closer to the nine medium-sized wolves contained inside three separate cages with three each.

    "Why did you tell me not to kill them? I mean not that I''m going to kill these little wolves mercilessly. Are they those kidnapper wolf''s kids?"

    "They''re the stolen kids, mom," Von answered Venedette''s question while taking pity on the kids in the cage, locked inside a body not their own.

    "They are?!" Venedette shrieked in surprise.

    "At least that''s what Monica, Petunia, and the others were saying." Von shrugged.

    "They should be here any minute now," Lei added, which made Venedette less worried about them.

    "Are you sure they could deal with that wolf on their own? Why did you even leave them in the first place?"

    "Because you told us to help over here!" Von complained to Venedette while also asking the same question himself, "Why did I let them send us back here and leave them on their own?"

    "Should we go back?" Lei offered, which Von immediately agreed to.

    "I''ll come with you," Venedette said and went ahead of them already.

    "Does she even know where to go?"

    "There''s a reason why we have trackers, Von. Now go, I''ll stay here to watch these kids," Lei said and pushed Von to go already.

    "Okay, fine," Von said, accepting Lei''s courteous offer since he didn''t want to carry him anymore.

    [Fily: Meet us at the pool with the pups. P.s. Bring chamomile tea.] Fily sent a message directly to Lei.

    "Chamomile tea? What for?" Lei asked himself but did what Fily asked anyway.

    "Where are you taking those, Sir?" A soldier stood in front of Lei''s way while he was carrying two cages at once.

    "To the pool. The Princess ordered me to take them to the pool," Lei said respectfully to the soldier and saw him looking in Lord Graham''s direction.

    "We''ll come along." The soldier said after getting confirmation from their boss to escort Lei to the swimming pool while anticipating for the others to arrive as well.

    [Fily: We''ll bring the big wolf there, please tell them not to kill it.]

    [Lei: I think Venedette should do that, she has more influence here.] Lei replied in an awkward tone to which Fily only replied with;

    [Fily: You can do it. Go Lei.] obviously taking advantage of the situation to tease him and his introverted personality towards new people.

    "Damn you Fily," Lei cursed and took a deep breath to muster up his courage to face his minor fears.

    "This is nothing," he whispered to himself before delivering the message to the mansion''s personnel and draining his spirit plus confidence, one by one.

 Chapter 137 - No More Hope

    "Awoo!" the wolf cried while running after Monica''s raven which Venedette heard and immediately reacted to.

    "Mom, no." Von held his mom and pushed her back. "We need to take Gem and Fily back," he said, surprisingly focusing on the task that was given to him.

    "But that''s the wolf!"

    "And Monica, yes. But we''ve got our own task to do, Mom. So let''s go!" Von said and pushed his mom to where he left Fily and Gem at.

    "Monica? The General''s daughter? But isn''t she dead?" Venedette asked in confusion.

    "Yes- I mean no, she''s not dead, yet. We''re trying to save her, actually," Von said while leading his mom to Gem and Fily..

    "Gem! Fily! I just saw the wolf! Thank goodness you''re alright," Venedette said while landing softly beside the two.

    "We need to get there immediately!" Gem said which Von nodded to and picked her up right away.

    "We''re going to go ahead, mom," Von said while carrying Gem in a bridal style.

    "Okay-" right before Venedette even got the chance to finish her response, Von and Gem had already launched into the air, heading straight to the mansion where all the magic would happen.

    "I don''t know if I can do this," Gem whispered to herself while clasping the black pearl in her fists tightly.

    "You can do it, I believe in you," Von said while focusing on the path in front of them.

    "Von! Gem! You''re here! Where''s Petunia?" Lei said, greeting them near the swimming pool where they promised to meet.

    "She went to grab the rest of the ingredients from her lab," Gem said, landing beside Lei and went ahead to examine the pups inside a cage.

    "We''re going to save you guys, no matter what." Gem said to them while patting their head inside the cage.

    "Where''s the big wolf?"

    "They haven''t arrived yet, but if it did, it''s most likely being held by the guards in the right gate," Lei answered Gem''s question which made Gem realize what to do next.

    She stood up and headed straight to the swimming pool.

    ''Do I go in the pool or is this good enough?'' Gem asked her systems for help while holding the black pearl and standing on the edge of the pool, but neither of them answered her question.

    ''Guess I''ll just have to rely on my guts then, I hope this works.'' Gem closed her eyes and took a deep breath before moving her arms like the water to pull out all the energy slimes from this black pearl.

    ''Will this be enough? Am I doing it right? I hope this black pearl works the same way as my Salamandite, please do work.''

    There were a lot of thoughts running inside Gem''s head at that time, but the most prominent one was her desperation in saving the kids.

    Venedette was there when she needed her the most, and now, she wanted to be the one that these kids will look up to. Just like Venedette, she happened to be here when they needed her the most, ''And I don''t want to disappoint. I may not have a family waiting for me, but these kids do, and I''m going to help them go back to them.''

    "So please work," Gem wished for the last time before taking another deep breath and ending her stance with a calm final note.

    "Ahhh!"

    Suddenly, Gem screamed when she was met with a strong current of water-like substance that was glowing in faint blue. This current happened so close to Gem that she couldn''t dodge the strong attack and just went away with the overwhelming wave of water to the wall.

    When both Von and Lei saw this, they immediately ran and called for help.

    "Gem!" Von and Lei shouted while running to her.

    "I-It worked," Gem whispered to herself with the last of her energy and curled her lips into a smile before passing out.

    "Gem!!"

    "What do we do, Sir? The pool is being filled with that weird glowing liquid!" one of the guards beside Sir Graham stood in their offensive stance.

    "Let it be," Sir Graham said while raising a hand on them, signaling them to stop and do nothing.

    ''I didn''t know that girl could make Energy slimes. I sure got lucky here.'' Sir Graham thought while watching the spectacle from a distance.

    "Awooo!"

    All of a sudden, the big wolf''s loud howl started ringing in their ears, which was then followed by the little pups'' own version of their little howls.

    "Papa! Papa, do you hear me?! I''m going back to you so wait a little longer, okay?" Monica said while passing through her father and heading straight to the pool.

    "Watch out!" The guards shouted to each other after seeing the big wolf leap over them, including Sir Graham beside them.

    "Huh? Why is the wolf here?" a guard questioned the kid''s plans again, but only one look from Sir Graham, he would immediately shut his mouth and look away to avoid more trouble.

    "Sorry," he said before moving back.

    "Didn''t you listen to what that kid Lei just said earlier? They''re reversing the curse or whatever, just let them be, okay? This is an order from your higher up," Sir Graham ended the conversation with a reminder of his power.

    "Petunia, where are you?" Von whispered while looking at the sky.

    And just as the wolf ended up being trapped inside the pool for marveling at the familiar liquid, Petunia suddenly fell from the sky and jumped off of her gummy cloud, using it as leverage to maneuver her body in another direction and shot it to the swimming pool full of Energy slimes that would dissipate everything and multiply their effects to three-fold.

    "Petunia!" Lei called her and she immediately went to him while crying.

    "What''s wrong-?"

    "Lei! Help me push these pups into the pool, quick!" Von suddenly interrupted, giving him no time to ask the question to Petunia anymore as they both immediately headed to the cages and carefully let go of the pups, even throwing the others into the pool who did not want to swim.

    "My cloud, my formula, everything''s gone," Petunia whispered between her sobs, "there''s no more hope for me."

 Chapter 138 - Pool

    "It''s happening," Fily said while being carried by Venedette back to the mansion.

    "G-Gem," Venedette halted in mid-air after seeing Gem do her magic with total concentration from up above.

    "That''s the thing¡­" Venedette muttered which Fily heard.

    "Hmm?"

    "N-Nothing. I just remembered something," Venedette said and even flashed a faint smile before paying attention to Gem again.

    ''That''s the same liquid that made Gem into a cocoon back when I first met her,'' Venedette thought to herself before Gem suddenly paused her movements and was attacked by the great pressure from the water that looked as if a pipe had been broken.

    And in this case, it was the black pearl that Gem managed to break, releasing an unfathomable amount of Energy slime that even Gem could make use of in her next evolution.

    "Gem!" Venedette shouted and headed straight to Gem and the boys who were now also beside her after being thrown to the wall..

    "The pups, you''ve got to push them inside!" Fily said while tapping Von''s shoulders violently.

    "But Gem-"

    "I''ll take care of her," Fily said, which made Von agree immediately.

    "Lei! Help me push these pups into the pool, quick!"

    "Petunia!" Fily said after seeing Petunia in Lei''s arms.

    "Here," Lei quickly passed Petunia to her and helped Von with the pups.

    "My cloud, my formula, everything''s gone," Petunia whispered between her sobs while hiding her face in between Fily''s boobs, "there''s no more hope for me."

    "Shh, we promised to save you, and so we will. We just have to do this first," Fily whispered with her sweet voice while patting Petunia''s back softly with her hand.

    "My cloud, my formula¡­" Petunia repeated, seemingly in a traumatic state which made it harder for Fily to convince her that everything''s going to be fine.

    "Shouldn''t you also join them?" Fily suddenly thought while getting confused on why Petunia was exactly crying when this cure was supposed to also save her.

    "It''s a different formula. It won''t work on me," Petunia said, her voice cracking from the lump on her throat, "It''s either I try and die or start from zero."

    "Why is it easier to make a cure for strangers than myself?! Why am I so stupid? Why can''t I get my formula right for my own sake?!" Petunia suddenly ranted and paused when she realized something.

    "Wait, I can talk to you again?"

    "Petunia!" A high-pitched female voice called from the pool while waving at her.

    It was a girl with purple hair.

    "Monica!" Petunia stood up on Fily''s arms and waved back enthusiastically to Monica.

    "Monica?" Sir Graham''s expression suddenly softened after hearing his beloved.

    "The wolves! They disappeared!"

    "Look! There are people and kids in the pool!"

    "What are you waiting for? Help get them, quickly!" a commander said to his fellow soldiers who were just watching and gossiping about those naked kids, choking in the glowing pool.

    "Monica," Sir Graham called to the girl with purple hair in the pool who was waving enthusiastically to his opposite side.

    "Papa? Papa! It''s me! Can you finally hear me?!" Monica shouted after turning around and seeing her father in tears.

    "Monica, I never believed you were dead, I knew you had to be alive somehow, and I was right! Thank heavens you''re alive and well!"

    "Papa! I''m so mad at you!! You didn''t even bother paying attention to me when I was a bird!"

    "Oh, Monica. If only I knew," Sir Graham cried while hugging her child who didn''t even grow one bit from the last time he''d seen her.

    "I still look the same," Monica laughed while looking at her human body, that was also the moment that she realized just what happened.

    She''s back, she''s finally back in her original form and it''s all thanks to Petunia.

    "You should get dressed," Sir Graham said while wiping his own tears.

    ***

    "I see," Fily suddenly said, which caught Petunia''s attention when she was supposed to jump down and go to Monica.

    "Her change affected you. When she was about to die, you reflected yourself in her and accidentally gave her a piece of you."

    "A piece of me?"

    "A piece of your heart yes, you cared about her enough to sacrifice your beloved Gummy clouds until the ingredients that you have been collecting for your own reversal potion ever since forever," Fily said, stating what Petunia just did without much thought.

    "I''m stupid! We even wasted this much Energy slime when we could''ve conserved it for much better use, like Gem''s evolution and my formulas!" Petunia said, having the urge to cry again.

    "Gem! We need to give her healing potions!" Fily suddenly panicked which made Petunia panic too for not having her latest Gummy cloud anymore.

    "I don''t have anything with me right now!" Petunia said, finally breaking into another crying session.

    "I don''t have anything anymore!"

    "Shh, you still have us, okay?" Fily tried to calm her down but it''s just no use. Fily knew she should give Petunia time to calm down on her own so she placed Petunia down to the nearest table or chair she could find before trying to pick Gem up from the ground.

    "Ughh, come on Fily!"

    "We''ll take her to the infirmary." Von suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Lei beside him.

    "Ah, thank goodness," Fily said when she already knew how she couldn''t save Gem with her current strength level.

    "The kids! Aren''t these the missing kids from town? Hey, are you alright?" a soldier said to his fellow soldiers and to the kid beside him.

    When the kid did not respond, the soldier went ahead and asked him personal questions.

    "Do you know your name? How old are you? Where do you live? Do you remember what happened back there?" he asked but was only met with blankness.

    Turns out, Monica was the only one who remembered every single thing about being a bird.

    Even Sir Durish Gray couldn''t remember the details of it all even though it was him who started the trouble in the first place.

    On second thought, thanks to Monica being able to retain her memories, they were able to punish the people responsible for poisoning Monica and Sir Durish into madness.

    "Thank you for your noble work, Princess Venedette, Leviathan. May we always be in your debt for saving our town. We bless you in your journey that you may succeed whatever it is and ask help from us if you need any. I couldn''t thank you enough with words, Venedette, kids. But please do know that I appreciate your work so much."

    "You''re welcome, Sir Graham," Venedette answered with much respect as well.

    "So do we get a reward or something?" Petunia suddenly asked which made the hall dead silent.

    "¡­"

    "Of course you shall," Sir Graham laughed which was then followed by a series of laughter from the people.

 Chapter 139 - The Witch In The North

    ''Of course we should, that''s the least I can get for sacrificing everything,'' Petunia thought to herself before saying goodbye to Monica and the others.

    "Can''t I go with you?" Monica asked Petunia while petting her back.

    "Your dad won''t allow you to get in danger again, and besides you''re too weak to even join us," Petunia snugged and buried her face in Monica''s dress.

    "Ah, I''m so sorry for your loss. I feel so guilty. I wish I could do something to help you too," Monica said with all of her heart before kissing Petunia''s forehead which almost made Petunia in tears, "I promise to be here whenever you need my help, just tell me what you need and I shall give it to you, okay? I don''t like being in debt too much," Monica chuckled, trying to lift the mood up but failed to do so when she heard Petunia''s little sobs in between her dress.

    "Hey, why are you crying? It''s not like I''m never going to see you again. We still have four years to see each other before the tournament and even more so when you finally win the tournament!"

    "But I have to survive this year by finding the correct formula for my feline curse first. Somehow I also started calling this transformation a curse because of you," Petunia said with a pout on her cat face which made Monica chuckle despite the dampness of her face from being in tears.

    "I really thought my transformation happened because of a curse, who knew that witch was behind everything all along without even knowing it?" Monica said, stating the ignorance of the witch of what she did by simply giving Monica''s stepmother a potion that could change people into animals and Sir Durish another one with dark magic disguised as an instruction for a supposedly "cure", making Petunia realize something.

    "That witch! Maybe I should visit her shop and see if she could help me! I wonder how she was able to create that complicated formula that took my parents a lifetime to perfect," Petunia said while wiping her tears and standing in Monica''s arms.

    "Are you sure about that? You just heard what I said, right? That the witch is supposed to be evil for causing this havoc without even doing much?"

    "I know! That''s more reason for me to visit her!"

    ''I got a feeling that I know this ''witch'' and why she''s obsessed with making animal potions and tricking others into doing the dark magic for her to collect their Energy slimes,'' Petunia thought to herself, which she couldn''t tell anybody right now.

    "Do you want me to come with you?" Monica offered but Petunia immediately shook her head.

    "There''s no way I''m letting you go there and transform into a raven again, after all that I''ve done for you, do you want it all to go to waste?"

    "Of course not!" Monica stood up, "I just want to help you, please?"

    "You can help me by staying still. Now how should I get the directions from Sir Durish if he can''t remember anything?"

    "Maybe I can help?"

    "No, you''re not coming with us."

    "That''s not what I meant! When I was still a raven, I often heard rumors about the witch in the north who likes torturing animals and could even transform into an animal herself! All of the animals in this area know her as the woman with an icy look and an icy dress, living amongst the ice which you could never see an animal pass by because they were afraid to be tortured by her, but because I was scared, I didn''t bother looking for her or even knowing where she lives. I just know all animals are scared of her and if you ask them, you may even get directions," Monica shared with expressive movements which made Petunia focus on her story even more.

    "But I can''t talk to animals." Petunia pouted, "Is there any way I could get her attention instead?"

    "Why would you-" Monica''s eyebrows met in confusion but quickly dropped her jaw when she realized what Petunia was planning, "OH!!!" and suddenly, her tone went from enlightened to not interested when she said, "No. I am not letting you get captured and tortured by her."

    "Come on! You must know something! Where is this place that the animals always avoid? I really need to go there to make progress, please?" Petunia scooted closer to Monica with her pleading eyes.

    "No! You''re planning to get even more killed! No!"

    "Please? I won''t die, I promise you that, I just need to have a conversation with this ''witch'' and what she has to offer."

    "What makes you so sure that she will help you?"

    "Well, she helped Sir Durish by giving him a fake instruction and not torturing him. Err, maybe she tortured him in another way, but aside from that I''m sure she won''t hurt me once I have a talk with her."

    "She better! Or else I will hunt her down and burn her to death like what those people in the old books do to witches!" Monica exclaimed strongly.

    "So? Are you going to tell me where to find her?" Petunia scooted closer to Monica once again, making her eyes bigger and shinier for Monica to take pity on her.

    "F-Fine!" Monia said and looked away, "But I will tell Fily and the others about this too."

    "What? No!! Don''t. This is my personal mission and they have their own problems to solve. Let''s not make this a big deal."

    "But it is a big deal! Who''s going to be the alchemist in their group if not you?! Where can they find someone better than you?! And lastly, who''s going to be my best friend after all of this is done? I can''t live knowing that you sacrificed yourself for me! Heck! I can''t imagine being the one who will lead you to your death! So it''s either you go with them, Petunia, or you''re not going to go at all, not under my watch."

    "Tss, fine," Petunia said reluctantly, "But tell them to prioritize their research about Salamandite first. I also need that to live."

    "Okay, deal." Monica nodded her head with a smile and offered a pinky promise to Petunia with closed eyes.

    "Uhh, yay?" Petunia said after grabbing Monica''s pinky in between her paws with a confused expression.

    "Oh, sorry." Monica laughed after realizing that Petunia doesn''t have a pinky to make a pinky promise with her!

    "Let''s just do this," Monica offered and raised Petunia to the air, "Weee!" she said while swirling around with Petunia.

    "S-Stop! I''m getting dizzy, ahhh!" Petunia complained but joined Monica in her laughter nonetheless.

    "Ahh, they''re so cute to see. I hope I can do something to help save that poor little soul from deteriorating," Sir Graham said beside Venedette and the other kids besides the window where they could see Petunia and Monica have fun outside, in the front yard.

    "Actually you can. You see, Petunia has this formula for her beloved Gummy cloud and we''re short on ingredients so if you have them, I think that would be helpful enough," Fily said after clearing her throat in front of the adults and the kids who immediately agreed with her.

    They all felt bad after what happened to Petunia. Not only did she sacrifice all the rare ingredients that she worked hard to collect but she also lost her Gummy cloud which was almost equivalent to Fily losing her knowledge and normal superhumans losing their limbs.

    And since Fily and Gem already had an idea of how to make the Gummy cloud, they all decided to help Petunia create a new one as soon as possible, be it on this trip or after when they finally return to Yvandir where the ingredients are mostly complete.

    "Oh, ho ho. May I see this list?" Sir Graham said enthusiastically after hearing an opportunity for him to repay Petunia''s kindness.

    "Sure," Fily said with a smile and showed Sir Graham the list while the others were still busy watching Monica and Petunia spend time together.

    "Are you sure you''re okay now? Shouldn''t you still be resting?" Von whispered to Gem who was just beside her.

    "I''m fine. My energy just got drained but I''m sure I can get it back after a good night''s sleep. I still can''t believe I just did something heroic. That''s the first for me. Usually, I just save myself but this is the first time I had actually saved real people other than me," Gem shared with a smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes while looking at Monica.

    The Energy slimes might be wasted in that big pool with a complicated formula but Gem was surely happy to see the children that she helped save from that wicked witch''s careless actions.

    "You did great," Von said and looked away from Gem who was now the one looking at her.

    "You also did great, we all did great. And I hope we can do more greater things in the future," Gem said with a bright smile that made her face look ten times prettier.

 Chapter 140 - Smooth Liar

    "I guess this is goodbye," Monica said and hugged Petunia for the last time.

    "So, when are you going to tell them about it?" Petunia chose to stand proud and went straight to the point with Monica instead of feeling sad about parting ways with her at the moment.

    "Just let me cry first, you dummy," Monica said and even hit her playfully in the shoulders while wiping her tears with her free hand.

    "Tell us what?" Fily suddenly said after hearing what Petunia said from standing too close to them.

    "That I-"

    "That I asked Petunia to buy something from a secret shop!" Monica suddenly interrupted Petunia''s words but Petunia did not mind.

    "A secret shop? Where?" Fily asked with furrowed eyebrows, she knew of a few secret shops in this country but they rarely set their shops in the trading area to avoid government officials shutting their business down. And the place where they''re headed was known to be a hotspot of illegal trades from other countries whose products were banned in Clandamascarene for promoting their "support for the locals" movement. The invisible sense-defying room that the Crones used for example.

    "It''s hidden in the snow so not everyone knows about this place yet but I assure you it''s safe. You just really need to find this store to see the formula that I really want to give you, Petunia! Although I can''t go there myself, I hope you can help Petunia find this store and finally use this coupon I got from that shop to get that super expensive secret formula for her!" Monica pleaded with a very convincing face.

    ''She''s such a smooth liar,'' Petunia commended Monica in her mind.

    "Uhh, sure¡­ I''ll help her find this secret store," Fily said reluctantly while taking the ''coupon'' that Monica was handing to her with a ninety-degree bow.

    "As expected from our genius Fily." Monica smiled from ear to ear and gave Fily a hug, knowing that she had the one and only Fily deceived by her confident lies.

    "Nice work!" Petunia mouthed to her after transferring to Fily''s shoulders after their hug.

    ''Can''t you just ask me to do something else? I really don''t want to send my best friend to death''s door like this,'' Monica wanted to say to Petunia but only ended up using her eyes to deliver the message when she felt her heart drop for having to give Petunia up.

    She hasn''t even known Petunia for more than a day yet but she was already sure that they have a strong connection with each other as if they were long-lost sisters.

    And knowing that Petunia was one of the main reasons along with Levithan who saved her life and gave her more years to spend time with her loved ones, Monica did not want to harm Petunia''s life further by putting her in another risk. But because that was the only thing that Petunia ever asked from her, she also had no other choice but to give her what she wanted.

    "Goodbye, Monica." Petunia smiled at her one last time.

    "Stay alive," Monica whispered to her with a heavy heart, "Promise me that."

    "I will," Petunia said and finally departed with Venedette, Gem, and Fily to the Levi-yacht.

    "How about us? You''re not going to thank us?" Von said while glancing at Monica from his peripheral view.

    "H-Huh? Oh, yes. Sorry- ah! I mean thank you!" Monica bowed ninety degrees and immediately fled the scene with a flustered face.

    "Did she get intimidated by my handsome face?" Von assumed while saying his thoughts out loud.

    "I believe she was looking at me," Lei said from behind which made Von jump.

    "Yo! Bro! Why are you sneaking at me like that!?" Von complained which Lei only laughed at.

    "See? I can even make your heart flutter," Lei said as a joke and even offered his hands tauntingly to Von like what he usually does with girls on a ball.

    "Seriously? Aren''t you just a creep who likes giving people heart attacks?" Von said and laughed while going along with Lei''s trip by taking his hand and fixing his stance for a launch.

    "Hold tight!" Von shouted before launching himself to the air with Lei who was only holding his left hand.

    ***

    "So, who wants to join this mini treasure hunt?" Fily immediately said after hearing Von and Lei arrive back to the Levi-yacht.

    "A what?!" Von said while enthusiastically jumping around, happy that he made Lei sick from that very uncomfortable flight, especially for no-flight people like Lei.

    "Imma just use the restroom real quick," Lei said while almost tripping from not being able to walk properly and even holding his stomach and mouth for wanting to vomit from that VERY extreme ride that Von made sure to make ten times more extreme than those lousy roller coasters rides just to prove a point.

    "We''re going on a treasure hunt to find this secret store with a super special and expensive secret formula that Monica wanted to give Petunia as a gift. And since Monica is not allowed to go out of their house, Petunia here wanted to find the gift instead and claim it using the coupon that Monica gave us," Fily said and raised the coupon that she was talking about.

    "So what does it say?" Von asked Fily while looking at the coupon between her fist.

    "That''s irrelevant," Petunia immediately stepped up to cover up for Monica''s mistake.

    "This coupon is, of course, not going to reveal any details about that secret shop, you dumbass."

    "Oh, then I''m not joining. Good luck finding your formula or whatever it is," Von dismissed them without even batting an eye to them only until he remembered a question he needed to ask them, "Where''s Gem? Is she also coming?"

    "She will." Petunia stood up and answered with full confidence as if telling Von, ''That''s right, Gem is not as cowardly as you.''

    "Why would she join you guys in that stupid treasure hunt?" Von expressed his displeasure with furrowed eyebrows and called for his playmate, "Gem! Gem!! Where are you!? Where is she?" he turned to the two and asked with a normal voice.

    "She''s probably in her room, taking a rest," Fily answered with a concerned voice.

    "She''s tired and yet you want her to join in your another tiring little treasure hunt?"

    "For all I know, you just want to play with her with your little game so what''s the difference between us? Gem will decide for herself so step out of it!" Petunia exclaimed with an annoyed face and jumped down from the table to the floor to make her escape from this upsetting conversation.

    ''If they don''t want to help then I''ll just do it myself,'' Petunia thought bitterly while making her way to her laboratory room.

    "What was it you guys wanted to say?" Lei suddenly appeared beside Fily who was freaked out by his sudden presence.

    "Gosh! Please stop doing that!" Fily said and hit Lei''s shoulders with all of her strength which only made Lei laugh.

    "Is that a punch? I thought that was just your fist touching me!" Lei mocked Fily even more which was really out of character for him.

    "Did that trip also affected your brain and attitude? What''s with the sudden naughtiness!?" Fily complained even though she was smiling.

    "Nothing, I just wanted to loosen up more. Since I''m not Von''s guard anymore, I thought I should also enjoy life while I''m at it."

    "That''s a good point." Fily shrugged in approval, "Well anyway, let''s go back to the topic. Do you want to join Petunia and I on a treasure hunt?"

    "What do I get from it?"

    "I don''t know. I just know this ''treasure'' will cheer Petunia up like what Monica said. Petunia likes formulas and what more when this formula could actually be the answer to her problems? That''s what Monica said, although I don''t believe her as much. I just want to cheer Petunia up," Fily explained with more persuasive details this time.

    "That''s true. After sacrificing her everything for Monica, I''m sure Monica would want to do the same to her. But because of her restrictions, she wouldn''t be able to do anything for Petunia yet," Lei voiced out his perception of the situation.

    "So are you going to join us?" Fily asked with hopeful eyes.

    "Mmmm, since I don''t have anything to do anyway and I also want to help Petunia recover her losses,"

    "So that''s an okay? You''re going to join us? Okay, yay!!" Fily celebrated and even raised her hands with her signature bright smile that was undeniable contagious for it also made Lei smile with her.

    "Von''s the only one who''s not going."

    "I''m sure he''ll come," Lei said confidently while paying attention to the plan that Fily decided to make now while they''re still on their way to the north.

    "He better do, or else I won''t consider him as a friend anymore," Fily said with a smile and a cutesy voice, opposite to the message she was intending to perceive.

 Chapter 141 - Little Treasure Hunt

    "So what''s the plan? And how about the meeting with the tribes? Can we achieve all those in just one day?" Lei asked in a serious note while scooting over to the other side to see the plans that Fily was typing and organizing on their digital table.

    "We can. This little treasure hunt shouldn''t take long," Fily said while looking at the digital map on the table with her markings of the places where a possible secret shop would be.

    "That''s a lot," Lei said after noticing the number of red flags on the map.

    "Yes, but not enough. Most of the shops over here don''t sell potions," Fily said while encircling the area they''re headed to.

    It was the only area with thick snow in the map and inside the whole country which made Fily sure that the shop should only be around there yet her old data was showing nothing about a secret potions shop in that area.

    Most of the secret potions shops she was able to find were all located on the other side of the country, which only meant that those shops are not what they''re looking for, since Monica clearly said that this super-secret shop was located in the snowy north where they''re headed to.

    "So we''re looking for a potion?"

    "A formula for a potion to be exact," Fily answered Lei''s question immediately.

    "Oh, so why is Petunia not here? Is she okay?" Lei said with a deeper voice than usual.

    "She''s fine, maybe just sulking in her bed over her loss and Von''s unwillingness to participate." Fily shrugged.

    "Really? Then shouldn''t we go there and comfort her?" Lei looked at Petunia''s door on the second floor.

    "No, I don''t think that''s a good idea. She''s going to need time to mourn by herself before facing us and we should give it to her."

    "But don''t you want to be comforted when you''re sad?"

    "Honestly, it depends on the person, but from my observation on Petunia, I believe she''s the type who will want to mourn on her own so let''s leave her alone and just do our best to help her, okay?"

    "Okay," Lei said reluctantly before putting his attention back to the table in front of them, "So, what can I do to help?" He said as if he wasn''t tired himself and wanted to rest first from that harsh flight.

    "As of the moment, I can''t think of anything else than doing nothing while I look for the location of this secret shop," Fily said honestly before paying her full attention to the digital table.

    "Did Monica and Petunia have any other clue about this place other than it''s a secret shop in the snow and the fact that it sells potions?" Lei asked.

    "Nothing," Fily said as if dismissing him.

    "Am I bothering you?"

    "Kind of, you can go now," Fily said apologetically while looking at him with a slight smile.

    "Oh, okay. Guess I''ll just go back to my boring routine." Lei smiled back at Fily with that same apologetic smile and retreated from the living room slowly.

    ***

    "Are we now going to the Alps?" Von asked his mother who was maneuvering the Levi-yacht to the north.

    "You mean Edelweiss?" Venedette asked without looking at her son.

    "I guess so," Von said and sat beside his mom, looking at the scenery of high mountains frosted with snow peaks where they were headed to, "How long do we have until we get there?"

    "Two to three hours or so, depending on the weather over there," Venedette answered while giving her son a slight smile before focusing her attention back to the road again.

    "Ah, I don''t think we can finish the game in two hours," Von sighed and sat his back in the air while floating to the living room.

    "Von, are you really not coming?" Fily asked when she saw Von floating towards the leisure area.

    "No, does mom know about this little treasure hunt?" Von answered lazily while passing by.

    "I guess so," Fily whispered while contemplating whether to answer that question honestly or not.

    "What?! I didn''t hear what you said!" Von shouted from the leisure area.

    "I said yes, we already got her permission to take a stroll as long as we won''t get lost or separated from each other. Are you sure you really don''t want to come?" Fily said.

    ''Last time he also said he wouldn''t come but look at him now, having the time of his life on this trip,'' Fily thought to herself while watching Von slouch on the couch.

    "I already said I won''t. Is Gem really coming?" Von followed up.

    "I already told you, she will!"

    "Oh, okay," Von said and took a rest in the leisure room''s sofa.

    ***

    "Wow, that black pearl really took a toll on me! I can''t believe I did it! Was I cool? How did that work so well! Gahh! I''m so happy!" Gem exclaimed while kicking and punching the air inside Solitude.

    "And that wolf! Sir Durish, I feel bad for him¡­ It''s not like he chose to be turned into a wolf, he was also a victim. Victim of that manipulative witch in the north! And now that we''re going to be looking for her, I''ll make sure she gets what she deserves by teaching her a lesson that she won''t forget! Ever!" Gem added while calming her movements down.

    [Master, you have a new notification,] Mr. Gemini announced which made Gem look at her status board.

    [Astral Training lesson 1: Activation]

    [Status: Complete.]

    [Rewards: Skill upgrades]

    "Really?! My skills have been upgraded!? I want to see! Status!"

    [Name: Gemma  [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman  [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student  [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super Attributes:]

    [Sense: 18/30 [Hearing: 8 [Vision: 6  [Smell: 4

    [Agility: 12/20 [Strength: 5 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 2

    [Stamina: 4/20 [Discipline: 2/10 [Mana: 2/10

    [Fighter Skillset: None]

    [Astral Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl.0, Solitude Lvl.1]

    "Alright! My skills really did have an upgrade, but I''m still not sure how and why that happened¡­ Guess I''ll just have to ask Fiy later." Gem shrugged with a bright smile on her face before exiting Solitude.

 Chapter 142 - Together

    "Ah, finally! Back home!" Gem muttered after landing back in the real world, "Ouch, my bones hurt." She complained and sat down on her bed while looking at the window.

    "It''s getting late. We''re late. We took too much time on that unplanned rescue mission and now we''re going to stay on this trip a little later than planned, and that treasure witch hunt," Gem said to herself while covering her eyes from the sunlight using her arms.

    "I should get up, we don''t have time for this," she added and pushed herself out of the bed, jumped to the door, and held the doorknob while opening it silently.

    ''I''m sure everybody''s taking a rest just like me, but I want to locate that witch as soon as possible and teach her a lesson,'' Gem thought while wandering around the open hallway.

    Since the stairs were just in front of her room, Gem thought she should go down and check what was happening downstairs instead of bothering her friends. But when she peeked down and saw Fily organizing plans on the living room, Von sleeping on the leisure room''s couch, and Venedette driving the Levi-yacht, she decided to see how Petunia was doing first by going to her room next to hers.

    *Knock knock*

    "Can I come in?" Gem said while holding Petunia''s doorknob softly. And when she didn''t receive any kind of response, she slowly opened the door and saw Petunia''s darkroom, full of burnt chemicals and failed mixtures spilled everywhere.

    "What happened here? Petunia? Are you there?" she asked while getting closer and closing the door to get a full vision of the darkroom using her necklace''s light.

    Gem heard sniffs coming from under the study table, and when she went to look, she saw Petunia curled on the cold floor, using her tail as a pillow to sleep on while wiping all her tears away.

    "Oh no, Petunia¡­" Gem said with sympathy as if she also wanted to cry with her.

    ''I don''t know how to comfort people, let alone comfort cats. What should I do in this situation?'' Gem thought as she faltered and dropped to her knees to match Petunia''s level.

    "G-Go away. Leave me alone," Petunia said weakly in between her sobs.

    "Please don''t cry, you''re making me sad." Gem pouted while reaching a hand to Petunia.

    "Go away," Petunia said and pushed her hand away.

    Gem paused for a second before thinking of something else that might cheer Petunia up.

    "How about¡­ this? Tadaa," Gem said while magically controlling the Healing slimes she released in her hands as if they were holograms in this dark room.

    "Here," Gem added and wrapped the liquid around Petunia''s back, making her warm and cool at the same time as if it was a water blanket.

    Gem didn''t stop there and even rubbed the liquid across Petunia''s whole back and patted her head softly.

    "You''re so brave, I can''t imagine sacrificing your all for someone you just met. If it was me, I''d probably save every last bit of those potions for myself and refuse to give them away to strangers. But you, you were strong and brave enough to give them away, and for that, your name will never be forgotten. You just saved a generation of children, Petunia," Gem said the words she really meant to tell Petunia ever since she found out about what she did.

    "That was also thanks to you," Petunia said and turned around but Gem only smiled weakly at her.

    "No, that was all you. You were the biggest part of the plan and without you, I simply cannot fix the problem on my own, nor would I force myself to do so. Because unlike you, I am selfish. I find myself more valuable than others. But what you did helped open my eyes. Both you and Venedette chose to take the risk just to save others. And I think that''s the most wonderful thing ever. You thought me the importance of being selfless,"

    "Yeah, but look at me now, I''m going to die. I was bound to die anyway and I''m just too stubborn to accept it, but hey, at least my life was meaningful, right?" Petunia said while turning her head to look at Gem''s teary eyes again.

    "It is. You are meaningful and important, Petunia. Especially to us. You''re still important to us. Do you think we would just let you go like that? Losing those formulas doesn''t matter anymore Petunia, and do you know why?" Gem said while wiping her tears violently.

    "Why?" Petunia asked innocently.

    "Because you have us now," Gem said and paused to give Petunia space.

    "You have us now Petunia, more than anything, we''ll make sure to give you everything you need in order to survive. And now, let''s not cry over here and do nothing when we have that witch to look for, come on." Gem offered her hand again to Petunia while still using her other hand to caress her fur.

    "Right¡­ but how did you know that I was actually looking for the witch?" Petunia said right before touching Gem''s left hand which made Gem wonder why Petunia suddenly asked that question.

    "Because Sir Durish told me about the formula." Gem shrugged while looking weirdly at her, taking a clue about what was going on, "Was I not supposed to say that?"

    "No, promise me you won''t tell them about that, okay?" Petunia said while refusing to put her hand in Gem''s before Gem answered her question.

    "Okay, I won''t tell them about the witch. But how did you convince them to join this witch hunt without telling them about the witch though?" Gem asked when Petunia finally climbed up her shoulders.

    "Monica lied to them about a special formula that the hidden store sells," Petunia only said.

    When they reached the door, Gem paused for a little while and looked at Petunia sincerely.

    "We''ll get through this, okay? Together."

    "Together," Petunia repeated, finally planting a little bit of hope in her heart.

 Chapter 143 - Coupon

    "Gather up!" Fily called for everyone''s attention while finishing up her notes on the digital table.

    "Petunia! H-How''s your day?" Lei said in surprise, coming down from the trapdoor to the roof after seeing Petunia in Gem''s arms.

    "Obviously, not fine." Petunia rolled her eyes.

    "T-That''s good¡­ I mean that''s great- errr sorry to hear about¡­" Lei said, having a hard time saying what he really meant because of the fear that he might say something stupid, which he still did and failed to prevent so.

    "What''s wrong with you," Petunia said and gave him a weird look while Gem only smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders before proceeding to the living room''s digital table with Fily and Von already seated on the opposite side of each other.

    "What are you doing here? I thought you''re not coming?" Fily''s eyebrows met each other after seeing Von seated lazily in front of her while she was still trying to keep her signature smile.

    "Am I not allowed here?" Von scuffed at her.

    "You''re not joining so you don''t need to hear this."

    While Von and Fily were arguing about him not wanting to join yet still having an interest in the plan, Gem silently took Petunia and sat beside Fily while Lei sat beside Von on the other couch.

    And upon hearing Von and Fily''s argument, Gem couldn''t help but be curious as well as to why Von was not joining all the fun.

    "You''re not coming again? Why?" Gem suddenly asked in between their argument which made both Fily and Von silent while smiling fakely at each other.

    "I just can''t with him anymore," Fily muttered to Gem while gritting her smiling teeth, which alarmed Gem a little bit.

    "Don''t mind him. I''m sure he''s just messing around," Gem said, trying to calm the situation down by removing Fily''s focus on Von and convincing Von to join them.

    "What are those?" Gem pointed at the yellow flags on the map.

    "Those are mech shops. They sell illegal machines," Fily said nonchalantly while giving her attention back to the plan and organization.

    "I''m going to tell mom about your secret little treasure hunt and ask for her permission," Von thought and floated when Petunia suddenly jumped onto his chest.

    "You''re not going anywhere. I believe Fily already told you that Venedette allowed us to go on without her as long as we''re together, right?" Petunia said while attempting to claw Von''s face while sitting on his chest.

    "O-Okay, but what about the meeting with the tribes from Edelweiss?" Von asked while pushing Petunia away from his face and aiming to drop her off to Gem by floating on top of her.

    "We''ll do it after the meeting," Fily said and sent them all a schedule which she just made to keep her teammates in check, also giving time to Von who finally managed to push Petunia to Gem''s head.

    "Ouch," Gem and Petunia both groaned after hitting each other, although the distance was not too high, Petunia still happened to weigh more than any usual cat because of her laziness and dependence on her Gummy cloud.

    "We''ll arrive in Edelweiss at 6 pm, then the meeting starts at 9, what kind of schedule is this? Isn''t the meeting supposed to happen immediately?" Von complained once more after viewing the schedule just now.

    "And aren''t we supposed to be on our way back to Yvandir by midnight?" Lei said.

    "Our schedule got held back by that emergency rescue of Monica and the others," Fily simply explained.

    "We know. So does this mean we''ll get to spend another day in this Yacht before going home?" Von said in a slightly enthusiastic tone.

    "We''re going to have to skip our classes again?" Gem asked with disappointment on the other hand.

    "Why are you so willing to go to school? Aren''t you tired of learning the same boring lesson each year?" Von asked and then went silent after looking at Gem and realizing something important, "Oh, sorry. I forgot it''s your first time going to school."

    "I went to school during my early days, but then I ran away because of the same old boring lesson that they teach every year, just like you said. I guess I just wanted to learn more things that my school wasn''t teaching me," Gem muttered while caressing Petunia''s back and looking down at her feet.

    "I didn''t know about that¡­'''' Von said apologetically before they all started paying attention to Fily once again.

    "So here''s the deal, Venedette said we shouldn''t split up but that would cost us so much time to find this secret store. Our only clue is the snow and the fact that it''s a potion''s shop so I suggest we all go around town in groups of two or three and ask if they''re familiar with this coupon," Fily announced and raised her hand to show them a crumpled colorful coupon that Monica gave her earlier.

    "How did Monica make Fily believe such an obvious lie?" Gem thought to herself and even looked at Petunia who was thinking the same thing after seeing the cheap-looking coupon between Fily''s fingers..

    "How are we going to show them that if we only have one copy?" Von asked as if looking for another fight with her again, but instead of answering his question, Fily only took a folder of printed papers from the digital table''s mouth and slammed it on the table.

    "Here you go," Fily said with a smile that was so sarcastic, even strangers who would see would immediately run away because of the sinister energy that she was giving with her smile.

    Lei grabbed the brown folder from the table reluctantly and pulled out several copies of the coupon that looked a lot like the original except for the crumples and brighter colors on the new one.

    "Are we good now?" Fily smiled at Von again who was now too scared to talk back to her because of that sinister smile that''s making him nervous and uncomfortable.

    "S-Sure,"

    "Okay then, let us now go to the navigation room and watch the hail outside with Venedette." Fily clapped her hands and went outside of the room immediately after hearing the loud thuds of ice droplets clashing with their roof that was made of fresh dirt from what she''s assuming was a hail storm outside, leaving the room dead silent and a little bit scared of her because of her reaction to Von.

    "Did we do something wrong? What happened to her?" Lei asked while also preparing to leave.

    "I don''t know, maybe she really just had enough of Von''s stupidity." Petunia shrugged.

    "What?! Aren''t you supposed to be glad that I''m joining your stupid little treasure hunt now?"

    "It''s not stupid, Von. We''re doing this to save Petunia," Gem cut off Von''s words calmly while standing up, preparing to leave the room with Petunia and go to the navigation front where Fily said they should go and watch the hail storm outside.

    "Let''s go." Lei paused in between the open door while looking at Von who was seemingly angry and confused about something that''s on his mind.

    "Von?"

    "Tch, I wish I should''ve just stayed home instead of dealing with those insensitive females," Von ranted while passing through the door that Lei purposely held open for him.

    "What''s wrong? I thought you''re enjoying this ride?"

    "I thought so too, but Gem wouldn''t play with me anymore and those two keep getting on my nerves," Von answered Lei''s question while stomping loudly on his way to the navigation room and sporting a very deep frown.

    "Have you ever thought about fixing your temper first? You get too annoyed easily and those two probably didn''t like that. You were even fighting with Gem just until recently. I''m sure you''ll come around, but don''t just wait for it to happen, do something to make it happen," Lei suddenly gave him a lecture about friendship even though he''s the one who''s supposedly the reserved and non-friendly type.

    "What happened to you? When did you start talking so much?" Von stopped in front of the Navigation''s door and faced Lei for an explanation.

    "I''m just letting myself be free from all those restrictions that I put upon myself while serving as your bodyguard," Lei explained briefly, which Von thought was good and sad for him at the same time.

    "Right, you have been demoted because of my greasy temper," Von muttered, falling in a deep realization about what''s wrong with him and his attitude and why people dislike him.

    "That doesn''t matter, I''m still here to keep you safe and company. Although it''s not my job to do so anymore, I don''t mind being here just to save your ass every time. And besides, we''re still friends, right?"

    "Right¡­ I''m still not used to your talkative side," Von said and narrowed his eyes before proceeding to the navigation room where he was met with a large exhibition of ice bullets falling from the sky.

    "So this is what a hail storm looks like in real life," Von thought to himself while being mesmerized by the magnificent combination of ice and snow falling from the sky.

 Chapter 144 - Like An Athlete

    "Won''t this glass break from all those rock-hard ice drops?" Gem asked while looking worriedly at the slightly abstract glass in front of them.

    "Don''t worry, it won''t. It''s made of glass, crystal, and recycled plastic," Venedette said and smiled at her before looking at the hail storm outside of the tall and wide windshield again.

    Since they were flying just between the stratosphere and the troposphere or tropopause for short, the Levi-Yacht was actually sweeping premature ice bullets from the clouds instead of getting hit by it while passing by below the clouds where the temperature was lower than up there.

    And although it might be better for the Levi-Yacht to go higher and fly on the stratosphere, Venedette thought risking her children''s life and oxygen supply just to keep the Levi-yacht squeaky clean wouldn''t be that worth it.

    And so she just flew the Yacht on a moderate level, between the harshness of the hail storm and the thinness of oxygen up above.

    "Mom, but I thought hail storms out here were supposed to be really violent and loud? Is this it?" Von asked while stepping closer to the glass and seeing drops of water that probably came from the snow that melted while making contact with the warm glass.

    He realized that the glass was actually getting wet by rain and not by a storm of ice bullets that he was really looking forward to seeing for the first time.

    "I''m afraid we can''t go down and watch the hail storm like what you''re saying, honey. We''ll keep you safe first and then watch the storm when everything''s better, okay?"

    "Are we going to ruin this border''s protection?" Von asked, misunderstanding what Venedette just said.

    "No, of course not. You know we can''t control the borders, right?" Venedette said while glancing at everybody for saying something controversial.

    The royals were believed by the people to be the only ones capable of controlling the borders and expanding their territory but in reality, the Royals also have no clue on how to destroy or control the borders so they could gain more land and property just like what Hexilia was able to do now, after being awarded as the winner for the previous tournament.

    "Is this border the same as the flame border on the other side?" Gem whispered to Fily while waving her feet under the chair.

    "It''s different," Fily answered and was about to stop talking until she saw Gem''s curious face directed at her.

    "W-What? What do you want to know?" she said with a nervous smile.

    "Tell me more about it, why are there ice borders and a flame borders around the country, and what are their purposes?" Gem asked with anticipation.

    "The flame borders were originally there to protect this country from the toxins outside,"

    "Oh, so the border''s the reason why Clandamascarene doesn''t have dark days. Living here already made me forget about that time when I couldn''t even differentiate between day and night because of the thick clouds that were blocking the sunlight in our place," Gem said while reminiscing the days where she still had to work hard in order to survive.

    "Yes, and because the border is made of fire, the flame borders in the north were fighting with the weather, making this place a lot colder than it''s supposed to be and making the real border weaker than the others."

    "So this hail storm is actually designed to serve as the country''s second protection?" Petunia asked to clarify her thoughts about the borders.

    "Yes and no. Hailstorms occur naturally and the dying flame border in the north just helps maintain this storm in the same place every time, although we''re not sure how long the flames could still keep up with the snow, the government decided to improve the occurrence of hailstorms in this area to keep those outsiders away if ever they managed to pass through the flaming border," Fily explained continuously.

    "So that''s why that old man from the mountains kept telling us to go on to the north, although we were already set on going through one of the well-known weaker spots, we were just too afraid and short of resources to reach the top of the ring alive," Gem muttered to herself which Fily quickly guessed as something related to the expedition that Gem joined before passing through the borders.

    "You know how that necklace was actually the one that saved you from the fire, right?" Fily asked because she never heard of Gem mentioning anything about how she was able to survive through that flaming borders.

    "I haven''t really thought about that, but now that you mentioned it, I think you have a point! You''re a genius, Fily!" Gem said enthusiastically and scooted closer to Fily for a hug.

    "I know right," Fily laughed nervously after realizing something big that she wasn''t still ready to tell anybody yet.

    ''So that was why Halma was good to her, huh? She had this plan all along¡­" Fily thought to herself before breaking the hug with Gem.

    "Do you think my necklace has some connection to the b-"

    "No, it''s just there to save you, that''s all." Fily cut off Gem''s words and completely shut the topic down immediately before anybody could notice anything.

    "To the what? Say it Gem," Von said while looking weirdly at Fily.

    "Yeah, I don''t think so either. That''s too impossible," Gem said with a smile of relief before finally paying attention to Von who was now disappointed because she ignored him unintentionally, "What were you saying?"

    "Nevermind," Von said, clearing his throat and standing up to leave the Navigation room.

    "You''re leaving already?" Lei asked while walking behind him.

    "Yes, I''m really disappointed by that lame storm, I was really looking forward to seeing some action and noise irritating those girls but all I could see was a normal rainstorm from up above here¡­"

    "That''s because Venedette only wants the best for us," Lei tried to argue but Von wouldn''t stop throwing negative comments immediately.

    "Yeah, right. Is that also why we''re here on a level 2 protected area, looking for a witch and extinct animals in a place where illegal immigrants were rumored to be staying most of their time inside this country?"

    "Von that''s not what I''m-"

    "Of course it''s not, I still don''t understand why my mom is so obsessed with that tournament as if it could bring Demi back to life. It''s not like having those Salamander gemstones would secure a win for us already. Look at Gem, she could only do her magic once and sleep for at least a whole day before being able to do it again. How is that going to help us win that tournament?"

    "I''m sure she has her reasons," Lei said and looked away from Von''s intensive gaze.

    "If she really just wanted to have new kids to replace Demi, why would she even risk their lives by making them join this stupid tournament when they could''ve just lived comfortably in the comfort of our castle?" Von ranted while shaking his head.

    "From what I''ve heard from the maids and the others, Venedette is seeking revenge for Demi, and if this is her way of coping from Demi''s death then I see no wrong in doing so. And besides, it''s not like your mom is the only one who wanted to do this tournament so bad. I heard about Queen Halma''s involvement and how she talked to her about it, convincing her to form the most prepared team that Clandamascarene would ever have in this tournament. I mean look at this, if this place isn''t the biggest proof of Halma and the other official''s involvement with Venedette''s decisions yet then I don''t know anymore."

    "She''s creating the most prepared team that Clandamascarene would ever have in the tournament, which is us. But why? Why me? Why Petunia? Why Fily? Why Gem? Among the five of us, you''re the only one qualified to join this tournament. Isn''t she afraid of losing me too through this tournament?"

    "As I''ve said, I believe Venedette has her own reasons for doing so, which is why I don''t question her decisions much, and besides, aren''t you the one having the most fun on this trip? You''re not as gloomy as you once were and I think that''s a really good thing considering we''re all here, preparing to meet our deaths soon- I mean to win as a group against those other well-trained warriors the other countries were also sending outside."

    "I''m just a cowardly loser, I don''t know what mom and dad were thinking when they agreed to send me here," Von said with a pout.

    "That''s exactly the point, Von. Maybe they wanted you to step out of your comfort zone and fight for yourself for once," Lei said and patted Von''s back.

    "The tournament is scary, I totally get why no one was volunteering to go there, especially us, royals."

    "Yes, but winning the tournament is a great honor and comes with the most benefits for our country. Just like my ancestors said, we''re like athletes, but instead of doing sports, we race to the top of the scoreboard by defeating the most number of monsters we could find," Lei explained briefly, which gave Von a clearer idea of what the tournament was actually about.

    "Why does that sounds so easy when deep inside, I already know it''s going to be torture?" Von said and shrugged with the negative thoughts still on his mind.

 Chapter 145 - Checkpoint

    "Sorry for the inconvenience, Princess, but I''m afraid flying aircraft aren''t allowed to pass through the border. You may need to come down along with your passengers to go through the security first before we permit your leave." A forced audio suddenly played inside the heads of Venedette, Petunia, Gem, Fily, Von, and Lei, interrupting whatever they were doing and making them worry about the sudden inspection.

    "I thought we already had a pass from the Queen?" Venedette said, seemingly responding to the radio signal which only Fily was able to notice.

    "So the rumors about the strict security over here wasn''t just a rumor after all," Petunia said while watching Venedette have trouble dealing with the sudden interruption.

    "We''re candidates for the tournament, I doubt there''s anything else you need to check when the Queen herself was the one who permitted our leave." Venedette tried to reason again, but based on her expression, the guards did not seem to believe her statement.

    "Mom! Did you hear that-?" Von suddenly said after running back to the navigation room and paused when he saw his mom''s expression, "I guess you did." He added and took a deep breath while having his arms planted to his knees for support.

    "Why did you run?" Lei asked after catching up to him..

    "I know right?" Von said and took his time reaching the nearest couch to him, which was also the couch where Gem and Petunia were seated, but regardless of them, he just sat on the couch and laid on it while lowkey kicking the two girls off and contemplating about why he wasted his energy by running when he could have just flown his way to the door.

    "Ahh, I must have been out of it!" he said while expressing his annoyance by kicking the couch with all his might which made Gem roll her eyes on him and just carried Petunia to another chair instead.

    "Sorry about that," Lei whispered while crossing paths with Gem which made Gem feel less annoyed and more concerned about the situation.

    "I''m going to stop the Yacht after this storm and then we''ll go down, is that okay for you?" Venedette said out loud.

    "I''m okay with that," Gem said and shrugged, which she was quickly embarrassed about because of Fily''s expression, telling her to stop talking.

    "Okay, we''ll do that. Thank you for your understanding," Venedette said and ended the call, which was evident when she suddenly looked their way.

    "Von, you think you can help me carry them?" Venedette asked with her hands on her hips as if she was feeling anxious about something.

    "I can manage, Gem doesn''t weigh anything anyway," Von said, which Gem immediately took as an insult.

    "What? Am I really that light?" Gem asked with a slight pouting face.

    "Yes, I can''t even feel someone between my arms when carrying you," Von teased even more.

    "If that''s the case, then, shouldn''t you be the one also carrying Petunia instead of the three of them riding Venedette?" Gem thought rationally which alarmed Von.

    ''I thought she would also give up on getting a ride from me and ask Venedette to carry her instead. Why is she so clingy? I didn''t sign up for this,'' Von complained in his mind while scratching the back of his head.

    ''Ah, why did I lie about that? Gem would already cost me an arm, what more Petunia?'' Von thought to himself and shut his eyes tightly to assess the situation when Lei suddenly patted him in the back.

    "I didn''t know you''re this willing to help," Lei said in a serious tone although it was pretty obvious that he was just teasing Von.

    "I wish I just didn''t come to this trip," Von said in between his gritted teeth while forcing a smile to Gem and the others, thinking about how he suddenly became their elevator from the floating island (Levi-Yacht) to the ground.

    "Don''t you want to see the violent ice bullets from the ground? I heard the checkpoint''s just after the storm and you could still see ice bullets from up close over there," Lei said while putting a white flag on the digital table near their location, that surprisingly was also here in the navigation''s room considering that Fily created the map and the plan on the other table in the living room.

    "Fair enough, but I still don''t like being treated as their elevator," Von said while glancing at Gem and Petunia who were smiling like they just did something exceptional to be proud of.

    "Can''t I just hack their system and be done with it? I''m seeing a lot of people on the list with an estimated time frame of twenty minutes each. If we wait in line, it could take us at least eight hours just to pass through their security check. It''s not like we''re outsiders trying to get in so I don''t see any problem in doing so," Fily suggested to Venedette while fidgeting as if she was running out of time.

    "You''re right, but we still need to follow the rules, or else we could get eliminated from the tournament," Venedette said in an apologetic tone before focusing her attention back on the sky in front of them.

    "Eight hours? Wouldn''t that be enough time to gather clues about this witch that we''re looking for? Especially from those who came from the outside?" Gem whispered to Petunia which made Petunia anxious.

    "Shh, stop saying that."

    "Oops, sorry. But do you have any information about that secret shop that could help us? I think most of the people living on the other side would be able to recognize it with just a few keywords," Gem asked curiously.

    "Don''t worry, I got this," Petunia said with an annoyed eye roll.

    "But aren''t we supposed to work together? Come on, it''s not like we''ll get in the way of your secret mission."

    "No. I said I got this, just do what I say and we''ll have a clean success," Petunia said stubbornly.

    "Okay," Gem said, admitting her defeat from Petunia''s stubbornness with a pout.

 Chapter 146 - Uniforms

    "Here we are, let''s get our uniform trench coats under the stairs and let''s get going," Venedette said in a jiffy after reaching the end of the baby ice bullet shower (Hail storm) and parking the Levi-yacht just behind it.

    "Wow, never thought I''d miss the sun this much," Gem said with narrowed eyes as the setting sun''s shine showered the insides of their Levi-yacht with warmth.

    "Come on Gem!" Fily said from the door which she was holding open after Venedette passed through it just seconds ago.

    "Oh, alright! Goodbye sunlight!" Gem said to Fily and turned around to say the last words to the sun before grabbing Petunia from the table and tip-toeing to the door to get there faster while Fily was still holding the door open for them.

    "Thanks," Von said without even looking at Fily and his hands in his pocket while walking through while Lei, on the other hand, paused to hold the door for the girls and nodded to Fily to tell her to go with them now.

    "Thank you," Fily said without looking at Lei and glancing at Gem and Petunia behind her who was now smiling at Lei for his gentleman moves.

    "Come on," Fily put her arms around Gem''s shoulders and glanced at Lei one last time before proceeding to the living room where the stairs were located just beside the kitchen.

    "Here we go," Venedette greeted them with a dark pink colored robe with gold linings like a marble design hanging from her hands-on display as if measuring to see if they would fit Gem..

    Similarly, Von could be seen holding a similar robe in a more orange-red color which Gem thought was similar to Halma''s fox-colored dress and fox fur scarf behind Venedette which gave them the guess that this was the ''uniform'' that Venedette was talking about earlier.

    "I think this will suit you well with silver-white hair," Venedette said to Gem while she placed Petunia on top of the table and turned around to let Venedette put the sleeveless long robe on her.

    Gem followed Venedette''s suggestion and sported a snowy-white hair, brows, and lashes paired with a deep pink eye color to match the color of her robe over a white shirt and shorts that served as their bodysuit that Venedette also made them wear in advance as the more basic part of their uniform with more protection than the sleeveless robes for girls.

    Von''s robe had the same design as Lei that resembled a tuxedo on the sleeves and skirted lower parts paired with pants with an opening to the knees. Although the color in Lei''s robe and base pieces were black and darker in contrast to Von''s white base pieces paired with bright orange-red long sleeves robes, the harmony was still noticeable between the two.

    Among the girls, Fily was the only one wearing dark base pieces which Gem understood as her choice because the color of her robe and dark bases resembled her old clothes so much. With that traditional red and black lines, Fily could easily be recognized as a Maharlikan by strangers which made so much sense for Gem who was closely watching each and every one of them in their uniforms.

    Venedette had a more pastel and muted pink that matched her hair and purple eyes so much that Gem just didn''t have any words to say to the creative choice of their uniforms.

    Lastly, Petunia was given a black and purple witch hat and coat which suited her very well.

    "And for the last part of our uniform, here," Venedette said while hiding something behind her and urging Gem to give her her right hand.

    "Hmm?" Gem raised her eyebrows but gave her right hand to Venedette anyway, which Venedette excitedly grabbed and wrapped on thin white gloves with the fingers cut out, completing the look with a very unique finish with Venedette having the other pair of the white gloves.

    "We look like magical fighters," Fily remarked while checking out their first-ever uniform aside from the swimsuits and beach dresses that they wore last week.

    "Okay, let''s go," Venedette said while opening the door to the exit.

    ***

    "Ah! Running really made my back hurt! What''s with that gravity?!" Von complained while landing on the snow with Gem in his arms like a bride in white and pink while carrying a fluffy ball of white bouquet wrapped in black cloth on her stomach which was actually Petunia.

    Von and Venedette, who was carrying both Lei and Fily on the other hand, landed at the same time on top of the highest point of the mountain that they could find to minimize the risk of falling and getting injured during the flight.

    "Okay, touchdown!" Venedette said after confirming their safe descent, "Now where''s that checkpoint¡­ Oh! There it is!"

    Everybody looked in the direction which Venedette pointed at and saw a very long wall made of ice with a lot of people lined at both sides and at different sections.

    "Aren''t you cold?" Lei suddenly asked Gem after standing beside her.

    "Not really," Gem replied with a smile and shrugged while feeling her arms that were exposed by the sleeveless coat but were still comfortably warm to touch.

    "Gem!!" Fily suddenly shouted and walked towards her across the thick snow beneath their feet, "Let''s go?" Fily added in excitement after linking arms with Gem.

    "Okay," Gem said with a similar smile after finally seeing a snowy landscape for the first time in her life.

    "This is going to be a long wait," Venedette said while looking at the lines of people in front of the checkpoint and shook her head for a moment before looking back to her group to lead them down the snowy slope, "Von, let''s go," she called when she realized that Von was just staring blankly at the storm in front of them, although they were not inside the storm border anymore, the ice bullets were still visible from their position which seemingly captivated Von''s full attention and craving to see the action for himself.

    "Von!" Venedette called again which was then followed by Lei''s calling.

    "Von, let''s go," he said while wrapping his shoulders around his best friend and started dragging him down with them since he was fully distracted.

 Chapter 147 - Ice Bullets

    "He''s totally caught up with that ice shower," Fily said, regarding Von who was still star-struck by the hail storm behind them and shook her head while going behind Venedette who was already in line for the checkpoint.

    Gem, on the other hand, was busy hiding her face with Petunia while walking behind Fily as if she was afraid of catching the attention of the people who were also waiting in line with them.

    But since her teammates were all walking confidently like superstars amongst the crowd, Gem''s wish of being unnoticed was already far-fetched. It was impossible for them to not stand out, especially by wearing colorful sleeveless coats in a crowd full of normal-looking people with normal padded clothes to counter the cold climate.

    "Are you uncomfortable?" Lei asked while trying to catch Gem''s eyes when she peeked and then immediately buried her face back to Petunia''s snow-white furs after seeing everybody''s gaze on her.

    "I-I feel like they hate me," Gem said nervously which was then followed by a sudden poof of mist that seemed more like a bomb of dust, covering the entire area where Venedette''s team was standing, subsequently hiding them from those people''s piercing eyes.

    "Sorry," Gem said to her teammates who were bothered by her Salamandite''s sudden release of calming mist to calm and hide her from the people''s eyes without notice from Mr. Gemini.

    "Pfft, what the hell?" Von complained while fanning the mist away from him, finally paying attention to his surroundings other than the hail storm he was passionately watching before it got covered by Gem''s calming mist..

    [Should I cancel the release of Calming mist, Master?]

    ''Wait, I''m still gathering my confidence,'' Gem said to Mr. Gemini and took a deep breath, inhaling the calming substance of the calming mist to calm herself down while Von just took off to the sky to get a better view of that interesting hail storm.

    "Ahh, that smelled so nice," Petunia said in a relaxed tone while shifting her position in Gem''s arms into a more comfortable one after overthinking about her current situation and how she could get away from her teammates without being noticed.

    The checkpoint guards, on the other hand, were suddenly alerted by this uncommon puff of smoke that appeared out of nowhere on one of the lines where some of the most important people in the country were lining up, which forced them to dispatch a group for security purposes.

    "Why did you do that, Gem?" Venedette said calmly while walking out of the smoke, only to be greeted by several armed guards in a white uniform suit coming down from a mini spaceship.

    "Is everything alright, Princess?" the guards frantically asked after stopping in front of her.

    "Everything''s fine," Venedette said with an awkward smile which did not convince the guards too much.

    "Step back Princess, we must look for the cause of this sudden ball of smoke," the leader guard walked in front of Venedette and into the smoke which Venedette contemplated whether to stop or not.

    "We''re really just fine, it was just an accident," Venedette explained to the other guards who were waiting for their commander''s order beside Venedette.

    "Do you want to stay here?" Lei suddenly asked Gem when he sensed the commander scouting inside the ball of smoke to determine where it was coming from.

    But weirdly enough, the Commander was able to realize that the ball was not really smoke and just mist that froze in the air because of the cold temperature around here.

    "Should I stop the mist now?" Gem looked at Lei for permission while still staying calm beside him.

    "No, you can stop it when you''re ready, I''ll deal with this," Lei said and gave her a quick smile before disappearing through the thick cloud of mist around Gem.

    "I should also go out," Petunia said while looking Gem for permission before jumping down and out of the shadows that Gem created to hide from the people''s gazes.

    "Are you sure it''s not the enemies?" Gem heard the guard talking to Lei.

    "Yes, sir."

    "Bring me to her so I can confirm," the commander said firmly to Lei which he then reluctantly agreed to.

    "Can I bring the commander there, Gem?" Lei asked without even seeing Gem which she also agreed on for security purposes.

    Now that she was well hidden inside the ball of smoke, Gem was no longer afraid of the people''s gazes that made her feel as if she didn''t belong there. Letting the guard see her was not really a big deal, but when the guard came and actually saw her, something unexpected happened.

    "Gem!" Lei shouted after seeing Gem got shot by what seemed to be ice bullets, judging from the missed marks on the floor beside her, it looked as if the bullets came from a machine gun.

    When Gem disappeared, the mist that was built around her suddenly collapsed, exposing Lei and the commander who were the only other people inside the ball of mist when it happened.

    "What have you done?!" Lei shouted and lunged at the commander which alerted the other guards to aim at him.

    "It wasn''t me! I swear!" The commander immediately said with both of his hands up as if surrendering while Lei was already positioned in front of him, ready to slice his throat in just one swift move but decided against it at the last second to give him a chance to talk.

    "Put that blade down, kid, or we won''t hesitate to shoot you," one of the guards on the backline said while two of his fellow guards were already holding Venedette''s hands in a cuff.

    "Lei! Calm down! What happened?!" Venedette shouted while keeping her body still so the guards wouldn''t think she was trying to escape or do anything funny.

    "You shot at her!" Lei growled at the commander who was shaking his head continuously to prove a point.

    "Our guns have silver bullets, not ice," the commander briefly explained while looking at the trail of bullets behind Lei which supposedly hit Gem.

    "You''re lucky my friend didn''t die because of that," Lei said and let him go, releasing the tension between him and the guard who was his number one suspect for shooting Gem.

    "Give me that," Lei said and caught the white gun that the commander carefully threw at him, giving it a quick look and confirming that their bullets were indeed made of metal and not ice which immediately proved their innocence.

    "Are you okay? What happened back there? Where''s Petunia?" Venedette said after being released by the guards from her temporary cuffs.

    "Where''s Von?" Lei said in response without answering her questions.

    "He''s up there," Venedette said and looked up to see Von, still staring at the hail storm and not yet aware of the commotion that suddenly happened back down.

    "I think Gem also brought Petunia to her imaginary world," Lei said with a calm voice even though his face was showing signs of his disappointment to himself after failing to protect Gem.

    ''What if those bullets hit Gem before she was even able to disappear to Solitude? And what if something bad happened to them? They should be back by now, what''s taking them so long? And where did those bullets even come from?!'' Lei''s mind was suddenly overwhelmed with thoughts that resulted from his frustration with himself for not being able to do anything other than watching them get shot in front of him.

    "Von! Come down here!" Venedette called to her son while flying to bring him back down to the line that was now in chaos after that unfortunate event.

    "Please settle down, there''s nothing to be afraid of, it was just a little misunderstanding," the commander announced to the people who saw the commotion and were now looking at Leviathan as if they were not accepted in this kind of place.

    "What are they even doing here? It''s not like this place can feed them the same food that they get to eat in the palace! We already have more than enough people here to share food and resources with! Don''t be so selfish!"

    "That''s right! This isn''t a place for bored and greedy Royals to camp in, get lost!" some of the people in line started throwing hate comments to Venedette and Von while they were landing back down to the ground.

    And although this kind of hate was not new to Venedette anymore after experiencing many cases of slanders and hate in the places near the borders, she was concerned about Von and Lei''s reaction to being criticized by strangers this much for the first time in their lives.

    "What''s beyond the checkpoint isn''t part of your country anymore, Royals. You won''t get the same treatment you got back there and we won''t hesitate to voice our opinions against you. Are you sure you want to proceed to a place like this?" a woman''s voice stood out from the rest despite being in the farthest line.

    "We have our own problems to deal with and so do you, so let''s not get ahead of each other and cross any lines, shall we?" Venedette replied in the most sophisticated way she could, reminding these people that she deserves their respect as much as she respects them.

    "Now, who in heaven''s name shot my pupil?" she added which caused a silent reaction from the once noisy crowd.

 Chapter 148 - Hedgehog

    "Now where should I go?" Petunia asked herself while peeking outside of the small concrete tube that she just randomly found in this winter forest after sneaking away from her teammates and going solo.

    "Gahh, who knew walking could be so exhausting?" she complained and let herself lay back on the concrete tube that she was occupying on her own, taking a deep breath to tone her nerves down, but instead of feeling comfortable and having a more leveled mind, Petunia was suddenly brought back to her memory lane after smelling the familiar scent of slimes and their toxins that looked a lot like fairy houses in the forest.

    "A slime," Petunia thought to herself before gathering the courage to open her eyes, and when she did, there were five baby slimes looking at her with their dotted eyes inside their semi-transparent goo bodies with a faint reflection of lights in different shades of blue, green, and pink on their skin''s outer layer.

    They were staring so deep into her that she almost thought she did something to offend them. But Petunia''s speculation quickly came to an end when one of the baby slimes jumped inside of the concrete tube and closer to her while repeating the word, "Momma," which was then mimicked by his brothers not soon after.

    And because of Petunia''s instinct, she did not waste any more of her time and quickly looked around for a way to exit this one-way tube without getting in contact with any of them.

    Slimes are one of the most toxic creatures to ever exist in the wild, and baby slimes were just the worst.

    They couldn''t understand anything and will do their best to make contact with her, especially now that they have mistaken Petunia as their mother who just left them in the middle of this wilderness.

    "I''m not your momma, go to your momma kiddos, shoo!" Petunia tried to persuade them but instead of going away, the slimes just paused for a minute and continued what they were doing in no time. Locking Petunia inside this one-way tube without even being able to make progress on her own individual mission at this point.

    "I miss my gummy cloud," Petunia said and pouted while grabbing a sachet of "Just in case of emergency," gummy cloud potion from the pocket on her cape.

    "I really don''t want to do this but you gave me no choice, kiddos. You''re going to have some explaining to do to your mom," Petunia grinned behind her fake kind smile while facing the five little and innocent slimes lunging at her all at once for a hug which was immediately blocked by a thin layer of gummy that exploded from the sachet when she opened it at the correct timing.

    "Take that!" Petunia said and used the gummy to its fullest by wrapping the small little creatures with it which made them less dangerous for an unarmed cat like her.

    "I hate gooey creatures," Petunia shook her head while watching the five little slimes had the hardest time of their life for being gum-tacked to the ground using her alternative purple gummy "just in case of emergency" formula, "Especially small ones like you, so troublesome," Petunia said to the poor little slimed before deciding to just leave them there and continue on with her quest despite the disagreement of her now exhausted body.

    "Monica told me to ask these animals about the place where no animal would dare go to because of the scary witch that was said to be living in there, but I can''t talk to animals. How am I supposed to do this? It''s not like those birds and squirrels could just suddenly talk or understand me too¡­"

    "I just wish Monica was here with me right now¡­ or even Gem. But Gem''s going to be hard to escape with because of her size," Petunia thought and shook the negative thoughts out of her mind.

    "First clue, the witch is in the north, hidden amongst the snow. Second clue, there are little to no animals in that area because of her tendency to torture them. And lastly, she''s interested in interesting animals just like me. So it''s either I should do something to grab her attention and let her do the finding for me, or I do it the other and harder way." Petunia filled her mind with thoughts about her plan in order to prevent herself from getting distracted by the precious herbs hidden just around this forest.

    "There''s a mountain over there, and the trees end there. I''m guessing the abandoned place where animals used to hang out was near a river which leads me to the next question. Where are there no rivers, lakes, or ponds that can be found in this area?"

    "There''s a small spring there where we get our water from up there. Wait, are you perhaps new here?" a voice suddenly said from behind which startled Petunia.

    When Petunia looked back, she immediately took a step back and away from the white hedgehog that was hiding it''s presence all along amongst the roots of the trees and the snow that looked a lot like his spikes.

    "You can also talk?" Petunia asked in confusion just to make sure if her speculations were correct.

    "Of course I can, who doesn''t?" the hedgehog replied while crawling out of the hole he created for himself to hide in on.

    "Who doesn''t? Are you seriously asking me that? Of course, there''s a lot of animals who can''t talk to humans! Way more than those who can even understand or converse with them!" Petunia unintentionally lashed out which caused the hedgehog to look at her with less respect than when he first started talking to her.

    "What do you mean humans? You can talk to humans?" the hedgehog asked with his almost invisible eyebrows still in knots for being weirded about Petunia''s unfriendly behavior.

    "N-No," Petunia said, still in utter confusion about being able to talk to real animals, "Wait, are you a real hedgehog?" she followed up which confused the hedgehog once again.

    "If not then what am I?" he asked while shaking his head as if he was done talking to a weirdo like her.

    "I need water, you said you know where to drink water? I can''t find a single drop of water in this place aside from all of this snow which isn''t really safe to drink, so can you please help me out so I can finally quench my thirst?"

    "Where did you even come from? It''s not every day we have a guest, especially a well-groomed domestic pet like you." the hedgehog said, giving in to her request anyway as if he was trained to do this.

    "I was lost, I ran away from home and I don''t know where to go," Petunia lied, which sounded like the truth because of the parts that she actually did, but just in another context.

    The hedgehog was continuously shaking his head in a way that made Petunia seem like this very disappointing niece of his which Petunia just decided to roll with instead of letting go of this golden opportunity of being able to talk to animals.

    And although Petunia was relieved to be able to do that, a part of her was still worried about the possible causes of this weird ability that she did not have any control over.

    She felt like it was a sign or a countdown of her human soul''s departure from this feline''s body that wouldn''t be able to handle her human soul anymore.

    And what more motivation to get to the chase other than feeling pressured and lost once again?

    "Actually I have something to ask, do you know about that terrible witch who tortures animals in this area?" Petunia suddenly said which made the hedgehog stop climbing the slightly steep mountain where their only source of clean water was, although none of the animals living in this place really needed to drink clean water on an everyday basis, just one look at Petunia, Hodgewart was already sure she had to be one of those entitled domestic cats who think she should receive the best treatment in the world which Hodgewart had already seen a lot in the course of his lifetime.

    But Petunia asking for that particular witch came as a surprise to Hodgewart. Not only because she sounded like she was looking for death, but because she actually came to the right place to ask about that particular topic that Hodgewart was very involved in.

    "Her name is Heize and I''m Hodgewart, her old pet," Hodgewart said with pain evident in his eyes as if saying he didn''t want to leave her but he eventually had to do so in order to live, which really froze Petunia in her spot for having to land on the jackpot.

    "I knew it! Heize is alive!" Petunia burst out in happiness, almost even crying because of the revelation which made Hodgewart curl in confusion on the other hand.

    "This cat is weird," he thought to himself before proceeding to lead Petunia into the little fountain of clean drinking water, just like what he promised.

 Chapter 149 - Suspicion

    "Petunia! Where''s Petunia?" Fily said out loud, trying to call for her friend that just suddenly disappeared along with Gem but Lei immediately went to stop her.

    "She''s fine, I think Gem accidentally took Petunia with her inside Solitude."

    "Gem could do that?" Fily asked which took Lei aback for finally knowing something that Fily did not.

    "I''m just assuming that''s what happened," Lei followed up later on in case he got it wrong.

    "But I definitely heard her footsteps earlier, or was I wrong?" Fily thought to herself with a pout which also made Lei question his thoughts about what happened.

    "No one''s going to talk? You really don''t know where those bullets came from?" Venedette said with overflowing impatience first to the people and now to the guards who did not like her attitude at all.

    "Can we bring this over to the headquarters, Princess? We shouldn''t cause a commotion over here especially with all these busy people lining up to pass the checkpoint-"

    "And we''re not? We''re also as busy as these people here, trying to pass the checkpoint too but why aren''t you willing to help us? My team got shot in your area!" Venedette said, cutting off the guard''s attempt at negotiation.

    "That is also why we must bring this incident to the headquarters, please come with us," the guard responded with much disappointment as Venedette.

    "We can''t leave this place without Gem," Von suddenly interrupted while looking at his members.

    "That''s right, we should wait for Gem to come back first before going anywhere," Fily said, supporting Von''s request for the first time.

    "Wait, what do you mean by waiting for your friend? Where did your friend go anyway? Isn''t she supposed to be lying down in this snow after getting shot?" the guard said which also made the crowd curious.

    "Someone got shot?" someone in the crowd asked which was then immediately answered by the person closest to her.

    "Yes, there was a girl holding a cat there earlier when the smokescreen happened."

    "But where is she?"

    "We also don''t know, she suddenly disappeared."

    "So?" The guard followed up after not receiving any explanation from Venedette.

    "Our friend has this unique power that lets her teleport to a separate dimension when her life is in danger," Fily suddenly said even without permission from Venedette or the others that made her somewhat look like a traitor.

    "What? We can''t ask for their help if we won''t tell them the truth," Fily added, justifying her answer.

    "Excuse me what? Powers? Is there even such a thing?" the commander guard said with a confused expression which made Fily smile in annoyance.

    "Yes, powers. Do I have to explain further?" Fily answered while raising her brows as if challenging the guards to a battle of wits.

    The guards then look at each other as if Fily and her group were just messing with them. But with that in mind, they still decided to do what''s right and that was to get these people away from the line and stop interfering with their business.

    "First of all, I''m afraid that we can''t let you stay here any longer because you''re obstructing our duties, and second of all, I need you to come with us to the headquarters to speed things up a bit about this investigation and the unfortunate problem that happened here. So if you don''t mind, please come with us," the commander said with much respect while his other people opened the door to their spaceship.

    "We can''t leave Gem alone here, mom," Von complained while the others also looked at Venedette, waiting for her decision.

    "You can just contact her when she gets back," the commander added, which finally convinced them to go.

    "Let''s go," Venedette said with a stiff expression as if saying they don''t have any other choice anyway.

    "If only I was able to see who did that from up there," Von said regretfully while following after her mom to the spaceship that was just flying above them.

    "I''m suspicious of Von," Lei whispered to Fily while they got carried by the guards wearing compressed jetpacks that enabled them to fly.

    [Fily: Why?] Fily replied silently in their private messages.

    [Lei: He was the only one above Gem and the bullets came from the same direction, not to mention that those were ice bullets, the same thing that Von was obsessing over since we came here.]

    Fily nodded while reading Lei''s response.

    [Fily: So you''re saying Von was the one who did that to Gem? Even though he knew Gem wouldn''t die from that and would just teleport to Solitude?]

    [Lei: I''m not sure. But as I''ve said, the bullet''s angles definitely came from his position. That''s not hard to miss, why would he do that?]

    [Fily: It''s not him.] Fily replied without any follow-ups which made Lei look at her weirdly while Von and Venedette were both sulking and thinking hard about what happened.

    "I hope she''s fine," Von muttered under his breath which made Lei suspicious of him again.

    [Lei: It''s him, I''m sure of it. Von wouldn''t care so much about Gem''s disappearance since he knew she would just be in Solitude anyway, but the way he''s acting, it was as if he was guilty of something.] Lei sent, trying to convince Fily again but the girl looked more annoyed than usual which scared Lei a bit after taking a look at her.

    [Fily: Fine, let''s say Von was the one who did that to Gem, but why? I think the angle of the bullets and the mere fact that they are ice bullets are too convenient for the gunner to put the blame on someone else.]

    [Lei: So you''re saying it''s staged and shot in a perfect angle that would make us think it was Von? But why would anyone do that? It''s not like anyone knew we were coming today¡­]

    "Or did they?" Lei thought to himself after sending the message.

    [Fily: There''s a lot of ways to know these kinds of details about us. These must be the people that found Gem unworthy of being a tournament representative for our country, which I totally understand since half of us aren''t real citizens of Clandamascarene anyway.]

 Chapter 150 - Good Witch

    "I-It hurts," Gem murmured while holding her chest that got shot by those ice bullets that came flying to her at an incredible speed that it even managed to travel with her to Solitude.

    [Your upper area has been severely fractured, Master.] Sir Gemini announced while filling  Gem''s vision with the warning sign repeatedly.

    "I know, it hurts¡­" Gem complained again while turning her body slightly to the side in an attempt to grab the pain reliever potion that Fily and the other made for her when she was suffering from the evolution last week.

    "I thought this shirt would help lessen the impact? Why do I feel like this shirt just made the pain worse?"

    [The shirt is made to block bullets from piercing through your body, Master. The impact was unavoidable.]

    "I didn''t even get to see who shot me, ahh! It really hurts! It''s even making it harder for me to breathe! I feel so suffocated!" Gem shouted in her mind while waiting for the potion to take effect on her body.

    But instead of relieving all the pain that she felt after getting shot, Gem just felt numb in her upper body''s area but still had a hard time breathing due to the force that compressed her chest area a bit.

    "Do you have something that could help me breathe more comfortably, Mr. Gemini?" Gem asked while shifting her body to lay it in the ground properly.

    But instead of listening to Mr. Gemini''s answer, Gem felt her eyelids getting heavier in an instant which made her look at the potion she grabbed from her pocket for the first time even before taking it.

    "Ahh, I got the wrong one," Gem said before giving in to the sleeping potion mixed with a pain reliever that she happened to grab from her pocket instead of just the pain reliever potion.

    ***

    "You know her? Heize?" Hodgewart aked while watching Petunia take a sip from the clean mini waterfall hidden inside a small cave in this mountain.

    "Of course, she was my teacher!" Petunia said enthusiastically.

    "Teacher of what?" Hodgewart followed up while wiping the bits of water that fell in Petunia''s fur carefully.

    "Extraction. She taught me how to properly take the good stuff from animals and use them to make potions from scratch."

    "She did that for you? That''s so unfair. When I was with her all she did to me was get my spikes and cage me in a cage that lets me watch what she was doing with my spikes."

    "But how come you said you liked her?" asked Petunia.

    "Because she''s a very good witch. And by good I meant talented. She would make potions that enabled me to talk to her or her to me sometimes which really impressed me since I''ve always had this dream of being able to talk with humans."

    ''So that''s probably why I was able to talk to you,'' Petunia thought to herself while staring at him.

    "So why were you kicked out and not killed? That''s a very uncommon and surprising act of kindness from Heize," Petunia asked while shaking the spilled water out of her furs.

    "I don''t know. One day she just decided to open my cage and threw me out of the window without saying anything. I was so upset that I even dreamed of ruining one of her external experiments for payback one time, but everytime I see her I just get reminded of the time that we spent the entire day just talking to each other about random things, making me stop thinking about anything negative and strive to be a better hedgehog for her to take me in again." Hodgewart overshared which Petunia really did not ask for but just decided to go with since she needed something from him.

    "So where does she live? Can you bring me there?" Petunia said, getting straight to the point.

    "Right now?"

    "Yes, right now," Petunia said with an enthusiastic smile.

    "Erm¡­ I suggest you just go meet her on another day, she''s not really friendly right now. I just saw her zap a bird out of frustration earlier today."

    "So?" Petunia said after thinking that she just received a very unrelated response from Hodgewart.

    "So no, I won''t bring you to her. Not yet, at least. Who knows if she could recognize you and not kill you right away? There''s a reason why that kind of rumor circulates this town after all, and besides, I don''t want to be held responsible for your death," Hodgewart said as if he was a really good citizen of this empty winter forest.

    "But I''m running out of time! I really need to see her now!" Petunia tried again but was met with another flat rejection from Hodgewart.

    "No. I will bring you to her once I confirm that she''s in a good mood to not kill animals in that area."

    "Pfft, you''re so unnecessarily kind. Why do you care if I die anyway? I already told you, I know Heize and I''m sure she''ll be able to recognize me right away even if I look like a cat right now¡­" Petunia said which immediately made her nervous for revealing such important information.

    "Trust me, she won''t even bat an eye on you before zapping you to pieces. Stop being stubborn and just come with me, I''ll introduce you to our animal community here. Although you don''t seem like the friendly type¡­" Hodgewart said, which made Petunia relieved from not noticing her unintentional information spill.

    ''But what was that? Did he say he will introduce me to a community of animals in this forest? But what if I don''t understand them like how I can understand him? This isn''t good. I should refuse!'' Petunia thought and panicked again.

    "W-Why? I don''t think I need to meet this community that you''re saying. Like you said, I''m not really friendly and my attitude might cause them to misunderstand my intentions." Petunia immediately spilled her excuses which did not convince Hodgewart very much to stop what he was planning.

    "I can''t leave you here alone, especially after finding out you''re Heize''s friend. And besides, aren''t you just new here? You think you can survive in this forest until tomorrow just by yourself?"

 Chapter 151 - Friendly

    "Of course I can! Do I look like a weak kitty cat to you?!" Petunia meowed aggressively which made Hodgewart doubt his own judgment a little bit.

    "Well, if you''re asking for my opinion, I think you''re a very weak cat who will most likely die in this forest without my expertise so I hope you cooperate. And of course, I''m not only saying this because you''re Heize''s old student but it''s because that''s how I just basically feel," Hodgewart said without holding back, which impressed Petunia a little bit.

    "How could he be so honest and sweet at the same time without sounding creepy?" Petunia thought to herself, not knowing the fact that she had been convinced by Hodgewart''s flowery words seamlessly with that.

    "I don''t want to talk to other animals, I''m shy," Petunia said as an excuse to convince Hodgewart to not make her talk instead with the other animals while following him back down to where they came from earlier.

    "What''s there to be shy of? It''s not like my friends will eat you, we built that community to help each other survive in this place and not the other way around," Hodgewart said with a bit of an explanation about his group carefully.

    "Do they know about your connection with Heize?"

    "They do, but we don''t talk about it that much. Our leader said she will allow me to be a part of their community for as long as I make sure to keep them safe from Heize''s wrath since I was the only one who knew her best in the community."

    "That''s actually very smart, what else?" Petunia asked, seemingly getting interested in Hodgewart''s community because of the way he talked about them with much enthusiasm.

    But deep inside, Petunia knew her priorities and was thinking of a way to trick Hodgewart into telling her where Heize actually lives.

    She knew about her time limit and how Venedette and the others would probably be out there, looking for her already when she promised to do this trip together with them.

    That promise was just a lie in the first place anyway, Petunia knew she''ll have to be the only one to face Heize in the end in order for this to work.

    "We''re getting close, just a few more steps and we''re there, see the rainbows over there?" Hodgewart interrupted his own storytime by reminding Petunia that they''re close to the community already.

    "I wonder why he sounds like he''s talking about a village when animals don''t even need to build houses close to each other and live closely together like that?" Petunia asked herself while nodding to Hodgewart.

    "Can you help me understand what they''re saying? I might not understand them because of the weird potion that I drank last night," Petunia said yet another one of her excuses but with just a little bit of truth this time.

    "That''s weird, I also encountered a wolf here a long time ago who said the same thing to me while also looking for Heize. He had this card that came from Heize which convinced me to also bring him there in exchange for not harming me or any of my friends here."

    "What happened to him?" Petunia asked to hide the fact that he knew about this wolf all along.

    "I don''t know, after talking to Heize he just suddenly disappeared and never came back here, I guess he really did follow the deal that we made." Hodgewart shrugged while walking steadily through the snow and Petunia followed in his footsteps.

    "So, was he able to understand your friends or not?" Petunia asked a follow-up question.

    "I didn''t bring him to the community but some of my friends who were on scout duty with me that day weren''t able to talk to him. I don''t know how he did that but it was as if he could only hear them squeak and not actually speak, which is weird."

    "Yeah, it is weird because I don''t feel the same," Petunia murmured to herself while recalling that moment earlier when those baby slimes came jumping at her while calling her ''Mama''.

    "Maybe I can understand real animals too? It''s hard to tell because Hodgewart had been experimented on before by Heize which made him understand human language without being able to differentiate and I''m using the human language which he might have assumed as the animal language! I''m in trouble!" Petunia cried to herself while giving Hodgewart a fake smile for being sorry to him.

    "And isn''t he too friendly? Making friends with me is one thing, but with a wolf? A big freaking scary lost wolf? His confidence must have come from his spikes but how about his friends? Why is he so friendly?"

    "We''re here," Hodgewart said in a calm voice while lifting a rope that was buried in the snow.

    "Uhm, what''s that?" Petunia asked while staring at him holding the rope up.

    "Quickly, go." Hodgewart motioned for her to proceed which she reluctantly did before Hodgewart followed after her through the white rope and buried it again in the snow.

    "What was that for?" Petunia couldn''t help but ask while looking at the now-fixed snow where the string came from.

    "That was our first warning line. If my fellow animals don''t pass through that line as I did, they''re probably intruders which means that we should hide from them."

    "Oh, cool," Petunia nodded in respect to their creativity.

    "Wait! Stop right there," Hodgewart suddenly said with a higher tone which made Petunia''s heart beat faster because of the panic.

    "W-What? Why?" Petunia said while keeping her body frozen, afraid to do anything stupid that might activate the traps that Hodgewart kept talking about earlier.

    "This is the minefield, let''s make a detour." Hodgewart''s voice came back to his normal tone which made Petunia panic less and carefully move away from where she was standing and following after Hodgewart.

    "This is so complicated, it''s like an invisible maze. Whose idea was this?" Petunia suddenly asked after two and three more turns.

    "It was the leader''s expertise to build traps and mazes like this."

    "And for what? Who is your leader anyway? I believe you haven''t told me anything about her yet," Petunia said while thinking about something else on her mind.

    "What is this? How am I going to escape this place later without anyone''s help? Ahh, I shouldn''t have let him take me here, I may be curious about their community but I don''t have time for this!"

    "Our leader used to be a human before joining Heize''s experiments because of her interest in animals and their culture. She joined the experiment willingly with Heize''s promise of turning them back to their original body someday but Heize seemed to lie about that part which made her stuck in her animal form forever," Hodgewart explained while calmly leading Petunia through the maze.

    "Well, that explains a lot. What''s her name?" Petunia asked again to Hodgewart whom she was thankful for being too patient and friendly with her.

    "Nabi. Her name''s Nabi."

    "Nabi? As in butterfly¡­? Oh! Now I get it! Is she a butterfly?!" Petunia asked enthusiastically which was then answered by Hodgewart''s slight nod.

    "I didn''t know Heize could also shrink humans into bugs!" Petunia thought to herself while being excited about the fact that she could meet another human who had been turned into an animal by Heize! "Now I have two animals I can talk to!" she added to her thoughts before focusing on the path that Hodgewart created for her once again.

    ***

    "Did something happen? Why are you guys looking at each other like that?" Von asked Fily and Lei who immediately stopped bickering with their eyes and sat properly while formulating an excuse for Von''s question.

    "Nothing much, we were just debating about where Petunia is," Fily quickly said after remembering the other minor topic that they were arguing about.

    "Petunia? Didn''t she get pulled in with Gem to Solitude?" Von asked with furrowed eyebrows which made Lei relieved that he actually believed Fily''s lie.

    "Actually, I was suggesting that Petunia went somewhere else before the bullets happened," Fily said, which also gave Von another reason to believe that it was really their topic of discussion.

    "Where would Petunia go on her own without her gummy?" Von asked which made Fily roll her eyes.

    "Remember the segway that  Petunia requested us to join earlier today?"

    "The treasure hunt?" Von asked while Venedette was busy dealing with the adults through her Stat-hut.

    "Yes, what else could it be?"

    "So, are you saying Petunia actually went to that treasure hunt on her own? That''s impossible. I''m sure Gem and Petunia are taking longer in that Solitude than usual because it''s Gem''s first time bringing someone else to Solitude," Von explained after Fily''s convincing remark.

    "I was also thinking the same thing!" Lei said with a high-five to Von which Fily only shook her head on when she saw the two being friendly after remembering the moments they talked behind each other''s back to her.

    "If you don''t believe me then that''s fine, I''m just worried about Petunia who might have gone to that treasure hunt on her own without even our knowledge,"

    "Hearing you say that makes me want to believe you, but the tracker says otherwise, look. She''s still in that area where they both disappeared. The only weird thing is that Gem''s signal is nowhere to be found," Lei said while looking at his tracker, which also added to the many things that were weighing Fily''s mind about.

 Chapter 152 - Dodged

    "Wait here, please. We will process your emergency meeting with our leader in a moment," the commander said after dropping Venedette and the others off inside the checkpoint where they were welcomed by a little guest receiving area space.

    "Please sit down," a female lobbyist said and motioned to the chairs in front of them while going to the counter.

    Leviathan looked at each other before deciding to take a seat awkwardly but was immediately interrupted when their presence was called by another lady coming from the hallway.

    "Your emergency meeting had been accepted by only the Princess could come," she said, which made the kids look at each other while Venedette nodded and immediately followed the lady to where she came from.

    "Why aren''t we invited? Aren''t we supposed to help?" Von complained while looking around which Lei noticed and decided to pull him back to his seat beside him.

    "Shh, Venedette can handle this. We should just stay quiet and pay attention to our Stat-huts, we never know when Petunia or Gem might contact us."

    "We should''ve just stayed in that line, why do we even need to fall in line when I''m literally a Prince and my mom is a Princess?!"

    "Shh." Lei tried to prevent Von from talking too loud again.

    "We also shouldn''t stay there, who knows if the attacker will attack us again?" Fily said while observing Von''s reaction who, on the other hand, was totally oblivious of Lei''s suspicion and was just focused on finding out who did that to Gem.

    "Why would someone do that to Gem? Do you guys have any idea who did that? Because I don''t. Even if Gem is a little bit famous, she''s not as famous as me to get targeted like that, so why?" Von muttered to himself while the other two who were listening to him looked at each other with meaningful glances.

    Fily''s glance resembled the "Told you it''s not him." tone while Lei''s glance was just full of confusion to Fily about what Von just said.

    "But weren''t you also up there when that happened? Didn''t you see anyone else besides or close to you? Because looking from the ice bullets, I''m fairly sure they came from the same angle where you were at that time," Lei said without sounding too suspicious at Von and a little bit of judgment at the same time.

    Von''s eyebrows furrowed because of what Lei said, but instead of defending himself, he went into a deep thinking stance which confused Lei even more.

    [Fily: It''s not him, why won''t you believe me? Someone purposely made the bullets come from that angle so we would suspect Von but I''m not dumb to fall victim to that old trick.]

    Lei read Fily''s message and pouted.

    "You''re right, while I was watching the hail storm, I thought I felt something falling from the sky so I avoided it. Could it be perhaps the ice bullets that hit Gem?! Ahh! I didn''t get to see it clearly because I wasn''t paying attention and totally thought that those were just stray bullets from the storm! Why haven''t I thought about this earlier?!" Von ranted, even more, confirming Fily''s theory and scrapping Lei''s suspicion.

    "Wait, so you dodged those bullets without even thinking about it?" Lei said, asking for confirmation which he then got when Von nodded.

    "Which makes you the primary target of those bullets," Fily said without even looking at them.

    "But what if they knew that Von would dodge the bullets in the first place and just really wanted to frame Von for it?" Lei asked the same thing that Fily was proposing earlier which made Fily look at him like he just stole her idea.

    "If that''s the case then they''re probably smart," said Fily, which was then countered by Lei''s pessimistic thoughts immediately.

    "Or they could have been just really lucky," he said and shrugged.

    A few moments of silence passed right after Lei''s suggestion. But because there were still several things that were bothering Lei about his suspicion of Von, he decided to break the silence by directly asking Von about it instead of going to Fily and talking to her about Von behind his back.

    "So you really didn''t see anybody from up there?" Lei asked calmly while looking directly into Von''s eyes to watch out for his body language.

    "No¡­" Von responded regretfully.

    "They were watching us, which means they could still be watching us right now," Fily suddenly said and stood up.

    "Where are you going?" Lei asked while Von was still busy thinking on his own.

    "I''ll just grab a coffee." Fily did not even bother looking back at Lei while saying that and walked directly towards the vending machine which was also conveniently situated just beside the tower''s window.

    The headquarters were located on the highest floor of the checkpoint''s tower which Fily thought was a great start to her mini-quest of finding who was behind the ice bullets that hit Gem and almost framed Von who would have also been her first suspect if she didn''t notice Petunia''s disappearance that Lei wouldn''t also believe.

    "I hope she finds what she''s looking for and returns safely as soon as possible," Fily thought while waiting for her instant coffee.

    Other than Gem and Petunia''s problem and their problem with crossing the checkpoint, Fily also had to deal with her sleepiness that was already kicking earlier than her usual time.

    "What''s this? Why am I feeling sleepy already? I need to last until tomorrow, I shouldn''t be feeling sleepy right now. Did I overwork myself? That couldn''t be, I barely did anything tiring except for riding those roller coasters- oh. That could probably be the reason why I feel so tired and sleepy right now."

    "Should I use this waiting time to sleep and just tell them to wake me up after?" Fily added to her thoughts and finally received the coffee that just finished mixing in her cup.

    "Ahh, it''s either I choose to sleep or find the culprits now¡­" Fily contemplated while sitting down back on her chair not far from Von and Lei before even getting the chance to drink her coffee which made her drowsy ultimately fall asleep in an instant the moment her legs went to rest.

 Chapter 153 - Outdated

    "Hey!!" Von shouted and ran to catch Fily''s coffee after seeing her almost spill it down to the floor without even paying attention.

    "Fily? Are you asleep? Is she asleep?" Von asked and looked at Lei in that last sentence.

    "Maybe," Lei said and also went closer to Fily to double-check, "Yep, she has completely fallen asleep that fast."

    "What time is it anyway? Wasn''t she supposed to sleep at midnight?" Von said while looking at the orange sky through the window.

    "Let''s just let her. We''re not doing anything anyway."

    "I wonder what mom and the other guards are talking about inside that room," Von said after seeing the lady that called Venedette earlier come out of the head''s room where Venedette was currently in.

    ***

    "Are you saying there''s no one to blame for this accident? Accident? Really? My children could be in danger right now because of that very unlucky incident! What are the odds that ice bullets suddenly rained down on your people? Is this a common occurrence here? Because for all of my life, this was just the first time I''ve heard of such a thing," Venedette said while standing in front of the head''s desk with her arms crossed..

    "It isn''t a common occurrence, ma''am. But so was your child''s disappearance. We can''t do anything until your child comes back and gives us a proper look at what exactly happened."

    "But what about the surveillance radars? Weren''t you able to detect anything suspicious through them?"

    "Like what?" the middle-aged man wearing a navy green commander''s uniform with a black square mustache said with disinterest to Venedette whose patience was already getting tested.

    "Like outsiders lurking around your inefficient checkpoint or a machine gun, perhaps?" Venedette said while wandering her eyes around the various mini detectors she could find in the chief''s office.

    "Why would refugees bring weapons with them?"

    "Hul, are all your detectors this outdated?" Venedette said while grabbing a block of old detectors that she found laying around the chief''s desk.

    "As I''ve said, we don''t see the need for extensive detectors when most of the people that pass through here are just poor refugees."

    "But you do know that''s just a lie, right?" Venedette said while keeping her eye contact with the chief who immediately broke eye contact with her because of the guilt that suddenly crept into him.

    "You do know I''m the Queen''s daughter and a representative for the upcoming Dekadalaw tournament, right?" Venedette said when her patience finally ran out.

    "Tell your people to look for those people who did that to my groupmate and let us pass through this checkpoint immediately after Gem comes back."

    "That isn''t-"

    "Are you going to give more excuses or do you want me to expose the corruption that is happening here? You wouldn''t want that to reach the castle, do you?" Venedette said with all confidence which made the chief commander clear his throat.

    "Only in one condition," he said without even looking at Venedette which made Venedette raise her eyebrow at him.

    "If you ever found out who did that to your member, please don''t hurt them. Most of the people here are just weak beings who like to play-"

    "What a bull," Venedette laughed after hearing the chief commander''s very unreasonable condition, "If I can remember correctly, my adviser told me about all sorts of underground things that happen here, do you want me to list them down for you and also send them to the castle?" Venedette threatened with a smile.

    "I''m telling you, especially if they turned out to be kids," the chief commander said while almost going down on his knees to reach out to Venedette.

    "Why does it sound like you know these culprits?"

    "I- Uh¡­ might have an idea who did this, but I''m not sure about it yet. I told my people to catch them already, just promise me please that you won''t hurt them?" the chief commander begged again which made Venedette''s heart soften a little bit.

    "I''ll think about it. If Gem comes back unharmed I might consider letting them go, but for now, I would like to talk to them, please," Venedette said, which relieved the chief commander a little bit.

    "Thank you for your consideration-"

    "I said I would consider it if Gem comes back unharmed," Venedette said firmly, clearing out what she said to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding happening between her and the chief commander.

    "Yes, I understand, Princess," the chief commander said politely and stood up back to his original position which was very unlike him a few minutes ago.

    Who knew the conversation would turn a hundred and fifty degrees just because of Venedette''s confidence?

    "Shall we?" the chief commander said while gesturing to the door which Venedette agreed to with just one nod, letting the chief lead her back to the lobby where she found Von and Lei sitting on Fily''s both sides and seemingly taking care of her which made Venedette worry a little bit.

    "What''s wrong?" she mouthed to the boys who immediately saw and understood what she was trying to say.

    "She''s asleep!" Von mouthed and even acted out the words by pointing to Fily and doing a sleeping pose which made Lei a little bit embarrassed to those who saw Von do that.

    "That''s not good," Venedette thought to herself which even made her eyebrows furrow while following the chief commander.

    "Where are you going? Mom?" Von spoke out which pulled Venedette a little back to reality and immediately stopped him from interfering.

    "Just somewhere," Venedette replied before disappearing from Von''s view on the left corridor.

    "Aren''t we supposed to come with her?" Von asked Lei who just shook his head to him.

    "Our mission is to take care of Fily and wait for Petunia or Gem to contact us," Lei said which convinced Von to sit back down beside Fily and just wait with him even with his eyebrows furrowed and a little annoyed attitude.

 Chapter 154 - Letter To Self

    "Is that¡­" Petunia said and paused behind Hodgewart which also made Hodgewart pause while looking at her.

    "What?" Hodgewart asked her before returning his gaze to the mini village in front of them.

    The houses were made of mushrooms, sometimes with the combination of twigs, straws, and woods that were almost unnoticeable because of the snow almost covering the whole village, making them unnoticeable in the eyes of a wanderer.

    Well, they were almost unnoticeable, just until when the sun finally set and the darkness came. Lights started appearing everywhere in the village, faint mushrooms and fairy lights that looked adorable and magical inside a snowy forest that immediately made Petunia ask herself "How could this be possible?"

    "Huh? We use the glowing goos from the hostile slimes that attacked us in order to warn them to not make the same mistake again, and sometimes, we get fireflies to volunteer light service in exchange for shelter, but ever since we learned and recreated how fireflies make their butt light up, we rarely ask them for service and use the improvised lights instead," Hodgewart explained flawlessly while nearing the village.

    "Hodgewart! It''s Hodgewart! But who''s the cat?" Petunia heard the village people gossiping while approaching them.

    "Hodgewart!" a baby fox greeted the giant hedgehog with a wide smile and a warm hug.

    ''There are all kinds of animals here, huh?'' Petunia thought to herself while looking around the dim village using her night vision..

    There were squirrels, penguins, baby foxes, rabbits, and even winter bears on standby beside the huge pine trees! Just how diverse this community is?

    "These are my children," Hodgewart said, which caught Petunia''s attention immediately, because instead of little hedgehogs, Petunia was greeted by two baby red foxes cuddling with Hodgewart in front of her.

    "Uhhh, hi?" Petunia said awkwardly which was also responded to by an awkward gaze from Hodgewart''s ''kids'' who also waved their tails at her while pouting.

    "Are you also lost?"

    "Or did your mom also leave you to die here in the winter woods?" the two baby foxes said simultaneously which ultimately shocked Petunia for two things.

    One because she had been mistaken for a baby cat, and two because of the fact that the last fox unintentionally shared their past to her which made her really sympathetic.

    "Your mom did that to you? Oh no¡­ and n-no, I''m just lost," Petunia muttered to herself nervously, not knowing how she should act in front of these people who did not even understand what she was saying and just thought she was just really weird and nervous about meeting new people.

    Petunia thought she couldn''t be her usual snobby self this time because somehow, Hodgewart and his kids had already grabbed her attention and sympathy without even trying!

    And even though Petunia thought she liked it here, she was now afraid of leaving a bad impression which made her even more nervous than before.

    "Hello, I can see you''ve brought someone new with us here today," a deep female''s voice suddenly talked from behind the crowd which took Petunia a little bit more time before seeing who it was.

    "Miss Nabi," Hodgewart and the other animals said in unison, even bowing down a little bit in order to give her a space to pass through.

    And there she came, flapping through the crowd unstably with an abstract golden ring on her head that was supposed to be a crown. She looked like a fairy along with those luminescent edges of her body and wings.

    ''Ah, I really want to see the real colors on her wings. I think they''ll look gorgeous with my human eyes¡­'' Petunia thought to herself while watching the village''s leader having a hard time balancing the abstract golden ring on her little butterfly head.

    "So, who is this new fellow, and what is her business with us?" Miss Nabi said with a few exaggerated gestures with her six luminescent little legs in the dark.

    "I invited her to stay for the night before continuing on with her rogue adventure, Miss Nabi," Hodgewart said, which was then met with a kind response and nods from little Miss Nabi and her people.

    "Very well then, I hope you have a great time here. If Hodgewart invited you himself then you must have been special. So, where did you come from?" Miss Nabi asked while leading her and everyone else to the biggest and brightest house carved out of a big mushroom mashed inside a lush and big fat tree.

    "From the silver woods?" Petunia asked in a question form as if unsure herself, since she was always traveling and hiding from people, Petunia didn''t really consider anywhere her home and just thought of the closest place she could call home, aside from Yvandir of course.

    But unlike the kind reaction from Miss Nabi and her people earlier, this time, Petunia was met with weird stares and negative gossips from the people because of unknown reasons.

    "D-Did you just use the human language?" Miss Nabi said which her people didn''t seem to understand because of their curious stare at her and back at Petunia.

    "I-I guess so," Petunia answered, not even sure what kind of language she was using herself and how she was able to understand these people or rather animals from the get-go.

    Understanding what they were saying made Petunia think that she was speaking their language and not the other way around, but because of their reactions, there was no reason for Petunia to believe that anymore.

    "Oh no, I shouldn''t have opened my mouth," Petunia thought to herself while looking at Hodgewart and his clueless fox children for help.

    ''It''s okay, you just need to show you''re good,'' Petunia interpreted Hodgewart''s look which made her even more nervous.

    ''I was famous for making people''s blood boil at the first meeting, how am I supposed to deal with this?!''

    "So, are you also a human turned into an animal, or are you an animal that was also taught how to speak the human language?" Miss Nabi said with wide eyes while mentioning herself as the human that was turned into an animal and to Hodgewart who was a real animal that was recently taught how to speak human by Heize.

    "Uhmm, I- uhhh, I''m a real human," Petunia said without looking at Miss Nabi or anyone else, "Yep, I used to be a human¡­ I guess," Petunia added when she noticed some parts of her memories disappearing from her mind.

    "Oh, you poor thing," Miss Nabi said, which surprised Petunia and even the other animals who understood her before she gave Petunia a little hug in the nose.

    "Don''t worry, we got you. So, for how long have you been living as a cat now?" she immediately asked while pouting which made Petunia feel weird for being able to read an insect''s facial expressions.

    "For almost ten years, I guess," Petunia said while looking up at the sky, unsure of anything anymore because of her deteriorating feline memory.

    "Ten years?!" Miss Nabi repeated in shock which made Petunia look at her in the eyes directly.

    "I guess, I''m not really sure," Petunia said with furrowed arrows, even shaking her head to get her memories back but it was as if they had already fallen from her grip.

    "Excuse me, do you have a pen and paper? Anything I could write with?" Petunia asked Miss Nabi and her people in a rush before going back to the snow and writing something down using her paws.

    "This isn''t good, what if I suddenly forget everything tomorrow and even the purpose of my visit? Where I came from and what I was trying to do¡­" Petunia muttered while writing the keywords down.

    "What''s wrong?" Hodgewart asked, which was only responded with a wait sign.

    "I can''t forget these things, not now. Not when I don''t have my stat-hut with me," Petunia said in a panic while still trying to write things in the snow.

    "Could you please copy what she''s writing in this paper?" Miss Nabi said to her monkey assistant that just came out from the mushroom treehouse.

    "Okay." The monkey nodded and climbed the treehouse to see what Petunia was writing on the snowy floor with a pen and paper in her hands and with the help of fireflies whom Miss Nabi also tasked to roam around the words that Petunia wrote in order for her assistant to see and copy everything precisely.

    "What''s happening with her?" Miss Nabi finally asked Hodgewart with her six arms crossed while watching Petunia panicking from afar.

    "Ah, I should''ve known! I should''ve just brought the Stat-hut with me instead of putting my memories at stake for this seemingly impossible mission. I even let myself get distracted when I should''ve just asked him to bring me to Heize immediately!" Petunia muttered to herself in disappointment before finishing off her letter to herself.

    "Done, please don''t step or ruin this!" She even announced to the animal people while knowing the fact that they wouldn''t be able to understand whatever she was saying anyway.

 Chapter 155 - Children

    "Before we go in, can I have your word, Princess?" the chief in command said while looking back at Venedette and stopping in front of a big garage entry door-looking barrier where officials usually need to slide their IDs first before entering.

    "As I''ve said, I can only pardon them if-"

    "But these are just kids, so, please. If you have any sort of decency left," the chief in command said recklessly which made the air a bit burdensome around him and Venedette all of a sudden.

    "Excuse me, this is my team we''re talking about here. Do you know how important it is for my team to be in the best condition all of the time in order to be able to train properly and compete in the upcoming tournament?" Venedette said in response.

    "I''m sorry, that was not what I meant by that.. What I was trying to say is that, please consider giving these kids more pardon for their actions, we''re not even sure if they''re really the ones who did that and I''m only showing them to you based on my suspicion, so please. Don''t be so hard on them."

    "We''re going to see to that later," Venedette said, neither accepting nor declining the chief''s request by just putting her head up and looking forward to her meeting with the suspects

    "Pull it up," the chief sighed and said reluctantly to the officer assigned in this door who then diligently followed just what he said without questions.

    Upon the opening of the barrier for Venedette and the chief in command, they were welcomed by what seemed to be an audacious mess especially in front of the Princess who just got here recently and was already able to witness several young and free looking teens making a mess out of anything they could grab in this place just to try and get away from the guards that were assigned to watch over them.

    "I told you we shouldn''t have followed them here! Now grab this rope and wrap it around his neck before they come in-" a girl with thick eyeliners, black hair with pink highlights, and the same style for her punk fashion said while pinning down a guard using her whole body and arms while trying to hand a coil of thin rope to her other friend, a chubby and angry teen looking guy who was, on the other hand, swimming on the floor while kicking the same guard''s hands off of his feet.

    "Oh no, we''re too late." A nerd-looking guy who almost used an adjustable wrench to knock another guard in the head said while hiding his weapon behind him quickly and adjusting his glasses after seeing the door open and the adults come out of it.

    "What is happening here?!" The commander in chief''s voice thundered across the open parking space for aircraft where they decided to keep these kids that they almost immediately caught after just a few minutes of stepping inside the tower''s elevator.

    "Sis, put it down!" a little blonde child with curled pigtails and a cute stuffed teddy bear said angrily to the girl earlier who then had no other choice but to follow the little girl''s request because she had been busted anyway even if she still managed to strangle the guard assigned to take care of them.

    "Uhmm, hi¡­ Sir," the thin guy with glasses said while being brought closer to Venedette and the chief by the guard he attempted to hit with a wrench earlier along with the chubby guy who was frowning and had a dark look with his eyes, while the two girls were taken by the other poor guard who almost got choked with the wild teenage girl''s rope earlier.

    "Daddy!" the little girl with ribbons and teddy bears said while squabbling closer to the chief in command while still holding the guard''s hands for support said before reaching the commander who then carried her in his arms like a baby.

    Venedette quickly estimated the four children''s ages in his mind which, if she was correct, was respectively, 4 years old for the little girl, fourteen for the wild-looking girl, and around the same age for the two boys which made her understood why the chief in command was begging her for pardon.

    Not to mention that the little girl just called him ''Daddy,'' and the other girl ''sister,'' which made it pretty obvious that they were a family and these two guys were just his daughter''s friends.

    "What are you doing? I thought I was clear when I said you weren''t allowed to hang out with your friends today?" the chief commander said to the snobby girl who just rolled her eyes at him as a response.

    "I sincerely apologize for this mess, Princess," the chief in command said while bowing slightly to Venedette who was still processing all the information she had gotten in her mind and how she could deal with this situation as efficiently as possible.

    "Wait, so are you saying these kids are the ones responsible for shooting Gem and Von precisely using that gun?" Venedette said with a concerned expression while pointing at the long improvised machine gun that the chubby guy was trying to reach for earlier when he was swimming on the floor.

    "We didn''t mean it! It was just a joke! And besides, who knew Gonder''s aim would be so precise like that?! Who told you to do your best at shooting them, huh?" the wild girl with pink highlights growled at her chubby friend who was now looking down because of the disappointment and embarrassment for himself.

    "Well, I was the one who calculated his aim and made sure that he could hit something close to the target, b-but I made sure he wouldn''t hit the target, so I''m also not sure what happened¡­" the nerdy guy said, immediately following up with an excuse to save himself.

    "Where did you even get those ice bullets from?" the commander asked which was then followed by his youngest daughter''s proud answer immediately.

    "Sis told me to go near the ice hail and grab a lot of bullets for them, I did a great job, didn''t I? Didn''t I" she said, waiting for a compliment from her dad but turned silent when she saw him frown.

    "You told your sister to go near the storm? Hetti?!" the commander growled, not even capable of controlling his anger anymore even in the presence of the Princess because of the reckless thing that Hetti made her sister do.

    But instead of being annoyed, Venedette immediately understood the situation and thought that the commander probably needed alone time with his kids to deal with this situation quietly.

    "Can I talk to these two while you resolve your issues with your children, sir?" Venedette politely asked the commander who then apologized immediately for forgetting about her presence.

    "Of course, Princess. Then can I-?" The commander bowed courteously and asked for a moment with his children.

    "Uhuh," Venedette nodded and then looked at the two guards behind the children, "Can you show me where the interrogation room is?"

    "Can I?" the guard asked his commander who then gave him a nod, "This way, Princess," he said and led them across the hallway and into a room where interrogation usually happens for suspects, witnesses, victims, and criminals altogether.

    When Venedette and the first kid, the chubby one was then left inside the interrogation room on their own, Venedette cut to the chase and started the conversation with the most important question she needed to know in the meantime.

    "Why did you do that?" she asked, but even after waiting for a few minutes, the chubby kid didn''t bother opening his mouth or even looking her in the eyes.

    ''I guess he''s a shy type, then?'' Venedette thought to herself and cleared her throat.

    "Do you know me?" she asked despite getting her pride hurt in the first attempt.

    "The Princess," he answered with the same attitude, which made Venedette feel relieved and troubled at the same time for not getting anything from him.

    "Can you bring the other one here first?" Venedette said out loud, which was meant for the guards watching them from behind the one-way glass behind her.

    She thought having the nerdy one was better to interview first because of his probably talkative personality in comparison to this one who only ever opens his mouth when asked natural questions with answers that didn''t need to be thought about.

    "Very well, Princess," the guard behind the one-way mirror said before ordering the others outside to bring them the nerdy one instead.

    When the nerdy kid finally sat down in front of Venedette, she was relieved to see this kid at least trying to look her in the eye unlike that boy before who did not even try.

    "So, do you have anything to say?" she asked with a raised eyebrow which the boy peeked at for a little while before looking down at his shy posture again.

    "Uhmm, so..."

 Chapter 156 - Brain Freeze

    "Don''t worry, we got it all on paper," Miss Nabi said while flapping calmly to Petunia and landing on her nose.

    "Really? Where?" she asked while preventing herself from scratching her nose and accidentally hurting Miss Nabi.

    "There with a pen and paper." Miss Nabi pointed at the roof of the tree-mushroom house where a monkey holding a twig waved back at them while making excited monkey noises.

    "What was I trying to do again?" Petunia muttered to herself while trying to figure out what it was that she was trying to write earlier.

    "Hmm?" Miss Nabi asked with a slightly tilted face, "I think we should go settle inside the house first," she added with a smile which made Petunia unable to decline.

    "What was it?" she muttered to herself while walking closely to Miss Nabi in order to not get lost inside this foreign place.

    ***

    "Here''s what you wrote earlier," Miss Nabi said while the monkey was placing the paper and pens on the table in front of Petunia.

    "Stat-hut? Mission, Heize, Leviathan, Curse, Monica, and Cloud, what are these?" Petunia wondered while most of the animals watching her also had the same confused expression on their faces.

    "Can you understand her, papa?" one of the baby foxes asked Hodgewart, giving him the spotlight in the room just until he nodded and everybody put their eyes on Petunia again.

    "You said you have something to tell me, what is it?" Miss Nabi said, trying to help Petunia recall her memories back but Petunia only seemed to be having a hard time inside her head.

    "Okay, how about we start with this, Stat-hut. Do you know what a Stat-hut is?" she asked while pointing at the first word Petunia wrote earlier.

    "No," Petunia said with teary eyes.

    "It''s an important technology for humans, why did you write it? Do you need it? Or are you looking for it now?"

    "No," Petunia shook her head, somehow still knowing how to answer Miss Nabi''s questions without knowing anything.

    "I.. Uhhh," Petunia stuttered while grabbing something that seemed to be missing from her neck which gave Miss Nabi an idea of what it was.

    "You used to have one, look, your fur has traces of something missing from here, something chunky and a little bit tight. Was it a collar? You had a Stat-hut for a collar?" Miss Nabi asked, not holding herself back from voicing out her speculations.

    "A collar, I-I think that''s right. I feel like I''m naked over here," Petunia said while still scratching her neck.

    "Okay, do you need our help to look for it?" Miss Nabi offered while watching Petunia close her eyes and shook her head slightly.

    "My memories, I think it''s there," Petunia said as if trying to recall some more of her memories that were now in shatters.

    "Yes, that''s why, do you need our help to look for it?" Miss Nabi asked again which Petunia automatically responded with a slight shake of her head again.

    "I don''t know why but my head''s telling me no," Petunia confessed which made Miss Nabi slightly annoyed.

    "Very well," she only said before excusing herself from the crowd.

    "What''s wrong? You seem to be fine just earlier," Hodgewart said after moving closer to her.

    "Do you know me?" Petunia asked which made Hodgewart stiffen.

    "I-I was the one who brought you here just earlier, have you forgotten me already?" Hodgewart asked in disbelief.

    "I don''t know, everything just seemed too vague and blurry, I''m sorry," Petunia said while covering her ears and burning her face to the slightly soft mushroom table in front of her which made Hodgewart realize just how extreme Petunia''s case was.

    He was not new to seeing animals with fading memories, especially since it was a sign that they were already close to their deaths, but Petunia''s case was the weirdest so far.

    "You asked me to bring you straight to Heize earlier, was this the reason?" Hodgewart asked despite knowing it was already pointless to ask Petunia anything.

    But to his surprise, Petunia nodded to his question with teary eyes.

    "Heize? This Heize? You know where she is? What could I possibly need from her? Why did I ask you to bring me to her? Ahh, my head hurts so much," Petunia asked restlessly while banging her head to the slightly soft table that was made of mushroom as if she was used to doing that already.

    Hodgewart didn''t bother stopping her from banging her head to the mushroom table which made his kids look back and forth from him and Petunia weirdly since they couldn''t understand a thing that they were saying earlier.

    "Pa, why aren''t you stopping her? She could hurt her head," the orange fox on Hodgewart''s right said while gliding closer to Petunia and figuring out how to stop her without getting her attention much.

    "The food''s coming any minute now, tell her to stop, pa," the other orange fox on Hodgewart''s left side said while tugging his little left arm quietly.

    "Okay," Hodgewart said in animal language before calling for Petunia''s attention. "Hey, stop that, the food''s on the way, I think you should eat first, it might help you remember things."

    "Huh?" Petunia said cluelessly while looking around and even got surprised when he saw the baby fox beside her.

    "There there," the baby fox said while pushing Petunia''s spine and fixing her chin gently before leaving with a shy expression that he managed to hide from Petunia while walking away from her.

    "What was that for?" the other baby fox said to his brother and even landed a slight punch just to tease him. "I didn''t know you were this sweet," he added, which made his brother hide his face out of embarrassment.

    Somehow, looking at the two foxes even without understanding what they were saying made Petunia remember something about two same human guys that were always inseparable in her memories.

    And although they also fought sometimes, Petunia was sure that they were just like these two that would always fight sometimes and make up the next day.

    She could even see some parts of her last memories with them inside a flying house.

    ''Who could they be?'' she asked before paying attention to the monkey and two penguins that were serving them food and water from the kitchen.

    "What is this?" she asked Hodgewart while staring at the dark blue sticky meal in front of her.

    "That''s a blueberry vegetable iced shake," Hodgewart answered without getting too much into detail, making Petunia remember someone who also does the same thing every time she''s awake.

    "Fily," Petunia said and wrote the word down on the table using her wooden spoon.

    "Heyy, why would you do that? Do you know how hard it is to maintain this table''s smoothness?" a squirrel who saw what Petunia just did said but ultimately ignored her anyway after starting with her meal after remembering that Petunia wouldn''t be able to understand her anyway.

    But Petunia understood what she said and just pretended not to, because aside from it''s weird, it would also go against her introduction and thus make more confusion between her and the animals in this community in the future. So she just chose to dismiss what the squirrel said and continued on with her life.

    "This is kind of tasty, how did you make this?" Petunia asked after tasting the shake with her tongue just like every other feline in this dining room.

    "It''s made out of blueberries, oats, carrots, celery, nectar, and shaved ice from the backyard," Hodgewart said, lying about the last part just to see Petunia''s expression but her face didn''t change like what he was expecting.

    "It''s so yummy, I don''t think I''ve ever had something like this before," Petunia said before finishing her meal in one continuous gulp, "Can I have more?"

    "Umm, we''re rationing our food so I hope you understand-"

    "Of course," Miss Nabi said, cutting Hodgewart''s words off and ordering her assistants to grab more food for Petunia who seemed delighted after tasting such a delicious delicacy.

    "But do you guys get full from this? Why do you still eat ice inside this cold place?" Petunia asked innocently which would have brought her trouble if the others were also able to understand her, but thankfully Hodgewart and Miss Nabi were the only ones who understood what she said and did not think of it as a big deal.

    "As Hodgewart said, we''re rationing our food and trying our best to keep things friendly for everyone," Miss Nabi explained vaguely, which Petunia seemed to understand anyway.

    "But since you''re new here, we''ll let you eat more. You seem to have a big appetite, I''m guessing you came from a rich family, also based on your Stat-hut. Not all animals were given the opportunity to use one," Miss Nabi said with a slight shrug.

    "Did you also have one?" Petunia asked without paying much attention because the refill for her food was already brought in front of her.

    "As a human, yes, but as a butterfly, no."

    "Oh, I think it was because I used to be a human too," Petunia said and forgot about it immediately because of the brain freeze that she got from gulping the whole bowl of frozen blueberry shake in one sip, "Ouch!"

 Chapter 157 - High Kick

    "Uhmm, so¡­" the timid nerdy kid said with a bit of nervous fidgeting which made Venedette soften her approach a little bit.

    "Go on," she said.

    "I-It was my fault. I was supposed to aim Bruno''s gun somewhere near you guys to scare you away but I didn''t know Bruno could perfect his aim and actually hit one of you, his aim is usually hopeless on a normal basis but somehow his aim became perfect this time. I''m really sorry Princess, please forgive us," the nerdy kid said without looking at Venedette and bowing the whole time while pleading with his hands together. He seemed as if he also wanted to go down on his knees but Venedette didn''t let him do that anymore.

    "Why would you do that? Why would you try to scare us away?" Venedette asked in her mellow voice.

    "B-Because everybody here hates you, including us. We were supposed to participate in the upcoming tournament too, but ever since you announced your team, we lost all hopes in ourselves. We thought it was unfair, they''re younger than us but why are they chosen-?"

    The kid stopped talking the moment he made contact with Venedette''s eyes.. He was so comfortable in nagging his friends about the topic that he forgot the fact that he was talking with Venedette this time, his rival.

    "Why would you think that to yourself? Did everyone over here thought the same? Just because we''re joining doesn''t mean we''re not allowing you to join anymore. What''s stopping  you?" Venedette asked in full seriousness.

    "Our parents. They said we''re no match for your team, so when we heard you were coming here, we planned for a surprise attack to show them how deserving we are to fight. But I''m not really planning on hurting Gem. That was not really our intention. I''m so sorry."

    "Okay, that''s good enough, can you tell your friend to also speak with me, I don''t like being ignored too much, thank you." Venedette smiled at the nerdy kid called Lorenz before letting him go.

    But just as the door to the interrogation room opened, Lanzo was pushed back on both sides by Von and Lei who both had dark expressions painted on their faces.

    "Von, Lei¡­" Venedette stood up from her seat in utter disbelief because of Von and Lei''s sudden violence.

    "So it was you," Von said before slamming Lorenz to the wall and crossing his arms in front of him like a mean boy that he was.

    "Hey, what are you doing?" A deeper voice said from the door who saw all the commotion whilst being held by two guards on both sides.

    It was Gonder who had just been called back to the interrogation room per Venedette''s request while wrapping up Lorenz''s confession.

    "Von, Lei, What are you doing here? Get out," Venedette said in a stern tone but the two seemed too occupied to hear her.

    While Gonder was struggling to get out of the two guard''s hold, a flying kick suddenly entered the room and passed through Lei who tilted his head swiftly to avoid the flying kick that was now on Lorenz''s face, knocking him down like the broken bamboo tree that he looked like a lot.

    "Yahh!" the girl who entered the room with a flying kick said and shook all the hair out of her face only to see Lorenz laying down on the floor with a reddened left face.

    "Oh no! What the hell you guys?!" Karizze growled at Von and Lei even though she knew it was her fault anyway and was just too embarrassed to admit to it.

    "What the hell to you too! Do you realize what you just did to our friend and now to yours?!" Von shouted back at her.

    "What the hell Karizze! Why would you kick Lorenz in the face!?" Gonder said from the door which reminded the three of them about Venedette and the chief commander''s presence, watching over them while they bicker with each other.

    "I didn''t mean it!" Karizze said in full defensive mode while hurrying over to her father who was then carrying her now sleeping baby sister in his arms.

    "Come here you two," Venedette said, calling over to Von and Lei who were both very upset and confused at the same time, because according to what they just overheard earlier, these three, or four including the baby, were the ones responsible for hurting Gem because of jealousy.

    But looking at them now, it seemed almost impossible for these dorks to achieve such great heights without anyone''s guidance, especially an expert who could definitely hit the bullseye that was either Von or Gem who were both on the same spot, just perfect for the ice bullets to hit either one of them.

    "Where''s Fily?" Venedette asked after gathering the two under her wings.

    "She''s over there," Lei, who was the calmest among the two, said while pointing his thumb at the one-way mirror behind them.

    And not long after, the commander apologized to Venedette again while promising to help more with the investigation and dropping a report about Gem and Petunia, still not being back to where they disappeared from earlier.

    "What are we going to do? We have an appointment later with the tribes and I don''t think they could tolerate us adjusting the meeting again because of this sudden chaos."

    "I wonder what happened to Gem. Usually, she would just stay in Solitude for about five to ten minutes but it has already been an hour. I think something''s wrong¡­" Von voiced his own concern after Venedette''s worry which was then followed by Lei''s speculation.

    "What if Gem needs help and just couldn''t ask for it because she got hit?"

    "Hey! Why would you say something like that?! Solitude was the skill that saved Gem from countless threats to her life already, including that potion that Halma put in her drink. So why would you think about something negative like that? I''m guessing it''s because of Petunia. She probably doesn''t know how to get out of that place with Petunia and she''s just in the process of figuring it out," Von said, offering another speculation that was more on the positive side than what Lei was suggesting.

    "But what if Fily is right and Petunia''s not there with her?" Lei said another one of his speculations that immediately sounded pessimistic to Von who was already ready to disagree with him but was quickly put to silent when Venedette agreed with a serious note.

    "I think we should check that area and look for Petunia''s collar. Solitude doesn''t transmit signals to the real world but even if that''s not the case, Petunia''s Stat-hut shouldn''t have been static for over an hour already. If she''s still alive, she should have been moving even inside the solitude, or if perhaps she''s not conscious anymore, her signal should still be moving because Gem would probably move her to another place," Venedette said, giving a reasonable explanation for Von to believe their speculation.

    "But what about Fily? Are we just going to leave her here?" Lei asked which Von immediately stepped up to voice his opinion.

    "I think it''s better if you stay here and protect her since that''s your expertise while mom and I could fly back to the location where Gem and Petunia disappeared and look for her collar to make things faster."

    "I agree, nice thinking Von," Venedette said which flattered Von a little bit before remembering the seriousness of the case that they''re handling right now on their own.

    "Okay, if that''s the case then I''ll gladly accept it," Lei said while nodding, which gave Venedette and Von a sign to fly to the checkpoint once again while Lei ran back to the inspector''s room behind the interrogation room''s one-way mirror.

    There he saw Fily with two female guards who were both standing beside her for security.

    "I''ll take it from here," he said, dismissing the two guards from Fily''s side and taking care of the operation on this side.

    "Can I ask for another interrogation with the female suspect this time?" Lei asked the female guard he just ordered to go.

    "Roger that," the female guard said, recognizing his superiority as a royal''s security guard before bringing Karizze and her father back to the interrogation room for another round of questioning while Lei and the half-asleep Fily just laid back and watched the two of them argue over there.

    ***

    "Found anything yet?" Venedette asked Von while looking down at the never-ending line of immigrants or refugees trying to cross the checkpoint to go to a more free part of the country.

    "Nothing, I think Petunia buried something there if only we could bother those people to step aside so we could dig," Von said and dived back down to try and persuade those impatient people to step aside.

    Luckily, a family from the other side of the country who respected Von and the royal family finally gave them a chance to dig the snow and found Petunia''s Stat-hut not long after.

    "Mom! I found it!" Von shouted to his mom who was just staring blankly at the hail storm while flying above them.

    "Mom!"

    "What?"

    "I found it!"

    "What?!"

    "I said I-" Von suddenly stopped talking when he realized something while holding Petunia''s collar in his hands.

    "Does this mean Petunia is not actually inside Solitude and Gem could be hurt on her own over there?!"

 Chapter 158 - Chest Plate

    "Ahh, that hurts- huh? Ehhhh?" Gem muttered to herself while holding her chest after waking up and feeling completely fine despite her last memories that told her she got shot and she''s not okay.

    "What happened?" she asked around, looking for something different inside Solitude but the place was still the familiar empty white space that she knew.

    "What happened, Mr. Gemini?" Gem finally asked the only other companion she could think of after a few minutes of wondering what happened and what was up.

    She felt something new inside Solitude but she couldn''t figure out what it was.

    [Good afternoon, master.] Mr. Gemini only said, not answering her question at all.

    "What happened? The last memory I have is that I got shot in the chest, even though I knew it didn''t pass through the protective gear, I could still remember that feeling of contraction in my chest as if I was getting smashed by an unknown force. But why do I feel so light now? Did I just got miraculously cured while I was sleeping?"

    Gem held her chest and still couldn''t believe it. How did she get better all of a sudden just by sleeping? It''s not like her wounds could just heal over time without her energy slimes¡­

    "I slept¡­ oh my gosh! How long was I here?! Mr. Gemini! What time is it?"

    [6 pm, master.]

    "6 pm?! I slept for two hours?! Two hours¡­ we''ll that''s not too bad. Considering that I miraculously managed to survive that bullet and its effect on my body while I was sleeping¡­ But still! I need to go out! We have a meeting later at nine!" Gem said in panic mode before taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

    "Mr. Gemini, please take me back to the real world."

    [Roger that, Master.] Mr. Gemini said and immediately teleported Gem back to the real world.

    ***

    "Mom! I found it!" Von shouted to his mom who was just staring blankly at the hail storm while flying above them.

    "Mom!"

    "What?"

    "I found it!"

    "What?!"

    "I said I-" Von suddenly stopped talking when he realized something while holding Petunia''s collar in his hands.

    "Does this mean Petunia is not actually inside Solitude and Gem could be hurt on her own over there?!"

    And just as he finished his sentence, the air started twirling around him with the debris of what seemed to be broken crystal shards that came out of nowhere. From that, Gem suddenly appeared and almost lost her balance because Von was standing on her supposed landing spot.

    "W-Whoa!" Von said while using twice of his brainpower while contemplating whether to catch Gem or not while she was in that very unstable position in front of him.

    And when he finally decided to hold her for support, despite still having the collar in his hands, Von was already too late and Gem couldn''t manage her balance either, as a result, the both of them collapsed on the snow with Gem''s back lying down on Von who was the unlucky one that got buried in the snow.

    "Ouch, watch your head," Von complained and immediately placed his hands above Gem''s head that almost hit his chin after seeing her complaining about it silently.

    "Sorry," Gem said and rolled to the side to remove the pressure on Von''s body but Von still held on to her nape using his left arm that was also rolled out on the floor along with Gem.

    "Gem!" Venedette shouted from the sky after seeing the two of them seemingly cuddling in the snow.

    But despite the weird pose that she accidentally saw the two early on, she quickly flew over to Gem and checked her every single angle, looking for bruises, shots, or any kind of indication of pain which seemed to be weirdly unexistent in her who only came from Solitude after being shot.

    "What took you so long?! Do you know how worried we were? Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere? I thought you were gone! I was so scared!" Venedette cried while removing the slightly curled hair that was sticking on Gem''s face and covering her important features before hugging her cautiously.

    "I''m fine, I don''t know what happened but after I woke up from that sleep, I was completely healed," Gem said, glossing over everything because of the overflowing emotions she had in mind which made it hard for Venedette and Von to understand her.

    "Let''s just talk in the HQ, alright? I''m sure you had a hard time suffering on your own."

    "Did you really got shot?" Von asked after not seeing any signs of blood or disfunction in Gem''s clothes and body.

    "I did, but this chest plate saved me from it." Gem pointed at her white inner clothes which were made of the strongest materials for clothing in their city, serving as their outermost layer protection from these kinds of things.

    "Oh, and by the way, Petunia''s missing," Von announced which was then followed by Venedette saying;

    "She left her Stat-hut over here to make us think that she was with us, but then you disappeared and we thought you were with her inside Solitude all along," Venedette said while carrying Gem across the snowy weather and into the checkpoint''s headquarters where they left Lei and Fily with the guards and the people who shot Gem.

    "What?! Petunia''s gone?! What about Fily and Lei? What happened to them?"

    "Lei is watching over Fily over there," Von answered before landing on the headquarters '' tower.

    When Gem finally met up with Fily and the others behind the interrogation room, she told them about what happened to her and they told her about what happened to them and how they were able to capture those people who shot her.

    "That''s them?" Gem asked while looking over Karizze, Lanzo, and Gunter who were all just silent while facing each other inside the interrogation room where Gem and the rest of her team were watching from.

    "Since Gem came back just fine, I''ll give them pardon for causing us trouble. But the next time they cause trouble either to us or to anybody else, I need you to give them the rightful punishment for their games so they could learn not to do those kinds of things ever again, you understand me?" Venedette''s voice could still be heard inside the interrogation''s backroom coming from the outside while she was talking to the commander and all the other commanders involved in this situation while Gem and the others were also just silent inside the backroom.

    "Why did they do that?" Gem asked, breaking the silence that was made because of the challenges that they were facing consecutively today.

    "They said they were jealous of us for being able to join the tournament," Von said which was then followed by Lei''s sigh.

    "If only they knew how scary the tournament actually is."

    "They wanted to join the tournament? But us joining doesn''t even affect their team if ever they decided to join. So I still don''t understand why they did it." said Gem.

    "They got discouraged because a team of elites like us is participating, try thinking about the situation again, but this time using their perspective so you could understand them better," Fily said despite being asleep. Or at least her eyes were all closed while her mouth was running.

    "Fair enough," Gem said, seemingly dropping the topic altogether while thinking about Petunia who could have been wandering in the forest by this time, all on her own.

    "Why did Petunia do that? Didn''t we promise to look for that shop together? Why would she lie to us and leave us on our own? Even leaving her Stat-hut under the snow just to hide the fact that she''s leaving¡­" Gem said, sounding very upset about Petunia''s betrayal.

    "I''m sure she had her reasons why she did that," Fily said and used her arms to cover her eyes from the bright lights inside the interrogation room and the backroom.

    "Who told you to shoot her down?! Didn''t Lanzo already fixed your aim so we could just scare them away? What if the citizens were the ones who got shot? Will you also take responsibility for that? Huh?" Karizze with the black and pink highlights said while pointing aggressively at Gonder who was still pleading the fifth (keeping silent).

    "And you! Aren''t you going to say something about your aim? Are you sure it''s not your fault that Gonder''s aim became so perfect when I told you both to scatter the bullets around them?!" Karizze shouted at Lanzo.

    "I really didn''t mean it Karizze, I''m sorry," Lanzo said and even went on his knees before being grabbed by Karizze in the collar just to throw him back to his seat.

    "This won''t do-"

    "Why don''t we just apologize to them? They said we got lucky because the girl we almost killed had a hidden power of disappearing when in danger."

    "T-That''s¡­ that''s a good idea, okay you guys lead the apology. This is so embarrassing¡­" Karizze said which touched the heart of Gem who still couldn''t believe that these were the same people that almost killed her.

    "They''re so sweet¡­ I hope we could''ve met in another situation instead," she said before heading out to talk to them.

 Chapter 159 - Upset

    "You should do it, wasn''t that your idea in the first place anyway?" Lorenz said with a pout and even crossed his arms just before Gem barged inside the interrogation room with a judging glance.

    The room was silent, the only other sound that went against the silence was Gem''s embarrassed footsteps while trying to close the gap between them.

    "Hello," she said with an awkward smile before going back to her shy pose.

    "What''s wrong with me? Why am I so shy around them? Is it because they''re older than me but younger than the adults that I''ve always been used to crossing paths with?" Gem asked herself while trying to make contact with each one of them but failing miserably.

    Somehow, ever since she came inside that room and sat on the seat in front of Karizze, everybody had been silent and avoiding eye contact with each other as if they were waiting for something to happen.

    "Kar," Lorenz said after nudging Karizze with his elbow who snugged at him and gave him a threatening look as if saying, "Why me? You suggested it so you should do it! Why are you looking at me like that?!"

    But in the middle of it all, the both of them became silent again when Gonder finally spoke, saying the words they wanted to tell her all along, "I''m so sorry, we didn''t mean any of that to happen."

    "Oh no, it''s okay, I''m okay. I don''t think you need to apologize for that unfortunate accident.. I''m also sorry for inconveniencing you," Gem replied with all sincerity.

    "No, we have been careless and selfish," Gonder said while bowing to Gem in a ninety-degree posture along with Lorenz and Karizze.

    "It''s okay, really. Apology accepted," Gem said while motioning for them to stop nervously.

    "But just so you know, I still don''t believe in your group. I still don''t understand why kids like you were chosen instead of hardworking teenagers like us and I don''t think I''ll ever will. So, are we done here?" Karizze said after bowing with a heavy heart.

    "Do you want to join the tournament?" Gem asked even though she already knew the answer to that.

    "Yes." Karizze stood up and went to the door.

    "Wait, I want to know more about you," Gem said, stopping Karizze on her track and making her turn back to her again.

    "What more do you possibly need to know about us?" she asked.

    "Like, if you were working with someone else, or was it all just the three of you?"

    "Of course we also have my sister- wait what kind of question is this? Of course, it was just us. Do you think anyone else besides us has the guts to counter this power team of yours?" Karizze said as if it were that obvious.

    But because Gem knew nothing about this place and the people in it, her innocence was obvious which made Karizze stop and go back to her seat.

    "Everyone hates you here, us included."

    "But why? What did we do wrong to deserve such hate?" Gem asked innocently.

    "Because you''re living in the clouds, that''s why-"

    "You mean Yvandir? What does that have anything to do with us and the tournament?" Gem cut Karizze''s words once again.

    "No, I didn''t mean literally, what I''m trying to say is, you''re too strong and we''re too weak to be even given a chance to enter that tournament," Karizze explained carefully.

    "What do you mean weak? You even managed to almost kill me, I wouldn''t call that weak," Gem said in confusion.

    "Weak means not having any kind of support, from our family and even from our community, no one believed in us. But with you and your friends, you have the full support of the people and even the Queen."

    "We did have support, but just because that''s all you see doesn''t mean that that''s just all there is to it. Venedette worked hard to form us, she wanted the best of the best to be in her team. That may not be who you are but that doesn''t mean that this was the opportunity you have left. Why be upset towards us who are doing our best to survive in this cruel world when you could just use that energy to become a better version of yourself?" Gem said as if she was talking to herself and quickly apologized when she saw the three teenager''s faces in the room.

    "Wow, I thought you were just a spoiled kid from the outside the first time I saw you, but I didn''t know your way of thinking was this mature, if only we knew¡­" Lorenz said as if being mesmerized by Gem.

    "Wha- how dare you say that?!"

    "Stop it Karizze, she''s right. Instead of wasting our energy on hating them, why don''t we just train to be the best in this field?" Gonder said, stopping Karizze from moving closer to Gem with her closed fists.

    "Sorry about that, her temper''s really just lacking," Lorenz said with a plastered smile on his face, probably trying to make Gem smile too but she''s just too upset to even smile anymore.

    "I hope we could be friends if only the situation was a bit different," Gem said and stood up from her seat, "I really liked the way you guys at least tried to do something to prove yourselves to those who look down on you,"

    "Aren''t you doing the same? You''re also looking down on us!" Karizze said while struggling to remove Gonder''s hold on her shoulders.

    "I''m sorry if I caused a misunderstanding, I''m really just upset right now because one of our members moved out on her own while I was unconscious. That''s all I wanted to say, see you outside the borders if you still decided on showing up."

    Gem put the chair back under the table and smiled at them weakly before leaving the room at once.

    "What just happened?" Von said out loud after seeing the whole commotion.

    "They''re kind, but they''re also attached to that idea that they''re great. We''ll at least that mindset could bring them progress, but too much of everything is a curse and should not be practiced. They should learn how to stop faking everything once in a while," Fily said, indicating that she was still passively listening to them while sleeping.

    "Gem, you okay?" Lei asked when Gem finally came back to them.

    "We need to find Petunia. She''s not going to make it on her own," Gem said as if there was something that she knew about Petunia that the others don''t.

    "What do you mean she''s not going to make it on her own? Petunia used to do things all on her own before coming to us," Fily said.

    "I know, but I really don''t feel good about this. Why do you think she left her stat-hut for? She didn''t just leave it to make us lose track of her, she left it because she wanted us to look for it!"

    "For what?" Von asked, seemingly getting the idea of what Gem was stressing.

    "For help, she did it to ask us for help while being unsure of asking us for it. She''s just too considerate to put us in danger but why do you think she asked us to help her during that meeting in the Levi-Yacht?" Gem said while walking back and forth from one wall to another.

    "Petunia is a simple cat, she asked us for a meeting so she could make use of our help and ditch us the next minute because she didn''t need us anymore. What else could she be planning?" Fily said bitterly as if she was just betrayed by a close friend.

    "I''m sure she needs our help right now¡­" Gem said and proceeded on biting her nails out of nervousness.

    "If that''s the case then what are we still doing here? Shouldn''t we go and look for her already?" Lei suggested.

    "But the sun''s already down and we still need to attend that meeting first, no matter what," Von said while looking at Gem as if her life was on the line here.

    "I agree with Von, we should proceed with the plan even without Petunia. She made that choice on her own and she isn''t the kind to do that without a certain reason. And besides, isn''t your Energy slimes still an important part of her reverse potion? I''m sure she''ll come around," Fily said, stating her stand in the situation.

    "I don''t feel good about this," Gem said while being upset at Fily and Von on the inside for refusing to help look for Petunia.

    "If only I could fly, I''d be out right now and look for her all night¡­" Lei said, remembering the promise that Petunia made to him about the flight potions that also went to ruins because of that incident with Monica, the wolf, and the townspeople.

 Chapter 160 - Stick To The Plan

    "Everyone gather up," Venedette said upon slamming the door inside the room where her team, Leviathan was staying at.

    "What''s wrong?" Von asked after seeing his mom uncomfortable and annoyed while walking towards them.

    "I have dealt with the situation for now but they won''t allow us to stay in Edelweiss for more than a day."

    "What? But how about Petunia?" Gem asked worriedly while standing up from the disbelief of it all.

    "They said they would help us look for Petunia as compensation for causing us harm but they still wouldn''t let us extend our stay nor help them look for her."

    "What?! That''s so unfair! Why can''t we help look for our teammate? We''re not even sure if they will seriously look for Petunia especially in her cat form!" Fily complained.

    "And besides, didn''t they said it themselves that they hate us and we won''t be able to receive the same treatment that we got from Clandamascarene? Why can''t they just let us work for ourselves here? Why are they restricting us from looking for our friend?" Lei said, supporting Fily''s complaint.

    "I may have to talk to them about that, but in the meantime, I need you all to go back to the yacht so we could proceed to the meeting place immediately," Venedette announced and was ready to walk back out to the officials she was talking to earlier but Gem stopped her..

    "Can''t we look for Petunia first?" she asked but was only met with a regretful look from Venedette.

    "No, we have to meet them first," Venedette said as if asking for Gem''s understanding but Gem only took Venedette''s answer as neglecting Petunia.

    "I''ll go look for her," Gem announced right after Venedette closed the door but the rest of them quickly tensed to show Gem their disagreement.

    "That''s not a good idea Gem, the Princess said we should stick to the plan-"

    "And just let Petunia suffer out there?!" Gem cut Lei''s words.

    "What even makes you so sure that Petunia is suffering out there? Don''t you trust her? Just like what Fily said, she had been living on her own for the majority of her life so I''m sure she could find her way just fine, but why are you so pressed? Is there something you need to tell us?" Von suddenly ranted which made everyone silent.

    "N-No," Gem lied with a nervous face which gave her away in the end.

    "Don''t lie to us, we already know you two were planning about something from the get-go, we just wanted to respect your privacy so we pretended not to know, but now that you''re saying Petunia''s in danger, I think it''s time you tell us what''s going on," Von said as if his patience had just run out.

    "That''s not the point! Can''t you just trust me? My guts are telling me that Petunia is in danger and my guts are rarely wrong! So if you don''t want to cooperate then fine! I''ll just look for her on my own." Gem glared at them before focusing her eyes on Lei, "I thought we''re on the same team here," she said before holding the doorknob.

    But instead of being able to get out, Fily surprisingly stood in her way while still half-asleep.

    "Why don''t you just tell us first what''s up and then let us decide if Petunia really needs our help right now?" Fily said and crossed her arms in front of Gem.

    "T-That''s not my secret to tell-"

    "Then we won''t let you go. Neither would we help you look for Petunia." Fily stood firmly in front of the door, blocking Gem''s only way out which led to Gem closing her fist out of frustration.

    "Petunia is... " Gem tried to spill the words out but her conscience wouldn''t let her, so she closed her eyes and tried again, "She''s looking for the same witch that turned Monica into a bird and Sir Durish into a wolf in hopes of her being the one to help her get her human body back."

    "I knew it," Fily said which gave Gem a reason to open her eyes slowly and looked at her with surprise.

    "You knew?" Gem asked in disbelief, unlike Fily who only nodded comfortably as if she was expecting for this to happen already.

    "You both knew and you didn''t even tell us? Are we really a part of this team?" Von said, pretending to be upset about it when his face completely showed that he''s just fine not knowing anything about it.

    "So, you think Petunia''s in danger because of that?" Lei asked.

    "Of course! That witch is dangerous, to both humans and animals. Why do you think she''s hiding? She has probably killed a lot of humans and animals alike that if we were able to find all of their corpses then we could probably kick her out of the border already!"

    "And what makes you so sure about that?" Lei said and followed with his own opinion, "I think Petunia must have another reason that prompted her to go to that exact witch and ask her for help without us. She wouldn''t do something as stupid as going to her deathbed if she didn''t have a failproof plan, let''s just wish the best for her."

    "Wow, who knew you were this close to Petunia? For all I know, Petunia is our best friend and we should be the ones who know more about her, not you." Fily pointed at Lei with eyes wide open as if she were offended by what Lei said, "But like what Lei said, if Petunia really did have a plan including ditching us, then we should just also stick to our plan and look for her after letting her deal with her own problems," Fily added with a smile before going back to sleep.

    And instead of being offended by Fily''s response that seemed both agreeing and disagreeing with what he said, Lei just shook his head and stopped talking for the sake of peace.

    "What? Aren''t you worried about her? Even if she has a grand plan about this witch all along, shouldn''t we at least show her that we care for her? That we need her to stay alive for our team to work!"

    "That''s not how things work, Gem. If we chose to prioritize looking for Petunia, do you think she will like it? Us interfering with her plan and wasting our time instead of going to the meeting that could actually help you make progress?" Fily asked, targeting a fatal point in Gem in this argument.

    "See? Even you think the meeting is important now. Let''s just stick to the plan and meet each other halfway, okay? I''m sure Petunia chose to do her stuff on her own so that she wouldn''t be a distraction for us," Fily said while patting Gem''s head and pulling her back to the table where she was seated earlier.

    "This isn''t fair¡­ Petunia should have at least told us that she would do her plan on her own instead of making us think that we''ll actually help her with the plan after our meeting with the tribes."

    "Let''s just look for her when the meeting is over, okay? And instead of beating yourself up for giving Petunia a chance to go on her own, you should just work hard on finding out how your Salamandite works, feed it, and unlock it, and then give Petunia all the Energy slimes that she need in order to become human again, alright?" Fily said while holding both of Gem''s hands with a comforting smile.

    "O-Okay," Gem said reluctantly before settling down and finally giving the room a decent amount of silence just before Venedette arrived again and asked them to ride one of the guard''s spaceships to the Levi-yacht.

    "How about you?" Gem asked Venedette after seeing that she was still seated inside the spaceship as if she still had some unfinished business to do.

    "I''ll just finish up with the commanders and catch up to you guys, I already set the yacht''s controls to auto-pilot which should drive you guys past the checkpoint before the sun finally comes down, alright?" Venedette said before coming with the guards again and back to the checkpoint while the four of them just slouched in their own position on the sofa, kitchen chairs, and even the stairs where Gem chose to hang out while Fily went straight to her room so she could already sleep while waiting for their yacht to finally arrive at the meeting place.

    "Are we going there?" Gem suddenly said while pointing at the top of the mountains that were full of snow.

    "Maybe," Von only replied without even looking at where Gem was pointing at.

    "Petunia must be in there, somewhere," Lei mumbled which made Gem walk closer to him and also look down on the forest that was also full of snow, "I hope she''s okay," Gem said sincerely and looked away before being eaten by all those negative thoughts again.

 Chapter 161 - Good News

    "Wake up Von, Venedette''s back and she''s asking us for a brief meeting with her," Gem said while tapping Von''s shoulder lightly but the boy wouldn''t nudge.

    "Hey, I know you''re not yet asleep, come on." Gem tried to tap Von and even resorted to pushing him out of the sofa just so he would stop being so stubborn.

    "What the- can''t you see I''m trying to sleep here?" Von gnarled and stopped for a moment after opening his eyes and seeing Gem stood seriously in front of him.

    "Aren''t you going to join us?" Gem said seriously which made Von fold in shyness.

    "I didn''t say that," Von said and cleared his throat while fixing his posture from falling to the floor.

    "Okay good," Gem said and left him alone in the living room with her arms still crossed and her eyebrows almost connecting to each other because of the stress of it all.

    "Is he still sleeping?" Venedette asked Gem who just arrived at the kitchen while Lei was busy setting up the table for their dinner.

    "Nope. I already told him to come," Gem said and sat down beside Fily, "Why aren''t you sleeping?" she asked after seeing Fily getting ready for dinner.

    "I still need to eat, you know?" Fily only said with a smile as if Gem just asked her some silly question.

    "Oh," Gem gasped in realization just as Von entered the dining area with an unkempt hair and a lazy attitude.

    "There you are, shall we proceed now?" Venedette asked while carefully putting the dish she prepared for them on the table where Lei had already finished setting up the utensils and other necessary stuff for their meeting.

    Since the table was a digital table, Lei and Venedtte purposely left the middle part empty so they could still see what was going on while having their meal.

    "First of all, there''s really nothing much to talk about our meeting. But before we proceed with the food, I would just like to remind you of all of the duties that we still have to complete during our time here in Edelweiss."

    Venedette took a good look at each one of them who were either sleepy or avoiding eye contact with her because of Petunia''s disappearance.

    "I have successfully convinced the officers here in Edelweiss to let us in on the search for Petunia," Venedette said, starting off with the good news before she proceeds with the more burdensome ones.

    "Really?! They''re now letting us help look for Petunia?!" Gem exclaimed in delight while Lei just looked down to hide his face of contentment about the news that was just brought to them just now.

    "Yes, we are now allowed to look for Petunia for as long as we will report back to them about our findings and actions while staying here in Edelweiss. They don''t want trouble and we don''t want that either so let''s just comply, okay?" Venedette said as a reminder which was met with a very good response from either Lei or Gem while the other two were just calm or too sleepy to even care.

    "Okay, that''s enough news for now. Let''s not wait for the food to get any colder before we eat," Venedette said, diminishing the attention from the news that were still left for her to tell and to the appetizing food in front of them first.

    "Looks delicious!" Gem said with her spirits getting very high because of the sudden good news and also because she was also hungry all this time and was just too shy to say anything while the rest of them just said, "Thanks for the food." calmly before digging in.

    The air was quiet, too quiet in fact that Gem started to feel like there was something missing from them again, and she didn''t even need to think just to know who it was.

    Gem caught Lei glancing at her which made her wonder about what might be going on in his mind after finding out Petunia''s gone.

    During their past days on this trip, Gem noticed a few changes in their relationships, particularly with Petunia''s avoidance of her during the start of the trip and the sudden close bond that she formed with Lei, even leading to her not making time to Fily and Gem anymore.

    And although this upset Gem a little bit, somehow, she also understood why Petunia chose to confine in Lei about her worries about some things in particular.

    "Do I have something in my face?" Gem asked when she caught Lei stealing glances at her again.

    "More like your nose is bleeding," Von said while hurrying over to the countertop for a tissue.

    "What?" Gem asked while touching the part under her nose where she really did see blood sticking to her fingertips.

    "Lay back," Fily said and guided her with her hands to stop the blood from coming out.

    "Are you okay? I''ll get some medicine for you real quick-" Venedette said and went out in a hurry before Gem could even get the chance to stop her and tell her that she''s okay.

    ''I''m okay, this often happens to me when I stress too much¡­ it''s nothing to worry about," Gem said to lessen the worry that her teammates were feeling for her.

    But instead of believing Gem, Fily thought of another reason why her nose suddenly bled like that, "Isn''t this because of the bullets that you said shook your intestines?" she said in panic while trying to solve everything inside her mind palace.

    "Uhh, no¡­ I don''t think so," Gem denied but Fily was still stubborn about her theory.

    "You said you just slept inside Solitude because of the sleeping potion that you accidentally took instead of the pain-relief potion, right? What if something happened to you while you were sleeping there? Something like¡­ perhaps there was someone else that helped you over there?"

    "Mr. Gemini, maybe?" Gem said, getting convinced of Fily''s argument which also made her more energetic than her usual sleeping mode.

    "No, not him. Mr. Gemini doesn''t have something that could cure you in there, right?"

    "I guess so," Gem said while recalling all the abilities that she saw in Mr. Gemini''s list of abilities, "But who else could be there?" Gem added while curling her eyebrows at Fily.

    "No one? You really think there''s no one else there?" Fily asked even more which made Gem even more weirded out by her.

    "I already told you, there''s no one there except for me. I have been entering Solitude since Monday and never had I encountered another species in there except for me and Mr. Gemini''s technologies," Gem tried explaining again and eventually became curious of where Fily was coming from with her arguments.

    "Why are you even asking those silly questions by the way?" Gem asked which made Fily smile giddily at her.

    "I just opened a new chapter in the Salamandite''s manual book and I read something that said, ''Everyone with the blood of Salamandites are free to enter the place Solitude'' which means that Solitude isn''t actually a place that you made with your imagination because it has been there all along and there were just very few numbers of people that could access it," Fily said excitedly while trying to finally open her eyes as if she was actually awake.

    "S-So, does that mean I also have the blood of Salamandites because I can enter Solitude? But what about Venedette? She could also enter solitude that one time when I was about to die during our first meeting."

    "That sounds dark," Von remarked before posing in a surrender pose as if telling Fily and Gem that he would stop talking nonsense already.

    "The skill''s description in my skill-set said that anyone with the Salamandite gems would be able to go to Solitude and even encouraged us to have duels in there, what do you think about that, Fily?" Gem pitched in another one of her thoughts which made Fily think even harder.

    "Hmm, in that case, then maybe Salamandite holders and those with the blood of Salamanders could both go to Solitude in command then?"

    "So does that mean I have Salamander''s blood or I can just go inside Solitude because of my necklace?" Gem asked, hopeful for the former to be the answer even though she knew that would be close to impossible because as far as she knew, real Salamanders and the people around them were citizens of Edelweiss and not from the Western border which she came from.

    "We''re still not sure about that. If only I could get a reference of how Salamanders and their people''s DNA looks and hopefully compare it to yours then our lives could be easier. But because Salamanders and all the names affiliated to it were probably extinct, we''re probably going to have a hard time finding out about that," Fily said which left Gem and the others in a complete phase of silence to give respect for Fily''s enthusiasm.

 Chapter 162 - Edelweiss

    "Here we are, wear your uniforms and wait for me at the platform," Venedette announced after putting their yacht in a stop just above a tall mountain made of snow.

    "I didn''t know there were a lot of these uniforms in our closets," Gem muttered while checking out herself in the mirror.

    And because it was already time for the meeting, Fily made sure to use the excess medicine that Halma gave her during her visit to combat her sleepiness.

    "Look at that, is that where we''re going?" Gem asked while pointing at the cluster of igloos, caves and straw houses that were built beside the mountain''s foot.

    "That''s right, welcome to Edelweiss, everyone," Von said while hovering around the edge of the Levi-yacht''s platform while Gem slowly made her way towards the edge of the platform where Lei was sitting comfortably while waiting for Venedette to finally carry them down. He even had his feet swinging in the air which made Gem worry about him falling down the platform accidentally.

    But since Von was there, Gem also gathered her courage up and sat beside Lei, also swinging her feet to the beat with his, which made Lei smile a little bit.

    "Are you ready for this, Gem?" Lei asked whilst the lack of attention that he was giving her made Gem wonder if she should reply or not.

    And since she was the only other person that was closest for Lei to talk to, Gem quickly fixed her posture and looked at Lei with her nervous eyes and said, "More than ever." Pertaining to the meeting they will soon have with the tribes of this place where the Salamanders were said to have come from.

    "Did you know that Edelweiss used to be a flower that could only be found in the Alps? And that it was made into a song during the 21st century?" Fily suddenly said after appearing beside Gem and even sat beside her with Lei on the edge of the yacht''s platform.

    "N-No, I didn''t know about that," Gem answered and gave Fily a small smile before getting distracted with her thoughts once again, "If Petunia was here then maybe she could have known. She was very interested in herbs and potions after all," Gem added which made the group a little bit gloomy on the inside.

    "Well, at least now you know something about Edelweiss and its history with the flowers and stuff."

    "Why did they name their village ''Edelweiss''?" Gem asked out of curiosity which also caught the curiosity of others, temporarily deleting all regretful thoughts about Petunia and getting interested in the place that they were going to instead.

    "Because they''re in the Alps." Fily shrugged.

    "That''s it?" Gem asked back with an unconvinced expression.

    "Yes, that''s just it¡­ well, aside from the unpopular myth that was circulating in this tribe for so long about a man who flew here from the other side of the world just to see the Edelweiss flower. He said that the flower was calling for him the first time he saw them on the internet which led to him flying over here and even taking his family with her in this snowy cold weather just to see and take care of those flowers until his death."

    "And this was before the Great Doom by the way, which only meant that there were no Salamandites and Salamanders here yet by that time. They''re not even sure if that guy or his family survived the plagues or the apocalypse and even the meteor shower that destroyed nearly half of earth''s population during the great doom."

    "So, how did they even get a hold of this story if the man''s family did not survive the Great Doom anyway?" Gem asked.

    "Good question, I think you''ll get to see soon enough why they named this place Edelweiss and not after the said man that died for the flowers in this area."

    "Will we also get to see Edelweiss flowers down there?"

    "Of course! You could even take a look at the biggest Edelweiss flower that these townspeople created in honor of their mentors which has been passed down from generation to generation after the Great Doom," Fily said which made Gem and the others look forward to their visit at Edelweiss.

    "Just get reminded that we can''t and shouldn''t touch anything of their creations over there, okay? Including the Edelweiss flowers that you guys were just talking about," Venedette suddenly said after double checking all the requirements that they need in order for their presence to be accepted in this village''s courtroom full of tribes from various places around the world.

    "Okay," Gem answered and stood up to get carried by Venedette but instead of being carried, Venedette only went past Gem and proceeded to carry both Fily and Lei in her arms while calling for Von.

    "Von will carry you," Venedette said to her before launching herself and the two kids with her for a free fall.

    "I guess you''re the one I''m carrying today, great," Von said in a passive-sarcastic tone before proceeding to pick her up and fall with her to the ground anyway.

    "This is getting easier and easier for me the more I do it," Von muttered while Gem quickly understood what he meant by it.

    "You mean free-falling? With me? I''m sure you had a hard time the first time we did this,"

    "And now it doesn''t even tax on my strength anymore. Don''t you think I have gotten stronger because of my flight practice?" Von asked as a joke which made Gem roll her eyes at her.

    "Let''s just be quiet, okay? I''m really getting nervous here about meeting all those people who might know something about how this works." Gem held on to her necklace and caressed it.

    "You should be excited, not nervous. Although those two are often just the same anyway¡­ just think that you''re excited and not nervous and you''ll have a lower chance of messing up this meeting with those people," Von said which sounded dumb and wise at the same time in Gem''s ears.

    "Okay, that might work," Gem said and tightened her hold on Von''s shoulders as she was being carried by him in the usual bridal style, unlike the others who were placed on Venedette''s shoulders just like two bags of rice.

 Chapter 163 - Iyuba Meteor

    "It is our pleasure to have the Princess'' presence in our grace," the man who seemed like the most suitable person to be their leader said and even made a ninety-degree bow that was a normal thing in their culture already, seeing that they all bowed at them regardless of their age and nationality.

    And Fily, being the only one who knows it all, also bowed at them to show her courtesy. This was then noticed by Venedette, Von, and the others who quickly copied her actions which made the people relax their stances and feel respected too on their part for having guests that understood their customs immediately.

    "We are also pleased to be able to make it here safely, we may have encountered some mishaps and unfortunate things on our way, and are now thankful for your consideration and patience with our supposed meeting this afternoon," Venedette said in all formality to the leader of the tribe that was wearing a full white robe along with his companions, definitely not the kind of fashion that seemed welcoming for Leviathan''s bright-toned colors.

    The leader, along with his secretary and followers had a conversation with Venedette along the way to their cabins which was situated near the frozen lake of Iyuba, one of the biggest lakes beside the main waters of Clandamascarene that also connects to the great sea.

    "Did you know that this lake is called the lake of Iyuba because it was formed by one of the deadliest meteors with the same name that hit our planet in this very same spot more than a thousand years ago during the Great Doom and overtime became this grand frozen lake of Iyuba?"

    "And I''m also speculating that this meteor was the real origin of the alien substance that the Salamanders ate on the other side of this lake, making them powerful enough to produce those same Energy slimes that were also used to make us humans, supers. It''s just too bad that we don''t have enough evidence for this claim because of the events that happened a long time ago and the events of the Great doom that followed after the meteorites destroyed most of the crucial pieces of evidence that I need in order to do research," Fily said in a hurry which would have been impossible for Gem to understand if she was not paying her full attention to her friend while they were walking to the cabins.

    "That was quite different from what I''ve heard," Von said, which caught Gem and Fily''s attention this time.

    "When I heard that we were going to Edelweiss, I was reminded of that storybook that my mom would read for me and Demi every time before falling asleep. In that book, the Great doom was summarized in a meaningful correlation about what was happening, why the events of the Great Doom even happened in the first place, and the meanings of each of the events that happened in a symbolic perspective." Von paused and cleared his throat after realizing the burden of getting Fily and Gem to focus on his story for the first time, especially if he accidentally said something wrong which Fily could immediately catch.

    But since they were still listening to him anyway, Von just decided to go with it and be serious about telling the story for once, "It was written by my grandpa, by the way so blame me if I get something wrong in here."

    "Continue," Fily said, which became another reason for Von to be nervous, but because he already started telling the story that Fily seemed to have no idea about, might as well continue it to keep his grace in front of them.

    "It was basically a summary of the events that happened during the Great Doom with a symbolic perspective from my grandfather during the time he was writing it. So anyway, in the meteor shower section, the Iyuba meteor was said to be the last gift that heaven had sent down to us because of their love to humans despite all the betrayal and wickedness that we have supposedly made during that time-"

    "Yes, the corruption, greed, ignorance, and distrust that humans have shown to each other and even to nature during that time. The majority were so proud and selfish that it was almost normal for them to expect evil from one another instead of doing and hoping for the better. They have forgotten to take care of the very thing that gave them life and eventually made this planet a living hell for everyone in it."

    "Uhh, yes. The heaven''s wrath was the most commonly known reason why the Great Doom happened in the first place, right? It even became part of our moral code at one point in time until everybody just decided to discredit the heavens for turning its back on humanity just to satiate their broken hearts."

    "But what they failed to realize is that the Great Doom only happened because of their actions in the first place," Fily said as if it was a personal issue and not a historical issue anymore.

    "Wait, slow down guys, those people are probably dead by now," Gem tried to mediate their anger but Fily couldn''t be stopped.

    "But the effects of their actions still live on," she said in spite of them.

    "Yes, so anyway, we have derived from our topic earlier. Please continue with what you were saying, Von," Lei said as support for Gem who didn''t like the heavy historical conversation either.

    "So, as I was saying¡­ Where was I again?"

    "Gift for humans despite their weaknesses?" Gem took a guess which helped Von get back on track.

    "Oh okay, so the Iyuba meteor was a symbol of last hope for us humans, and Dr. Lectric was able to recognize that, as you all already know, he was the one who cultivated the alien substances of this meteorite and created our kind, yadda yadda, and although the book was not published anywhere aside from the palace in Yvandir, I think I have now understood what my grandpa meant by making the Iyuba meteorite a gift instead of the curse that most people associate it with."

    "You are quite right, young man. I hope there are more people that think like you and stop overlooking the fact that this meteorite was a blessing and the turning point of our species and not just Dr. Lectric and his team alone," an old man from the tribe who was also walking beside them suddenly said with a proud smile on his wrinkled face.

 Chapter 164 - Meeting

    "Oh, y-you were listening?" Von stuttered after getting a little bit embarrassed by his interest in history that he had never shown to anyone before, even to Lei.

    "I hope for that too, Sir." Fily smiled at the old man as if she was comfortable with it.

    Von didn''t understand at first because they were literally having a deep conversation about the topic, him and Fily, but why was Fily comfortable about strangers hearing what she has to say about the topic when he''s too embarrassed to even expose himself for liking history?

    But as his mind became clearer and his emotions calm down, Von was able to realize that it must be because of the fact that Fily''s family is known for being geniuses in book knowledge so her being open about her findings to strangers wouldn''t be so surprising anymore.

    "But why haven''t I heard of this book before if your grandfather, the previous king of this country, was the one who wrote it?" Fily asked Von while looking at him like she had just seen him in a better light because of his knowledge that Fily didn''t have yet.

    "It was opposed by a lot of people, particularly the ones who believed that the heavens shouldn''t be commended by giving us a chance but rather should be despised for trying so hard to make us extinct," Von said what was on his mind and shrugged.

    "That''s so unfair. They wanted us to think that the heavens were the bad people here?" Lei added as if he couldn''t believe what he was hearing while Gem was just lost in her own thoughts because of their conversation.

    "I see, so that''s why the book never got installed in my memory," Fily said and nodded before stopping again to ask Von something, "One last thing, was it handwritten or written with the use of technology?"

    "It''s handwritten and the only copy of that book is in our castle," Von said before proceeding to walk with Lei and Gem beside those old men that were sent to escort them after Fily suddenly stopped on her tracks and even made him stop with her.

    "I see," Fily muttered before catching up to them.

    "This way please," the leader of the old men club (What Gem decided to call these people who were escorting them to the cabins) said while bowing slightly to show them his respect.

    The sun was already nowhere to be seen and the men had just brought them to a traditionally inspired set of Japanese houses just beside the frozen lake where some kids were even skating with ice skates and playing with the snow.

    The houses were built with dark wood and red accents that made Gem and the others feel as if they finally belonged here with their red-colored attires, in contrast to the cold-looking surroundings.

    "Wow, this is unexpected," Fily said while ogling the different yet familiar view in front of her.

    "This is what my clan''s family house looks like," Lei said as if he could not believe it.

    "Really? Weren''t you still young when you left your house? How come you can still remember that?" Von asked him.

    "I was young enough to remember that at the time," Lei only said as if he was disappointed in Von for assuming that he wouldn''t remember such an important part of his childhood.

    It was even the house where he started to train with his cousins, of course he could remember what it looked like.

    "Okay," Von replied with a shrug before following his mother and the old man''s club inside the biggest house of the subdivision.

    "What''s wrong?" Gem asked Fily after noticing that she wasn''t talking much and was still caught up in the view even after Von and Lei''s short discussion in front of them.

    After a few seconds of staring at Fily''s face, Fily finally came back to her senses and asked Gem what she was saying again so she could answer.

    "Huh? Uhh, nothing. Hehe, let''s go?" Fily answered the question she thought was important for Gem before holding her hand and dragging her inside the house as if there was no problem.

    But instead of making Gem think that everything was fine, Gem even further suspects Fily because of her sudden jumpy but obviously fake behavior and smile.

    "Are you sure everything''s okay? You looked like you have seen a ghost earlier outside, what''s wrong?" Gem insisted.

    "Nothing! Nothing''s wrong, I was just reminded of something that I have read in a book somewhere before about a place like this, it''s not really that serious," Fily said and even tried her best to smile and laugh in front of Gem just so she wouldn''t ask her again.

    And Gem being Gem, took the sign and stopped asking Fily if she was okay anymore since she looked very uncomfortable with the question.

    So instead of putting all her unwanted interest in Fily''s problems, Gem just decided to pay attention to the details of this place that they were in instead and make some impressions about it.

    The hallway was big enough for all of them to fit in, somehow, it even felt like a castle and not a real house because of the same feeling that she felt while walking on the aisle of the room that she could easily recognize as the throne room, but in Asian version.

    "Shall we proceed with the meeting first?" Venedette said before sitting down on the floor along with all the old men who also sat in front of her.

    When Fily and Lei sat beside Venedette comfortably, Von and Gem looked at each other in confusion before copying Fily and Lei''s posture.

    "Why are we sitting down on the floor?" Gem whispered to Fily who had her eyes closed while bowing just like everyone else.

    "Just do it," Fily whispered to not interrupt the customized greetings that these Edelweissians created for themselves, deriving from the old customs of the Japanese people but with a different twist of their own.

    After hearing what Fily said, Gem looked at Von with the same confused eyes before agreeing to just do what everyone else was doing so they wouldn''t be branded as disrespectful by these people.

    "We have invited all of the different tribes that may have the information that you need with us today, so what would you like to discuss first?" the eldest man with a white beard and almost bald hairline said. His expression was soft and serene, actually, most of their expressions were, which further proves the rumor that this village was the most peaceful among others here in the Alps.

    "We would like to start with the tale of the Salamanders, Sir Heidi," Venedette replied with a courteous bow which the elder immediately agreed with.

    He asked for the two female servants behind him to offer us a drink with just a few simple hand gestures and looked at us with a smile first before starting off with a once upon a time.

    ***

    Once upon a time, there was a man whose love for snow and flowers led him to meet the love of his life in this exact same place, whose love for snow and flowers were also immaculate.

    They both love the same things and soon became in love with each other, even dedicating their lives to creating a new kind of Edelweiss flower that looked just like an ice sculpture.

    They survived half of the Great Doom''s threats, including the plagues and floods that happened to most of the populated cities on the planet. The flower that they created even survived the crash of the Iyuba meteor that killed both of them spot on.

    Not long after, the lake of Iyuba was discovered. It was full of liquid substance that was proven to be carrying a new alien element in it to which was called Phyxies by the first scientists who discovered it.

    And yes, it was the same element that made the Salamanders, the only survivors of the meteor crash in this place, special and powerful.

    With the new element in their veins, the Salamanders evolved into a more advanced species, capable of taking over the world with their superpowers, but because they did not know that such a world existed beyond their underground homes, Dr. Lectric and his team used this knowledge to their advantage and made a deal with the Salamanders in exchange for their energy slimes.

    "If the Salamanders were capable of taking over the world because of their superpowers, then why did they become extinct?" Gem suddenly asked, interrupting the old man''s story which made Venedette and the other old men nervous for doing something disrespectful.

    "Let us hear the rest of the story first, young lady," One of the old men calmly said, which made Gem cower in embarrassment.

    "O-Okay," she said and looked down to hide her face, "Ah, why did I do that?"

 Chapter 165 - Fakes

    The Salamanders trusted Dr. Lectric, they even made a deal that would benefit each other.

    Salamanders will get to know human knowledge at the expense of their energy slimes.

    Dr. Lectic even tried studying how these Salamanders were capable of cultivating the new element, Phyxies, into powerful substances that can grant us both humans and Salamanders superpowers.

    But when the world government heard of this, they became interested in the energy slimes as well.

    Without Dr. Lectric''s permission, these people squeezed all the energy slimes that all the Salamanders have and eventually made them extinct.

    This was the reason why not even half of the population survived the Great Doom because of those authorities'' greediness and idiocracy.

    Dr. Lectric was given all the credits for his work, also because the authorities were scared of being blamed for what they''ve done.

    Not long after, while searching for more Salamanders in the bottom of the frozen lake of Iyuba, the government found two children being preserved in the ice.

    They were named Gyu and Iba, the children of the Edelweiss lovers.

    They found out that these two children could harness the power of Phyxies and create the Energy slimes, just like what the extinct Salamanders could do, so they brought them to the lab and experimented on them without Dr. Lectric''s knowledge.

    When Dr. Lectric found out about this, he quickly hatched a plan on how they could sneak Gyu, Iba, and all the other children that were being used as guinea pigs in the experiment from the government''s dirty hands and brought them to a land of their own, somewhere far away from all these people''s radars.

    "Can you guess where that is?" The old man finally looked at them as if he was done speaking by himself and was now ready for their interaction.

    "I have no idea," Fily confessed as if she were blown away from all the information that she didn''t have access to before.

    Von, Gem, Lei, and even Venedette were all just silent while looking for each other''s response that was empty. They were all blown away by the rich information that none of them has heard of before.

    The old man smiled with his eyes and swiped his hands across the wooden table that suddenly showed them a map of the world, in which all of the nine remaining countries in this world were marked green and the wastelands grey.

    "Oh my gosh," Fily gasped and covered her mouth after seeing a familiar area in the map that was glowing in purple.

    She had a hunch about the meaning of it but still kept silent until the old man finally zoomed in on the area that Fily suddenly pointed at.

    "You are correct, young lady. It was Kitheria, the supposed tenth country of this world that didn''t survive the last minutes of the Great Doom due to the rest of the countries'' betrayal towards them."

    "Wait, so are you saying those two kids ran a country on their own? With the other children that were used as guinea pigs in the experiment?!" Gem couldn''t handle her emotions anymore and asked her thoughts right away.

    "Yes, but they were not children anymore at that point. Gyu and Iba had their own families, created a new race that has the ability to cultivate Phyxies into Energy slimes."

    "And I''m guessing the government overstepped their boundaries again and made them extinct, am I right?" Von asked out of spite but the old man shook his head.

    "Not quite, in fact, the government didn''t even know of their existence just until Gyu and Iba decided on making friends with them by offering them protection from the threats of the outside world in exchange for the Phyxies."

    "Why would they do that?" Fily asked after deciding that she should invest more in this newfound knowledge.

    "Because they need the Phyxies?" Von asked.

    "Yes, and they pitied the other country''s lack of defense against the heaven''s wrath and threats from the outside world."

    "By threats you mean the natural disasters, acid rain, cumulus strips, and the whatnot beyond the borders?" Gem said with a bitter taste in her mouth as she remembered the time that she had spent outside of the borders.

    "Yes, but how did you know that? I thought the children of Clandamascarene weren''t allowed to know stuff from the outside world?" the old man said while looking at Gem as if he could see some signs of trauma from her eyes.

    "I grew up there," Gem only said and looked away.

    "So what are these gifts that Gyu and Iba gifted the other countries for protection and in exchange for Phyxies?" Fily asked to divert the topic away from Gem''s history and to also fulfill her curiosity about the story.

    "That we don''t know of, they say only the Kings and Queens of the countries were the only ones who knew of this gift that saved their countries from the threat of the outside world."

    "But if their countries became safe because of these gifts, then why did their country fall because of betrayal?" Von asked.

    "You have yet to learn about the dangers of human greed, young man."

    "So these countries became greedy? Including my ancestors?" Von muttered to himself which the old men could have easily heard only if Lei was not quick enough to make a noise that could cover Von''s question.

    [Lei: Do they even know you''re the prince and Venedette''s the princess of this country?]

    [Venedette: They know about that, don''t worry.]

    [Lei: Oh.] Lei typed and then fixed his posture after doing something silly in front of these old but respectable men.

    [Fily: Do you think those gifts could have been the gems?] Fily asked in their group chat while looking at Venedette.

    [Von: I don''t think they even have any idea what the Salamandite gems are.]

    [Fily: Should we ask them about it? Didn''t we come here so we could figure out how to feed these Gems and hopefully activate yours too?]

    [Venedette: I initially asked them about the Salamandite Gems in particular but I guess they thought Salamandite and Salamanders were the same, they''re giving us history lessons about the Salamanders and their tribe.]

    "Did you also come from Gyu and Iba''s family? You said they were your ancestors right? Can you also turn those Phyxies into Energy slimes?" Gem suddenly asked which took the old men aback.

    Most of them cleared their throats and looked away from Gem while the others looked at each other in confusion.

    "That we''re not sure of," one of them answered.

    [Gem: So they''re fakes.]

    "Gem," Venedette called to her as a warning for saying something so cynical.

    [Venedette: They''re probably just followers of the Edelweiss story.]

    [Fily: And considering the amount of research they must have done to complete this story, I agree with Venedette. They''re not fakes but rather just followers of the Edelweiss theory. I''ll call it theory because this is the first time I''m hearing of this story and there''s no concrete evidence yet that everything that they said is true. Although there were some things that checked out with the Salamandite manual book, I still have to double-check the facts just to be sure.]

    "Sorry about that, Sir Heidi, Elder Song," Venedette said to the two elders who answered Gem''s question in place of Gem who was too upset to even apologize.

    She was expecting something more useful from these people, such as telling her the secret of how to feed these Salamandite Gems or even asking them to do a blood test with her to see if they''re related.

    But as it turned out, these people were just followers of the Edelweiss theory and not even one of them were real descendants of either Gyu or Ida.

    "That''s okay, we have already expected this kind of question to be asked by those who visit us. A lot of people doubt our credibility because of our lineage but who else would tell this story if not us? Especially when Gyu and Ida''s kind did not survive the betrayal at all," Elder Song, the one speaking earlier said in a regretful tone which made Fily and the others sympathize with him.

    "Where did these stories even come from?" Gem asked which also made the others curious about it as well.

    "It was a story that was passed on by our ancestors from generation to generation. They say it was a story that our ancestors have heard from the fourth King of Clandamascarene who read the story to them from a golden book of the Salamanders. But we have never seen this book before, nor do we have any idea what it looks like aside from the golden description-"

    [Fily: They''re talking about the Salamandite manual, right?]

    [Gem: Yes.]

    "-which is one of the reasons why we believe in it so much, considering that our ancestors were real people of the King first before deciding to migrate here and live the life of Edelweissians after hearing the story from the king himself."

 Chapter 166 - Priorities

    "Okay, thank you for the wonderful story, Elder Song. That should be all for tonight. We have learned a lot thanks to you, I hope we could learn more things about this story tomorrow," Venedette said and stood up while bowing slightly to the rest of the elders who also stood up due to the pressure of Venedette standing up before them.

    They were not yet interested in leaving as they still have each of their own theories that they would like to share with Venedette and the kids, but because Gem seemed too uninterested and displeased about the meeting already, Venedette just decided to cut it off and sent the elders outside, saying they should just continue the meeting tomorrow and that these kids should go to bed already.

    When the elders were finally out of reach, Venedette went back to the children and saw them arguing with each other about what just happened.

    "If only I knew this meeting would have been so boring and useless, I should have just gone outside to look for Petunia. What did we even learn about this silly story aside from a history that''s not very important?"

    "How could you say that? It might be from the past already but history is still an important part of truly knowing the present, Gem," Fily said in response to Gem''s complaint.

    "I agree with Gem here, we should have just gone out to look for Petunia instead of sitting in this room with those old people and hearing their history story. We don''t even know if what they''re saying is real based on the fact that they''re only just blabbering what they heard from their ancestors a long time ago. The story might not have been accurate in most parts because of the way they preserved it through oral tradition," said Lei..

    "But still, isn''t it a good start that we now know some of the hidden history behind the Salamanders and their Salamandites and the part that these were offerings from Gyu and Ida in exchange for the Phyxies?" Von said, defending his belief along with Fily.

    "We don''t even know if those stories are true though," Fily whispered to Von which made Von facepalm.

    "See? Even Fily''s doubting those people''s stories. And what are we going to do with these stories anyways? Will it help me feed this? Or would it even help us in finding out how to activate Venedette''s Salamandite?" Gem said while pointing at her and Venedette''s necklace.

    "That''s enough, kids. We''re here to ask for their help. I''m sure they''ve got a lot of other things to share with us tomorrow. For now, I don''t want you to overstuff your head with all of this information that they just shared with us."

    "Useless information," Gem said bitterly and immediately regretted it when she saw Venedette''s disappointed face.

    But instead of taking back what she said, Gem raised her chin again and opened another topic for their discussion through her question, "How could they help us if they don''t even know what the Salamandites are? Or even the book of Salamandite that Fily still hasn''t opened yet?"

    "Hey," Fily said as she took offense to what Gem said but Venedette held her shoulders to calm her down.

    "I understand your concern about prioritizing Petunia, Gem. But just because we didn''t prioritize Petunia doesn''t mean we don''t care about her. We went here for the sole purpose of meeting with the tribes and Petunia going off the grid was not part of the plan. Whether we like it or not, we have a duty to attend this meeting at the designated time and it is Petunia''s responsibility to come back to us alive. You must understand that even if things don''t go our way, we must fulfill our priority for us to make progress, you understand that?"

    "How could you say that?" Gem said in tears after hearing what Venedette just said.

    She felt so different from the Venedette that saved Gem on their first meeting.

    Sure, Gem was not her priority, but she still saved her. For what? Why couldn''t she do the same for Petunia? Why is there a difference between them?

    "You''re a fighter now Gem, and fighters don''t sacrifice their priority for the sake of their teammates. In fact, teammates are usually the ones who would sacrifice themselves for the team just to make sure that they would make progress. I know you''re still too young to understand but I hope you can understand my words soon."

    "That''s a harsh way to put it, Venedette," Fily interrupted, "What Venedette is trying to say is that we should trust Petunia. She didn''t go out on her own for no reason after all. She wanted to make progress as much as we do, although there are differences in the way our plans progress, we should just trust each other to do a good job and hope for the better. It is the loss of hope that destroyed our world in the first place, after all," Fily said with a friendly smile which made Gem focus on what she was saying and take each word to her heart, no matter how painful it was to accept.

    "Why did you send them out so early, mom?" Von asked out of curiosity and discontent with the amount of stuff he got to learn from the old people while Gem was still busy crying over Fily''s shoulders.

    "Because they have already told us enough things to come up with a conclusion on our own."

    "Conclusion about what?"

    "Conclusion of how we could feed Gem''s Salamandite," Venedette said as if she was already sure of the thing that was circulating around her mind ever since the old men started mentioning the element Phyxies.

    "Let''s get to sleep," Venedette added after getting lost in her own thoughts for a moment.

    "Where?" Von asked and looked around, looking for doors to their room or even mattresses where they could sleep from but there was nothing.

    "Here," Venedette replied, which only made Von''s expression even more confused.

    "Are we going to sleep on the floor??" Von asked in disbelief while double-checking all the four corners of this slightly warm and comfortable room but even after all his efforts, there were still no mattresses for them to sleep on, even blankets were nowhere to be found.

    "Yes, that''s the plan."

    "What?! That''s so¡­ uncomfortable," Von held back his ugly words and decided to use a less harsh word instead for the last sentence.

    "Not quite," Lei said after being the first one who laid on the bamboo floor with his back and finding it comfortable.

    "Go to sleep. I don''t want to hear any more complaints whatsoever. When we wake up tomorrow, we''re going to visit the Edelweiss garden and see the biggest frozen Edelweiss variant that was said to have been the oldest living thing in this place, even before Gyu and Ida''s second life from being frozen. And then we''ll also get to see the cave of Shindeiku where the Salamander''s fossils could be found, and last but not least, the lake of Iyuba which is full of frozen liquid Phyxies that glow during the dark. So we should wake up early to see it glow in the morning. Good night, Leviathan," Venedette announced while laying her back at the bamboo floor and feeling the warmth of the underground thermal while her eyes were closed.

    Unbeknownst to her, Gem, Fily, and Lei were actually planning on escaping and going out to look for Petunia on their own, since Venedette decided to sleep early and give them more time anyway.

    But just before Gem was about to jump off the not-so-high windows, her clothes suddenly held her back and kept her frozen in the air while Fily and Lei both became alarmed by it.

    They thought it was just Von since Von was watching them escape earlier, but to their surprise, they saw Venedette holding Gem''s back collar in the air and gazing down at them from the room with Von on her side as if he gave them away.

    "Ahh, Von is such a traitor," Fily muttered in disappointment while walking back to the entrance of the cabins which made her recall the fact that this place has a second floor and there might be actual rooms in there.

    But considering that Venedette caught them planning to escape in the middle of the night to look for Gem, she might not allow them to sleep in their own rooms instead of this huge empty room that they were staying in right now.

    "As I''ve said, we''re going to help look for Petunia tomorrow just before our pass to Edelweiss comes to an end, okay?" Venedette said while pretending to be asleep which made Gem''s mood even sulkier.

    "But that''s too long, what if Petunia needs our help right now?" Germ complained even more while throwing a fit on the bamboo floor.

    "Just go to sleep and focus on your task, Gem," Von said and shifted his position to look at the wall instead of Gem throwing a fit not far from him.

 Chapter 167 - Reflection Of The Stars

    It was four A.M. in the morning and Gem couldn''t sleep a wink last night due to her worry about Petunia.

    When she saw Venedette leave the room at that time, Gem also decided to wake up and follow after her instead.

    She saw Venedette checking with the Edelwessians about their supposed tour later and double-checking all the stuff that they need, but as soon as Gem got a glimpse of the glowing frozen lake from the balcony of the cabin they were staying at, she couldn''t hold herself back and gazed at it like they were stars in the lake.

    "How is that lake glowing?" she asked herself while tracing the line between the beach and the water that had an intense dark blue glow on it, very unlike the rest of the lake that only had a faint blue glow and dots of bright light that reflected the stars from above.

    "Isn''t that familiar?" Fily''s suddenly said, surprising Gem who thought that she was still asleep all along.

    Fily came out of the balcony and completely closed the door while smiling at Gem and the view behind her.

    "What''s familiar?" Gem asked when she finally reached the railings and leaned on it again to watch the sparkling blue lights from the frozen lake.

    "The glowing lake, don''t you think it''s familiar?" Fily asked again while looking at Gem as if she was expecting something from her but Gem still had no idea what she was referring to.

    "Familiar to what?" Gem asked again while looking at Fily, but instead of her enthusiastic eyes, this time, Fily was looking at her as if she was saying ''Are you serious?'' to her with a poker face.

    "Your slimes! Have you forgotten the glow of your slimes already? They might not be the same color but look at the glow, isn''t that the same glow of your healing slime and energy slimes?" Fily said as if she couldn''t believe that Gem was this too lost to even forget the glow of her own powers.

    "Oh! You''re right! How did I forget something so important like that?" Gem said and scratched the back of her head while Fily just laughed it out loud with a slight shaking of her head.

    "Come to think about it, the energy slimes originally came from this lake right? Phyxies," gem asked while looking curiously at the glowing lake in front of them.

    "Yup, do you think it might also have something to do with your problem?" Fily asked and looked at Gem in her peripheral view while wondering to herself if she should tell her theory to Gem or not yet.

    "What problem? You mean how I could feed my necklace?" Gem asked and looked at Fily who quickly looked away from her because of the confusion in her head.

    "Hey, is there something wrong?" Gem asked after noticing Fily''s unusual attitude towards her.

    "I don''t know if I should tell you this now but I don''t want to disappoint you if things go wrong," Fily said and looked at Gem with puppy eyes.

    "What could possibly go wrong?" Gem said and smiled to reassure Fily that she could handle it, whatever her concern might be which made Fily a little less worried about telling Gem about her insane theory.

    "So you know that the energy slimes actually came from the element in that lake, right?"

    "Uhuh?"

    "What if that''s the answer to your problem all along? What if the element in there is just what you need to feed the Salamandite so you can finally unlock the remaining storage and use its power to the fullest?" Fily said but immediately pouted afterwards.

    "But that was just my thought, I don''t even have enough proof to prove that theory-"

    "It won''t hurt if I try," Gem said and shrugged, making Fily feel relieved and secured as if her worry was not that big after all.

    "You know I don''t always say stuff that''s not true, right? Either I look for proof that this theory is correct first before I let you know or I won''t tell you about it at all, but this time I''m really nervous. I don''t know when we''ll get the chance to go back here again, or finally open a chapter in the manual that could tell us all the things that we need. I want us to try all the things that we can do right now so we can''t miss anything while we''re still here, and besides, what kind of good is there in not trying?"

    "Right, we have to try something at least," Gem said and retreated her eyes from the dark blue frozen lake to Fily with a subtle smile.

    "Let''s not waste our chance while we''re still here."

    "Maybe this is why Petunia decided to go on her own instead of asking us for company, I''ll make sure to not waste the time that she sacrificed for us just so I could find the answer for my problem here and hopefully we can meet each other again soon halfway there," Gem said as a promise to herself.

    "We should be the first to finish our task before Petunia, especially since she''s only doing this by herself when we''re all here to help you."

    "That''s right, let''s not waste any more time. Let''s go, I want to try eating the frozen lake now," Gem said with a smile after getting encouraged by Fily.

    "Wait-" Fily tried to stop Gem from running back to the room after noticing the sunrise on the horizon.

    But instead of watching the sunrise, Fily shook her head and followed Gem back to the room with a smile etched on her face.

    "We shouldn''t waste our time looking at the sunrise," Fily thought to herself while watching Gem wake Von and Lei up from their deep sleep.

    Not long after, Venedette came back to the room and was surprised to see Gem and Fily who were now both in distress after failing to wake Von and Lei up from their deep sleep.

    "Should we just leave them here?" Gem complained with a pout while trying hard not to kick Von with all her might.

    "Good morning girls," Venedette greeted them with a smile on her face after seeing the both of them so enthusiastic in the morning.

    "Venedette! These two are so hard to wake up!" Gem complained and ran to her with her eyes almost in tears out of the frustration from the two boys.

    "Shh, I got this. You should go downstairs and eat now, the food is already prepared for you there, and then after that we''ll go on a tour around Edelweiss."

    "Okay," Gem said and wiped her tears before holding Fily''s hands and going outside with her while Venedette took on the responsibility of waking the two boys up from their very comfortable sleep in the bamboo mattresses.

    "Ah! My back hurts!" Gem heard Von complain from afar which almost made her lose her appetite. Good thing the food was too tasty to be ignored just because of Von.

    "How can you say that when you looked like you didn''t want to wake up just a few minutes ago?" Gem muttered with a pout while munching on her corndog as Von took the seat in front of her at the picnic-looking wooden table.

    Lei then followed and sat beside Von while Von only looked at Gem as if she just exposed his secret to everybody.

    "Where do you want to go first?" Venedette asked after sending them the itinerary of their tour.

    But because their attention was still occupied by the food, Venedette just let them ignore her question and proceeded to the things that she was preparing.

    Unbeknownst to her, Gem and Fily actually heard her question and looked at each other with the same thing in mind.

    "I want to go to the lake first," Gem said and pouted again while still finishing up her food.

    "The lake? You mean that lake?" Von said and pointed at the frozen lake just a few meters away from them.

    "Uhuh." Gem nodded which made Von look at her in disbelief.

    "Why not just go there now?"

    "We need more time to complete our experiment there," Fily said as defense for Gem which still made Von confused.

    "It''s not like we''re going to the tour right away, just go there and we''ll tell mom to wait for you."

    "Really?" Gem said and jumped out of joy after hearing what Von said.

    "Do you want us to come with you so the Princess will have no choice but to wait for us?" Lei offered which made Gem and Fily both think.

    "Hmm, that''s a good idea," Gem said and saw Fily nodding her head in agreement.

    "Let''s do that then," Lei said and suddenly stood up which made Von panic a little bit.

    "Wait, I''m not yet done eating."

    "You can just follow after us once you''re done," Lei said and led the girls to the lake immediately, leaving Von to rush his food just so he could catch up to them immediately.

 Chapter 168 - Contents Of The Lake

    "Hey, where are you going? We''re going to be late!" Venedette shouted after noticing four presences moving away from her discreetly.

    "Oh no," Gem whispered and then peeked at Venedette behind them, but before she could even see Venedette, Fily immediately held her head and turned it forward while pushing her slowly away.

    "I''ll deal with this," Von said and maneuvered his flight for a U-turn while still munching on his snack.

    "Okay, eyes forward Gem. Let''s go," Fily whispered to Gem before increasing their walking speed towards the lake.

    Since the sun was already up, the glow of the lake was nowhere to be seen anymore. But instead of the glow, the children were able to see the floor of the lake clearly instead. There were still flowers and remains of the house that the first Edelweissians made, probably why the locals here believe in them so much.

    "How far are we going to go?" Gem asked while keeping herself from freezing over the intensely cold ice floor beneath them.

    Even the innovative cold counter that Mr. Gemini made for her couldn''t withstand the cold from standing on the frozen lake two meters away from land, what more if they were to stand in the middle of the freezing lake and do their experiment there?

    "Just a little bit more," Fily said and took off her scarf to wrap it around Gem''s shivering body.

    "What are you doing?" Venedette asked Von who seemed to come back only to throw the stick that was used in his corn dog to the proper trash can.

    "Oh, they wanted to see the contents of the frozen lake during the daytime," Von said, lying flawlessly to her mother who, in contrast to his belief, could definitely see through his confident lie.

    "I don''t buy that. Tell them to come back this instant," Venedette said while looking so anxious about something.

    Von saw her looking around the cabins multiple times during their conversation, and if he didn''t know any better, he would think that she was looking out for predators that might attack them all of a sudden.

    But he knew very well that it''s not the case and she was just probably looking out for the same old people that told them stories yesterday.

    "Well, at least I get to talk to them about more stories while I buy time for Gem and Fily to do their thing over there," Von thought to himself while looking blankly at Venedette as if contemplating whether to do the thing she said or just ignore it completely.

    "Oh, they''re here!" Von said and pointed at the entrance arc of the cabins where he saw the old men walking properly in two lines.

    Venedette immediately flew to welcome them, and when she saw Von following after her, she looked back at him with a serious face and told him, "What are you doing? Didn''t I tell you to call them back here? Hurry up now."

    "B-But I¡­" Von said in distress after deciding to defy Venedette''s order.

    "Von."

    "But I want to hear more of their stories!" Von complained with a loud voice, totally intending for it to reach the old men who became flustered by his sudden interest in their stories.

    "Did I hear that right, young man?" one of the old men who were on the front said and looked at him as if he was a rare being that must be protected.

    "Yup, I want to hear more of your stories, please. Do you know that I couldn''t sleep a wink last night while anticipating more of your stories? Why did you have to leave early anyway? I was prepared to listen to your stories the whole night last night instead of sleeping! And I can''t wait anymore. Do you have any other stories to tell me?"

    "Of course we have," an old man on the second line said and bowed a little bit to Von while the others only looked at him.

    "Where are your friends, by the way?" the one at the front said while wandering his eyes around the cabin.

    "Oh, they became so curious about the contents of the frozen lake that they couldn''t stop themselves but check it out immediately," Venedette reasoned while giving Von a look that said, aren''t you going to go there right now?!

    "How about you, young man? Aren''t you curious about the contents of the lake as well?"

    "Not more than your stories," Von said with a smile that made the majority of the old men adore him.

    "Then we shall tell you a story about the lake-" the old man on the right said but was quickly blocked by the one on the left.

    "Pardon my interruption, young master. But that is the main purpose of this tour, so we can show you the proofs of our stories while we share them with you in real-time."

    "I will call for the rest of them this instant," Venedette said and bowed before preparing to launch herself to the air but the old man on the right stopped her.

    "Let them be, we still have enough time in our hands to let them wander about the contents of the lake, although we will also get there soon enough, let us not distract their immersion," he said with smiling eyes, very fitting for the kind of old man that he was.

    "As you wish, Elder song," Venedette said and retreated back to the land in front of the old men.

    "Why don''t you sit down inside the house first, elders?" Venedette offered with a smile to them which the elders courteously agreed with.

    "We shall do that and tell this young man some secret about the tour later," Edler Song said and even patted Von''s head which made him jump in happiness the moment they were all gone from his vision.

    "Yes!" He rejoiced in success.

    Not only did he manage to buy time for Gem and Fily''s experiment but he was even promised a secret story by the elders about the tour later, what could be better than this?

    "We''re going to talk later," Venedette said as a threat for disregarding her order before going inside the house with that staged smile of hers once again.

    ***

    "Good morning," Hodgewart''s fox kids greeted Petunia while cuddling with her on the cotton bed that they shared last night due to the lack of rooms for newcomers like her.

    "Huh? Morning¡­" Petunia said absentmindedly while trying to sleep again.

    But instead of being able to use the foxes as her blanket once again, Hodgewart was quick to pull the two baby foxes away from her and bite her nape to carry her outside.

    "It''s time," he only said, which confused Petunia.

    "Time for what?" she asked while wiping her eyes.

    And when she finally saw what was in front of her, she suddenly screamed as if she just saw a ghost.

    "W-Why? What''s wrong?" Hodgewart said in panic while looking at himself to see if there was something in him that made Petunia scream so loud so early in the morning.

    Petunia''s scream caught the entire animal village''s attention including Miss Nabi who was busy dealing with her own tasks inside her office.

    Miss Nabi immediately flew over to Petunia and checked to see what was happening.

    But instead of a monster or anything else wrong that she was expecting, Petunia was just curled up in a corner while hiding her face from everybody.

    Or more like she was covering her eyes from seeing everyone else.

    "What''s happening? Where am I? Why can I hear your voice? I must be dreaming¡­" she muttered in a very low volume that Hodgewart and the others could barely hear.

    But because Miss Nabi was sitting directly in Petunia''s nose, she was able to hear what Petunia was saying and came up with a conclusion on what was happening.

    "Her memories just got worse," she said to Hodgewart who only looked at Petunia with pity this time.

    "Can we bring her to Heize in this condition?" Hodgewart asked in human language to not make the other animals panic from the mention of Heize''s name.

    "Quite unlikely. We should look for her companions as soon as possible, if only we had more information about who these companions are and where they are," Miss Nabi said with worry etched on her butterfly face.

    "We should ask humans then, they have probably heard of her as the talking cat," Hodgewart suggested, which Miss Nabi didn''t agree with immediately.

    "Since talking animals were considered special and expensive in the human world, talking to the humans could only put Hodgewart''s life in danger," she said, "What about your children? I can''t let you be in danger and abandon them."

    "I understand, Miss Nabi," Hodgewart said in regret for suddenly forgetting about his kids in the spur of his emotions.

    "We must find another way to help her," Miss Nabi said before ordering for her people to take care of Petunia gently so she wouldn''t be in shock again.

 Chapter 169 - Ice Cutting

    "That''s weird, Von isn''t coming here to call us back," Fily said while prepping Lei''s tool for cutting the ice.

    "He''s probably just being stubborn," Lei said and looked back in the cabin''s direction where Von looked very obvious that he was ignoring Venedette.

    Gem, on the other hand, was too cold to even utter a sound. All she could do was shiver while waiting for Fily and Lei to do their thing and finally get her to eat the ice from the lake.

    "W-Wait¡­ A-Are you sure this is s-safe?" Gem asked after remembering the fact that this ice had been in this lake for more than a thousand years already. They didn''t even ask the elders if it was an edible element.

    What if the element just so happens to be something toxic that only Gyu and Iba''s kind, aside from the salamanders, could survive from the effects of it?

    "Well, we''re not yet sure about that," Fily said and pouted before finally standing up and giving Lei the ice cutter that she had been burning with a makeshift fire from her basic camping skills since earlier.

    After that, she even pulled Gem closer to her just so she could also make use of the fire that was melting some centimeters off of the ice that they were standing on but still not enough to collapse their floor.

    "This lake is weird, frozen bodies of water usually only have an inch to two feet thick ice from the surface but this seems to be the sturdiest of them all. Do you think it''s ice up until the bottom?" Fily said and looked at both of her companions who seemed to have no clue of what she was talking about.

    "But then again, Gyu and Iba were said to have been preserved on the bottom of this lake in a frozen state which means that there could possibly still ice down there, right?" Fily asked again and got the same response from the two who were either too busy cutting up the firm ice floor or just too cold to say anything anymore.

    After a few minutes of watching Lei do all the hard work for them, Fily finally spoke again, this time regarding the thing about her theory and how it works.

    "You see, I really think you belong to Gyu and Iba''s bloodline. Not just because of your unknown bloodline but also because of the fact that you could effortlessly use the Salamandite just like that. I mean Venedette had been dealing with her Salamandite ever since she found out that it was magical and still has no luck activating it, but you¡­ aside from it wouldn''t let you die, it looks like it forced itself to activate because it didn''t want you to die."

    "U-Uhuh," Gem muttered while nodding against the cold wind.

    "So if my theory is correct and you''re indeed a kin of Gyu and Iba, then you must also have the power of being able to convert the Phyxies into Energy slimes?!" Fily exclaimed enthusiastically.

    "That''s right, but do we even have any idea of how Gyu, Iba, and the Salamanders do it?" Lei suddenly said after pausing for a minute from his stressful task.

    "Hmm, you''re right. I don''t have any idea how they do it," Fily said and got into thinking in her mind palace while squatting down after a long time of standing up.

    She even cursed in her mind for always being in the dark of these important history secrets that she wouldn''t get access to if she won''t go to the source herself.

    Not that her kind even knows about what was going on here anyway. Because other than they can''t move from one place to another so effortlessly just like any other superhuman being on this planet, they also didn''t have the right to process rumors and stories that aren''t published by the real author themselves on the internet.

    "Okay, I have decided, we should just go ask the elders about this thing first and see if it is edible and before you could go and try to eat it, Gem, but for the meantime, let''s get you out of this lake now before your whole body turns into frostbite."

    "Wait, you''re going to leave me here?" Lei suddenly complained after just finishing the third line of the cube that seemed more difficult than it really is from the outside.

    Since the ice was too thick, cutting it became even harder. Unlike the thin strips of ice in the winter coasts where you just need to cut a square in order to get a perfectly cut ice cube, here Lei even had to find a way to cut the bottom part of it without wasting the shape that he had already outlined earlier.

    This means he had to be extra careful while cutting the bottom part of the cube with a mere ice cutter or else he would need to start over from the top again, and hearing about Fily wanting to leave already, Lei knew he couldn''t afford to do that.

    "I have no choice, or else Gem would freeze to death in here."

    ''But she won''t die, remember?'' Lei wanted to say out loud but just kept his mouth shut because what if, what if she had already reached the limit of her immortality, starting from that arrow that almost killed her yesterday?

    "Okay, but can you warm this again for the last time?" Lei said and handed the ice cutter back to Fily who immediately placed it in the fire just so they could be done with it already.

    "You can do this, even just a tiny cube will do. We''re just here to test it after all," Fily said and then carried Gem away slowly with her minus stamina points.

    "Ah, I should have drawn a smaller cube instead," Lei muttered to himself while looking at the bottom of the lake through the clear ice water beneath his feet as if he was flying above frozen earth.

 Chapter 170 - The Butterfly And The Bees

    "I have a plan, but you all need to stay put."

    "What? We''re coming with you, Miss Nabi!"

    "No, I said stay put, I would rather do this myself than put you guys to risk."

    "But we''re your people, Miss Nabi, we''re here to help you."

    "No, I am the only and most capable one of doing this trick with the humans so stay put, I doubt they would kill a butterfly as beautiful as me," Miss Nabi said and smiled at her people who looked at her with somber eyes.

    "How about Petunia? What should we do with her?" Hodgewart asked while looking at Petunia as if he was pitiful of her.

    How could he not though? When she had been trying to run away from the village several times without even knowing where to go or what to do. She would even forget her name sometimes and panic whenever she sees her own tail and whiskers.

    "Just woo her like a baby and try to deal with her calmly, even brainless animals would respond calmly to a calm approach.. Just don''t try to explain everything to her in one go or she will freak out again."

    "Okay Miss Nabi, have a safe trip out there," Hodgewart said and bowed to her with all of his respect.

    He had never seen anyone else as benevolent as Miss Nabi before, especially to strangers she had just met and knew nothing of.

    Just like him when she first found him crying alone in the woods for being abandoned, Miss Nabi didn''t ask him anything and just let him in on the village and became her trusty follower ever since.

    Although his interest in being with Heize still didn''t change, Miss Nabi sure did leave an impression to him that he would always have a place to go even if the world turns its back on him.

    And he hoped Petunia could feel the same, even if she ended up forgetting everything about herself and her past life, he hoped she could still be the same goal-driven and stubborn Petunia that he just met a few days ago.

    But there was one thing that kept bothering Hodgewart''s mind ever since he got to talk to Petunia about Heize. It was the fact that Heize was Petunia''s master and she was her student, and that could only mean one thing.

    Heize could actually know something about Petunia and even help her get her memory back!

    "I know what you''re thinking Hodgewart, don''t try anything stupid. I''ll be back before you even know it," Miss Nabi said and gave Hodgewart a kiss in the nose and everyone else in the village before departing.

    "Okay, I should trust Miss Nabi and her plan first. If her plan didn''t get any information about Petunia, then I''ll have no choice but to go to Heize and ask her about it instead," Hodgewart muttered to himself and turned around, only to saw Petunia listening to what he was saying and looking at him like she was interested in it as well.

    ***

    "Okay, first I need to find a human. Second, I need to stay out of insectivore zones, and third, I need to head back before sunset. But where is the closest human village from this forest though? I have been staying out here for so long that I can''t remember a single human village anymore from around here," Miss Nabi muttered to herself while flying at a very low altitude so she could at least hide in the snow if ever an insectivore comes and threatens her life.

    "Oh, a bee! Hey! Bee! Yoohoo! It''s me! Captain Nabi!" Miss Nabi shouted after seeing a beehive three trees away from her.

    But just as she was about to knock on the beehive''s door, a hummingbird suddenly dived right in on her, almost destroying her wings if only the bees decided to open their doors a little too late for her.

    "Phew! That was close!"

    "Miss Nabi!" The bees greeted her with a warm hug after seeing her from inside their house, but when they noticed Miss Nabi panting, they immediately figured out that there was something wrong.

    "What''s wrong? Did someone chase you outside?" one of the workers asked.

    "More like it''s still waiting for her outside," another one of the workers said while peeking from one of the still open honeycombs.

    "Do you need our help, Miss Nabi? Just say the word and we will gladly sting that bird for you."

    "And risk your life? No thanks little missy, I am just here to ask a few questions about humans... and hide from that bird for a few minutes," Miss Nabi said shyly.

    "Humans? What about them?" a honey-like voice suddenly came from the ceiling of the hive which Miss Nabi immediately recognized as their queen.

    She was even being carried by her servants down to pay respects to this majestic green butterfly friend.

    "Midayna!" Miss Nabi greeted her with all her might and even hugged her which the bees love seeing so much because of her shiny black and green wings being wrapped around their queen and leaving some glitters of it on her furry skin.

    "Oh, just a little info about them, you see I need to look for one right now but living in the woods for too long made me forget where I can find one."

    "And you think we know where they are?" Midayna laughed as she thought it was a joke, but when she saw Miss Nabi''s modest smile, she immediately fixed her posture and tone, and said, "well, we do know of some humans wandering around this place at times to steal our honey. I think he came from the southern part of this place, not far from the end of the forest where the checkpoint border is at. You''ll see a lot of people out there in lines just like my cute little workers," she whispered the last sentence and laughed.

    And since Midayna said so, it must be real that there are a lot of people just outside of the forest, considering the fact that her workers need to collect pollen from as far as they could just to survive.

    "Wow, that''s such helpful information Queen Midayna! I''m glad I came here to ask for help, thank you very much!" Miss Nabi said and immediately opened her wings to fly off, but the worker bees quickly blocked the door.

    "What about that hummingbird outside?"

    "Should we scare it away for you? I heard that bird is scared of bees."

    "You should do that," Midayna suggested and stood beside Miss Nabi while her workers flew out of the honeycomb at the same time.

    "Thank you for your help, Queen Midayna, I really appreciate it."

    "No problem, Captain Nabi. Your village has helped our colony multiple times already, when will we get the time to pay back your kindness if not now?" Midayna said and smiled at her like the humble and kind Queen that she is.

 Chapter 171 - Knowing Petunia

    "The bees are always so kind, now onto my trip," Miss Nabi muttered to herself while waving back at the bees who helped her with the directions and getting rid of that hummingbird.

    Good thing their intel was good and the Hummingbird was really scared of the bees that even the sight of them leaving the beehive made it run for its life immediately.

    "But I''m still not sure when that Hummingbird will strike again so I better stay low. I haven''t encountered any other hummingbird in this area though, that was a first. Wait, does that mean he''s lost and is just in desperate need of food?" Miss Nabi continued muttering to herself while watching her surroundings warily.

    After getting the instructions from the trusty bees, Miss Nabi was now headed towards the end of the winter forest, the same path that Petunia took the first time he came here, and with just a few flaps of her beautiful wings, Miss Nabi finally saw the end of the forest on top of the mountain and the hail storm that she hadn''t seen in ages before since she first came here to the Alps.

    "Wow, I can''t believe I survived wandering around that forest on my own. I thought there would be more threats to my life in the outer circle of the forest, but since there''s none, I should just be thankful and focus on my task instead." Miss Nabi flew in a higher altitude to take a look at the familiar building not far from her.

    "How could I forget this place when it''s literally the first thing that I saw here in the Alps? Ahh, Nabi, hold yourself together!" she complained to herself with a silly gesture of punching herself, but the higher she flew the closer she could hear the hitting of the ice bullets to the ground¡­ or was it a hummingbird''s flapping of wings?

    "Ahhh! Help!!!" Miss Nabi shouted and swirled around while trying to avoid the hummingbird''s fast break.

    And because they were both small, it was easier for them to maneuver through the thick bushes of the trees on this high altitude on a mountain.

    "I need to think of something, fast!" Miss Nabi said while wishing for the hummingbird to at least understand her words, but unfortunately for her, the hummingbird was one of the few animals left in this forest that doesn''t even know how to communicate with anybody.

    They only move to eat or escape danger and that''s it. And since the blue hummingbird was on its own in this forest, it''s very unlikely that it will leave its food alone. Let alone try and communicate with it.

    "Unless¡­" Miss Nabi whispered while searching for something on the trees.

    "Wait a minute, fast guy! I''ll let you eat something, just not me!" Miss Nabi shouted and dived on one of the tree branches where she saw a caterpillar gliding slowly towards a leaf.

    "Hello, caterpillar!"

    "Hello?" the caterpillar responded with a lost face as if he couldn''t find where the voice came from.

    And not even a second later, just when miss Nabi flew over his location, the bird stopped for a moment in the same branch as the caterpillar and stared at it, probably weighing which one would satisfy him the most.

    The fat caterpillar or the pretty butterfly?

    Of course, the answer was obvious, the bird chose to eat the caterpillar and Miss Nabi had to run off to somewhere very far away just before the hummingbird starts getting hungry again.

    "Thank goodness the outer circle of this forest doesn''t recognize me as a chief anymore," Miss Nabi said in relief and wiped the fake sweat in her forehead as if she was still a human.

    "I feel bad for that caterpillar though, she could have been flying with me soon after her metamorphosis but I baited him to the bird¡­ rest in peace, caterpillar-nim," Miss Nabi said and almost had a heart attack when a human suddenly bowed and said, "Rest in peace," after her.

    ''What? Did he just hear what I said? Without even knowing the context? Have I been gone for so long that I don''t know how humans think anymore? I thought humans don''t care about this stuff so much to even pay their respects like that?'' Miss Nabi thought to herself while watching the other humans look weirdly at this man who just suddenly bowed in the middle of the line.

    When the man noticed that he was the only one bowing, he quickly got up and fixed his posture while still looking for the person that he thought said the words that Miss Nabi said.

    "Well, anyway. I think that''s enough proof that my voice is still relevant in the human ears. Now for Petunia¡­" Miss Nabi muttered and flew around a different line of people to not confuse the poor man earlier anymore.

    "Have you heard about a talking cat these past few days? I hear her name''s Petunia and she''s very rich!" Miss Nabi said to a female who was carrying three kids simultaneously with a basket in her arms.

    "Huh? Who said that?" the woman said without answering her question which led her to move on to another line instead.

    Miss Nabi tried asking the same question several times to different people, and if not asking around who asked the question, they either just ignored her or tried to shoo her away heartlessly.

    "Wow, why do they shoo away such a beautiful butterfly like me?! Are their lives so sad and lonely to discredit me of my mental healing abilities through looking beautiful in front of them?!" Miss Nabi whined as her will to do this silly thing was coming to an end already.

    Not long after flying aimlessly around the humans, Miss Nabi saw the first person that she came into contact with earlier.

    With the hopes of him doing the same thing he did earlier, Miss Nabi dived down and landed on his hair so he wouldn''t see or even notice her around him.

    "Pst, I need to ask you something," Miss Nabi said and when he noticed the man trying to look around, she immediately followed with, "Don''t look around or try to find me. Just answer my question if you don''t want to be hurt."

    "O-Okay, what is it?" the naive guy who looked like he was still in his late teens with a white robe and slightly more well-kept hair said tensely, probably actually believing that his life was in danger if he wouldn''t answer the question properly.

    "Have you heard of that talking cat around here somewhere?" Miss Nabi said, going straight to the point already.

    "A talking cat? You mean that talking cat that''s also a candidate in the upcoming Dekadalaw tournament?"

    "She''s a candidate for the tournament?" Miss Nabi said, accidentally using her surprised and less scary voice which urged the young man to look back again but Miss Nabi quickly prevented him from doing so.

    "One more attempt and I will really harm you," she said and composed herself for another question.

    "Which team is she on? And who are the members of her team?"

    The young man''s eyebrows suddenly curled the moment this question came out from Miss Nabi''s mouth, "You don''t know about the Princess'' team? Her team''s literally the strongest team that the government has gathered for us ever since the first Dekadalaw tournament and not to mention the training time they got- wait why am I telling you this? Are you planning to hurt them too? Ah, I messed up, didn''t I?" the young man said in panic and eventually squatted on the snow because of the embarrassment.

    "Do you know where the princess is now?" Miss Nabi asked, but figured that the boy wouldn''t tell her anything anymore due to his wrong impression on her so she quickly flew away from his head without even a notice, leaving him talking to himself which made the people around him look at him questionably once again.

    This time, instead of asking more people about the information on Petunia, Miss Nabi decided on flying directly to the checkpoint''s headquarters since it would make more sense for them to know about the Princess'' current location if she were currently in the Alps with her whole team, considering that Petunia couldn''t possibly just come here on her own just like that.

    And the first thing that Miss Nabi did was go to the navigation team who monitors all the vehicles that come through the checkpoint.

    Since the Princess was probably rich and there are only a few rich people that come to the Alps for business purposes only, it would minimize the scale of her search and eventually even find the current location of the Princess and her team and ask them for help about Petunia.

    "Although I don''t know if I could trust them¡­ this is the only shot I''ve got to save her," Miss Nabi said and started another one of her voice phishing.

 Chapter 172 - Botanical Ice Garden

    "Is that them? If so then let''s go on with the trip already," Venedette said after sensing two people walking in front of the house.

    "Can you go check on them, Von?" Venedette added when she noticed no one was listening to her.

    But since the elders were too busy impressing Von with their stories, Venedette just decided to go out and greet Gem and Fily on her own.

    "Where''s Lei?" she asked and changed her annoyed expression to worried as soon as she saw Gem''s vulnerable state.

    "Why did you go there with your 1 resistance?!" she said and asked Fily to help her bring Gem inside the house where there was a heater to warm her up.

    "Lei''s still carving our ice from the lake," Fily said after a while which made the elder who heard her panic.

    "What did you say? You''re carving the frozen lake?!" he repeated with a much higher volume which allowed the rest inside the room to hear what Fily just said.

    "Uhuh, is that not allowed-?" Fily said and was surprised when all of them just suddenly stood up from their seats and started running towards the lake without even having any idea where Lei was..

    "Is that not allowed?" Fily asked again to the only elder who didn''t freak out after hearing what she just said.

    "No. The frozen lake is a sacred place for us and no one dared to touch it until now," he said while watching his fellow elders run around the frozen lake''s surface, looking for Lei.

    "But there were kids ice skating just there yesterday! How is it so different from carving a small piece of ice cube from it?!" Fily said, still couldn''t believe the bizarre rule that was implied in the whole lake of Iyuba.

    It''s not like they could still manage the other end of the lake if someone else decided to carve ice cubes from it!

    "We like to preserve much of what was left to us, you will understand once we start with this tour. But in the meantime, since you have not heard all of the rules of Edelweiss yet, we will have no choice but to let you off this time, for as long as you will give us back the cube that you took from the lake."

    "B-But!" Fily insisted and even pretended to hide something behind her.

    "Come on now, young miss," the elder said with a much more convincing tone which made Fily finally give up the fake ice cube from her left hand that she got from the refrigerator as an emergency precaution earlier that day.

    ''I just hope Lei remembers the ice cube that I gave him earlier and not mistook it for the one that he took from the lake!'' Fily whished to herself before leaving the elder''s presence and proceeding to Gem''s side.

    Not long after, the elders all came back with Von and Lei in between them, and since Von had the better bond with the elders, he was quick to strike a deal with them just to let Lei off of their punishment.

    "Lei, did you?" Fily ran to him and whispered while standing beside him nervously.

    "No," Lei said with a betrayed expression and even acted like he wouldn''t give the ice cube to Fily before finally giving it to her with an eye roll.

    "Ah, thank goodness," Fily said after confirming the ice cube and if it was really the one from the lake based on the flowers inside it and went back to Gem.

    The two boys then followed after her after seeing Venedette talking to the elders about their sudden misconduct towards Edelweiss.

    And since it was just a minor offense, the elders decided to let them off with a simple warning for as long as they wouldn''t do it again.

    "What did I tell you?" Venedette scolded them after all the elders had already gone ahead of them to the start of their itinerary as if she had been having the most stressful day of her life the longer she stayed with these kids in Edelweiss.

    "Don''t you try doing something else without my permission while we go on this tour alright? We''re going to visit all the most important places in Edelweiss and I can''t have you carving something else again, even if it seems irrelevant. Just stay close to me and stop doing anything aside from listening to the elders, understood?"

    "Fine,"

    "Okay,"

    "Sure."

    "Okay," the four of them responded which satisfied Venedette enough to let them go.

    "The first place in our itinerary is the Edelweiss botanical garden," Venedette said and almost lost her patience once again when she saw that no one was walking behind her again.

    And as it turned out, the children were already bouncing off the white golf cart that Elder Song told them to use on this tour today due to the long distances that they would have to travel.

    "Let''s go," Venedette said to the driver of the first cart where Gem and Fily were seated properly on the backseat at.

    Behind them was another golf cart with the driver and Elder song on the front seats and the two boys at the back. After them, there were more golf carts where the other elders were riding in a convoy with Venedette''s carts.

    Since Edler Song was the one in charge of telling them the story of the places on the way, Von decided it would be better for him to ride the same cart as him to satisfy his hunger for stories, and with the old school public announcement system on each of the carts, even Venedette and the girls in her cart were also able to hear Elder Song''s stories very well.

    "You all know of this legendary flower that survived the harsh threats of the Great Doom, right?"

    "Yes!" Von answered enthusiastically to Elder Song''s question.

    "Well, we are now on our way to see the very beautiful, and huge flower that serves as one of the biggest pride and symbol of our humble village. Can you guess what kind of flower that is?" Elder Song said, happy that for the first time that he did this tour, there was someone, especially a kid, that was very enthusiastic about his stories.

    "Isn''t that very obvious already? Of couse it''s the Edelweiss flower! What else could it be?" Von answered.

    "That''s almost right, but there are a lot of Edelweiss variations that our ancestors had made, so to be more specific, you''ll have to call it ''the Gigantic Ice Edelweiss'', repeat after me, ''the Gigantic Ice Edelweiss."

    "The Gigantic Ice Edelweiss," Von repeated as they approach the corner that completely made his jaw drop wide open from the surprising sight.

    "Is that a real flower!?" he said and looked back at Elder Song who only nodded with a smile that said he was expecting this kind of reaction from Von already.

    And as soon as Von got the confirmation from Elder Song, he immediately flew out of the cart himself to get a better view of the whole Ice Garden where the huge Edelweiss flower that was completely made of ice was displayed on the face of the mountain like just like a huge ice carving in display.

    "How is that a real flower?!" Von exclaimed in awe while observing the huge ice flower from a distance.

    And the more that Von stared at it, the more he could notice the patterns on the ice petals that made it more convincing for him to believe that it was a real flower after all.

    "This lived for more than a thousand years already?!" he exclaimed again while being drawn to the flower.

    And when he was almost at least a meter''s length away from it, a whistle from the elders woke him up to his senses and moved away from it immediately before he could do something that will earn them another one of the Elder''s punishments.

    "There are more variations of Edelweiss flowers here but they weren''t as big and as icy as this one," Elder Song said, mentioning the little snowlike flowers beside the main flower. Some of them were as blue as the Iyuba lake at night and there were also some that looked as dangerous as the hail storm.

    "They sure loved making the flower look like snow or ice, huh?" Fily remarked after seeing several more of the white and blue Edelweiss flowers.

    What was admirable was that these flowers had been here in the same face of the mountain for as old as their grandparents and none of them had died ever since.

    "This way please," Edler Song said, leading them inside a metal door that seemed to be the way to their creator''s lab.

    Since the name of the place was Botanical Garden, it wouldn''t be weird for their lab to also be in the garden as what Fily was speculating.

    And indeed she was right, Elder Song really did welcome them inside the active lab where his people were continuing the creator''s experiments on the Edelweiss flowers.

    There was even a piece of the withered petal from the gigantic Ice Edelweiss which seemed too healthy to be even considered as withered, but because they already branded it withered, then it must be withered already, Fily thought.

    "This is cool!" Von said to Elder Song who looked like he had been growing uncomfortable with Von''s clinginess already.

    "This is just the start of our tour, young man," Elder song said and smiled at him while leading them to another door.

 Chapter 173 - Thereâ€™s More Than Purple And Blue

    "What''s over there?" Von asked, being the first one to enter the door to the deeper cave.

    "You''ll see," the old man only said and urged the other kids to follow after them.

    Somehow, the sight of Von being inside a cave reminded Gem of their past.

    "Do you like caves that much? Aren''t you scared?" Gem asked after scooting closer to Von and lighting up their way with her necklace.

    "Not at all, I find caves quiet and serene, and besides, aren''t people scarier than caves?" Von asked her and went ahead, leaving her a little bit taken back by that answer.

    "He''s not wrong though," Gem said and followed after him again who had seemed to run off to one of the first attractions on the entrance of the cave.

    "Welcome to the caves of history, Princess, take a look around," Elder Song said cheerfully and even mentioned Venedette as the Princess as if he was showing them their greatest pride.

    "Oh," Venedette gasped when she saw what was ahead of them, "Is this a museum?"

    "A preserved museum, Princess." Elder Song smiled and motioned for his people to assist each and every one of them through the historical attractions that were either carved in the walls or placed in display in the middle of the walkway with a bright spotlight.

    "Is that a Salamander?" Von asked Gem while looking at glass-covered scenery in the middle of the way, it was a Salamander whose body was being preserved inside an ice glass. The whole anatomy of it could be seen from Gem and Von''s angle, which could also be the reason why they chose to display this Salamander in the front, assuming that there would be more Salamanders to come since they probably weren''t allowed to touch these Salamanders aside from moving them, Von thought.

    "Yes, it''s a Salamander. But I wonder what color is his glow though, could we turn off the lights?" Gem asked Elder Song who was observing them from a distance.

    And since they could sense if there were somebody watching them, Elder Song had no choice but to comply with Gem''s request.

    "How did you know about the Salamander''s glow, though?" Elder Song asked while turning the spotlight away from that Salamander on display.

    "I have seen one before," Gem thought to herself before actually answering, "Oh, I''m just guessing. Since the lake glows at night, I wondered if Salamanders could glow like the lake too?"

    "But you asked about the color of its glow as if you were already sure that they were glowing," Elder Song insisted.

    "And your answer confirmed my speculation," Gem answered sternly which made Elder Song loosen up his accusations.

    "Why are you arguing about that?" Von asked which made Gem wary about exposing her to the Elder.

    But thank goodness Von had no intentions of doing so. Instead, he was just focused on the glow of the Salamander and even hid Gem''s necklace between his hands to keep its light from seeping in the dark and covering the Salamander''s faint dark blue glow.

    "That''s so cool," Von said and was seconded by Fily and Lei who also went to their station after seeing Elder Song remove the spotlight from it.

    "Are we okay now? Could I put this back?" Elder Song said as if having a hard time moving the spotlight away from the center forcefully, which Lei noticed and immediately went beside him to offer for help.

    Other than the Salamander in the entrance, there were also creations that the little guys happened to invent during their times as living species on the planet like cooking utensils, little bonfires, carvings, tapestry, and weapons that looked so cute and tiny that Von couldn''t help but wonder if they were really weapons or something just for show.

    "That was so cute!" Von said and was surprised when he suddenly stepped on nothing.

    "Ooh, careful-" Elder Song said with his heart almost dropping after seeing Von fall down the open bridge which he forgot to close due to his conversation with the other old men on the back.

    "I''m okay!" Von said and flew excitedly back to the cave ground after spending a little time on the cliff just to scare the old men.

    "I''m so sorry, young man. I was too caught up by your expressions with the little things that our Salamander ancestors have created that I forgot to close the bridge to the face of the mountain," Elder Song apologized, which made Von laugh a little.

    "It''s okay, it''s also my fault for not looking at where I was going."

    "Now, you may want to look down but not too much. We don''t want accidents to happen here, do we?" Elder Song said while turning a lever clockwise that seemed to be connected with the very long bridge that only had one joint line together that was now separating into two and creating an unstable bridge made of rope and ladder-like wood planks.

    "It''s not the best bridge but it''s important we let the river flow when we''re not using it," Elder Song said after noticing the wary expressions of the kids who saw the unstable bridge made form in front of them.

    "What river? There''s a river here? Where?" Von asked while swirling around the bridge with his flight.

    "Below the bridge," Elder Song said while pointing at it as if it were that obvious.

    But since the only thing that Von could see was a deep cliff and spiky rocks, he went back to stand beside Elder Song and look down at the bridge from his perspective.

    "I still don''t see it," Von said and looked at Elder Song with puppy eyes which made Elder Song a little bit glad that he brought up the topic.

    "This is a frozen river, come take a look, can you see the faint blue glow on the sides of it? That''s the trace of the water that used to flow here during the old ages. But ever since the meteor happened, the water flow was cut and the only other thing that flows in here was the water and those patterns."

    "What? I don''t understand. If there''s no water then it''s not supposed to be called a river anymore, right?" Von said, voicing out all the questions that the rest of them were confused as well.

    "Look closely, can you see the air passing through the passage?"

    "No," Von said and then quickly disappeared into the cliff to ''feel the air'' but when he came back, his answer was still the same.

    "Nope, I can''t feel anything."

    Elder Song shook his head lightly with disappointment and asked the kids to follow after him.

    "Step on the platform one by one, we don''t want to destroy the bridge by putting in too much weight. Now breathe, I want you to close your eyes and feel the surroundings. When you finally open it, look below the bridge and see for yourself."

    "See what again?" Gem asked.

    "The glowing pattern on the walls," Elder Song said and watched as the children, including the Princess follow his instructions.

    And when they opened their eyes, it was like there was a completely different world that was waiting for them on the other side of the bridge.

    The starting point was calm, steady, and quiet. But on the other side, it was like all hell had been unleashed and the cold air started slapping them in their faces.

    "What is this?!" Von shouted after almost not being able to fly and completely relying on the bridge while he was almost three steps away from the other side.

    "Look down!" Elder Song shouted against the loud noise of the current to reach the other kids on the line, and there it was, the current that Elder Song was talking about since earlier.

    "Wow, that looks just like a river!" Fily said.

    "Yeah, but way more intense and colder!" Von said while trying hard not to close his eyes and lose to the current of the air that was moving the glowing line of the river remains on the wall.

    "It''s purple! Not blue!" Gem said which confused even the Elders for noticing something so bizarre.

    "What is?" Fily asked.

    "The remains of the old river! It''s a purple glow just like Petunia''s cloud and not blue like the lake!" Gem repeated enthusiastically which made the Elders look at each other with much confusion.

    "It''s blue," Von said after doing his best to fight the wind current.

    "No, it''s purple! Look!" Gem said and even pointed back at the river where she saw more glowing colors painted on the wall aside from purple and blue.

    "There''s more from this side! I can''t believe it! Are you seeing this?!" Gem said and wandered her eyes until the ceiling as if she were looking at the stars in the sky.

    But instead of looking for the constellations, Gem was tracing the painting of a flower on the wall using her eyes.

    And when she noticed that no one else was amazed as her, that''s when she knew there was something different in what she was seeing. "I''m the only one who can see it, huh?"

 Chapter 174 - Spread Your Wings

    "Momma told me not to waste my time, she said spread your wings my little butterfly¡­"

    "Oh, that''s got to be my target!" Miss Nabi muttered to herself and hid in a corner after seeing a little girl hopping around the checkpoint headquarters while singing a song.

    She turned into a corner and as soon as Miss Nabi read the nametag in that corner, she immediately knew she had come to the right place.

    "When will they come back here, daddy?" the little girl asked the commander who was seated in front of his desk while manipulating his stuff.

    "Tomorrow, most likely. If they''ll follow my instructions," he said.

    "And if they don''t?" the little kid asked while trying hard to climb on the commander''s seat.

    "Then we''ll have no choice but to arrest them," the commander said which almost made Miss Nabi gasp from the surprise of it all.

    "They''re going to arrest the princess and her team?!" she thought while preparing to leave the room now..

    But unfortunately for her, the little kid saw her flapping around and decided on catching her instead of nagging his father at work.

    "Look! A butterfly! I want that butterfly daddy!" the kid whined while pointing at Miss Nabi who was now panicking due to her fear of being seen and caught.

    "Oh no, I can''t let her have me. I need a way to escape this place! Fast!" Miss Nabi said to herself while swallowing the bile that accumulated in her throat.

    She quickly looked around and flew as high up as she could to be unreachable to the child, but the moment she made contact with the ceiling, an opening to the vent suddenly hurled her up, sucking her inside the vent and almost shredding her into pieces if only she didn''t maneuver herself to the other side of the vents.

    There she saw an escape from the vents and quickly went there, not knowing that the young teenagers, who were still in detention were as bored as the little kid she had met earlier.

    It didn''t even help the fact that because of the sudden meeting, Miss Nabi accidentally opened her mouth and screamed in a very high-pitched voice, which made the two guys assume that it was the teenage girl who did it.

    But knowing each other for too long, they quickly disregarded the thought and stood in a defensive stance instead while looking wearily at each other and their surroundings inside the storage room where they were locked in.

    "Did you hear that?" the girl asked her buddies.

    "Yeah, is that you?" the boy with the glasses asked her which made her look at him indifferently, almost as if she wanted to kick his ass at the moment.

    "Seriously? You think I''d scream like that? F off!" the girl said and finished it up with a strong punch to the elbow of the young man in glasses.

    The other young man, however, looked more serious than the two of them, which made Miss Nabi nervous and scared of making eye contact with him.

    "I need to stop making those random noises! Especially now that I''m surrounded by humans and not my animals who could understand me!" Miss Nabi reminded herself before spotting the open window on the right.

    "That''s my chance!" she whispered to herself and made her way from the vent in the ceiling to the open window on the right walls.

    But as soon as she perched in the window, Miss Nabi was frozen in her spot as she heard something from the kids who were still in a defensive stance.

    "Didn''t we also heard something like this when the ice bullet incident happened?" the girl said.

    "Yeah, something about an itchy woman''s voice."

    "Do you think it''s the witch?" the big guy suddenly said with his deep voice which raised all the hair in Miss Nabi''s butterfly body.

    "Why would you say that?" the girl said while relaxing her stance and turning her face to the big guy.

    "Because what else could it be? A weird female''s voice when clearly there''s no one here? And how else would my aim be so accurate if it weren''t tempered with by that witch? What if she''s actually just using us to get to team Leviathan because she knows that we''re upset by them?"

    "That''s a hard accusation right there, Gonder. How about you, Lorenz? What do you think about Gonder''s accusation?" Karizze said to her friends while recoiling the rope that she sloppily grabbed by the confiscated items from the shelves earlier.

    "It''s not entirely impossible. Since the witch has been living in this place for so long now, right? And everybody knows it, although no one has seen her yet," Lorenz, the one with the glasses said and sat down on the floor like everyone else.

    "Heize had something to do with Petunia?" Miss Nabi wondered to herself while flying away from the checkpoint HQ''s tower.

    "But I thought Petunia came to our place to look for Heize? Why is Heize doing this to her?" she added to her train of thoughts while landing on the highest point of the HQ.

    "Maybe Heize doesn''t want to go and see Petunia, that''s why she''s doing this. And besides, Heize isn''t known to be friendly either. Hearing about her making friends is going to be even more shocking news to us compared to hearing about winter leaving our forest."

    "Anyway, I should get going now. These people know Petunia and I think bringing her here would be the best way for her to reunite with her friends later when they come back. I should hurry up by then, I don''t want Petunia to waste her chance on seeing her friends again. Although that would be goodbye¡­"

    "Ahh! I don''t want to think about it! And if she even asks about Heize, maybe it''ll also be best to just tell her that Heize didn''t want to see her anymore, even if they''re friends. Okay, I know what I''m going to do now!" Miss Nabi said and glided down the tower and straight to the location of her animal village through the winter forest and as fast as she could.

 Chapter 175 - Charger Flower

    "What is it? What can you see from there?"

    "It''s a flower. A painting of a flower made by the same things that make the lake glow! Are you sure those lines on the walls of this river cliff are made by nature and not the Salamanders themselves?" Gem asked the elderly, finally deciding to open up about the things that she preferred to keep as secrets from them before, "Because from the way these were drawn, I''m sure it''s them! I could almost see the same scenario back at Yvandir when I saw these little guys crawl in my room-"

    "You saw the Salamanders alive?" Elder Song said with his eyes wide open at Gem who nodded innocently not long after that.

    "Why didn''t you tell this to us earlier?! She''s the chosen one, brothers! She''s the chosen one!"

    "Chosen one!" the rest of the elders said and pulled their arms from a courteous position in front of their tummies and into the floor when they bowed towards Gem with all of their might.

    "Whoa, what is happening here? Why are you b-bowing like that to Gem?" Von said in disbelief while gesturing to the elders who suddenly lost his respect because of their impulse bow.

    "I thought you knew nothing about Salamanders and that you were just fakes," Gem said reluctantly while making her way towards Fily.

    "Can you read what this says?" she said and sent Fily a picture of the wall that she was crazing over earlier and with the drawings that she traced using her stat-hut.

    "The flower is a food, it says," Fily said with a confused expression which Gem quickly understood what it meant..

    "The gigantic ice Edelweiss flower! It''s the food for my Salamandite!" Gem said her realization out loud and raced with the elders, Von, and the others back to the garden outside of the cave.

    "But we''re not supposed to touch it," Von said while being the first one to arrive back at the garden.

    "There were more drawings in that empty river but I couldn''t show you. It looked like the procedures of how the Salamanders found this flower as the home for their cured Phyxies, like a storage for their honey and how to extract them!" Gem said enthusiastically.

    "Did you take a picture of it?" Fily asked which Gem quickly answered with a light shook of her head.

    "No, but I remembered what it looked like," Gem said and asked Von to carry her to the center of the flower.

    "We''re not allowed to touch it," Von whispered aggressively to Gem when they were already near the five-disc florets of the gigantic flower but Gem only ignored her.

    "Just bring me there," she said, which Von had no choice but to follow since the elders weren''t stopping them from doing so anyway.

    "Okay, here," Gem said and Von landed them in the middle disc of the flower where they were surrounded by five receptacle scales that looked just like an enclosed altar each with liquid in them.

    "This should be it," Gem said and picked up the Salamandite gem from its case on her neck, placing it down one of the five receptacle scales of the flower''s disc and waited for something to happen with it.

    "Am I doing it right? Do I need to say something to make it work? Bibbidi bobbidi boo?" Gem said while looking around nervously and clenching her fist when suddenly the flower started glowing an intense aqua blue against the sunlight that was still shining on them as if their bright lights were challenging each other.

    "It worked! It worked!" Gem said and almost hugged Von out of happiness which Von quickly prevented by stopping Gem with his pointer finger on her forehead.

    "Oops," Gem only said and laughed while jumping around the disc floret of the gigantic ice Edelweiss flower.

    "S-Stop jumping around, we don''t want to destroy this flower, do we?" Von said and scooped Gem up in his arms so Gem would stop jumping around and making him nervous in front of the elders who were probably upset already for letting them step on this sacred flower.

    "How long does it take?" Von asked which Gem only responded with a pout.

    "I don''t know, it didn''t say," she said, which urged Von to bring her back to the place where Venedette and the others were at while watching them.

    "It worked!" Gem said in celebration with Fily who also couldn''t believe what just happened.

    "H-How did you do that?" Elder Song asked while his eyes couldn''t stop looking back and forth from the flower and to Gem who was overjoyed and jumping around with Fily and Venedette on the side.

    "The Salamandite gems, that flower was made to feed it!" Gem only said which the elders still couldn''t comprehend.

    "I think the Salamanders configured that flower to make it a charging station for the Salamandite gems while using the elements on the lake to feed it," Fily explained even further which made more sense to the Elders, except they don''t know what Salamandite gems are.

    "What are Salamandite gems?" Elder Song asked while watching the flower flicker the same aqua blue light every second, indicating that it was still charging whatever that Salamandite gems were.

    "They''re the gifts that Gyu and Iba gave to all of the countries as a gift and peace offering for world peace, look, even the princess has one," Fily said and urged Venedette to show off her necklace to the elders who were still clueless and having a hard time believing all of this stuff that Fily and the others knew without their knowledge.

    This made Fily happy on the other hand for finally having a leverage of knowledge from these old folks about the Salamandites and their powers.

    "But mine''s still not activated, we don''t know how she did it," Venedette said humbly to the elders who were now starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together in their heads.

    "Where did she get that? If the leaders of the countries were the only ones who knew of this transaction, then does that mean Gem is also from a family of leaders in her country?" Elder Song asked which made the rest of them think the same thing too.

 Chapter 176 - Spokesperson

    "We need to bring her to the tower as soon as possible! They''re looking for her!" MIss Nabi said as if she was panicking after returning back to her village.

    "But what about her meeting with Heize? And what about us?! Aren''t we supposed to be hidden and not to be exposed to humans?!" Hodgewart said in the same manner as Miss Nabi, the two of them pacing back and forth against each other in the open which made their fellow villagers uncomfortable as well even though they couldn''t understand what they were saying.

    "Here''s the thing, I overheard some kids talking about an incident that happened before Petunia disappeared from her team and they said that Heize had something to do with it! Doesn''t that make it obvious that Heize knows Petunia is looking for her but she doesn''t want to see her?!"

    "That could be it, but what about Petunia? Are we going to just let all her efforts go to waste just because Heize doesn''t want to see her?" Hodgewart replied.

    "That''s not the point! We''re running out of time here! Petunia''s teammates will be leaving this place at sunset whether they like it or not and Heize not wanting to see Petunia only meant one thing, she''s not interested in helping her! So we''ve got to return Petunia to her teammates now or else she''ll lose all her chances of even getting back in shape!" Miss Nabi said as if she had finally made a decision.

    "But how are we going to do that without being seen?" Hodgewart said, lowkey acknowledging Miss Nabi''s decision and proceeding with the plan of returning Petunia to her people now.

    "We just have to bring her back to a populated place and leave her there, I''m sure the officers will find her and bring her back to her teammates sooner or later," Miss Nabi said while thinking about which animal from their village could best help her carry Petunia back to the headquarters.

    "We only have until sunset, who could best help us in this situation?" Hodgewart said while also looking around the village for an answer.

    "Can''t she just walk on her own?" Hodgewart''s little baby fox asked innocently which made both Hodgewart and Miss Nabi think.

    "Right, we just have to guide her. It''s not like she''s handicapped, she just lost her memories," Miss Nabi said upon realization which Hodgewart immediately agreed with.

    "I''ll go talk to her and get her to walk with us," Hodgewart said and disappeared inside the mushroom house with the two baby foxes beside him.

    "I can''t help but wonder what she was trying to tell me before she lost her memories though. It could be something important and I don''t want to lose my chance but it could also trigger her trauma back¡­ Ah, this is so complicated, I don''t want to get involved in one of these ever again!" Miss Nabi said in frustration in another language which made the animals in her village look at her with worry.

    "Don''t worry I''m just a little stressed, it won''t kill me, promise," she said out loud, announcing to her people about her mental health with a smile before hiding back at her office and pondering about her decisions more over there.

    "It won''t kill me," she repeated before a knock three times on the door startled her a little bit.

    "She''s ready to go, send your instructions, Chief," her assistant monkey said, delivering the news with a calm demeanor, very opposite to Miss Nabi''s nervous and unsure self.

    "Okay, I''ll be right there in a minute," Miss Nabi said and saw her assistant''s polite nod and gentle closing of the door, which accidentally made a note fall off Miss Nabi''s desk from being clipped on the edge of a book.

    "What is this?" Miss Nabi said as she picked up the note, not remembering a single time that she placed a note in one of her books on the table.

    But what shocked her the most, was the fact that the note was written by Petunia''s handwriting. It was sloppy handwriting made by Petunia''s mouth and a pencil.

    "You''ll die," is what''s written on the note.

    "You''ll die?" Miss Nabi repeated the words with a confused expression, "Who''s going to die?" she asked while looking around, her heart beating twice faster in comparison to her normal heartbeat.

    "Obviously not me because I''ve been living here for too long without having a single side effect syndrome," Miss Nabi said and eventually resorted to asking Petunia about it after beating up her mind and not coming to a single conclusion about it.

    "Whatever, it''s not like she''ll panic after hearing the words that she wrote on her own, right?" Miss Nabi said while anticipating for Petunia to come to her office at the moment.

    "Petunia, what are you trying to say with this?" Miss Nabi said as soon as Petunia entered her office room but Petunia only looked at her and the paper with much confusion.

    "What do you mean? What did I do? Did I do something wrong?" she asked using the animal language with an innocent face which made Miss Nabi pity her more.

    "We''re going to return you back to your family now, any words you have to tell me regarding this letter?" Miss Nabi said and scooted closer to Petunia with the slightly heavy letter in her thin little butterfly arms.

    "Oh that!" Petunia said after seemingly recognizing the letter, "I think I was trying to tell you something earlier but I don''t remember what it is now. Maybe it''s not important that''s why I forgot about it," she said with a bright smile which made Miss Nabi look at her with much more pity.

    "But you''ve forgotten everything about your past. Don''t tell me that''s because those aren''t important to you too?" Miss Nabi tried to keep her mouth shut but her conscience wouldn''t let her let go of Petunia without having a proper conversation with her, as both victims of an experiment that went wrong.

    "I don''t know, I can''t remember anything. And when I try to, my head feels like it''s going to burst! Ahhh! It''s so noisy! I don''t want this anymore! Please make it stop!" Petunia suddenly panicked which Miss Nabi thought was her trauma kicking in.

    "Shh, shh, we''re going to be alright. We''ll take you to your friends now who probably know more about you than us so you don''t have to think about it anymore. Stop thinking about it and your head won''t hurt as much. I''m sorry for making you try to remember, Petunia. This will be the last time we''ll be seeing each other and I don''t want to hurt you anymore. I''m sorry," Miss Nabi said while hugging Petunia''s nose which made Petunia cool herself down and stop thinking about her memories that would only hurt her brain.

    "Okay," she said.

    "Now let''s go take you back," Miss Nabi said and urged Petunia to come with her outside of the mushroom house and into the town hall to finally say goodbye to all the animals in the village.

    "We''re going to miss you, Petunia!"

    "I''m going to miss you too, I guess," Petunia said to the villagers which gave Miss Nabi and Hodgewart another problem about Petunia''s language.

    "Can she still speak the human language or has she completely forgotten about it?" Miss Nabi asked which Hodgewart only answered with a shrug.

    "Talk to her in the human language then!" Miss Nabi whispered which called Hodgewart back to reality after overthinking about Petunia and Heize''s reunion that they would probably never have the chance to do so again in the future which would be a shame.

    "Can you still use the human language, Petunia?" Hodgewart asked which made Petunia tilt her head to him in confusion.

    "Oh no, she can''t understand human language anymore," Hodgewart said to Miss Nabi worriedly which gave Miss Nabi no choice but to accompany Petunia in surrendering to the human guards as a translator.

    "But what about us, Miss Nabi?" her animal village asked after hearing about her decision of joining Petunia as her spokesperson to her teammates later.

    "I''ll be back, I promise," Miss Nabi said, which almost made all the animals in her village cry out of fear of being left by their chief.

    "Let''s go," she said to the troops that volunteered to go with her to the checkpoint and back to the village just to deliver Petunia to the humans later before sunset.

    "We''ll be back," the bear said to the crying penguins and baby foxes that would be left in the village with Hodgewart.

    "Are you sure it''s a good idea to bring the bear with you? Won''t the humans freak out upon seeing him?" Hodgewart whispered to Miss Nabi which she responded with,

    "I won''t let him be seen, we''ll just bring him in case something went wrong and we might need someone to carry us all back to the village, you know?"

    "Okay, I understand," Hodgewart said before waving goodbye to them.

 Chapter 177 - Legend

    "Is it done?" Gem asked Von for the nth time today while looking at the flower that was still glowing on and on.

    "How am I supposed to know that?!" Von answered, annoyed at Gem''s impatience.

    "But I really want to go look for Petunia now," Gem said while pouting.

    "Tell me about it," Von said and rolled his eyes at having the tour around Edelweiss interrupted by this flower charger thing.

    "How about this, Gem? Do you think we can also put it there and finally activate it?" Venedette asked Gem hopefully, pertaining to her dead Salamandite gem necklace.

    "I''m not sure about that," Gem said while trying to remember how her necklace activated, "I''m pretty sure the flower had nothing to do with the activation of my Salamandite. It just suddenly glowed like that when I was on the edge of death."

    "I have been thinking about this for a while now, but do you think I also need to be on the edge of death to activate mine? That''s the only other solution left that I can think about," Venedette said while thinking out loud.

    "I don''t think that''s the answer, Ven. We''ll just have to see after I unlock more chapters in the manual book," Fily said.

    "How about the manual book? Do you think it also has something to do with this flower?" Gem asked and pouted again after seeing the flower charger still in the process of charging her necklace.

    "This might take the whole day," Lei said in concern to Gem which she only replied with a nod.

    "I don''t think that''s the case too, the book had zero mentions of a flower that could charge the Salamandites even if it was closely tied to the history of Salamanders."

    "Why could that be?" Gem asked after Fily''s quick analysis.

    "We''ll find out once we open the rest of the book, these people aren''t much of a help to us other than showing us the empty river with drawings anyway," Fily said with a quick glance to the elders which made Von feel upset.

    "That''s so rude! It''s not like they didn''t want to help us, they just can''t!"

    "Yeah yeah, whatever," Fily said and went closer to one of the elders beside her, "How long do you think this will take?" she asked regarding the charger flower.

    "Until sunset?" the elder asked.

    "I thought so too," Fily said with a nod and went back to Venedette, "I think we should just go back here later," she said which immediately made Venedette shake her head for a no.

    "No, we''re going to watch this finish its job. We don''t want to be careless and lose this Salamandite to someone else, do we?" she went closer and whispered the last words to Fily which Fily didn''t even think about before.

    "Who would try and take this away from us?" Fily thought to herself while looking at Gem with remorse for thinking about leaving her Salamandite gems in no one''s care.

    "We just have to keep our guards up if we don''t want to be sorry," Venedette said and few to the topside of the mountain where she could access the whole view of the village from up there.

    "Wow, she didn''t even take us with her, so what''s our plan for later?" Fily suddenly said to Gem and the boys which surprised them. Since Fily had only been talking to Venedette or Gem since earlier and the two of them felt like Fily couldn''t even see them anymore.

    "We''ll have to look around the checkpoint of course," Von said cluelessly.

    "How about we start looking for the super-secret witch like in our original treasure hunt?" Gem suggested which made Fily feel somewhat proud of her for being thoughtful.

    "Okay we''ll start with that," Fily said and scooted closer to the elders who were sitting on the golf carts while watching the big edelweiss flower flash a light blue color in its clear ice body.

    "So, have you heard of the very secretive witch that lives here and creates very important potions such as animal-related potions?" Fily asked and even smiled fakely to the elder who suddenly avoided her eyes the moment they heard the word ''witch'' from her mouth.

    "Why do I feel like you know what I''m talking about?" Fily said and noticed the other kids scooting closer to them, eventually putting Elder Song in a hotspot which Venedette didn''t even care about even though she could clearly see them gathering around him.

    "Do you know something about this witch, Elder Song?" It was Von''s time to ask, and considering the moments that they have spent together telling each other''s stories, Elder Song just couldn''t ignore him about such an important topic.

    His heart was soft for him and Von was well aware of it, making it his strategy as an advantage to get to him.

    "W-What do you want from her?" he asked which made Fily and the others sigh in relief and move away from suffocating him a little bit.

    "Everything all right here, Elder Song?" some of the Elders who saw Elder Song''s uncomfortable expression upon being surrounded by the Leviathan said and even went closer to his golf cart.

    "Yes, everything''s fine. I was just surprised, that''s all. You can leave us now," Elder Song said to his people which made Fily even more curious as to who this witch was and what her connection with Elder Song was.

    As the other elders moved away from them reluctantly, Elder Song shut his eyes tightly and cursed very softly before looking at them again as if he was in conflict with himself about telling them the things that he knows about this witch.

    "You don''t need to tell us too much, just the location of her store will do," Fily said, getting ahead of Elder Song who looked like he was about to tell them another tale from the million storybooks in his mind.

    "What? Why would you say that! Please continue Elder Song, if it''s another story then I''m very willing to listen to you once again, unlike these impatient girls," Von said and even glazed meaningfully at Gem and Fily with a little hint of disgust.

    "Tch, fine. Do whatever you want, just call me up if he''s in the part of the location of this witch''s store already," Fily said with displease to Von and went to sit on the other golf cart behind Elder Song''s golf cart while the other three stayed for storytime with Elder Song on his cart.

    After Fily left, Elder Song started preparing his voice for storytime. He even drank two bottles of water from the container that Venedette prepared for them but then just as he was about to start, he suddenly paused with an interruption.

    "So what do I get in return after telling you this valuable information?" he asked which tilted off Von from his seat.

    "How about we tell you my story once you''re done?" Gem offered which seemed to satisfy Elder Song who was nodding while thinking about it.

    "Okay, so once upon a time¡­" Elder Song started telling them the story of a lost girl in the woods that was raised by a family on the foot of the mountain, similar to the mountain where they were at right now, most precisely the other side of the mountain in front of them right now where the village was still small and sparsely populated.

    A humble family of hunters took a girl named Heize in after finding her in the woods and learned about the horrible things that the wolves in the woods did to her which she barely escaped from.

    They seek vengeance for this child, she looked like a child at that time. But when three of the five sons of that family died because of the same wolves, Heize went berserk and accidentally destroyed the whole village that took care of her, along with the wolves that threatened her life.

    Her powers were very unstable, she came from Majesta, the same city that disappeared during the 4010 tournaments for refusing to be prizes for the tournament.

    "That''s the same city where Petunia came from," Gem said after hearing about the part of where Heize came from.

    "Is she a kid like us?" Lei asked which also piqued the interest of both Gem and Von.

    "No, but her form looked like one, although I''m not so sure how she looks now," Elder Song said.

    "How did you know about her story though?" Gem asked.

    "That''s my job, little master, now are you going to tell me your story now?" Elder Song said with much anticipation which made Gem think.

    "I shall tell you my story once I''ve done something worth being told," Gem said with a smile and kicked Von out of the golf cart to force him to bring her back to the flower charger.

    "Tch, fine!" Von said and grabbed the back hem of Gem''s shirt and flew her off to the flower with him.

    "Shouldn''t we tell Fily first about the stuff that Elder Song told us about that witch?" Von asked when they finally arrived on the disc floret of the gigantic flower.

    "I already told her, we just need to grab this so we can finally go to the other side of this mountain and meet with Petunia once again. Where is her Stat-hut collar anyway? I haven''t seen any of you carrying it when we got here," Gem said while fidgeting around the receptacle where she placed her Salamandite gem.

    "Maybe it''s in the yacht, or we should ask mom to make sure?" Von said which Gem agreed with.

    "We''re coming for you Petunia. Just wait a little bit," Gem said as she watched Von fly off the flower and into Venedette''s location to ask the question himself.

 Chapter 178 - Lip-synching

    "Shh, quiet! Anything on the left side?" Miss Nabi asked the bear named Poker while looking around the forest''s edge cautiously.

    "A lot of people and guards on patrol," Poker answered.

    "Great, put Petunia down on their path, and let''s watch until she''s been brought to the headquarters," Miss Nabi said while positioning herself in Petunia''s back.

    Although her color was quite eye-catching when paired with Petunia''s silver fur, Miss Nabi thought she should just follow them around in plain sight.

    "Are you sure you want to do this, Miss Nabi?" Poker asked while carefully placing Petunia on the path of those guards who were patrolling the area.

    And since the sun was already close to setting, hiding in the forest for Poker wasn''t really that hard anymore, unlike what they had to go through earlier just to avoid the eyes of people.

    "I need to do this, Poker, Shelby," she said while looking at the silent yet big-eyed squirrel on the back of Poker, "I''ll be back before you know it," she added and hid on Petunia''s fur even more.

    "If you run into trouble just call us and we will get you both out of there, okay?" Poker said while looking dearly at Petunia.

    "That''s not going to happen, Petunia is a very important cat for the humans, and doing something to her might lead to this place''s complete separation from Clandamascarene," Miss Nabi said while thinking about the conversation of the teenagers earlier.

    "But if something did happen, I''ll be sure to call your names out loud. Just try not to cause trouble while waiting for me, okay?" Miss Nabi added while waving goodbye to her two most trusted citizens.

    "Bye Petunia, hope you won''t forget us even though we''ve only spent a little time with each other," Shelby said while waving at the two of them whereas Petunia was just nodding at them.

    "I feel like I had something to do while I was still in your village but I forgot what it was. It had something to do with a secret house and the big hedgehog was supposed to bring me there," Petunia said while thinking so hard about it which made Miss Nabi concerned for her health.

    "Your health is more important than that, stop working your head too much."

    "But I feel like it also had something to do with my health!" Petunia suddenly burst into annoyance which surprised Miss Nabi.

    "How could a murderous witch help her cure her sickness?" Miss Nabi thought to herself while keeping her mouth shut about what Petunia was talking about.

    "She''s a witch and Petunia''s friend, but looking at the circumstances and the number of times she could have gone to Petunia instead and cure her, I really think Heize doesn''t consider her as a friend anymore. I did the right decision. Not putting Petunia in her door is just the same as saving her from an unfortunate crisis. This is for the best, Nabi. This is for the best," Miss Nabi thought to herself while taking deep breaths, trying to convince herself that she did the right thing.

    "I-I''m sorry, I just really feel like something''s wrong and I shouldn''t be here right now," Petunia suddenly said in a polite tone which brought Miss Nabi back to reality.

    "That''s just your previous instinct talking but trust me. This is a better place for you to be in compared to where you wanted to go," Miss Nabi said and immediately covered her mouth after realizing what she just said.

    "Where did I want to go? Where''s that?"

    "Nothing! Nowhere! I mean, there was a place where you wanted to go but you didn''t tell us. You lost your memories before you could even tell us more things about yourself other than your name," Miss Nabi said and smiled to convince Petunia even more.

    "Did you hear that?" a guard suddenly said from afar.

    "I think I heard a cat meowing from this area," his partner responded while putting on an offensive stance.

    "Do you think it''s the cat that we''re looking for?" the first guard said while trying to track where Petunia was.

    "Should I talk more to call their attention?" Petunia asked after seeing Miss Nabi''s reaction to the voice.

    "Can''t you really speak human anymore?" Miss Nabi asked while putting on a serious face in front of Petunia.

    "I don''t know, I''m talking to you now, but I don''t know what language am I using," Petunia said regretfully.

    "Okay, here''s the plan. I''ll do the talking for you and you just open your mouth to pretend that you''re the one talking. Just don''t make any sound like meowing, okay?"

    "Okay," Petunia said, "Are we going to start now?" she added while getting into position on the snow under the last tree of the forest.

    "Let''s go." Miss Nabi nodded and hid behind the tree''s big roots not far from Petunia.

    "Hello? Is anybody there? Help! I need help!" Miss Nabi said, which made the two guards run faster to Petunia''s position.

    When they arrived, Petunia immediately looked at Miss Nabi to ask what she''s going to do next, and when she saw Miss Nabi''s wings flapping as if telling her to go ahead, she looked back at the two guards and tried talking to them herself.

    "M-Meow," she said and immediately shut her mouth tight when all she heard herself meow at them.

    "Are you Miss Petunia? The missing talking cat from Leviathan?" the first guard asked while observing Petunia''s situation on the ground.

    "She fits the description perfectly, silver fur and a mean-looking cat face," the second guard said while comparing Petunia to the image in his stat-hut.

    "Yes, that''s me! I''m lost, can you bring me back to my teammates?" Miss Nabi said that Petunia immediately caught up and started lip-syncing.

    Thank goodness the two guards were just overjoyed about being the lucky ones who will receive their raise if they found the missing member of Leviathan after believing that they got the most unlucky area of scouting earlier.

    "Who knew we''d find her just beside the checkpoint?!" the first guard said while hopping happily and carrying Petunia carefully back to the checkpoint.

    "Right! We''re so lucky!" his partner said while trying to scratch the itchy thing in his head which was Miss Nabi trying to hide in his hood.

    ***

    The long walk was finished, and although the two guards had asked a lot of questions to Petunia on the way, Miss Nabi only answered a few of the questions that she knew the answer to. Such as what happened to Petunia and why she suddenly disappeared from her teammates.

    But the happiness of the two guards was suddenly outlived when they saw most of the guards inside the checkpoint building gathering around another cat with the same physique and silver fur as Petunia in the middle of the hallway.

    All attention was focused on her and the story that she was telling that the people watching her didn''t even notice the two guards holding the real Petunia come through the crowd just until they stopped in the middle of it all, holding Petunia and facing her to the fake one.

    "What''s happening here?" he said, which made the crowd silent and gasping for a long minute after seeing two Petunias in the middle of their HQ.

    "What is that?!" the fake Petunia said and jumped off the sofa where she was standing earlier, using it as a stage while telling her story earlier, and glided down to the confused guard who was holding the real Petunia without his knowledge.

    "Who are you?!" Miss Nabi said after having eye contact with Petunia and preparing for lip-synching.

    "Why do you look so sick?! And why do you look so much like me?!" the fake Petunia said which garnered a lot of gasps from the people as they watched the two Petunias walk around each other slowly in an identical form as if they were observing each other.

    "How dare you!" Miss Nabi said that Petunia lip-synched perfectly while still walking around the fake Petunia.

    "What''s happening here?" a loud voice suddenly thundered across the room, making most of the guards stiffen and salute as the commander in chief crossed his distance to the two Petunias.

    "Why are there two of them? Did the Princess say we''re looking for two cats?!"

    "No, sir!" The first guard who found the real Petunia said while keeping his eye on the Petunia that he and his partner found near the checkpoint.

    "I''m the real Petunia! That one''s a fake!" the fake one suddenly said to the commander which most of the people around them seemed to have agreed with.

    "Liar! I''m the real Petunia!" Miss Nabi said from the guard''s hood which made it a little bit obvious since the place was so quiet even though Petunia saw the sign and lip-synched to her words perfectly.

    "What is happening here?!" the commander''s voice thundered in annoyance again, "Where did you find these two?!" he asked which made the two guards who found the fake Petunia step up along with the two guards who found the real one.

    "We found her near the lake, sir," the guard who found the fake one said, which discouraged the two guards who found Petunia near the checkpoint from finding her in such an obvious place.

    "How about you?" the commander asked when the two who found the real Petunia did not answer.

    "We found her near the forest, sir."

    "Very well," the commander said, seemingly calming down from the unexpected situation, "we''ll keep both of them until the Princess arrives. But until then, I want the four of you to come with me," he added and proceeded back to his office while the rest of the guards looked at them as if the commander just did something very stupid.

    "Why would the commander let something so fake stay here?"

    "Come on, Petunia. We''ll take care of you until the Princess comes here," the female guards said to the fake Petunia after getting whipped from her story and attitude earlier.

    "We''re in trouble," Miss Nabi said to the real Petunia after realizing what the heck just happened.

 Chapter 179 - Sunset

    "Ughh, when is this going to end? The sun''s already setting!" Gem said and stomped her feet in annoyance over the long wait.

    "Guys! I just got the news from the commander, they have found Petunia!!" Venedette said excitedly while flying across Gem and to Fily and the boy''s location.

    "What?! That''s great news! But how about my Salamandite?" Gem said as her smile faded from the thought.

    "But there''s a problem." Venedette''s voice suddenly became serious.

    "What is it?" Von said in anticipation.

    "There are two of them."

    "What?" Von said, "Two of what?"

    "They found two Petunias," Venedette said with a blank face as if she was trying to read the kid''s expressions..

    "What?! How could that be?!" Fily said with a loud voice.

    "We also don''t know but we need to go there now if we want to save the real Petunia," Venedette said and looked in Gem''s direction where she was still fidgeting around the floral disk while waiting for her gem to finish charging.

    "Speaking about Petunia, I actually have a question, mom," Von said, tugging Venedette''s shirt down from her flight.

    "What is it?"

    "Petunia''s collar, her stat-hut. Do you know where it is?" Von asked the question he''d been meaning to ask his mother since earlier.

    "Hmm, that''s a great idea Von! Petunia''s Stut-hut actually has all her memories embedded in them! I think we can figure out the real Petunia easily just by that!" Venedette said with her eyes sparkling from the relief.

    "But you didn''t answer my question, mom. Where is it?"

    "What do you mean the Stut-hut has Petunia''s memories embedded in them?" Fily suddenly asked after pushing Von slightly away from blocking her vision to Venedette.

    "Oh, I haven''t told you yet. Oh no, this is bad!" Venedette''s emotions suddenly shifted from being relieved to worry.

    "Why? What''s wrong?" Fily asked, also getting nervous now because of Venedette''s sudden shift of emotions.

    "Petunia''s collar, I don''t have it with me right now! I actually surrendered it to the commander in chief telling him to put it to Petunia once they''ve found her!"

    "And that collar has Petunia''s memories in them, right? What if it goes to the wrong Petunia?!" Fily said, finally getting a wind of what was happening on the other side of the mountain.

    "We have to go there, quickly!" Venedette said while almost taking off on her own if only she did not see Gem looking at them with pleading eyes.

    "What about Gem?!" Von said, also panicking after realizing the situation that Petunia was in right now.

    "Maybe you can stay here and carry her to the checkpoint while we go ahead?" Venedette suggested.

    "We can do that. It''s just like what we always do, Von. You carry Gem and Venedette will bring us to the checkpoint immediately," Fily said, trying to convince Von to agree with her.

    "But we don''t know how long that charger will take us!" Von said, now jumping around in frustration as he gets conflicted in his mind about staying for Gem or leaving her so he could go ahead and save Petunia for her already.

    "We don''t have much time! Who knows what that fake Petunia is planning?! We need to get there before the commander in chief decides to place the collar on either one of them. We''ll need Lei and Fily for that," Venedette said and opened her arms to urge Fily and Lei to move closer to her so she could carry them.

    "Ughh! Fine! You go ahead and save Petunia while Gem and I wait here for her Salamandite to finish charging. Now go!" Von said, acting like a hero that he never dreamed to be doing until lately.

    "Okay, thank you Von. You''re making your mommy proud. Come on Fily and Lei, we''ve got to save Petunia from that fake copy of hers," Venedette said and immediately scooped Fily and Lei away from Edelweiss without even saying their goodbyes to the elders.

    "She could''ve just told the commander in chief to not give any of the Petuniases the collar¡­ but then what if the fake one had an ulterior motive why he decided to copy Petunia? Ahhh, never mind! I''ll just leave them to it!" Von shook his own head and messed with his hair before fixing his stance after noticing the elders watching him like ha has gone crazy.

    "Sorry about that, we''re going to go after sunset, by the way," Von said and even smiled at the elders, especially Elder Song to convince them that he''s just okay.

    "We understand, young master. Don''t worry about the flower, we will protect it with all our lives until you come back with that Salamandite. How I hope the young miss would just tell me her story now so I can write it down in my collections," Elder Song said and even tried to crack a joke between him and Von that seemed to work just a little bit.

    But instead of treating it as a joke, Von actually got quite embarrassed after realizing that all Elder Song had done to them was try and educate them of all the things that he knows about this place, yet he and the rest of his team were still just like an empty book for Elder Song and the others for not even bothering to tell them anything about the story of their lives. All except for Petunia who was seemingly potential headline news for tomorrow''s newspapers for being a unique being with a very important mission and getting lost during that time. Even finding herself a copycat that probably has an ill intention to her and to all of Leviathan, judging from his/her choice of target that was the powerhouse team for the upcoming tournament for Clandamascarene.

    "I wish I had more time to tell you about us," Von said while looking at Elder Song regretfully.

    "It''s okay, young master. We just want to serve you with all of our hearts, especially since you''re the descendant of the great Dr. Lectric who saved our ancestors."

    "And Gem could be Gyu and Iba''s real descendant," Von whispered to himself which Elder Song heard.

    "And that too," he said and smiled.

    "Okay, it''s getting dark. Wait, the flower''s not glowing anymore! I have to go!" Von said and didn''t even bother waving goodbye to Elder Song and the others.

    He just swooped back to the flower where Gem was carefully removing her Salamandite from the receptacles of the gigantic Edelweiss flower with a big smile on her face.

    "Right on time," she said and wrapped her arms around Von as he carried her immediately to the checkpoint where Venedette and the others were already waiting for them.

    ***

    "Where are they?" Venedette said with a demanding voice as soon as they arrived at the checkpoint''s headquarters.

    She did not even mind leaving their Levi-yacht near the Edelweiss village just to arrive faster at the checkpoint''s headquarters and the image of Petunia being treated like a king was the first thing that she saw.

    "What the-?" Lei said in disbelief after seeing the army of females walking around Petunia- or Petunia''s copycat, feeding her and seemingly protecting her from intruders.

    "Where''s the other one?!" Venedette said to the closest guard she could threaten with a pull on her collar.

    "The other one? You mean the fake Petunia?" the guard asked.

    "Yes," Venedette said while trying to calm herself down by taking deep breaths and putting down the poor guard who just suddenly got pulled in her collar.

    "She''s in jai-" the guard answered but was suddenly interrupted when Petunia, the fake Petunia, came striding closer to them with big teary cat eyes.

    "Venedette," she said with a very familiar voice which almost convinced Venedette that she was the real Petunia, but the mere fact that she could remember her name gave her away and made Venedette look at her indifferently.

    "Where''s the other one? The real Petunia?" Venedette said with a cold voice and attitude which made the fake Petunia cry even more than aggravated all of the female guards around her in even less than a second.

    "What are you doing?!" the guard who Venedette just threatened suddenly said and stepped forward bravely just to defend the fake Petunia.

    "She''s not the real Petunia!" Venedette said and was surprised when the rest of the female guards shot daggers at her using their eyes.

    "What''s happening? Why aren''t they listening?" Lei said and stepped forward to act as protection if ever a battle suddenly commenced in here.

    "I''m the real Petunia! What are you talking about?!" the fake Petunia cried which made the female guards charge at Venedette and her teammates.

    "They''re brainwashed! Run!" Fily said and held both Lei and Venedette''s hands to run away from the female guards who weren''t listening to them.

    When Venedette finally got a hold of herself, she immediately carried the two in her arms and headed for the commander in chief''s office while hoping for the best and that the collar should still be there and safe from the hands of that cunning fake Petunia.

 Chapter 180 - Janitors Room

    "Where''s the collar? Did you get it?" the fake Petunia suddenly shouted across the hallway full of brainwashed female guards from the checkpoint.

    "Uhmm," the female guards looked at each other in uncertainty.

    "You don''t have it?" Petunia said with a threatening tone.

    "The Commander is currently in interrogation, Ma''am." One of the serious-looking ones stepped forward and said.

    "Where?" the fake Petunia said and stepped on one of the guards who offered their hands as transport for her.

    "Inside the interrogation room, Ma''am," the female guard said.

    "Take me there immediately," the fake Petunia said to the guard holding her who immediately complied.

    ***

    "Did we lost them?" Fily whispered to Lei who was keeping them safe and away from the four female guards who went after them.

    "Shh," Lei said and peeked cautiously at the corner of their hiding place.

    When Fily put her back on the wall once again, she noticed Venedette looking worried and undecided about something as if she wanted to tell them something.

    "What is it?" Fily asked while still staying alert.

    "The Commander is not in his office, what if something bad happened to him?" Venedette said without holding back to Fily.

    "Don''t worry, we''ll find him once we find the real Petunia," Fily said and was ready to leave when a question suddenly popped inside her brain.

    "What made you so sure that the Petunia we saw earlier wasn''t the real Petunia anyway?" Fily asked even though she had a hint of why Venedette did that in the first place.

    Before Venedette could answer, Fily noticed Lei''s look at her as if she just asked Venedette something stupid.

    "What?" Fily said, provoking Lei to spill it out but Lei only rolled his eyes and stepped outside of their hiding place, indicating they''re safe to go and there''s no one around them anymore.

    "Petunia shouldn''t have any memories of who we are right now, and besides, the mere fact that she was able to manipulate all those people and make them bend at her wishes isn''t just something that Petunia would normally do, even if she lost all her memories about us," Venedette said.

    "Right. That''s why we''re looking for the collar, right?" Fily asked again just to make sure.

    "Yes. Having that collar in the wrong Petunia would make things more confusing for us since she will have access to the real Petunia''s memories with us and even pretend that she''s the real Petunia just by doing so. I don''t know how I could differentiate them anymore if that happens," Venedette said and was cut by Fily''s sudden thought.

    "But if that happens then shouldn''t we be able to recognize the real Petunia if the one without the collar just¡­ forgets everything?"

    "The fake Petunia could also pretend to not know anything if we managed to give the real Petunia the collar," Lei suddenly said and placed his pointer finger in front of his lips to signal them to quiet down while making their way carefully along the hallway.

    "I just wish we have something else aside from their memories and look that could tell us which one is the real Petunia," Venedette whispered to herself sincerely.

    "Show us the way, Fily," Lei said after sensing two guards coming to their location.

    "There are four areas in this place where they keep criminals detained and the closest one near us is the one near the interrogation room where hanged in yesterday," Fily said.

    "And the way to there is?"

    "Go straight and then take two lefts."

    "We have a problem, there are two guards coming that way," Lei said and pulled the two back to their hiding place earlier inside the janitor''s room.

    "I could just knock them both out," Venedette said and held the doorknob but Fily quickly grabbed her hand to stop her.

    "We can''t do that. We don''t know what kind of glamor that fake Petunia did to the female guards of this place to keep them in check and under her orders but I''m sure it''s something that could track her people and if we knock the two of them out they will quickly notice something wrong."

    "And besides, we have been avoiding the surveillance cameras for these past few minutes but are most likely monitoring the whole place right now, and even if there''s no glamour in these two guards passing by, they could still see something wrong with the surveillance cameras," Lei said with caution.

    "Oh, about that¡­" Fily said and suddenly paused as if her soul just left her body for a minute.

    "What?" Lei said and even waved his hands in front of Fily''s eyes to see if she was still there but no matter his distraction, she was still empty and very focused on something that she seemed like she did not even see Lei waving her hands in front of her.

    "Done!" Fily suddenly said with a cheerful voice which made Lei and Venedette''s heart jump from the shock of it all, especially since there were two guards currently passing by the hallway just outside their hiding place.

    "Lock the door!" Venedette whispered to Lei aggressively which Lei immediately did with his ninja skills by tumbling across the worn-out couch until the door that turned out to be already locked by Fily earlier when she removed Venedette''s hands from it.

    "Sorry," Fily whispered with a peace sign while avoiding Lei''s glare at her.

    "What did you do?" Venedette asked Fily after realizing that she must have been in her mind palace earlier when her eyes suddenly became empty.

    "I hacked the surveillance system and disconnected all signals in their control room," Fily said and even smiled with a proud face for what she just did.

    But then suddenly, in the most unexpected timing, Lei turned the lights off and placed all his weight to keep the door closed when three knocks suddenly banged on the door of their hiding place.

    "Oh no, they heard me!" Fily whispered aggressively with her heart rising up her throat as if it wanted to jump out of her already.

    "I got this," Venedette said and stepped forward but Lei quickly raised his arms to her level to stop her.

    "Hello? Is anybody there?" a deep male voice said while still knocking on their door which made Fily, Venedette, and Lei look at each other instinctively even across the darkness with their slight night visions.

    [Fily: Should we let them in? They''re not affected by the glamour that the fake Petunia used]

    [Lei: How can we be so sure about that?]

    [Venedette: We can''t let them in. If they don''t have the glamour then shouldn''t they be in that jail along with the other guys?]

    [Fily: What? Where did you get that information? Even I don''t know what''s happening out there.]

    [Venedette: Just a hunch. When we heard about the real Petunia being in jail and seeing the Commander in chief out of his office and this place deserted of male guards, I just got the idea that they must have been in the jail with either the Commander or Petunia.] Venedette explained calmly even though the banging on the door was getting louder now.

    "Please open the door! There are three females coming this way and we have to hide immediately!" the guy pleaded which made Venedette and the kids inside the janitor''s room more confused.

    "How are they so sure that we''re inside this particular room when there''s a lot of open and locked rooms out there?" Venedette said and stood properly as if her patience was running out already.

    She even warmed up her knuckles to get ready for a fight that Lei was trying his best to prevent from happening.

    "Please! We saw you come in this door-" the first guy pleaded but was interrupted when his companion talked.

    "Shh, we''re not even sure if they''re also hiding like us," his companion said, seemingly convincing the other guy to just hide in another place to not get caught by those female guards on the lookout for more of them out there.

    "No, why else would they lock the door on us if they''re not hiding?" the first guy said stubbornly and knocked on the door again which made Lei put down his defenses and convinced that they were not glamoured just like the others.

    "Just let them in and I will make sure they stay quiet until those two female guards pass by," Venedette said and was met with a nod by both Fily and Lei in favor of her decision.

    "Here, wrap this around their faces after you open the door," Fily said while handing two face towels to each of them after finding those lying around the cleaner''s closets.

    "I''ll open the door but you''ve got to stay quiet, alright?" Lei said and quickly opened the door without even giving the two guys to think and agree with him.

    Once Lei opened the door and the two guys who were leaning on it fell on the floor inside the dark janitor''s room, Venedette and Lei quickly moved to cover their faces with the long and thick face towels that Fily told them to use earlier.

    "See, I told you they''re also hiding like us-" the first guard said which made Venedette tighten the wrap around his face to keep him from talking too much.

 Chapter 181 - Von In Solitude

    [Von: We''re here. What''s happening?] Von sent a message to their team''s group chat secretly while being surrounded by female guards and getting tied up with Gem who was also being forced to kneel down on the floor with him the moment they arrived at the checkpoint''s headquarters.

    [Fily: The fake Petunia''s got them all glamoured and under her orders. You''ve got to escape and run away from them quickly. We''re currently hiding somewhere on the third floor and will be on our way to the holding cells to recover Petunia and her collar.]

    [Von: Do you need us to do something?] Von asked insightfully while watching Gem have a staring contest with a little bit of growling with the female guards currently guarding them right now.

    [Fily: Actually¡­] Fily sent even though her sentence was not yet complete.

    [Von: What?]

    [Fily: We actually don''t know where the collar is¡­ and the fake Petunia''s probably looking for it too so if you can¡­]

    [Von: Okay, we''re on it. We just need some time to get away from these¡­ guards..] Von said confidently as if he had a plan on how to escape this situation.

    [Von: Hey, you got anything that could help us escape this situation?] Von said by sending a message to Gem and even nudging her from his back and looking at her with a knowing look.

    "Grrr!" Gem growled at the female who poked her with a muffled voice due to the cloth wrapped around her mouth.

    [Von: Gem!] Von sent and looked at her with a confused gaze once again, infuriated that Gem was not paying attention to what he was saying and was only focusing on her little staring contest with the female guards.

    Finally, Gem seemed to have noticed his message and took her time reading the rest while keeping quiet and detached from her staring contest, making the main girl guarding them leave from in front of them.

    [Gem: I have a plan, but it''s not a hundred percent success rate.] Gem sent and glanced at Von who immediately got what she was trying to say.

    [Von: What is it?] Von replied after releasing a relieved sigh after seeing Gem finally pay attention to their problem and plan on escaping.

    [Gem: I''m going to bring you to Solitude.]

    [Von: What?! Is that allowed?!] Von looked at Gem with much shock and fear in his eyes.

    [Gem: Yes, I''ve done it before with Fily! But I''m just not sure how because everything happened so quickly. But now that my Salamandite has been charged, I''m sure I could just do it again if I think about it. But you have to trust me,] Gem said, which made Von a little more scared knowing that Gem might be getting too excited and ahead of herself this time.

    He didn''t even hear anything about Fily being able to come and go in Solitude which made him skeptical about Gem''s claim, not even to mention the thing that Gem said about not having a hundred percent success rate earlier which made it scarier for Von to trust her.

    [Von: Are you sure it''s safe?] Von asked cautiously again and glanced at Gem with fear-filled eyes.

    [Gem: I don''t know¡­ There''s this weird side effect that happened to Fily before that''s why I never tried doing it again. But I don''t think we have another option here Von.]

    [Von: A side effect?!] Von squeaked. [Von: W-What is it?] He followed immediately after calming himself down a little bit.

    [Gem: If I remember correctly, I think it had something to do with your superpowers¡­ like you''ll lose it temporarily when you''re in there but you''ll get it back quickly after going back here in the real world, just like what happened to Fily.] Gem said, explaining as calmly as she could so Von wouldn''t be scared but the fact that Von didn''t reply yet might mean that he''s getting afraid of it.

    And no matter how much Von read the message that Gem said, the words ''losing your superpowers'' even if temporarily, made Von almost back out from the whole plan and thought of just staying tied up to Gem for the rest of the mission since Venedette and the others would probably be able to solve everything by themselves anyway.

    [Gem: Von? Are you still there?] Gem said and peeked to her side where Von was looking very far away from her as if thinking of something so deeply.

    [Von: Is there a high chance that they''ll kill us?] Von sent to the group GC which made Gem look at her in disbelief.

    Not long after, Gem sighed with an understanding tone as if she accepted Von''s decision already. And without even looking at Fily''s reply, Gem messaged Von again.

    [Gem: I''ll go by myself then,] she said and gathered all her power to push herself up.

    But to Gem''s surprise, Von suddenly pulled her down using the rope that was tying them together and looked at her with uncertainty and a little bit of guilt.

    In Von''s mind, he was still very afraid of the Salamandite that was said to be similar to the one that killed his sister. But since it''s the best option that they''ve got right now, Von reconsidered his decision and decided to just give it a shot.

    [Von: I''ll come¡­ This won''t kill me, right?] Von said and fixed his sitting position to give Gem more momentum so they could push each other up.

    [Gem: It won''t! I promise!] Gem said, delighted.

    [Von: Okay, I trust you,] Von said and stifled a smile while thinking about escaping from this suffocating situation of being surrounded by a lot of tall and serious-looking women with weapons in their hands and not to forget the fact that they were being controlled by someone powerful and unknown.

    [Gem: Here we go,] Gem said and urged Von to start the back push with her so they could both stand up together.

    And without even knowing it, the moment Von opened his eyes, he was already in a very clean and empty white space which matched the description of the Solitude that Gem had been telling them all this time.

    "Welcome to Solitude," Gem said with a smile after cutting off the cloth around her mouth using the sharp tip of her gemstone.

    "Thank you," Von said after having the ropes and cloth around his mouth and hands untied by Gem.

    "You''re welcome," Gem said with a smile that even reached her eyes after successfully bringing someone else other than her and Fily inside Solitude without having them forget their memories.

    But as soon as Von took his eyes away from Gem, he suddenly felt a heavy weight around his body as if the gravity in there was stronger than that of Earth''s.

    "Where are we?" Von asked which Gem misunderstood.

    "Inside Solitude, of course. I just said welcome,"

    "No, I mean¡­" Von trailed off and shook his head, "Nevermind. I just felt a little heavy and thought that we''re on another planet or something."

    "Oh," Gem''s eyes widened and quickly recalled something, "That must be you losing your powers-"

    "THAT FAST?!" Von said, definitely freaking out of the sudden change in his body.

    "-temporarily," Gem added, finishing her sentence with a concerned tone, "And no, we''re not on another planet. Just another dimension here on Earth."

    "Oh, so where do we go now?" Von said, acting cool while walking beside Gem even though he was already on the verge of crying inside.

    "Where did Fily say they''re going at?" Gem asked and skimmed her stat-hut that just suddenly popped from the floor, looking very different from their usual stat-hut that made Von almost want something like it for himself.

    "So this place¡­ it''s yours?" Von asked out of curiosity, momentarily being the distracted one instead of Gem who was now the one being focused on their mission.

    "What do you mean by mine?" Gem asked even though her focus was still fixated at the maps that she found on her files. Even spreading them around the floor and popping walls around them which still surprised Von every time it happened.

    "Like, how can you do that? Can you control this whole place?" Von asked which finally caught Gem''s attention and made her think for a second.

    "Hmmm, I didn''t think of that before," she only said and returned to her map tracking immediately.

    "But this power-"

    "Enough about that. Let''s just focus on the mission first," Gem said and merged two walls in front of her to create a bigger screen for the two of them to see the map on a bigger scale.

    "So here''s what we''re going to do¡­" Gem said and briefed Von about the plan that she had been cooking in that short amount of time to be of help at least to Venedette and the others, especially Petunia escape safely from this mysterious and very unexpected thing that went in their way on what should have been a safe and smooth picnic to Edelweiss over the weekends.

 Chapter 182 - Lets Give Them A Reunion

    "What''s happening here? Why are you guys hiding? Are you sure we can trust you?" Venedette said while squatting in front of the two guys that they immediately tied up together the moment they pulled them inside the Janitor''s room.

    It had been a few minutes since the two female guards finished doing their scouting and Lei finally gave them permission to open the lights and talk to the two male guards here.

    "That cat won every girl in this facility and they''ve been hunting us since this evening. We barely even got away from the holding cells-"

    "Where is this holding cell? Is the commander there?" Venedette suddenly said, cutting the first guard''s words which took him back a little.

    "Oh, uhh¡­ I don''t know," the first guard said while looking at his comrade for help.

    "I think he''s there, yep. He''s there alongside the Petunia that we picked up," the second guard said while laughing awkwardly.

    "Petunia that you picked up?" Venedette asked and looked at Lei and Fily with a hunch of what they were talking about, "What do you mean by that?"

    "This evening, right before sunset.. We actually found a cat that resembled the picture that you sent us."

    "We didn''t expect to find her near the headquarters so we were surprised when we saw her talking, but then when we got here, we saw that they have already found the real Petunia and everybody was on her side."

    "So they said they will put us in jail until you arrive."

    "But why are you also hiding like us?" the second guard said and looked at his comrade with much confusion.

    "Well about that¡­" Venedette trailed off and looked at Fily for permission to tell them their story.

    Fily nodded and Venedette proceeded to tell the story.

    "That Petunia is actually a fake and the real one was put to jail, so as we''re told."

    "What?!" the two guards said in unison.

    "The real Petuna  is in the holding cells and we must get to her immediately-"

    "Shouldn''t the collar be our priority first?" Lei said.

    "No, Von and Gem''s on it already," Venedette said.

    "But didn''t you say you know where the commander is at?" Lei asked the two guys who looked at each other again with uncertainty.

    [Gilbert: If we tell them we don''t know where the commander is at, they might kill us!]

    [Kayne: But we know where the real Petunia is and that should be enough, right? They might kill us more if we lied to them!]

    "Uhh yes-"

    "No," the second guard named Kayne said, immediately cutting off his comrade''s words.

    "We''re actually not sure about the commander since there were a lot of people there and the commander might not even be one of them, but we''re sure about where the real Petunia is and we can even bring you there!" Kayne followed up right away.

    "How are you so sure about that?" Fily asked with a menacing tone.

    "B-Because we were the last ones to be brought in the holding cells. I bet every cell is full right now and most of them are also trying to escape like us," Gilbert said with a little bit of fear in his voice because of Fily''s acting which made Fily laugh.

    "Relax I was just acting!" Fily said and busted out in laughter which earned her a death glare from Lei.

    "This is not the time to laugh, Fily."

    "Of course I know that! Who do you think you are to assume that I don''t know that?!"

    "If you knew about it then why did you still do it?"

    "Because I can''t help myself! The atmosphere''s so heavy and I needed to lift it up!"

    "Well then, that''s not the way to do it. Come on you two, show us the way," Lei said and pulled the two guards up who were still tied together and out of the door by himself.

    "Lei''s being too serious, I was just joking!" Fily complained and followed after them silently.

    "We can''t blame him, this is a serious matter after all. The police headquarters in this checkpoint is under hostage by that fake Petunia wannabe cat and we should deal with this situation fast before the clock strikes twelve," Venedette said.

    "Ah yes, the expiration of our visa," Fily said and walked faster to catch up to angry Lei and the two guards on the front telling them the direction of where the real Petunia is being held in.

    ***

    "Where is it?!" the female guard who volunteered to torture the commander shouted while Petunia was watching the two of them.

    "I already told you! I don''t know!" the commander said and spitted out the blood in his mouth.

    "This will never end until you tell us the truth, commander."

    "I''m telling you the truth! I don''t know where it is!"

    "You had it with you when you left your office! Are you saying it just suddenly disappeared like air when we went to grab it after you!?"

    "No! I already told you! Somebody tripped me and I lost the collar to that person! I''m telling the truth!"

    "Liar! There was no one else there except for us so if ever any one of us was that person who tripped you, the collar should already be in Petunia''s hands! Or neck!"

    "I''m telling the truth! Why won''t you believe me!"

    "Because you''re just really unbelievable," the female guard said and started punching the commander once again.

    "Ah I can''t wait for this any longer," the fake Petunia said and turned around to her assistant.

    "Where are they now?"

    "The two kids we caught at the front door earlier suddenly disappeared and the three of them are still inside the building somewhere, ma''am."

    "She probably used her magic to do that, how about the other Petunia?" the fake Petunia said and hopped on her assistant''s arms.

    "She''s still in the holding cell, ma''am."

    "Take me there," the fake Petunia said and paused for a little bit.

    "Actually, take me to the commander''s office first, I''m sure it''s just there somewhere," the fake Petunia said, changing her mind at the last minute with the sudden hunch that she got in her guts.

    "But our people have already searched that area several times, ma''am."

    "Then send out a search team for the collar!"

    "Roger that, Petunia, ma''am."

    "My name''s not Petunia, tch." the fake Petunia whispered to herself with a matching eye roll.

    "Why weren''t they convinced that I was the real Petunia anyway? I even shapeshifted just to look exactly like her but why are they still so stubborn? And why are they still so hard to find?!" the fake Petunia thought to herself and shouted the last sentence which almost made her assistant trip.

    "Continue," Petunia said to the guard who was conscious and sorry for her tripping.

    "I want you to tell all my people to look for my friends and gather them in one place. If they''re still inside the building, that means they''re probably looking for something. Probably that fake Petunia. Bring her also to the garage. Let''s give them a little reunion before I take her place," the fake Petunia thought menacingly and even smirked at that last sentence.

    ***

    "I just want to go back. What are we even doing here anyway?" Petunia said to Miss Nabi who just came back after roaming around the place and looking for help.

    "I guess the rumors were right, after all, this cat is just a cat and that ruthless witch is the real Petunia after all."

    "Who knew she could be so ruthless and powerful?"

    "I know right?"

    The guards inside the holding cell beside Petunia''s gossip about her shamelessly.

    "Where did they even find this fake and meowing Petunia? They should''ve just let her out in the cold."

    "But she was able to talk earlier."

    "And yet she couldn''t understand us now,"

    "Psst Petunia!"

    "See, she''s not responding."

    "This is hard, there''s a lot of guards guarding this place so we can''t escape. But thank goodness your team is already here. I heard they''re currently hiding away from that fake Petunia''s hands. But how did they know that you''re not fake and that one''s the fake one?"

    "I don''t know. Who are you talking about?" Petunia said cluelessly as her memories were getting worse every second.

    "Oh no. You can''t recognize your friends anymore? How about me? Do you still recognize me?" Miss Nabi asked while flying shakily in front of Petunia.

    "Miss Nabi the butterfly," Petunia meowed with a smile and celebrated when she saw Miss Nabi''d relieved face.

    "Okay, that''s enough for now. I''ll just explain to them what happened to you, and the fact that they didn''t mistake that fake Petunia as you might probably mean that they know about your sickness."

    "Who?" Petunia asked again, which worried Miss Nabi.

    "Your friends, they''re coming here to help us," Miss Nabi said and smiled to comfort Petunia a little bit.

    "My friends¡­ My friends," Petunia said as if wondering who those people were.

 Chapter 183 - Not Here

    "It''s not here. It''s really not here. Where is it? Who took it?!" the fake Petunia said and eventually shouted at the end which almost made her lose grip on her glamour to all these female guards in the precinct.

    "I mean, can you please help me find it?" She followed up immediately with puppy eyes which made the glamour''s grip stronger on them.

    "Roger that, ma''am." The guards saluted and scooted out of the commander''s office in one line.

    "This is bad. I can''t convince those royal people with my shitty acting skills and I can''t even find the collar ughh!" Heize said and took a deep breath as she took off her disguise inside the now empty and messy commander''s office.

    "I''m sorry Petunia. But this is the last chance I''ve got in saving us. And with you losing your memories? I don''t think you''re capable of pulling this off anymore.. I have to make sure we''re going to live and mark our words to them. That we''re not just anybody''s price nor possession. We are human too and we have the right to decline," Heize said and put on her disguise once again.

    "Did they catch the princess and those two escapees?" Bring me to them immediately," Heize, the cat impersonating Petunia, said to her assistant who was waiting for her outside of the commander''s office.

    "And make sure that cat''s there, no matter what."

    "Roger that, ma''am Petunia!" the assistant said which made Heize roll her eyes at her again in secret.

    "Well at least they haven''t noticed my glamour yet," Heize said and fixed the wig-costume that she used to cover up for her cat baldness.

    "I hope you''ll forgive me, Petunia," Heize whispered before her assistant started walking towards the garage space where she ordered to bring all the prisoners from the holding cells.

    ***

    "So, does distance here work the same in the real world? Like time?"

    "Yes, that''s why we''re not traveling that far," Gem answered Von''s hundredth question with a tired eye roll.

    "But why am I so tired! I''ve never felt so tired before in my whole life!" Von grunted while exaggerating his walking posture by putting weight in his hands and looking like he was just dragging them around with him.

    "That''s probably because you''ve been super used to flying your whole life that you don''t know how tiring walking is actually anymore," Gem said.

    "But isn''t walking just the same as sitting down? Gravity works for me whenever I sit down or lay in the bed, but I have never felt this heavy before!"

    "That must also have something to do with losing your very little strength even if it''s already close to being non-existence," Gem said and stifled her laugh which made Von pout and glare at her.

    "You''re mean. But hey, at least I didn''t lose my memories here like Fily, right?"

    "Yup. You''re right and we''re here. Do you want to go out with me?" Gem said innocently which made Von''s eyes enlarge and his cheeks blush a little bit even though he actually did not misunderstand what Gem said.

    "Hey, you still listening?" Gem followed up and waved her hands in front of Von who was just suddenly silent, "Don''t tell me your memories are also gone? If so then you''re Von and I''m your friend who''s asking you if you want to leave this place together with me or just stay in here while I peek at the real world."

    "Your friend¡­ ah right! Yes, I would like to leave," Von said and flashed a totally innocent smile to Gem which weirded her out a little.

    "O-Okay, are you sure?" Gem said and asked hesitantly.

    "Yes, why?" Von said, acting like an innocent child even though his mind was being bombarded with a lot of different ''what ifs'' thoughts.

    "Because it will be hard if we get caught at the same time, especially if we come to the wrong place. But that''s not actually an issue since you could just fly away and I could just go back here in Solitude anyway¡­" Gem said while thinking about her thoughts out loud.

    "Or you could just bring us both back to Solitude, right?" Von said.

    "Uhhh, I''m not sure about that¡­'''' Gem said, being very cautious of Von''s involvement with the Salamandite''s powers because she''s not entirely sure if it would be safe the second time and the next time that she would bring them in here.

    "Why not? It''s not like something bad will happen to me here, right?"

    "I think it''s best if we just do this¡­ once and never do it again. I can''t risk harming you, Von."

    "Is there something you''re not telling me?" Von asked with a serious face.

    "Nothing! I just¡­. I''m scared, okay? This is only my second time bringing someone else in here and I don''t know if the second one and the next ones would be the same or different. I just don''t want to hurt you¡­ you understand me?" Gem said with a pleading tone which also made Von''s heart soften for her a little bit.

    "Okay, fine. But what about when you come back? Do you think I would still be here when you come back? What if I just disappear while you''re gone?" Von asked curiously while marveling the big black with green wires on the edges of the black screen that Gem summoned to show them the description of her skill Solitude.

    "Hmm, you''re right. We don''t want that to happen so we should just go out together," Gem said and offered a hand mindlessly to Von which made him blush once again.

    "Uhmm, we''re going out now?" Von said and immediately put his closed hands in front of his mouth to cover the naughty smile that he couldn''t stop from forming with his mouth while awkwardly trying to reach for Gem''s hand with his other hand.

    "Yes now," Gem said and grabbed Von''s hands aggressively before dissipating into the air with him immediately.

    "What the-," a guy said and fell down on his butt from the surprise of two kids just suddenly popping out in front of his way.

    "Petunia! Where''s Petunia!? Have you seen Petunia?" Gem shouted out Petunia''s name the moment she opened her eyes and saw a lot of guys loitering around the hallway where they decided to enter the holding cells area secretly at.

    "We''re not here to look for Petunia," Von whispered to Gem.

    "Oh¡­ really?" Gem said and looked at her Stat-hut to check if Von was telling the truth.

    And then she saw the word collar in her notes which made her facepalm herself.

    "We went in the wrong direction. I thought we''re looking for Petunia¡­ sorry," Gem whispered, which Von did not hear clearly because of the tight crowd that almost pushed them away from each other.

    "Why are you not in your cells?" Von asked in annoyance and tightened his grip on Gem''s hands so they would not get lost.

    "W-Which cat?" the guy who fell asked while taking a few steps away from Gem and Von for scaring him like that.

    "The one in jail," Gem said and noticed the circle that these male guards had unintentionally made around her and Von while the two parties were keeping a safe cautious distance from each other.

    Not even a second passed and the whole hallway''s attention was on the two kids already. In the newcomer''s eyes, the two of them seemed very lost in the middle of the open circle that the crowd made for them as a result of that guy who did his very best to step away from them.

    "She''s been brought to the garage where we''re told to go now." A calm guard stepped forward and told them the changes that happened in the real world without their knowledge whatsoever.

    "Oh no, this is bad," Gem said and looked worriedly at Von.

    "Should we go back to Solitude?" Von asked and noticed his hands that were still far from letting go of Gem''s hands even though the crowd already gave them space to not lose each other anymore.

    "Wait, we need to report to Venedette and the others," Gem said and proceeded with her task without even letting go of Von''s hand which made Von''s heart pound against his chest a little bit. There was even a little bile of saliva stuck in his throat which made it harder for him to pay attention to what was happening around them without getting lost in his loud heartbeat.

    "Why is this so loud? Calm down heart, this is nothing," Von whispered to himself and even used his free hands to knock his chest back to its senses but the beating of his heart won''t listen to him nor stop by his command.

    "This sucks!" Von whispered and accidentally pulled his hand away from Gem''s by his accident which caught Gem by surprise after being too focused on her task.

    "Oh, sorry," Gem said mindlessly before going back to her task without even paying a little bit of attention to Von, which bombarded his mind with a lot of positive and negative thoughts at once.

 Chapter 184 - Rainbows

    "If we went the wrong way, they shouldn''t be Venedette and the others be here right now too?"

    "What if the guards caught up to them and prevented them from coming here?"

    "I doubt that Venedette and Lei are more than capable of escaping those brainwashed female guards."

    "Yeah, but Fily isn''t¡­" Von said and looked at Gem with concerned eyes.

    "No, but they could also be in the garage right now and I should go meet them there immediately," Gem said and prepared herself for a run but Von suddenly held her arm to stop her.

    "What if it''s a trap? We don''t know what that fake Petunia is thinking so we shouldn''t act too rashly about this," Von said and pulled Gem out of the crowd and into the now-empty holding cells while shaking his head stubbornly.

    "Why did you bring me here?" Gem said and pulled her arms away from Von''s hold.

    "If we went in the wrong direction and Petunia''s not here, there''s a chance that the commander could be here with the collar that my mom and Fily are looking for," Von said and went silent when he noticed Gem''s unconvinced look at him.

    "What?"

    "What makes you think that the commander is just loitering around here when clearly, he has what that fake Petunia wants. If I were her I would most definitely put him somewhere else and torture him to death until he gives me what I want," Gem said with matching eye rolls as if she was just stating the obvious.

    But unlike her, Von''s thoughts were different, he did not even consider the fact that the fake Petunia has yet to get what she wants until Gem pointed it out.

    "Y-You''re right! I think I know what we should do now!"

    "What?" Gem asked and suddenly stood in a defensive position after hearing a commotion not far from them in the hallways.

    "Quickly, spill it out!" Gem said and locked the bars herself from the inside of the holding cell they were currently at.

    "The collar is what that fake Petunia wants, right? We should give it to her!" Von said which immediately garnered him strong disagreeing glares from Gem.

    "Why would we give Petunia''s memories to her?" Gem said and suddenly turned Von around to face the open window behind them.

    "Of course we''re not giving her the real one. Just like how she faked being Petunia, we should also fake that we have the collar and that we''re giving it to her in exchange for letting this place go and coming with us."

    "Why should we offer her to come with us? Even if it''s fake?" Gem asked and crossed her arms while looking at Von as if he was thinking about nonsensical things.

    "Because, we want to fool her, like what she thinks she''s doing to us," Von said and shrugged, "There''s another collar like Petunia''s in the Levi-yacht."

    "Hmmm, that''s not so bad of an idea, let''s see what the others have to say about it," Gem said and suddenly hopped on Von''s back without prior notice.

    "Wh-Whoa, what are you doing!?" Von said and turned around to throw Gem off his back but Gem''s grip was already tight around his neck.

    "Let''s go. Fly me to the Yacht, and we''ll go back to the garage with that collar later," Gem said while pointing innocently at the open window, a few inches from the tall ceiling, in front of them.

    "Come on! There''s a lot of guards coming here and I don''t want to be caught like last time!"

    "Tch, fine!" Von said and wrapped his arms around Gem''s knees for support.

    "You could have just gone back to Solitude and looked for the real collar by yourself, you know?" Von said and lunged backward for a smooth lift after that unfamiliar heavy feeling he had to experience at Solitude earlier.

    "I already locked the cell, and besides, isn''t it fun to be on a mission with me?" Gem said with a wide smile and then looked back to the guards who had just arrived behind them outside of their cell.

    "Bye-bye, losers!" Gem laughed and even stuck out her tongue to them before taking off with Von through that wide landscape window.

    ***

    "One, two, three. Where''s the other two?" Heize said from a distance while letting Venedette and her team think that they''re helping those guards and prisoners escape her glamour by talking to them.

    "Uhh, our people are now on their way to the fifth''s cell where these people said they spotted the two kids at," Heize''s human assistant said.

    "Gem and Von. Okay, make sure to bring them here, I really need that girl''s powers," Heize said worriedly while still watching Venedette and the other two kids trying to make peace around a crowd of a thousand employees who hate them.

    "Why do we have to get caught up in this weird situation? Just get your cat already and get out of our country!" an annoyed chad said which was then followed with a lot of second opinions from people mostly agreeing with him.

    "Please, please. Just calm down, we''ll get through this situation safely, okay?" Venedette said and finally saw the fake Petunia entering the room with teary eyes and looking so fragile as ever.

    "Venedette, please take me out of here. I don''t want to be tortured anymore!" Heize said and fainted on the floor which made a lot of people, even men and those who were not under her glamour gasp and care about her.

    "I¡­ It''s okay, I''m just-" Heize said and puked rainbows which made the people who ran to her for help step away instinctively.

    "Is that really Petunia?" Lei asked and looked worriedly at Venedette and Fily who both looked like they were not convinced of this furry''s poor acting.

    But unlike them, Lei was worried sick and could not stop himself from overthinking the situation.

    "Guys answer me! Isn''t that Petunia?!" Lei said with an angry voice but Fily and Venedette were just silently watching them and did not even bother to look at Lei and answer him truthfully.

    "What happened to you?" a guy with a soft voice asked Heize which made more people interested in her story.

    "T-That other cat is trying to steal my place. Please believe me Venedette, Fily, Lei¡­ Help me."

    "What? What did she say?" The crowd murmured after not hearing Heize''s voice loudly but then another man from the cell where Von and Gem were earlier suddenly spoke.

    "Weren''t you just oppressing us earlier? Why are you suddenly acting weak and sickly?"

    "T-That''s not me! That''s the other cat!"

    "But the cat in the other jail beside ours earlier couldn''t even talk!"

    "What?!" Lei panicked and looked at Venedette and Fily''s reaction again after hearing what that guy said.

    But when she saw the uninterested gazes in their eyes, Lei finally lost it and made his way through the crowd and to Petunia in a swift.

    "Come on, how can I help you?" Lei said and scooped the fake Petunia up in his arms while trying not to get his shirt spoiled by the rainbows on the floor.

    "W-Water, I need water," Heize said helplessly and even threatened to puke again which made Lei haste to the water dispenser he thought he saw earlier on their way to the garage.

    "Oh no, Lei''s been glamoured!" Fily said worriedly after seeing him suddenly appear in front of the fake Petunia and even offered to help her with her obviously fake sickness.

    "Oh, Lei¡­" Venedette said and shook her head slowly, not even noticing the number of eyes currently situated at her and Fily for looking like heartless teammates who would just let their teammate die.

    "I can''t believe it, I already knew the Princess is not someone who truly cares about her people¡­ but this? This is too much."

    "She''s so heartless." Another guy said which made Fily a little bit more concerned about Venedette who was now being accused of something she''s entirely not just because of that fake Petunia wannabe.

    "Let''s go. We don''t know what that cat is planning for Lei by baiting him in," Venedette said while offering a hand to Fily who noticed the pain in her eyes which she was trying to hide so badly by maintaining her composure and acting tough.

    "But you''re not the bad guy here," Fily said while hesitating to take Venedette''s hands.

    "You should go, I don''t think I can help you both on the battlefield," Fily said and smiled at her while pulling her arms back to her sides.

    "Good luck," Fily said and smiled a little to cheer Venedette up who didn''t even look at her and took off speedily on her own to go after Lei and that dangerous little fake Petunia.

    "Venedette''s not the bad person that you now think she is, guys! That talking cat is really just fake and we of all people would know that!" Fily suddenly shouted which grabbed all of the people''s attention back at her, but not in a good way that she was intending for it to happen.

    "What did you say?" a tough-looking female guard said and stepped forward while clutching her fists together.

    "Oh no¡­"

 Chapter 185 - [Bonus ]Purple Collar

    "What should we do with this?"

    "Uhhh, give it back to its owner?"

    "But daddy said we shouldn''t trust just anyone!"

    "Is that the thing that belongs to the talking cat?" Karizze said and swiftly grabbed the purple collar away from her little sister''s trembling hands.

    "It is! Daddy gave it to me before his soldiers came barging into his office and taking him away from there!"

    "What?! Why are you only telling me this now?!" Karizze said and stepped away to run after her father but then her little sister stopped her.

    "I don''t know where they brought him, but daddy said I should give this back to the real owner no matter what."

    "But that cat''s missing. And besides, why should we care? Daddy''s in trouble! We should save him first!" Karizze said stubbornly and shook her little sister''s hands away from her.

    "Let''s go, Gonder, Lorenz. We''re going to save that old man from his own people," Karizze said and continued walking..

    But as soon as she noticed that none of them was following her, Karizze looked back and glared at her friends who were just both silent and in deep thoughts about what was happening.

    "What? Why aren''t you guys coming with me?"

    "What about Lizzie? Are we just going to leave her here alone?" Gonder said and pulled Karizze''s little sister closer to him in a defensive manner.

    "And besides, we don''t even have any idea what''s going on out there. We just got out from being locked in that storage room and Lizzie here looks very traumatized. This doesn''t normally happen in the precinct, right Lizzie? Tell us what happened," Lorenz said and squatted in front of Lizzie whose strong grasp on her teddy bear told Lorenz about an unexpected change that happened in the precinct while they were gone and stuck inside that storage room.

    "I-I saw female guards fighting with men and then locking them all up afterward. I was so scared that I hid in the vents until I saw daddy and tried to get close to him, but as soon as he gave the collar to me, Daddy put me back in the vents and he was captured by those same female soldiers that I saw fighting with the male soldiers earlier. I don''t know what''s happening but I don''t want to let daddy down. Please help me take that back to its owner, please!" Lizzie said with a lot of determination in her voice, especially near the end which made Gonder and Lorenz both look at Karizze with pleading eyes, telling her to listen to them.

    "Ughh," Karizze groaned and turned back to Lizzie and her friends with an annoyed expression on her face, "So what do we do? We don''t even know where those people are. They could even be gone at this moment due to their pass only lasting until midnight."

    "And what time is it now?" Gonder asked while looking at Lorenz.

    "Uhhh, seven."

    "We have five hours left then, I wonder what made those female guards suddenly turn against their comrades," Gonder said while glancing at Karizze who seemed very uncomfortable for choosing to stay with them and not paying a single bit of attention to what they were talking about.

    "There must be some kind of invasion going on then!" Lorenz said enthusiastically and quickly cleared his throat and dropped his smile when Gonder and Lizzie both looked at him weirdly.

    "I mean, with the lady guards acting weirdly against their fellow guards with no reason at all¡­ there must be something going on, right? Either they planned this invasion ahead of time or they just decided to do it now, they must have a leader who was at the pinnacle of it all."

    "Wait, I thought we''re going to bring this back to its owner?" Lizzie said and grabbed the collar back from Karizze''s hands who just let her be.

    "Right! Right!" Lorenz said and stood up with his hands up in the air as if surrendering, "But first, why don''t we go somewhere else safer, huh? Not here in the middle of the hallway where those female guards could be scouting sooner or later."

    "Okay, let''s do that," Gonder said and held Lizzie''s hands while leading the way back to the storage room where they just came from earlier.

    ***

    "Found it!" Gem shouted and quickly went out of Petunia''s room to deliver the message to Von excitedly.

    "Okay let''s fly," Von said and nodded after glancing at what Gem was holding up in the air for less than a second.

    Hastily, Gem ran down the stairs and went straight to the entrance platform where she saw Von squatting and waiting for her to get on his back again.

    "Let''s go?" Gem asked while hugging Von from the back and fixing her hold to him as he stood up from his squatting position and walked forward for a jump.

    "Let''s go," Von said and jumped in a vertical position with Gem on his back which helped them cut through the air faster before Von started flying and heading back to the headquarters with the fake collar in Gem''s hands.

    [Gem: I got the collar, how are you doing, guys?]

    [Fily: Not good.]

    [Venedette: I can''t find Lei!]

    [Gem: Where are you, Fily?]

    [Fily: In the garage¡­ with the prisoners,]

    [Gem: Is the fake Petunia there with you?]

    [Fily: No, Venedette went after her and Lei.]

    [Gem: What? Why? What happened to Lei? And what about the real collar? Did they find it yet?]

    [Fily: Not that I know of,]

    "This is bad," Gem suddenly said to Von who was focused on flying them.

    "What is?" he asked.

    "Venedette''s running after the fake Petunia and Lei on her own around the whole precinct and Fily has been left alone in the garage with the prisoners and the male guards!" Gem exclaimed which Von thought was a sign for him to put more haste in his flight even though they were already flying at his full speed.

    "So where do we go first?" Von asked.

    "To Fily of course! We have what that fake Petunia wants, I''m sure she''ll come to us when she hears about the collar in our hands."

    "Okay, we''ll do that," Von said and dived down to the garage area of the precinct''s HQ tower.

 Chapter 186 - Convincing

    "Hey, can you forgive me now? I was just giving out my opinion," Fily said and even tried to kick her way out of the chair where she was being tied to but no one was listening to her, nor willing to help.

    "Gah, this is so annoying. I hate dealing with these things when I''m awake!" Fily thought to herself before smiling fakely at the strict furry lover female guard in front of her to convince her to believe her words even just a little bit.

    "I don''t need your opinion," the guard finally responded with a stern voice and slapped a duct tape on Fily''s mouth ruthlessly.

    "Anyone else wants to talk bad about my Petunia?" the guard said to the crowd watching them while she coiled the excess tape back to its original position.

    "No?" she said dismissively and raised her eyebrows to all the people who were just watching them silently. Some agreed with her and some believed Fily''s words but just couldn''t voice out their opinions freely.

    "B-But that''s your Petunia''s teammate, right? Are you sure it''s okay for us to wrap them in a chair just like that? What if Petunia sees this and hates us because of it?" Another female guard who had a softer expression stepped up and said.

    "It''s fine. I also did this to those two midgets who barged in the door earlier claiming that our Petunia isn''t their Petunia. I mean how? How could it be so heartless to say that hurtful thing in Petunia''s presence? Imagine being told that you''re not the person you claim to be. Isn''t that discouraging? Especially coming from your teammates," the angry woman said and even threatened to slap Fily using her forehands before walking away and putting the duct tape back to the toolbox where she found it first.

    "Hmm," the kind-looking girl hummed and shrugged before walking away from Fily who had no other choice but to sit quietly and stay inside her little mind palace while waiting for help.

    "I wonder where that real collar is¡­ I haven''t seen the commander''s face among this crowd yet which only means that the fake Petunia brought him somewhere else. But where? And Petunia. She''s also not here. I thought they would gather all the people from the precinct here but why is Petunia and that commander not here? What is she planning?"

    "Think Fily, think!" Fily closed her eyes and altered her mind palace to be more effective under her control.

    ***

    "Here you go," Lei said and raised the cup of water carefully to help the fake Petunia drink.

    "What happened to you?" he asked while watching her drink.

    But instead of answering, Petunia only pushed the cup of water away and shook her head to show her discomfort.

    "Do you still feel like puking?" Lei asked worriedly while looking around to look for a place or thing that could help with Petunia''s sickness.

    "I-I''m so glad you recognized me," Petunia suddenly said which made Lei frown.

    "And I can''t believe Venedette and Fily just stood there and did nothing," he said with an upset tone.

    "Why did they do that? Did they say anything about me? Why they don''t believe that I''m the real Petunia?" the fake Petunia asked eagerly with wide eyes and immediately looked away to continue her ''weak cat'' act.

    "They didn''t say anything in particular, that''s also why I''m confused. Why aren''t they saying anything? It''s so unfair. And they''re even planning to expose you for being a fake Petunia right now. I just don''t know why they''re so fixated on the thought that you''re not really Petunia when you''re clearly her," Lei said and shook the negative thoughts out of his head.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll do my best to convince them that you''re real and they''re wrong," Lei said and flashed a small smile to Petunia to comfort her a little bit.

    But in Heize''s mind, all she was thinking about was how shameless and stupid this human must be to believe her poor acting skills.

    ''Now what should I do to make sure this person who claims to be Petunia''s friend but failed to recognize her dies on the spot?'' Heize thought and glanced at the water dispenser while grabbing her potion dropper from her hidden pocket.

    "Are you okay? Why does your voice sound so hoarse? You should also drink water. I think the cold''s creeping in your throat and if you don''t melt that you may catch a sickness," Heize said and smiled while secretly putting a drop of lethal potion to the cup where she just drank from.

    "Really? I don''t think my voice is that dry. And besides, that''s not important right now. I can sense Venedette from a mile away but her speed can easily catch up to us. I can''t conceal our presence any longer, we need to go further-"

    "Or back. We should just go back to the garage and tell them the truth. That I''m really Petunia and there''s nothing to worry about."

    "Except you don''t look too good and you''re puking rainbows earlier. What happened?" Lei asked, cutting off Petunia''s words which annoyed her a little bit.

    "That fake Petunia poisoned me. But don''t worry, I already drank something to cure it. The cure''s just taking too long to counter the poison that my copycat forced me to drink."

    "Forced you to drink?! What? How? Why would you drink that?" Lei exclaimed, which weakened the conceal barrier that he was just building around him and Petunia earlier to get away from Venedette''s senses.

    "Well, she had all the guards under her control. If not for the cleansing mist that I thought of putting inside the air conditioner, we wouldn''t be able to get away from that monster''s hold and probably still be under her control right now."

    "What? That''s insane!"

    "You know what''s more insane? You just let your guard down and revealed your location to me, thanks for that glamour in works, fake Petunia," Venedette said and punched Lei away from the fake Petunia who just suddenly regained all her strength after jumping out of Lei''s arms.

    "W-What?" Lei said while trying to make sense of what just happened to him.

    "You heard that right, Lei. This cat was trying to glamour you so you would believe her lies and help defend her, just like what she did to the female guards back at the garage."

    "You''re lying! I did nothing of the sort! It was the other Petunia wannabe who did all that! I was just trying to help them by releasing them from that fake''s potion!" the fake Petunia said while staying cautious and walking in circles with Venedette around Lei who was still on the floor, confused.

    "I don''t understand. Why are you doing this, Venedette? Petunia?" Lei said while rubbing his eyes and pushing himself up from the floor.

    "I already told you! Petunia isn''t supposed to have her memories right now! Not without her collar. But look at this one, she doesn''t have the collar yet she could still remember us? Why is that?"

    "It''s because I have found the cure, Venedette! Do you really think I would leave my collar there and risk losing my memories if I didn''t have a plan!?"

    "No, don''t try to manipulate me too, I can see through your lies, fake cat. You''re not Petunia. In fact, you''re not even a real cat in the first place," Venedette said and pulled Lei away from her.

    "You''re so mean! I thought we were a team?!"

    "See?! Petunia never does that! Petunia''s not the type who acts on pure emotions. And you think you can fool me with that poor acting of yours? You may succeed in looking like Petunia. But you''re nothing like her. At least on the inside."

    "Wait! I don''t understand! I can''t make sense of it all! The other cat couldn''t even speak, Venedette!" Lei said and turned around from her.

    "Exactly! That''s one of the symptoms that Petunia is actually suffering from, unlike this cat who''s pretending to know it all."

    "But Petunia can talk! Petunia is THE talking cat, after all!"

    "That''s right Lei, tell her what she''s not realizing here," Heize said and prepared herself for another hypnotization, this time to Venedette who she sees as her most worthy opponent as of the moment.

    Heize knew putting glamour in Lei would cost her a lot of energy, but the energy that it cost her was way more than what she was expecting. And yet Heize just couldn''t tell herself to give up, especially with Venedette in front of her, and was willing to listen to her.

    It was her ultimate chance to put the leader of Leviathan under her spell too!

    ''I don''t know how much energy I have left and how much this will cost, but after having Venedette under my glamour, I''m sure I''ll be able to make the rest of them believe me easily! Then I''ll get Petunia''s memories and continue her legacy for our family!'' Heize said before attempting to glamour Venedette with all that was left of her powers.

 Chapter 187 - Slip Of Tongue

    "Fily!" Gem shouted before they could even land at the headquarters '' garage, making Von''s flight unstable and his landing imperfect.

    "Chill!" Von shouted and was obviously ignored when Gem just suddenly stepped on his back and jumped over a lot of people that had gathered around Fily and the two female guards beside her under the wrong impression of Fily needing immediate help.

    "Gem!" Fily gasped and quickly went out of her mind palace to welcome Gem with wide arms¡­ except her hands were tied to the chair along with his legs and body so she could not move.

    But nevertheless, she was fairly sure that Gem would recognize the look in her eyes as a relieved and thankful person immediately.

    However, unlike Fily''s expectations, Gem did not pay attention to her just yet. She prioritized fighting with the two female guards which prolonged the situation instead of just jumping towards her and freeing her from the ropes so they could have just run away together.

    "Which would be a faster and more practical move right now," Fily thought to herself while secretly cutting the rope that was tying her hands to the chair by rabbit it together and trying to create friction which would help snap the rope faster according to an encyclopedia that Fily recalled in her mind palace as a way to look for survival guide and assistance.

    "Let''s go," Von suddenly whispered from behind and cut the ropes around her legs and arms which almost made Fily jump from the shock of it, especially with her focus still on Gem.

    "Hey! Von!" Fily whispered with a muffled voice and accidentally kicked Von too hard to get his attention while he was still focused on cutting the rope around her.

    "Ouch! The hell?! Why do you guys keep kicking me?!" Von complained and stood up to finally remove the duct tape from Fily''s mouth.

    "The slanderer''s escaping! Get out of our way, young girl!" the fierce woman said and swiftly grabbed a whip from the available tools which she then used to try and fight off Gem, but Gem''s control over her slimes got stronger now and she could even bend it to copy the fierce lady''s whip and battle it with her while also simultaneously dodging the other girl''s coordinated attacks with the fierce lady.

    "I should bring you guys to Solitude so we wouldn''t hurt the civilians here," Gem said and molded a ball of slime in front of her, planning to throw it to the ladies'' faces to keep them from seeing anything.

    "Let''s just go, Gem!" Fily shouted which caught the attention of everyone in the garage, including the two guards who suddenly got distracted and accidentally hit each other with their respective weapons, namely the whip and the baseball bat when Gem just suddenly disappeared from being in front of them.

    "Where did she go?" the fierce lady said and wandered her eyes around the area, only to see Gem, Fily, and Von running off to the same hallway where Petunia, Lei, and Venedette went.

    "Oh no, what are we going to do now?" the kind-looking lady said while keeping silent about the accident that happened to her and the fierce lady guard and only caressing the area that got hurt in her body.

    "We''re going to follow after them, quickly!" the fierce lady shouted and was immediately followed by the other female guards on standby in the garage.

    "But Master Petunia told us to stay here," the other lady tried to reason but the fierce lady guard was not in a good mood to consider what she was saying as the best thing to do with these intruders who just suddenly engaged in a fistfight with them and ran off with their prisoner.

    "That doesn''t matter. Petunia''s in there right now and soon, she will be surrounded by those cold-hearted freaks who don''t even believe that she''s Petunia."

    "But they''re still her teammates, right? I''m sure a little talk between themselves wouldn''t hurt anyone, right?"

    "Didn''t you see how that girl and the Princess acted in front of Petunia while she was obviously looking sick!? They just watched her and if it wasn''t for that other guy, Petunia might have been really in deep trouble right now! She needs our help! Just in case," the furry lover said and left the kind-looking girl in the garage with half of the female guards keeping the prisoners and the male guards together.

    "Stay here and make sure no one escapes," the fierce guard said before leaving with the soldiers that she sent back to the headquarters '' hallways.

    ***

    "Well that was easy," Gem said and shrugged to Fily with a proud smile plastered on her face for facing two full-grown adult women in a battle of 2 vs. 1.

    "Not for me! You guys are so heavy!" Von complained and placed more strength in his arms so he could fly with Gem and Fily hanging in his hands longer. At least until they found Venedette and the others in this huge, maze-like facility with identical corners and design in every turn.

    "Go right," Fily said while tracing Lei and Venedette''s tracks by recalling what she knows about the building and the place where Lei probably took the fake Petunia at.

    "Straight and then¡­ left!" Fily said after murmuring something about the water dispensers.

    "There!" Fily said after finally seeing two human figures from the distance.

    "Mom!" Von shouted after recognizing who it was and held on his breath for the last five seconds that he endured carrying both Gem and Fily like that.

    When he dropped them both to the floor, Von could not even feel his arms anymore as the pain was just all over the place. Still, he just shook it off and flew in front of his mom who was yet to answer his call.

    But instead of the cheerful happy-go-lucky Venedette, Von was taken aback by the empty look in her eyes as if she was just looking at nothing.

    "Mom? Mom, what''s wrong?!" Von shouted and tried to shake her mother out of it but Venedette''s expressions were just empty and her movements became so drowsy as if her muscles were asleep.

    "They''re running away! You need to go after them, Von! We can''t let them get away from this. I''ll take care of Venedette from here, you should also go with him, Gem," Fily ordered which the two of them immediately followed.

    Without wasting another second, Gem hopped on Von''s back and zoomed in across the long hallway, trying to catch up to Lei whose speed was on par with Von''s flying which only made things harder for them.

    "Hey! Lei!! Stop! What are you doing?! What did you do to Venedette?!" Gem shouted behind Von which encouraged Von to go after them faster.

    "Can he hear us?" Gem asked and immediately turned on her stat-hut screen to send a message to Lei instead.

    [Gem: Where are you going? Why are you running away? Did you do that to Venedette? Please stop, we need to talk! We''re actually running after you!] Gem hit send and looked at Lei with pleading eyes even though she was well aware that he could not see them from behind.

    ***

    "Gem messaged me, I think they''re here with your collar," Lei sand and glanced behind him but Petunia, who he was carrying between his shoulders, quickly pushed his head away and said, "Just focus on the road," while still trying to concentrate with her glamour that did not work with Venedette but kind of worked with Lei based on his treatment to her now.

    "Is Venedette still flying after us?" Lei asked and attempted to look back again but immediately gave up when he saw Petunia still blocking his vision from behind with an annoyed face.

    "Yes, just focus on the road, please. Where did Gem and Von say they were anyway?" Petunia asked without telling Lei about the temporary Freezing dust that she sprayed on Venedette earlier as she kept her balance on Lei''s arms and took deep breaths to make her pre-glamour work better without Lei drinking her glamour potion yet.

    "Gem said they''re running after us, that''s why I was trying to look back," Lei said which annoyed Heize even more for distracting her concentration.

    Since Lei was an elite shinobi of a higher bloodline from another country, Heize found it harder to convince Lei to drink her potion without a strong pre-glamour planted in his mind which she was trying to do now.

    But as soon as she understood what Lei said, she quickly looked back and confirmed that there were indeed two familiar kids running after them!

    "They''re here! I hope they have the two most important things that I need to get from this super coup!" Heize said, accidentally spilling words she was not supposed to say for being too relieved of seeing them both run after her which almost blew her cover for pretending to be Petunia.

    "What did you say?" Lei asked, his eyes going back and forth from the fake Petunia with confusion and disbelief etched in his face for being betrayed by someone he trusted.

 Chapter 188 - Terrified

    "N-Nothing! I said I''m glad that they''re here with the things that I need in this super coup," Heize said and looked at Lei with her big eyes, "I''m just glad that they''re finally here, you know?"

    Lei did not even know what to say as his mind became foggy just by looking at Heize''s big eyes. It was as if there''s a whole universe in there and his thoughts just became irrelevant all of a sudden.

    That was Heize''s pre-glamour, the reason why most of those female guards believed that she''s actually Petunia and followed every word she said. All she had to do was hypnotize them into drinking her potion to secure her glamour but in Von and Venedette''s case, her hypnotization needed more than just a few blinking and making eye contact with them.

    It''s no surprise why these people were chosen to be the representatives for the upcoming tournament, Heize thought.

    But she did not start this one-man invasion without a plan either.

    Upon hypnotizing Lei, Gem and Von were finally able to catch them due to the distraction that happened in Lei''s mind, ultimately making him stop just around the corner to focus on Petunia''s hypnotizing eyes.

    "Hey! Careful!" Gem suddenly shouted when she saw the wall in front of them, which she was sure that Von would hit again with his very poor stop practice.

    "Hold on!" Von shouted and turned himself around so his feet would be the ones making contact with the wall instead of bumping into it head-on before rolling on the floor and crashing with Gem in the middle of the hallway.

    And upon hearing his friend''s words and seeing what just happened, Lei finally came back to his consciousness and forgot about everything that he and the fake Petunia had been talking about just a minute ago, thanks to the pre-glamour.

    "You''re here!" Lei greeted them with a big smile, Petunia still in his arms, pressured and relieved at the same time for seeing Gem and Von with her necklace and Petunia''s collar.

    "Uhhh, yeah we''re here. Hi Petunia!" Gem said while fixing her clothes and standing up from that embarrassing moment with Von.

    "We got your collar," Von said while pushing himself up from the floor and trying hard to pretend that nothing embarrassing just happened back there.

    "Wait, you also believe that this is Petunia?" Lei asked and even pointed at the poor cat whose energy had been draining more quickly than she thought because of trying to glamour these three strong-willed kids at the same time.

    "Yes?" Gem answered while turning around and looking at Von with an expression saying ''just go along with it'' before facing Lei and Petunia and smiling at them again.

    "Great! Because you know, Fily and Venedette didn''t believe her and kept on telling me she''s a fake when she''s obviously real, right? The other cat couldn''t even talk according to the guys whose cell was beside hers," Lei said as if complaining to his parents about some people refusing to believe him.

    "The other cat who claimed to be Petunia couldn''t talk? How did she come here and even claim that she''s Petunia when she couldn''t talk? That''s horrifying. I''m so sorry for the delay, Petunia," Gem said and caressed Petunia''s fur aggressively with a wide smile on her face.

    "Right, how about we give you your collar now to make up for being late? We needed to grab it from the Yacht so we could give it back to you. I was told that you have your memories in here, but thank goodness they''re still intact in your brain, right?" Von said while hanging the collar in front of Petunia but just a little few inches away from her reach.

    "Thank you, I was really worried that my memories would be gone forever if I held up longer without wearing my collar. I don''t know what I was thinking when I did that, but hey, at least I found what I''ve been looking for and even learned a few tricks from her," Heize said, putting her shoes in Petunias and talking about the fake expedition that happened to her while looking for none other than herself.

    "Her? Who''s her?" Gem asked while moving closer to Petunia.

    "Yeah, and where did you put the other fake cat anyway? We should kill her now for pretending to be you," Von said which made Heize a little bit scared of him.

    But then she remembered, Von is a royal and royals were the same heartless creatures that killed her family so she should not be surprised by it anymore.

    And yet here she was, standing in front of her greatest enemy but not being able to do anything about it¡­ yet.

    "I don''t know. She ran away earlier when I told the guards to gather up all the people in the garage," Petunia said and then jumped at Von''s arms.

    "Can you put it on me now?" Heize said and swallowed her pride while rubbing her back on Von''s arms.

    "So this was why I couldn''t find it no matter how hard I looked, huh?" Heize thought to herself while examining the collar.

    Somehow, the collar that Von was holding seemed cleaner than the other one that Heize was only able to glance at for a little while with the commander holding it in front of them.

    "I should have just grabbed it right there and then," Heize thought to herself and shook her head to keep the negative thoughts away from spoiling her gig right now. "Well, at least these two naive kids have brought it back to me, nevertheless," Heize added to her thoughts and took a deep breath to calm herself down.

    "Uhmmm," Von hesitated and looked at Gem as if there was something wrong with what was happening.

    "What?" Gem mouthed to him which he immediately replied to using his stat-hut.

    [Von: This isn''t Petunia. Petunia never rubs her back on us, nor let us carry her.]

    [Gem: Exactly, that''s why we''re giving her the fake collar.]

    [Von: About that¡­] Von trailed off and shut his eyes tightly to gather his courage of telling Gem something he was not so confident about.

    [Gem: What is it?]

    [Von: So¡­ I''m not a hundred percent sure if this collar is a fake because think about it, why would Petunia bring around a fake collar with her if it doesn''t have any purpose at all?]

    [Gem: What?! Why are you telling me this now?!]

    "Hello? Are you there?" Petunia waved her head to the side to catch Von''s attention who looked like he was out of it for a whole minute there.

    "Uhh yes, here," Von said and gave the fake Petunia back to Lei''s hands so he could put the collar on her properly.

    [Gem: Just tell me if you don''t want to give it to her, I''ll make up an excuse to stop it this instant.]

    "Von? Are you okay?" Lei asked, noticing the deep regret and uncertainty in Von''s eyes after spacing out for too long.

    "Yes! Yes, I''m fine. Here we go," Von said and took a deep breath before putting the collar in Heize''s neck.

    ***

    "Hey! Hey! Wait for me!"

    "Did you hear that?" Karizze whispered to her friends who were also hiding at the storage room with her.

    "That''s the same voice we heard earlier, right?" Gonder said.

    "What if it''s a ghost?" Lizzie said which made the three of them look at her with mixed fear and disbelief in their eyes.

    "Why would you say such a thing, Lizzie?" Gonder said and pushed Lizzie closer to her sister.

    "But for real! You all heard that right? Who was it?!" Karizze said and immediately accused her friends of messing around with her.

    "Shh! There are people outside! Quiet down!" Gonder said and looked at Lorenz who was just silent the whole time instead of talking about nerdy stuff such as how ghosts don''t actually exist because they don''t have bodies or something.

    "What''s wrong?" Gonder asked him.

    "Huh? Oh sorry, I was just thinking about something," Lorenz said and fixed his posture to have a more comfortable position but Karizze''s angry whisper just suddenly made him crash on the hard floor, bottom first.

    "Ahah! It''s you, isn''t it? Quit it Lorenz, you''re not scaring anyone with your poor ghost acting stuff!"

    "Hey! Can''t you hear me?" the female voice talked again which made Karizze silent and crawl back to her corner where she grabbed Lizzie and hugged her like a teddy bear for being too terrified of that unknown voice, that was definitely not her, nor her sister, nor the two guys with her which were the only people at this room as of the moment.

    "I''m Nabi and I need your help, please," the voice said which terrified Karizze even more, to the point where she had to cover her ears and pray even though she''s not a religious person, and the same could be said to Lorenz who was just as terrified as her.

    "Tell me more," Gonder said, surprisingly being the only one interested and not scared of this voice that they immediately assumed was from a ghost.

 Chapter 189 - Ghosting

    "What the hell Gonder? Who are you talking to?" Karizze exclaimed and tried to pull Gonder closer to them but he only looked at them as if they were cowards.

    "The ghost?" Gonder tried to answer but the moment he did, Karizze and Lorenz both covered their ears, expressing how they did not want to believe it and were scared which made little Lizzie giggle.

    "I''m actually the real Petunia''s friend. My name is Miss Nabi, and I''m a butterfly," Miss Nabi said and landed on top of the dusty shelf above Gonder, her black wings casting a shadow from the light bulb, catching Gonder and Lizzie''s attention and mesmerizing them with her wing''s exotic colors.

    "Y-You''re the one who kept talking to us since yesterday?" Gonder asked and scooted closer to her to observe her more.

    "No? Today is actually my first time going here, well anyway, I''m here to tell you where the real Petunia is and to bring that collar back to her."

    "What do you mean real Petunia? There''s a fake one?" Gonder asked, even though he''s not usually the one to ask questions, somehow Gonder was interested in the incident that was happening today and started acting unlike himself.

    "There is, she''s the reason behind all this chaos," Miss Nabi said and flew down on Gonder''s eye level as a courtesy to not cause him a stiff neck.

    "Pretty talking butterfly!" Little Lizzie said and scooted closer to Miss Nabi but Miss Nabi quickly prevented the worse from happening by flying above Lizzie''s level where she would never be able to reach her.

    "Is it gone?" Karizze said while peeking her eyes between her closed eyelids and almost had a heart attack when a butterfly suddenly landed on her nose.

    "Ahhh! A bug!" Karizze shouted and quickly covered her mouth after remembering that they were still supposed to be hiding and keeping quiet to not be caught.

    "Sorry," Miss Nabi said, which totally made Karizze''s heart jump and almost stop if it was not for Lizzie who just suddenly ran to her and ended up hugging her sister on the floor for trying to catch the butterfly.

    "Please, don''t kill me," Miss Nabi pleaded and then sighed after going back to her first position earlier.

    "Hey, sit down." Gonder stopped Lizzie from running after the butterfly and carried her back to Karizze''s arms whose face reflected that of someone whose head was flying through the clouds.

    "H-Hey," Lorenz whispered to Gonder which brought Karizze back to reality.

    "Huh? What are we going to do now?" Karizze said frantically which made Lizzie giggle again and Gonder a little bit concerned about her silly side of being scared of ghosts suddenly being exposed to the open.

    "Oh, and just so you know, we need to hurry! Petunia''s team should be leaving right now and they can''t stay in the Alps any longer, we need to help them out," Miss Nabi said, which made Gonder immediately hold on to Karizze and Lorenz''s shoulders to keep them from freaking out again.

    "It''s not a ghost, this butterfly said she''s the real Petunia''s friend and she''s going to help us give this collar back to its owner, just like what the commander said," Gonder said reassuringly to both of them which kind of convinced Karizze, unlike Lorenz who was still refusing to open his eyes nor listen.

    "So¡­ it''s not a ghost?" Karizze said and tried to stand up with her shaking legs.

    "I''m not a ghost, yes, in fact, I''m actually a human just like you- err, used to be. But I''m a butterfly now and I can still talk to humans, so yes, I''m not a ghost," Miss Nabi said and smiled before shaking her head and going back to her initial purpose, "But like I was saying, we don''t have much time, so if you please?"

    "Yes, lead the way miss butterfly, I''ll just carry these two," Gonder said which immediately turned Karizze back into her angry state.

    "I''m not going to let you carry me like a child! Carry Lizzie instead, and that coward over there," she said and pointed at Lorenz behind her using her thumbs.

    "Thank goodness you''re not a ghost, I would really much prefer anything else than a ghost," Karizze whispered to Miss Nabi.

    "Can you please stop saying that word! Don''t you know how terrified I was?! I thought we were being haunted by those people we saw at-"

    "Shut up," Karizze suddenly pinched Lorenz''s mouth shut and stood in front of her group proudly, "Lead us the way, Miss Butterfly who I really don''t trust but whatever."

    "S-Sure," Miss Nabi said with an unpleasant feeling in her gut because of the very disrespectful thing that Karizze just said to her.

    "If only there''s another option, ugh," Miss Nabi groaned to herself and led the way outside of the window which left Karizze and her group in sudden disbelief.

    "What the-?" Karizze said with a confused shrug before peeking down at the window where Miss Nabi just flew off.

    "What the hell was that?!" Karizze added and then groaned with defeated morale after thinking that Miss Nabi the butterfly just fooled them and flew away without helping at all.

    But then, not even a few minutes after, Miss Nabi came back from the gap on the door and said, "All clear," which made Gonder immediately understand what just happened.

    "Come on, she just went to see if there are other people outside the hallways," Gonder said and stomped in front of Karizze to get her attention, after realizing that she was having her usual debate in her mind after being annoyed by what she thought Miss Nabi did.

    "Down this hallway," Miss Nabi said, leading the group away from the guards as possible and getting them close to where Petunia was currently at.

    "What are we doing here? I thought this place was off-limits?" Karizze complained while catching her breath.

    "Exactly! That''s why the fake Petunia put the real Petunia in here so nobody could find her, although I''m not sure why but maybe because she wanted to keep her hidden? But that''s not the point. We need to give her back her collar immediately."

    "Why is this thing so important anyway? Is it that important for the commander to risk his life on it?" Gonder wondered and immediately regretted his words after seeing Lizzie''s worried face for mentioning her father''s life.

    "I don''t know. But based on your commander''s reactions and the fake Petunia''s obsession over it, I could tell that there''s something important in there that should only belong to Petunia. Over here!" Miss Nabi said and turned to a corner to the end of the steam room right under the HQ''s tower.

    "I''m tired," Lizzie said and then jumped on Gonder''s arms again while Karizze just looked at her with sorry eyes.

    "Well, that was a long walk. Did you know that we went in the wrong direction several times and could have increased our speed of reaching this place if that did not happen?" Lorenz suddenly talked for the first time while fixing his glasses as if he was finally back to his senses now.

    "But don''t get me wrong, I know you''re just trying to help everybody get along or something and I genuinely believe that what you''re doing is not the work of a ghost. And besides, I could not even get where the guards were so props to you for that hard work!" Lorenz added and even attempted on giving Miss Nabi a clap, which in all actuality was his attempt to kill her especially when she''s very vulnerable in her butterfly form.

    "Come on guys, do you really believe she''s leading us down here to save the other Petunia? Of course not! She''s leading us down here to trap us!"

    "That''s not true!" Miss Nabi said, defending herself from Lorenz''s assumptions.

    "If you don''t trust me then at least give Petunia a chance to prove herself before you turn your backs on her. Unless you want that fake Petunia wannabe to take the whole precinct under her control just like what she was trying to do now.

    "We''re warriors, not quitters miss Butterfly," Karizze said, her leader instincts finally going back to her and boosting her confidence back.

    "Now where were we?" she said and looked back to Miss Nabi who was now dumbstruck from what Karizze just said.

    "Right¡­" Miss Nabi said and returned back to her place upfront to continue leading them all down to the chamber where the fake Petunia put Petunia in.

    "When you see her, just put the collar in her neck and then step back, she''s kind of unstable right now-"

    "Aaaaaaaaah! Meowww!" A screaming meow just suddenly rang across the stairs which alarmed Miss Nabi and caused her to dive down to the bottom of the stairs without even a word with the teens who had the collar with them.

    "Hey! What was that?! Where are you going?!" Karizze shouted.

    "I think that''s the Petunia who she''s claiming to be the real one," Gonder said and continued down the stairs which also made the rest of them follow after him automatically.

    "But why did she suddenly shout?" Lorenz asked.

    "No idea, let''s just go down faster and find out for ourselves, shall we?" Karizze said and jumped on the railings of the spiral staircase down the emergency exit of the tower towards the bottom of the whole building.

 Chapter 190 - Memory Lane

    *Warning: Suicide*

    "Huh? What happened?" Heize said after opening her eyes and finding herself in a completely different place.

    "Why am I here?" She asked after recognizing the place and looked around to check if her guess was right, but as she was roaming her eyes around, she noticed that her human limbs and body were back, in fact, she was also wearing her school uniform which was totally weird and out of style.

    "Why am I wearing this thing? And my hat!" she exclaimed after feeling a familiar spiky thing on her head, "Ughh."

    While Heize was being concerned about her outdated fashion style and her being back to her human form, a loud explosion suddenly shook the ground up, making Heize fall to the ground for not having proper control with her limbs and for spending her time as a four-legged animal the whole time.

    "What the hell?" she said and pushed herself up, even trying to remove the witch''s hat that was covering her vision.

    But as if the explosion was not enough of a shock in Heize''s memory lane, suddenly, a lot of students came rushing away from the explosion and inevitably making a stampede towards her direction.

    "Hey! Hey! Don''t run! I can''t stand up!" Heize said but the students ignored her.

    And when they were a few inches away from her, Heize had to close her eyes and cover her face from the chaos, but surprisingly, even when the stampede was happening, Heize felt no one stepping on her.

    In fact, she could not feel anyone else.

    Heize opened her eyes and removed her arms from in front of her face.

    The students who were running away from the school beyond the forest seemed to just be a fraction of a memory that was playing in Heize''s mind.

    "That''s weird," Heize said and stood up.

    She even tried reaching out to these students who could not see, feel, nor hear her to make sure it''s not real.

    "But why was I affected by the explosion earlier?" Heize asked while the students were still passing through her invisible body.

    "Heize?" a familiar voice called out to her from behind.

    When Heize turned around, she saw a very familiar child with silver hair, very peculiar and special in their kind.

    The child was looking at her as if she could not believe she''s here with them.

    "You can see me?" Heize asked the child and human version of Petunia.

    "What are you doing here? I thought you''d been banished from our city for experimenting on animals?" Petunia asked, walking closer to her and also passing through the panicking students like they were just air.

    "What happened here?" Heize asked, ignoring her question.

    "Have you heard the news? They''re offering our kind as a prize or tribute to the Dekadalaw tournament," Petunia said with a blank face.

    "And?" the Heize from the future asked, already knowing everything that happened to Majesta from the perspective of an outsider but wanting to know more, probably from Petunia who experienced it all and was the only one who survived the genocide.

    "The elders ordered us to kill ourselves, they said we''d rather die than be sent to another country."

    "That stupid nationalism. Even after being treated as outcasts and criminals, our elders still love this country, don''t they?" Heize said and pulled Petunia out of the way even though the students could not touch them.

    "Was that their work too?" Heize asked and pointed at the school.

    "No, that was the government''s attempt to scare us and make us participate in the tournament as their prizes."

    "What?! Why did they think that kind of thing would work?! That''s so outdated! But did it work though?" Heize asked even though she knew the answer to her question already.

    "Of course not," Petunia answered. "But it worked for the elders who told us to kill ourselves. Even the teachers tried making us stay inside the school even after knowing that a bomb was going to be dropped there, thank goodness a lot of people jumped out of the window on time."

    "And you?"

    "I skipped class and was out trying to cross the border," Petunia confessed, "You left me here alone so I thought I should still continue all the things that we used to do, but who knew it would save me from something as big as this?"

    "If you were out there trying to cross the borders, then why do you have this in your memories?"

    "My what?" the human Petunia asked.

    "Your memo- never mind."

    "You mean how did I know about all of this?" the young human Petunia asked.

    "Yeah, probably."

    "You know that the border''s not that far from here, right?"

    "Uhuh."

    "When I heard the loud explosion, I immediately flew back here to see what was happening. A lot of witches died here, Heize. And that''s all my fault. If only I knew that the effects of my actions were like this then I wouldn''t have done it¡­ If only I knew that this would be the consequence of me rejecting that proposal," Petunia said, confusing Heize about something that she has never heard of before.

    "What proposal?"

    "You know that most of the prizes just ask for a few representatives to be sent to another country, right?"

    "And you were one of them," Heize said after realizing what it was immediately.

    "Yes,"

    "And the elders did not want to give you up because you''re special," Heize added, which made the little Petunia amazed by her guessing skills.

    "How did you know all of that?" Petunia said with a smile which she immediately removed after seeing Heize''s irritated expression.

    "So you''re saying that the elders sacrificed all of our people just because they did not want to give you up?" Heize asked, trying to stay calm even after hearing about something very absurd that she had no idea was the reason behind all of the things that happened in Majesta.

    "Well, not just me, there were six of us which the government requested for but the elders did not see it as a favorable deal. I mean they picked all the aces in our school and even partnered me up to that prick Jon!"

    "W-Wait, what do you mean partnered you up?"

    "They were going to send three couples so we could keep the blood going in that other country!"

    "What the hell?! You were just a child!"

    "I know! But even Jon did not want to be a prize for that silly tournament, so I guess it''s not just my fault."

    "But why did the elders order for a genocide if the country only needed six representatives?"

    "They said that if we won''t give up these six handpicked people by the leaders of the other countries then they would rather just send the rest of the Majestians excluding us," Petunia said.

    "So that''s what led to the elders ordering everyone to kill themselves," Heize said and was suddenly interrupted when the setting changed.

    "Mom! I''m scared! There was a big explosion in the school and all of my friends died!" another little Petunia cried after opening the door of their house only to see her parents drinking a bottle of the deadliest potion in their house.

    "Petunia!" Her mother choked and spit the potion out after seeing her daughter well and alive, not expecting her to survive the bombing in the school which made Petunia speechless.

    "What are you doing?" Petunia asked in a low voice after a few moments of silence.

    "Come here," her mom said which forced Petunia to walk towards her mom and her dad who was also on the verge of drinking the potion of death but still managed to smile at her.

    "Do you remember the potion we were making with Heize''s family?" her mom asked.

    "The animal potion?" Petunia said, which made her mom look at her with proud eyes.

    "Can you go to Heize''s place and grab that potion for us?"

    "Why?"

    "I want you to drink it, baby, I know the elders ordered us all to die instead of surrendering to that silly game but you''re still young and full of wonders, I don''t want your life to end here yet."

    "And yet you thought she was already dead after being bombed in that school," Heize commented while watching the most traumatizing event in Petunia''s memories.

    "Will you do that for us? Baby?" Petunia''s mother said in tears.

    "Okay, but promise me you won''t drink that potion while I''m gone," Petunia said innocently to which her parents agreed.

    "Hurry, the elder''s people will come and visit our place later to make sure that we''re all dead."

    "Okay," Petunia said and rushed outside of their house, clutching her wooden broom tightly while holding her tears back.

    "I just need to grab that unfinished animal potion from Heize''s house and we will be safe," Petunia whispered to herself several times on her way but instead of following after her, Heize chose to stay inside and watch Petunia''s mother who could not even see her.

    "You broke your promise, did you?" Heize predicted and watched as Petunia''s parents gulped the potion of death straight to their throats with regret in their eyes and falling down on the floor lifelessly.

    "I thought so," Heize said before the scenery changed in front of her eyes again.

 Chapter 191 - Secret Project: Animal Potion

    "Hello?!" the child Petunia said while opening the door to Heize''s house.

    "Anybody here?" she added after going inside and placing her digital broom on their broom racks.

    "Mommy told me to get the animal potion from here! I hope you don''t mind!" Petunia continued shouting like what she had been used to doing in Heize''s house since her family was a little bit too silent and snobby.

    When no one answered, Petunia quickly assumed that it must be because they''re busy doing something else, like what her parents were trying to do, but instead of checking out the rooms for dead bodies, Petunia went straight to the basement and opened the secret compartment there on her own.

    Heize was silently watching Petunia do all of this by herself, and every time the location changes, Heize also gets transported to that location so she decided not to bother walking or trying to talk to Petunia anymore.

    "Here it is!" Petunia said while catching her breath after a series of locked doors she had to push open with her extraordinary super strength.

    The room was a small moldy and humid cave-like square which was built underground with cement brick walls and vines, in the middle, there was a big cauldron above the eternal fire where the latest and most ambitious secret potion of Petunia''s parents in collaboration with Heize''s parents was found.

    Petunia quickly grabbed three flasks from the shelves and used another tool to dip it in the boiling green potion carefully, ultimately making the potion purple as it cooled down.

    "This should be enough," Petunia said and closed the lids of the flasks with a cork before putting them all carefully in her backpack.

    But as she was about to run back to her house, Petunia stopped and stepped back after seeing Heize''s parents gesturing for her to keep quiet while sneaking inside the secret room.

    "Mom, Dad," Heize said without a single hint of emotion in her voice after seeing her strict and stoic parents after a long time.

    "What are you doing here?" Heize''s mom finally talked after her husband locked the secret door behind them.

    "Mommy told me to get this potion and drink it," Petunia said innocently which made the two adults look at each other with concern etched all over her face.

    "You know what happened to Heize after turning into a cat, right?" she said.

    "She got kicked out?"

    "And not only that but she can''t turn back into a human anymore!"

    "Our poor daughter," Heize''s father said and hugged his wife while reminiscing over the very few and uninteresting moments he spent with his daughter.

    "I wish I could have treated her better," Heize''s mom said and cried silently while still in her husband''s arms.

    "It''s okay, that was just a blessing in disguise. Who knew turning into a cat and getting kicked out of our city could save our daughter from all of this madness?" Heize''s father said with forced optimism.

    "How is living a life as a cat for almost 10 years better than dying?! Huh?!" Heize suddenly shouted after being affected by her parent''s words and getting emotional over it.

    "I wish I could have just died here with you¡­ At least we''d die here together and happily like a real family instead of living this miserable life altogether," Heize whispered with a fading stubbornness of promising to hate her parents until the end of time for that unfortunate accident.

    "This is because of me," Petunia said, which made Heize''s parents look at her with sympathy.

    "No, this is not your fault!-'''' but as she was just about to continue on telling Petunia several reasons why she''s not at fault, Heize quickly closed her eyes and imagined for the scene to move faster, making her skip some parts and ultimately stopping at the peak of Petunia''s memories inside the secret bunker.

    "Open up!" an angry voice from the outside said while banging the secret door which made Petunia unintentionally scoot over Heize''s parents and hide behind them.

    "It''s okay, they won''t get us here."

    "And even if they did I won''t let them touch you, not even one bit," Heize''s mother said while standing behind the cauldron and in front of Petunia with a fighting stance.

    On the other hand, Heize''s father was diligently pushing the door so the officers outside would not get in, but just as the noise outside stopped and they thought that the officers finally gave up, a loud high-pitched descending noise followed after them which the two adults quickly recognized as a bomb immediately, instinctively scooting closer to Petunia and guarding her with their bodies.

    "Hang on!" Heize''s mom said to Petunia and the place suddenly went dark, probably reflecting the only things that were running in Petunia''s mind at this point. Darkness.

    "Those people!" Heize said with spite with his hands curled up after being trapped in the dark with Petunia whose hands body was weak on the floor and her hands covering her ears.

    And with the deafening silence, Heize saw another spotlight in Petunia''s memories pointing at her backpack where she put the three flasks of their imperfect animal shapeshift potion.

    The child Petunia looked up and looked around as if searching for Heize''s parents, but because of the dark and the deafening silence, Petunia could not see anything else other than herself and the potions in her backpack two steps away from her.

    "No!! Get away from there!" Heize''s mom shouted in slow motion while finally gaining a spot-light from Petunia''s memories while running towards the window where she thought Petunia was running to.

    "The potion! We have to drink it!" Petunia shouted but her voice was very muffled, it felt as if they could not hear what she was saying because of the high-pitched noise that just suddenly appeared again after that long silence.

    And without a warning, as Petunia was just about to grab her backpack, a loud explosion made their hearts sink, shooting debris in every direction and making Petunia drop to the ground while covering her eyes and ears again.

    Without giving a spotlight to anyone else, Heize was able to figure out what was going on and what happened next.

    "So that''s how my parents died¡­" Heize thought without investing any more emotions in what happened.

    "And here I thought for the longest time that they chose to drink the death potion just like everyone else because of their shitty loyalty to Majesta," Heize added before closing her eyes and wishing to fast forward the events in front of her eyes again.

 Chapter 192 - Invasion

    "What happened? Why did she suddenly pass out?" Von asked while hesitating to lock the collar around the fake Petunia''s neck.

    "Do you think it''s because of that?" Gem said and pointed at the collar which made Von drop it out of fear.

    "Oh no, we''re doomed," Von turned around and panicked, after almost making the sleeping fake Petunia fall from Lei''s arms.

    "What''s happening? What did you do?" Lei also asked, agitated after balancing the fake Petunia in his arms.

    "We thought that extra collar was a fake! Who knew Petunia has an extra collar with her memories in it!?" Gem said.

    "Wait, you thought you were giving her a fake collar? Why?" Lei asked and shook his head, "And why am I even holding her like she''s the real one?!" he added and carefully placed the sleeping Petunia on the floor.

    "Wait! I thought you were on this fake Petunia''s side?!" Gem said and pointed her hands with floating slimes to Lei.

    "No! I-It''s weird! It''s like I was being manipulated! I don''t know what got into me but the moment I saw her puking rainbows, it felt as if my mind became blurry when it came to Petunia."

    "But why do you think she''s not the real one all of a sudden now?" Gem said, still being cautious of Lei while Von was panicking behind her.

    "Because I trust you! I did not spend that much time with Petunia only to mistake her for a fake one!" Lei said, in denial about the confusion that just happened to him earlier.

    "Okay¡­ then what should we do now?" Gem asked.

    "First, what do you think is happening now?" Lei asked while turning around from the fake Petunia and making his way to stand with his friends.

    "She''s obviously obtaining Petunia''s memories! We need to do something to make sure she''s not going to be acting like Petunia anytime soon!"

    "We should just kill her now," Von suddenly said, which shocked Gem.

    "I agree," Lei said and grabbed a blade from his pockets but Gem quickly ran in front of him to prevent something bloody from happening.

    "I don''t think that''s the best solution right now, especially since she has Petunia''s memories. What if Petunia needs that?"

    "Then we can just give her the collar back," Von answered.

    "I don''t think this is just as simple as that, I mean look at her! She''s obviously suffering from all of those memories of other people suddenly invading her mind!"

    "Or it''s just the effect of a first-timer having a Stut-hut crawl inside their brain," Lei said and pushed Gem aside softly.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll just lock her up with this," he said and showed Gem his sticky rope.

    "But what about Venedette and the real Petunia? What should we do now?"

    "Well, that cat knows where Petunia is, we should ask her," Von said even after suggesting to kill her.

    "Done, let''s go," Lei said and carried the fake Petunia like a wrapped sack of rice behind him before starting to run back to the location where they just came from to check on Venedette.

    "Come on," Von said and lowered himself so Gem could hop on his back easily, "We don''t know if he''s telling the truth yet so we should not lose them."

    "Okay," Gem said, staying silent the whole trip while brainstorming about what she should do with that fake Petunia and how to make her tell them where the real Petunia was.

    ***

    "Gem! I need your slime!" Fily said while waving at Gem, Lei, and Von''s figures, approaching them in the hallway.

    "On it!" Gem said and released a ball of healing slime from her hand.

    "Just put it around her head and she will be fine," Fily said and continued on explaining what the fake Petunia did to Venedette.

    "It''s just a simple brain freeze, although it''s temporary, the freeze will need a longer time to completely wear off which we could just immediately remove with your healing slime, so anyways, what happened back there? Why do you guys look so gloomy when you''ve clearly caught the impostor and even roped her up."

    "Ask Von," Gem said and moved closer to Venedette to do her magic which made Von a little bit nervous.

    "What is it?"

    "W-We accidentally gave this cat a copy of Petunia''s collar."

    "YOU WHAT?!" Fily shouted and turned around with her hand slapped around her forehead, seemingly trying to calm down and think about the situation thoroughly.

    "I thought you were giving her a fake collar?!" she shouted again which made Von look down out of guilt.

    "We thought so too, but based on her reactions, we thought she was actually obtaining Petunia''s memories."

    "Or it''s just the normal reaction of someone having a Stat-hut invade their brain, right Fily?" Lei said, trying to keep the tension and negative assumptions down.

    "No! Where did you get this collar?!"

    "From the yacht," Von answered timidly which made Fily even more stressed.

    "Okay, for now, make sure that fake cat won''t talk while I check the components of that Stut-hut."

    "But we need her to tell us where the real Petunia is!" Gem said and even accidentally pushed Venedette''s head in the wrong direction, "Oops, sorry."

    "You do that, I''ll just check this first to see which one of your assumptions got it right."

    "Okay," Gem said and glared at Von and Lei as a warning for them to keep watch of that cunning fake Petunia while she and Fily do their thing.

    "How is she still inside her head even after getting the collar removed?" Von asked, "Do you think we should put the collar back to her again and ask it to cancel instead?"

    "Only the host can do that, Von," Lei said and wrapped his rope around the fake Petunia''s limbs again, making sure there was no way she could escape from his ties.

    "But Fily can hack," Von said and pointed at Fily who glared at him for mentioning her name.

    "We should just do what she said, okay?" Lei said and diligently placed the fake Petunia between him and Von for them to keep an eye on her.

    "I hope it''s just what I thought," Lei said, which Von agreed with silently.

 Chapter 193 - Teddy Bear

    "PETUNIA!!" Miss Nabi shouted while hurrying down the staircase after hearing her shouting loudly earlier.

    "Miss Nabi?" A familiar voice called, which made Miss Nabi''s fast heartbeat slow down a little bit.

    "Shelby? Poker?" she said while descending down the stairs and watching Poker the bear carried Petunia like a baby and even swung her a little bit in an attempt to make her calm down.

    "Miss Nabi!" Shelby said in a relieved note with teary eyes which made Miss Nabi worry.

    "What''s wrong? Why is she crying? What happened to Petunia?" Miss Nabi asked restlessly and landed on Poker''s furry shoulders.

    "Petunia couldn''t recognize us anymore, Miss Nabi. She thought Poker was going to eat her," Shelby said in a jokingly manner which made herself laugh for a moment before going back to a serious note, "But really, I''m very worried about her-"

    "AAAAAAAAAAH!" Petunia screamed, which arrived as an aggressive meow to Karizze and her friend''s ears.

    "What''s happening here?" Karizze whispered and stayed low while still leading the group down the stairs, watching a bear rack a silver cat on his shoulders and seemingly in a conversation with the squirrel and the butterfly which she thought was a ghost before.

    "Should we still go down there?" Lorenz asked hesitantly, being the most frightened of them all especially after seeing a big bulky brown bear conversing with a talking butterfly.

    "Is that the cat? Daddy said I need to give this back to her!" the innocent little Lizzie said and went ahead of Karizze down the stairs courageously which made Lorenz and Karizze sweat buckets while whispering for her to come back aggressively.

    "I''ll go get her," Gonder volunteered and went on ahead, only to catch the attention of the animals talking downstairs with his heavy steps down the metal stairs.

    "A human! Quickly, hide!" Poker said and jumped behind a slightly thick pole not far from him like what he had been doing forever whenever he encountered humans in the forest.

    And thanks to that, humans who just got lost or were intentionally hunting in the winter forest just find him cute and let him go whenever he does that.

    "Don''t worry, they''re friends. I asked them to come here after hearing about the collar in their hands," Miss Nabi explained briefly.

    "What collar?"

    "Petunia''s memories," Miss Nabi said, which confused Poker and Shelby even more.

    "How does that work?" Shelby, a very enthusiastic squirrel who likes to hang out around humans in order to observe their advanced technology, said while staring at the collar in the little human girl''s hands.

    "Butterfly! Please give this to her," Lizzie said and held the purple collar up with both of her hands to reach Poker''s claws which Poker just naturally accepted as if he was receiving a gift from a friend.

    And just as Poker thought the female child couldn''t get cuter than that, when Poker finally moved the collar away from blocking Lizzie''s face from his view, Poker got even more amazed by the innocent smile that the child was holding on her face.

    "That''s the same face that humans do whenever they see me hiding behind a sickly tree," Poker said his thoughts out loud accidentally which kind of distracted Miss Nabi from what she was going to say.

    "Right! Can you please put on this collar around her neck, Shelby?" Miss Nabi said after shaking her head and getting her thoughts back together.

    "Lizzie, come here!" Gonder whispered loudly from the end of the staircase with his arms wide open, trying to convince Lizzie to come back but Lizzie was just amazed by the big bear standing in front of her and even hugged his left leg which was almost the size of her whole body!

    "Lizzie!" Karizze said, contributing in calling her sister back but was still too afraid to move closer to that bear who was weirdly calm and not aggressive towards people.

    "It''s okay, he''s my friend, guys. Thank you for your help," Miss Nabi said all of a sudden from a hidden angle which made Karizze and Lorenz''s hearts drop again out of shock.

    "Please don''t do that," Karizze said while trying to recover her composure once again just like what she did earlier while Lorenz just went back to his panicking state and balled himself up in one of the staircase steps while covering his ears and murmuring some things that none of them could understand.

    "Sorry," Miss Nabi said.

    "So what''s going to happen now?" Gonder, the only one who was unbothered by the ghost theories, said while watching Miss Nabi fly around them over and over again.

    "We wait for the Stat-hut to finish rebooting inside her brain."

    "The what?! That''s a Stut-hut?!" Gonder exclaimed in shock for not expecting a collar to be a Stat-hut which also made Miss Nabi slap herself for leaking such important info to strangers.

    "Doesn''t matter! We just need Petunia to take control of herself again and eradicate that fake Petunia wannabe who thinks she''s all this and that after being able to control most female guards at her command," Miss Nabi suddenly babbled which Karizze heard and pulled her out of her shocked state.

    "What do you mean Petunia wannabe? What''s happening out there? Can you tell us so we can help? We''ve been stuck in that storage room for hours and something big like this just suddenly happened. Please tell us so we can help," Karizze said, which surprised Gonder and Lorenz.

    "What suddenly got into you?" Gonder whispered to her to which Karizze only ignored.

    "Lizzie! Come here!" Karizze shouted which altered Lizzie to get away from the bear she was trying so hard to hug even though the height difference was enormous and Poker had no intentions of squatting down just to let her hug him.

    "B-But I want to hug teddy bear!" Lizzie said while being pressured into going back to her sister but Karizze knew that all she needed to do was to call her again which she did and ultimately succeeded with.

    "Good girl," she said and gave her upset sister a warm hug from the back instead.

 Chapter 194 - Impostor

    "Is she awake?" Fily asked

    "Not yet," Von answered, being the one who was in charge of keeping an eye on the impostor.

    "Okay, just tell me if she''s already awake, I need to do something to make her forget Petunia''s memories," Fily said and went back to her mind palace, configuring the copy of Petunia''s stat-hut in her mind manually without her important tools which were in the Levi-yacht.

    "I''m done," Gem said and walked closer to Fily to observe what she was doing.

    "Okay, just leave her there for a few minutes and she will recover on her own," Fily said without opening her eyes which made Gem stand up again and went on to Von and Lei''s side instead.

    "Is he really on our team now?" Gem whispered to Von who answered, "He''s still confused, but he''ll get there."

    "You know I can hear you, right?" Lei said, which garnered surprised gasps from both Gem and Von.

    "Lei would usually just stay quiet in this kind of situation so he''s still definitely not alright," Gem said.

    "Exactly, Von followed up and even laughed a little for teasing Lei despite the heavy situation.

    "It''s already quarter to nine and we''re still far from making progress," Gem said and sighed worriedly while sitting down between Lei and Von against the wall.

    "All we have to do is get Petunia to come with us safely back to the Yacht and leave this place before midnight, what''s so hard about that?" Von asked, being overly optimistic which was totally not his style if you were to ask Gem.

    "This is what''s hard with that¡­ We don''t even know if Petunia is still safe, we have no news from her other than this lousy impostor. We need to ask her where she is and if she''s still alive because I don''t know what I might do to her if she tells me that Petunia is dead and it''s because she wanted to take her place in our team. It just somehow reminds me of those teenagers who shot me in the chest and almost killed Petunia earlier that day if only she was not able to escape ahead of time."

    "Talking about those superhero wannabes, I don''t think I''ve seen them yet in this whole precinct yet," Lei said.

    "Well, maybe they decided to not go here today or escaped ahead of time," Gem answered.

    "But still, it''s already nine, don''t you think it''s a little bit unnatural for their father to stay at work so late? Aren''t they supposed to be worried about here now and even come looking for him here if they had access to this place in the first place," Lei kept on reasoning out.

    "I think I kind of understand what your point is, but what about them? What could they possibly know or do in this situation?" Gem said, breeding another interesting topic which made Lei fired up and ready for a long conversation with Gem.

    But just as they were about to start the long conversation, Fily suddenly pushed Von aside and looked the two of them straight in the eyes, "Good idea, thanks for the suggestion!" she seriously said and went back to work without even following up what she meant by those words which left the three of them looking at each other with confusion etched on their faces.

    "Should I ask her?" Gem asked to which Von and Lei quickly shook their heads to, "Okay then," Gem whispered and even stole a glance at Fily again who looked scarier every time she''s serious about her work while smiling sadistically.

    "Ah! That hurt," Venedette suddenly said and held her head while trying to stand up from that very uncomfortable frozen pose.

    "Venedette!" Gem said and immediately went to hug her which kind of annoyed Von for not being able to do the same because of Fily''s instructions.

    "Does it still hurt?" Gem said while inspecting Venedette''s said.

    "A little bit here," Venedette said while pointing at her temple which Gem immediately cured with her healing slimes.

    "Better?"

    "Better," Venedette asked and carried Gem like a baby on one of her shoulders.

    "You finally caught her! And Lei¡­" Venedette said while approaching Von and Lei with the impostor lying down between them.

    After hearing Venedette calling Lei''s name with a warning, Lei quickly looked down while facing Venedette and said his sorry for not being able to fight a manipulative spell that was cast on him.

    "She was a manipulator, I think she hypnotized me with her words, Princess," Lei said and looked even further down to pay his respects for Venedette.

    "Well, that''s not so hard to believe now that I''ve been a victim of her peculiar skills, but just make sure you wouldn''t do that again, no matter the threats. Teamwork is a very important value in this team and I don''t want that to break with a simple misunderstanding, you understand me?" Venedette said, suddenly lecturing her subordinates who skipped their classes for this day because of the never-ending trip to the Alps which was just supposed to be a simple picnic in Venedette''s head.

    "Understood, Princess!" Lei said and noticed the impostor Petunia move which he then quickly notified Von to notify Fily about it.

    "You do it," Von whispered to Lei while looking at him with fear in his eyes which Lei understood but still could not give in to his request because he was the one blocking the other way that this fake Petunia could escape to.

    "You do it, you''re closer to her," Lei said while pointing at Fily and still keeping an eye on the fake Petunia that was just about to wake up.

    "If she got some of Petunia''s memories while you were putting on the Stat-hut to her, then there''s a chance that she might act a lot like Petunia later and confuse us. We should put a mark on her to still be able to distinguish the real one from this fake one," Venedette said after hearing a brief summary of what happened while she was gone.

    "I have an idea.. Two, actually," Gem said, which intrigued Venedette and Lei while still keeping an eye on the impostor Petunia on the floor.

 Chapter 195 - Rest Is History

    "She actually went there, I can''t believe it," Heize said while watching Petunia collapse in front of her after crossing the border at a very low altitude, almost killing Petunia in the process if only she did not focus on avoiding those sudden fireballs from the ground.

    "Help¡­ me," Petunia said closed her eyes, making the scenery go black and transition to another one where she was out there, in the woods, brewing potions in secret for secret clients, very much like what Heize was doing in the Alps lately.

    "Have you heard about the new team that the Princess was trying to build? I heard the princess recruited that leech from the outside saying that she''s actually a girl and not just some deadly monster."

    "But she''s the princess, I don''t think the Princess would lie about such things, especially since her whole island depends on it."

    "She put her island on the line?! Well, that''s a lot of faith and belief that the Princess put in this outsider, more reason to believe that this girl is not like what they''re claiming." The delivery men outside Petunia''s store talked loudly, making Petunia hear about stuff that she did not want to hear about, especially about the tournament that cost her whole family''s lives.

    "Here you go, tell your boss to send another delivery personnel if they still want to continue doing business with me," Petunia said coldly from under the trunk of a treehouse to keep her identity and form a secret from humans.

    She could not even talk with animals because of the flaws that the incomplete potion carried, and although Petunia was sad about not having anyone to talk to, she just took it as a positive thing so she would not get involved in the capitals agendas anymore.

    But one day, while Petunia was gathering yet another set of resources from outside the borders as if she was just out there shopping, she met a woman named Venedette whom she accidentally exposed herself to.

    "What is a very white and clean cat doing in this ruined place?" Venedette asked.

    And with the mistaken impression that Venedette was really from the outside world, judging by her choice of raggy clothes, Petunia did not mind talking to her and letting her know about her ability to talk to humans, even as a cat.

    "That''s none of your business," she said which surprised Venedette at first and made her interested in this talking cat from outside the border.

    "Do you want to come with me inside that country?" Venedette asked which confused Petunia.

    "How?" she said with a confused face.

    "I''ll fly you over!" Venedette said with a cheerful face which just made Petunia realize that she just did a very grave mistake because of that wrong assumption.

    "Uhh, no thanks. I''d rather stay here than deal with that country''s bullshit."

    "Oh? You''ve been in Clandamascarene?" Venedette asked, making her interest in Petunia deeper with every topic that they had while Petunia was busy picking up herbs from the ground and Venedette unknowingly help her do just that.

    "N-No! I''ve just¡­ I heard about that country being problematic, f-from the people that got kicked out," Petunia said and walked faster to discourage Venedette from talking to her but Venedette just ignored her signs and continued pestering her until she had enough.

    "Enough! I don''t want anything to do with that country, okay?"

    "If only there''s another safer place that I could stay in other than that country then I''d gladly run away and never come back there," Petunia thought to herself.

    "Okay, fine. But just so you know, I''m actually a genie. And because you talked to me, I will grant you a wish. Just one, whatever it is."

    "Anything?" Petunia asked, taking the bait.

    "Anything," Venedette said with a friendly smile which made Petunia think that she''s trustworthy and all that.

    "No! What the hell? So that''s how you got into this ridiculous turn of events, huh? I knew it! Royals are really full of shit! One day they''ll give you a favor and the next, you''ll just find yourself trapped inside their game! These cunning monsters!" Heize complained even though she already knew that these two people wouldn''t be able to hear her.

    "Okay, I''ll give some thoughts about it," Petunia said and turned around with a confident attitude as if saying that Venedette was the one who needed something from her and not the actual way around.

    "Great! I''ll just come back here to hear that wish from you then, same time, same place?" Venedette said which Petunia nodded to.

    "Okay! Don''t be late!" Venedette said before flying off across the border in a hurry.

    "I should also get going back," Petunia said after looking at the darkening of the cumulus clouds above her.

    "This is so stupid," Heize said and let out a deep sigh before continuing on with Petunia''s memories.

    "So, have you decided about your wish now?" Venedette said the moment she stepped on the withered grass in the same location as to where they were talking before.

    "I have a problem, do you think I can ask for your help fixing it?" Petunia said and stared at Venedette''s place to observe her reaction but Venedette was just smiling the whole time.

    "Sure!"

    "And the rest is history, the end," someone with a familiar emotionless high-pitched cat voice said from behind said which made the scenery freeze in front of Heize.

    "Petunia," Heize said and turned around.

    "That''s right, it''s me. What are you doing here inside my memories?" Petunia said with her arms crossed, contemplating whether to be happy about meeting Heize here or mad at her for gatekeeping her when she was out of her mind.

    "I was trying to understand you," Heize said calmly.

    She also noticed that Petunia was in her cat form inside her memories but she was still in her old human form, which could probably reflect how Petunia still sees her inside her memories since they were her memories after all.

    "Trying to understand me? Or trying to be me?" Petunia said and suddenly appeared in front of Heize''s face, floating on her old Gummy cloud which she could control freely inside her space.

    "Why would I want to be you? Haven''t you seen the latest memory yet? You were fooled by the Princess into joining their games! The very same games that cost our whole population and city. The same game where you refused to participate in as a prize!"

    "I know! But this time I won''t be the price, and I''ll make sure that this sickly tradition would finally come to an end!"

    "So that''s your purpose? To put an end to this game''s prize system?" Heize said, seemingly mocking Petunia which made Petunia''s eyebrows curl.

    "Of course not! Venedette promised me she''ll put an end to this sick game after defeating Yumeki-"

    "And you believed her? Why would you believe someone who caused the demise of our families!??" Heize said, getting emotional about a topic for the first time in forever since she was just always alone and talking to herself most of the time.

    "How about you then?! What is your purpose? Why are you doing this? Did you know that I was looking for you? I''m sure you do, you''re Heize after all, but why didn''t you help me? You know that I need your help, right?"

    "And I need your body! I need to become you to have an influence in this damned government! Because even if I hate to admit it, being a member of this group is a big advantage for us! And you did it, Petunia. You became influential and powerful, but I didn''t see you care about our city anymore. You let it burn, you''re the only one surviving but what were you doing after all that? I thought you have forgotten about us and just decided to live like a hero and warrior to this damned country with those silly new friends of yours," Heize confessed, starting with an aggressive tone and shifting to a softer one towards the end.

    "Well, that''s because I did forget about you and everything that happened to Majesta! I had my memories transferred in my Stat-huts because I kept forgetting about them, and just recently, I even forgot who I was and what was my purpose in life all about."

    "I''m scared, Heize. That was why I was looking for you. I need your help," Petunia added, reflecting Heize''s soft voice just to pay respect to the old and good times that they have spent together as friends and as a teacher and student duo in advance chemistry.

    "The potion is taking full effect," Heize said in realization which made Petunia nod to confirm her thoughts quietly.

    "And I knew you survived that, so I came to you for help. You''re the only one who can help me now, Heize," Petunia said while looking at Heize''s jet black straight hair and innocent child-like face in a uniform, the same Heize that last saw before she turned into a cat from that unfortunate accident with her parents.

    "I- I don''t know what to say," Heize said and squatted on the dead ground, "I still need your influence to make a difference, but I also don''t want you to die just yet, we''re the only ones that were left of Majestians-"

    "So save me, Heize.. And I''ll make sure to give you the power that you need to make a difference," Petunia said with desperate eyes that did not fail to reach Heize''s soft heart, especially to her.

 Chapter 196 - Peace Of Mind

    "Good Morning Petunia! Thank goodness you''re finally awake! Come on! Everybody''s waiting for us," Gem said the moment Heize opened her eyes.

    And although the blinding white light around her was making her vision blur, she immediately recognized Gem with the voice that was imprinted in Petunia''s memories, which she was also confused to see wrapped around her neck in that weird white empty space.

    "Wh-where''s everyone? Where are we?" Petunia asked but Gem only ignored her question and instead squatted in front of her with a pout.

    "Are you saying you don''t want to come with us?" Gem said, which made Heize wonder if she was still in Petunia''s memories or if she''s already back in the real world.

    Because not only did she lose control over Petunia''s memories, but she was sure that she and Petunia made a deal to save and help each other the moment they got out of that quick summary of Petunia''s memories.

    "Come to where? Where are we going? There''s nothing here!" Heize exclaimed and stepped away from Gem with a frightened expression for losing control over everything that she thought she was in control with.

    "I need to go back to the real world and help Petunia!"

    "What are you talking about?" Gem asked and acted cute while Heize was still panicking and walking in circles to get her thoughts straight.

    "I saw Petunia inside this collar and we made a deal with each other. And just so you know, you''re right! I''m not Petunia! I''m Petunia''s old friend who''s now back to help her."

    "What are you saying? Didn''t you just literally lock Petunia up in a cell and try to steal her memories from that Stat-hut?" Gem said, her patience running out and exposing her real reaction to the situation instead of the concept that she was faking on earlier.

    "Wait, you''re talking to me. And you know about what I did earlier! We''re in the real world now, aren''t we? But what is this? Where are we?" Heize asked while looking around the vast empty white space between them which prompted Gem to stand up and calm herself down first before explaining the situation as simply as possible to this impostor cat in front of her who just confessed her crimes to the real Petunia in 4k.

    "You''re a hostage in my world now and you''re going to tell me where you hid Petunia at or else I''ll lock you in here for the rest of your life. I''m the only one who can come and go in this place as I wish, so don''t try doing something funny with me," Gem said and pulled a map from the ground which made Heize think.

    "This is very similar to the dreaming state that I had in Petunia''s memories earlier. But instead of colors and stuff, this girl can only control 20% of her powers and could only lousily pull shapes from the ground-based on my observation. I can''t trust her," Heize thought while examining Gem''s whole look.

    "What makes you so sure I''ll lead you to the right place?" Heize asked.

    "Do you want to battle it out first?" Gem boldly suggested which made Heize admire her courage a little bit.

    "I would love to, but unfortunately I have to decline. Like I''ve said, Petunia and I made a deal to help each other, so please, take me to her," Heize said with a hint of haste in her face which made Gem trust her guts that were saying to trust this impostor for once.

    "Lead the way," Gem said and finally showed the big map of the same checkpoint Headquarters in front of them which was also the same thing that she showed to Von when he was inside Solitude earlier with her.

    "This is-" Heize said and looked at Gem suspiciously as if she could not trust what Gem was saying, simply because of her prejudice of how weak Gem is compared to her in terms of controlling their own or other''s memories.

    "This is an empty version of the headquarters, so chop chop, tell me where Petunia is and I might even spare your life."

    "That is, if Petunia says so," Gem added but kept only her mouth shut about the threat to give Heize a little bit of Peace of mind while leading her the way to Petunia.

    "Is Petunia still alive? What did you do to her? And what did you mean when you said you made a promise with her?" Gem asked restlessly while following Heize''s directions and walking behind her.

    "Actually, I want to know who you are first and what is your connection to Petunia? Why is she looking for you? I have a lot of other questions that I want to ask you but that I think should be just it for the meantime. Now spill," Gem said, still keeping her authority inside the place that she had a better understanding and control of, unlike Heize here who did not even know such a place existed even after being the one responsible for Sir Durish, the wolf''s ability to also go to a place similar to Gem''s solitude but a rather unstable one.

    "I''m Petunia''s old teacher, my name''s Heize and I was the first one who got affected by that potion that my parents and Petunia''s parents were trying to perfect in secret in Majesta," Heize answered diligently and looked at Gem''s eyes behind her with pleading eyes.

    "What?" Gem said.

    "I''m tired," Heize said and her limbs just suddenly started shaking which made Gem worry and recall Petunia''s symptoms through her.

    "Here, ride this," Gem said and closed her eyes while giving Heize a makeshift version of Petunia''s gummy cloud using her energy slimes.

    She really did not want to do it as much as possible, because giving this fake Petunia a cloud would just make her resemble Petunia even more, but since it was inevitable that any superpowers of anyone inside Solitude aside from Salamandite holders would lose their power, Gem had the cloud prepared in her mind in advance in case something like this happened on the way.

    "T-Thank you," Heize said and sat down properly on the floating cloud while still leading the way to Petunia by following a real-life-sized version of the map on the white floor beneath them.

    "Huh, is this made of energy slimes? Why does it smell so much like it?" Heize thought to herself and glanced at Gem''s faintly glowing necklace for the first time, suddenly remembering her original plans that would not benefit Petunia at all.

    "Why are you looking at my necklace like that? Did you do all those things in the outside world just to steal my necklace and Petunia''s collar?" Gem asked while putting her arms in front of her chest with an x shape, saying that she would not let Heize touch it no matter what.

    "What? N-No! Of course not!" Heize said in disbelief, but when she saw Gem''s unconceived face, she immediately followed up with an explanation that was closer to the truth in fears that she might not believe her.

    "Well, at first I did, because energy slimes is a very crucial ingredient for the formula that I was making to reverse this stupid curse, but now that I''ve seen Petunia and talked to her myself, I kind of don''t want to do things the hard way anymore and just ask for it first. I''m sure you care about Petunia and what if I tell you that I''m the only other person who can help her and that''s why she''s looking for me? But in order to save the both of us, we need to cooperate¡­ and I need your energy slimes, even just a little bit of it will do," Heize said and suddenly sighed as if talking for that long just drained all of her energy all of a sudden.

    "Fine, I''ll help you help her and give you everything you need to help her, but only if she''s still alive safe out there like you said, and promise to give her back everything you took from her, especially that collar which contains all of her memories."

    "Speaking of the collar, I thought you wouldn''t let me wear this? Why is it in my neck and why am I not being sent back to Petunia''s linked memories?" Heize asked while pushing the itchy tight collar around her furry neck away.

    "Signals from the real world don''t reach this place, and besides, that collar is not actually Petunia''s stat-hut but rather a replica which Fily just made using makeshift items from the headquarters to make sure that you wouldn''t be able to escape if you ever decide to fool me," Gem said with a cold expression on her face which kind of pissed Heize, "It''s a taser."

    But because Heize was the one at a disadvantage in this situation, she just chose to close her mouth and only say preferable things in front of Gem even though there was a goddamn taser wrapped around her neck, and deep inside, she already cursed this cocky child to the bone anyway and that was enough for her at the moment.

 Chapter 197 - Stay

    Maybe it was because Gem did not know her actual age and only saw her as a mere cat, but that was still a punch in Heize''s grace that she tried so hard to keep by being the best in her business.

    "I won''t do that, okay? As I said, I promised Petunia my cooperation and I''m not someone who backs down on her words."

    "Good to hear that, but I still hate you for attempting to replace Petunia with that dumb plan and spreading a werewolf chaos in the nearest town. Did you know that because of what you did there, Petunia sacrificed all of her resources into making that reverse potion that could potentially save her?" Gem asked but Heize could not answer because she just had access to these memories and it was not a good one.

    She thought she deserves a beating for it and what other way to get a beating from something bad you caused than getting scolded by a literal child?

    "She only needed my Energy slimes back then which I have now, but then, everything else is gone. There''s no point anymore, that''s why she was so desperate to look for you. She even left her memories just to avoid the tracker that could possibly break our trip because we would prioritize her. You''re lucky you''re Petunia''s friend or else I would have hurt you now by now, witch of the north, so watch your mouth and just do as I said," Gem said with spite that made Heize realize just how special Petunia meant for her.

    When all along she thought that these people were just using Petunia for power and fame, there was a hidden bond that she was too stubborn to acknowledge earlier while watching Petunia''s memories play inside her head.

    Maybe it''s because of the fact that Petunia was never the person to get along with just anyone the last time she saw her, Heize thought she was the only person that got Petunia wanting to protect her, and of course, that was just all in the past, but whether Heize would like to admit it or not, Petunia was also the only other person she considered as a friend, aside from those animals that she experimented on every time she''d take on her human form.

    "Look, I didn''t mean for any of that to happen, but because I''m practically at fault in this one, admittedly so, I would gladly pay for it with a sentence or a punishment if that''s what you guys want, but for now I just really want to help Petunia. I am sorry for thinking that I should replace her instead of saving her and I would like to pay for that now," Heize said with all of her heart.

    She had been labeled as the ice-hearted witch within this area, but when it comes to Petunia, it was like Heize''s heart just stopped freezing and melted just for her.

    "Okay, I agree. Let''s focus on finding Petunia first and let''s stop talking about things. I don''t want to talk to you anymore. I don''t want to talk to you and I don''t want to hurt you yet so don''t make me. Keep silent and I will spare you, in the name of your friend," Gem said, still salty about watching Petunia''s self-proclaimed ''Best friend'' who just betrayed her and getting even more annoyed every time she sees her.

    ***

    Back in the real world, Petunia was still asleep in Poker''s arms, and on the other side of the building, the guards were all still confused about what just happened and was happening.

    "Calm down everyone. We are really sorry about the commotion that an intruder started, we would like to announce that this intruder has been contained and you''re now all freed from her glamour spell that she used to take control over you, so you can go home now and leave the rest of the stuff here up to us. We still have a teammate to find and the commander to search for," Venedette announced to all the confused people that were gathering in the garage area.

    When Gem brought Heize inside her Solitude, Heize''s glamour just suddenly stopped working, "So that''s how she was doing it," Von said while inspecting a very thin silk-like thread that just suddenly appeared in front of them where Heize was just standing earlier.

    As it turned out, Heize''s fake fur was made of the same spider-like threads all along and this thread was also the medium that Heize used to charm all of those people into working for her.

    "Not going to lie though, that must be a lot of hard work. And the silk, it looks so pretty. I wonder how I did not notice this before?" Lei said while inspecting another clump of threads on the floor where Heize just suddenly disappeared from.

    "She was using an anti-matter coat which made it invisible as long as it was attached to her," Fily said while picking up a strand of the white silver-like thread that was unbelievably shiny even though it was just like a strand of hair, but thinner and more complex.

    "It also had traces of advanced technology that isn''t available in Clandamascarene yet. And judging from her choice of location, I think I now understand why she chose this place full of trespassers and illegal vendors of stuff from other countries."

    "What kind of advanced technology?" Von asked, seemingly being interested in the technology-silk as well.

    "Neurolink, the same thing that Stat-huts use," Fily said and placed the pinch of wires she gathered from that bunch.

    "So does this cut her connection to those guards?" Venedette asked.

    "Yep, like a puppet master whose strings were cut from their puppets," Fily said with a little bit of sarcasm in her voice to hide the fact that she was threatened by this cat for knowing something she was not allowed to but also glad at the same time for finally having a copy of this thing.

    "That''s actually cool, I wonder how she was able to keep all of these connections to those people," Von said.

    "Well, it''s not actually that hard, you just need to make physical contact with them and get their emotions to act up so your thread will go directly to the emotion section of your brain."

    "So you mean I also had a string like that on me by the time I believed she was real?!" Lei said and then cleared his throat to hide the sudden burst of emotions that Fily was describing.

    "Yep," Von said and picked up a very thin and long string that was connected to his ears and showed it to Lei.

    "So that was why I thought there was something tingly inside my brain all along!" Lei said and cleared his throat again.

    "Can you take this off?" Lei said and handed the single strand of silk-like material to Fily who only looked at it and whispered something to Von.

    "Pull it," she said before ignoring the both of them completely.

    "The commander''s still gone," Venedette greeted her with the warmest greeting ever the moment she went closer to her.

    "Then should we find him?" Fily asked and Venedette nodded enthusiastically like a child.

    "We should have asked that cat first about him too but I forgot," Venedette said apologetically and even scratched her head aggressively for believing that it was her fault.

    "It''s okay, when Gem and that cat finally come back to the real world, I told her to show us her location immediately and ask that cat about where she put the other missing people at. Who knows? Maybe the commander is also there where Petunia was being kept?" Fily said to cheer Venedette up.

    "I really hope so, I don''t want this crisis to become something worse."

    "I hope so too," Fily said and called the two boys out to follow them back into the garage where Venedette just explained everything that she could to the confused people around her.

    "So can we leave now or do you need our help to find your teammate and the commander?" one of the guards said, which made some of the people who were already leaving stop on their tracks and pay attention to what Venedette was going to say instead.

    "If you don''t have any family waiting for you at home or you just really want to help us, then it would be greatly appreciated. We don''t have that much time left here in the Alps but I just want to say how very thankful I am for the hospitality you have shown us, we enjoyed the trip-"

    "More like on-the-job training, you know?" Von suddenly said to the person beside him which caused Venedette, to pause her speech and continue when the crowd became silent.

    "Thank you for your understanding," Venedette said, ending the speech with a very humble remark before waiting for all the people who wanted to leave, leave, and those who wanted to help, stay.

 Chapter 198 - Cooking

    "Here we are," Heize said and stopped inside the red circle that she marked on this giant map earlier.

    "What level?" Gem asked the moment she saw the stairs, even tried actualizing it but her control was just not that well inside Solitude yet.

    "Lowest level. Oh God, I hope she''s okay. I left her in the cold so I didn''t have to decide whether she should die or not!" Heize said and then cleared her throat after realizing that her emotions were getting the best of her again.

    "Are you sure she''s here?" Gem asked which made Heize''s heart beat faster.

    "I left her here, but I don''t know where she is now," Heize said while feeling the bunch of cropped cords behind her spine. She was able to locate each and every one of her subordinates in the outside world because of it, and although her cords were not just simple wire threads that could be cut by a scissor, it seemed like teleporting to another dimension were its limits that were yet to be studied.

    "Well, you better make sure she''s there or I won''t come back here to bring you outside. Have fun spending our time here as my prisoner. Oh, and while you''re at it, you can also take this time to reflect on your past actions, especially to us. You deserve a time alone. See you soon," Gem said and started dissolving into the air without warning.

    But just as she was about to completely disappear, Heize started to panic and overthink the situation about being left in this place where she had zero control of.

    "Wait!! I may be able to look for Petunia if you let me come with you! And besides, isn''t this enough security for you already?" Heize emphasized the collar on her neck and jumped closer to Gem to grab her legs.

    "I don''t want to be left in here alone," she said with teary eyes.

    "F-Fine. Bring her outside with me, Mr. Gemini," Gem said while thinking about what might have happened if she left Heize in here alone.

    Will she still be here when she comes back or will she be gone and never to be found again? And although Gem was sure that Solitude was just an empty representation of the real world, she was still unsure about leaving things inside as it was proven by her several times that the things she left inside just suddenly disappeared and was never to be found again.

    As if there was an automatic cleaner inside Solitude that cleanses the place every time she''d go back to the real world.

    "God, you and your pleading eyes, it''s just like Petunia''s¡­" Gem whispered to herself before they completely disperse from Solitude and into the real world.

    "Hey!"

    "Ahhh!" Gem and Heize subsequently screamed after realizing that they were in the air and were about to land on a spiral staircase.

    "Ouch! That hurt!" Heize complained after bouncing her back on the rails and landing on the stairs, thank goodness she landed on the stairs instead of the open space that leads directly to the lowest level that would most likely crack her skull open.

    "Let''s go," Gem said after landing in a superhero pose inside a single tile.

    And without even waiting for Heize''s response, she immediately took the cat in her arms and ran downwards as fast as she could.

    "I can''t believe we landed in the middle of this spiral staircase, I thought I already made it clear that we needed to be in the basement immediately?" Gem thought to herself while running.

    [It is in my deepest apologies that such inconvenience happened master, that is why in your next lesson, I will prioritize the use of levels and how you could practice your precision in disappearing and appearing from one place to another, master,] Mr. Gemini said even though Gem was not thinking of him in particular with her complaint.

    "Nevermind, let''s just get this over with," Gem said and prepared herself for a full stop after seeing the end of the staircase.

    "Watch out!" Karizze shouted after noticing the unfolding speedy event in front of her eyes, with Lizzie still trying to hug Poker, a.k.a. Mr. Teddy bear and Gem almost ran into them, Karizze could not do anything else than shout.

    But thanks to that, Mr. Poker was able to push little Lizzie away and catch Gem with his soft stomach which Gem did not expect to happen at all. She was planning to run around the thick brown pole in the first place to decrease her speed instead of forcing herself for a full stop, but thanks to what Mr. Poker the bear did, Gem and Heize were able to stop from that speed ride safely and Lizzie too.

    "Petunia!" Gem said after noticing a cat inside the brown pole''s arms.

    "Wait, arms?" Gem thought to herself and noticed the brown bear huffing at her for bumping with its tummy.

    "Oh, a bear," Gem said in realization and stepped back, hiding her hands behind her to try and form an energy slime ball that she could use as a defense and even squinted at the bear while trying to observe it.

    But the moment she realized that the bear was not harmful to Petunia at all, Gem let her guard down and was shocked when Heize just suddenly grabbed the energy slime ball from her hand while seemingly trying to do something behind her.

    "Hey! I thought you''re hurt?!" Gem said and was immediately shushed by Heize who was actually brewing a potion on the spot for Petunia with her tools that just came out of nowhere.

    "Wait, why are there two Petunias?!" Karizze said while dragging Lizzie away from them.

    "Are you Petunia''s friend?" Miss Nabi said after spectating the commotion with a dark look at the other cat who was busy in her own world.

    "Uhuh? And you are?" Gem said while looking directly at Miss Nabi''s eyes.

    "As expected, Petunia''s members must really be on another level to exactly pinpoint where my voice was coming from, no matter how bizarre it was to encounter a talking butterfly for the first time," Miss Nabi thought to herself before going back to her conversation with Gem.

    "I''m Miss Nabi-"

    "Our boss," the bear suddenly said, which turned everyone''s head towards him.

    "He can also talk?" Gem asked but Miss Nabi shook her head.

    "He just likes saying that human phrase whenever he can," Miss Nabi said and glanced at Poker who was just sporting a poker face the whole time.

    "And I''m Shelby, can you introduce me to her?" Shelby the squirrel said to Miss Nabi, ecstatic to see a celebrity for the first time in her life but Miss Nabi slightly shook her head with an apologetic look.

    "Maybe next time," Miss Nabi said in animal language with a small smile to Shelby before going back to Gem.

    "What''s happening to her? Is she sick?" Gem asked with a worried look at Petunia who was seemingly suffering from something on the inside.

    "We don''t know what happened, but she was suffering from loss of memories ever since she came to our village. We tried helping her but she would always forget who we were, even bringing her back here where we thought she would finally be able to reconnect with her friends but who thought that fake one was causing chaos around here as well after all?" Miss Nabi said while shooting daggers at Heize with her eyes.

    "Don''t worry, she''s here to help Petunia," Gem said even though she could not believe the phrase on a hundred percent scale herself.

    "Is she the one who took our father? Where did you bring the commander you fake furry!?" Karizze said and stood up aggressively, even pulling Lizzie to hide behind her back while she tried to intimidate the fake Petunia.

    But instead of explaining herself, Heize only kept silent and continued on with her work.

    "I''m trying to help Petunia here, okay? So if you have any issues with me let''s just talk about it later, I need to focus here," Heize said with a stern adult voice which made Karizze shut her mouth and follow her instructions.

    "I can''t believe we still haven''t found our father and even taking orders from the same person who took him," Karizze said while helping Heize cook the potion.

    [Is she doing something helpful or not?] Gem sent to her team a clip of the ingredients that Heize was using with her potion which Fily confirmed was the same ingredients that Petunia was collecting and lost just to help Monica.

    [Okay then, she still hasn''t said anything about where the commander is but he''s not here, only his kids are, the same people who tried to hurt me.]

    [Okay, we''ll be on our way now,] Fily sent silently which made Gem focus back on watching Heize do her thing to help Petunia voluntarily, which was very suspicious to Gem, thus her lack of trust with what she was doing.

 Chapter 199 - Petunias Human Form

    "Are you sure you have everything you need in there?" Gem asked while watching Heize transfer the ice blue potion inside a small elixir bottle to give it to Petunia.

    "I''m sure, you just need to trust me on this one, okay?" Heize said and then focused on what she was doing again.

    "Where did she get those things from?"

    "I don''t know, they just suddenly appeared behind her," Karizze and Miss Nabi whispered to each other while looking at the potion-making tools where Heize was cooking her potion earlier.

    "I''m pretty sure we saw her coming in here empty-handed, right?" Lorenz said and pushed his glasses up his nose without looking scared nor intimidated after finally accepting that this was his reality now.

    "We don''t even know what those things are-"

    "Fily confirmed, it''s safe. It''s just up to how she made it if it''s still safe to drink for Petunia or not," Gem said, cutting Miss Nabi''s words which made her silent.

    "Can I give it to her now?" Heize said and raised the icy blue bottle to show it to everyone.

    "Shouldn''t we wait for your friends first?" Miss Nabi said while Gem was weighing her options out and looking back and forth the potion and Petunia in a worrying state.

    And just as she was about to give Heize her permission, Gem heard the door on the fiftieth-floor open, making her close her mouth and wait for her friends instead.

    "Gem! Petunia!" Fily shouted while being carried by Venedette while Von and Lei just landed quietly beside them.

    "There''s the potion," Gem said and pointed at Heize which made Fily shift her attention to the potion which immediately made her mesmerized.

    "How did you?" Fily said and trailed off while roaming her eyes around the makeshift station that Heize made so she can cook the potion with no problem at all.

    "Is that a-?" Fily gasped and covered her mouth after seeing one of the tools that Heize just pulled out of nowhere.

    "Fily?" Gem said and held Fily''s arms to get her focus back on the topic.

    "Right," Fily said and shook her head.

    "Will this make Petunia human again?" Fily asked Heize who had to give the potion up to Fily so she could reach Petunia''s level in Poker''s arms.

    "Only temporarily, I use it myself so you can be reassured that it''s safe. I can even drink it now in front of you just to prove it safe before giving it to Petunia. I may be known as the heartless witch in this area but I still care about myself and my people¡­ which is now just Petunia and me. Just decide quickly, she''ll have a hard time if we stall for too long."

    "Okay, you go first," Fily said even though the smell of the potion already told her that a double check was unnecessary.

    "Is she the witch from the north?" Gem heard Lizzie ask her sister who immediately told her to quiet down.

    In this crowded area where Petunia''s life was at stake, Karizze knew that they were the ones who have to pay respect first in order to be respected too. And although Karizze was not all that respectful person, especially to her father, experiencing the loss of someone whom she had never considered important before just took a big toll on her emotions.

    "I just wish she could tell us where our father is now," Karizze whispered which made little Lizzie copy her saddened face.

    "I''m tired," Lizzie said which made Karizze hug her.

    "Here I go," Heize said and took a drop of the icy formula down her throat, starting an unusual shapeshifting that was similar to the tablet of Prophecies.

    Her cat body started acting up and in just a few more punches, Heize transformed into a dark-haired woman with snow-white skin that could immediately make anyone think that she was sick.

    "Okay, put this on her and we''ll give Petunia the potion now," Venedette ordered and threw a cape at Gem who was in charge of giving it to Heize and covering her exposed body from the cold.

    "Thank you," Heize said which made Gem stop.

    "I also want to thank you but we wouldn''t have gotten here in the first place if you just went to see Petunia first, right?" Gem said and left without saying anything else.

    "Thank you for completing my mission," Heize said and disappeared without anyone else noticing, all except Gem who heard what she said and just suddenly had a bad feeling about it.

    "Come on Petunia, please come back," Fily said after dropping the potion in Petunia''s mouth while she was still struggling with all the confusion in her brain about what was real and what was not.

    Petunia had never experienced an error before with her Stat-hut and memory loss, but only this time was different. It was as if her memories were scratched like a damaged CD, only playing repetitive memories and high-pitched screeches that were hurting her brain.

    "Take it out! Please!" Petunia shouted in her mind but her voice was just silent.

    All of a sudden, a bright light flashed in front of Petunia''s eyes.

    Even though her eyes were closed on the outside world, the insides of her memories were very different, resembling chaos and error that was uneasy to bear.

    "Petunia?" she heard Fily''s voice, and then Gem, and then all of her friends, calling for her.

    And when she opened her eyes, she was back to the real world.

    No high-pitched noises nor chaos-driven memories. Only the worried faces of her friends and the bright light that was blinding her eyes.

    "W-What happened?" she asked and then attempted to turn to the side so she could stand with her little legs, but instead of four legs, Petunia felt something weird in her hands and toes, something unfamiliar from her four-legged body.

    In her memories, it was easy to adapt to her human form again as she was just thinking about walking and interacting over there, but here, Petunia''s fingers freaked her out! It was as if she just lost her only finger on the back and was replaced with nine more in the tip of her toes and hands!

    "Stay down, don''t move, you''re going to be alright," Venedette said and then urged Petunia to lay back down in her bed while Gem and Fily just smiled at her.

    "Am I?" she said and then trailed off after seeing Gem and Fily''s excited faces for seeing her human form for the first time.

    "Am I pretty?" Petunia asked which surprised Gem as she was expecting a different and more of a no-brainer question such as ''Am I back to being human?''

    "Of course! But you look like a six-year-old! How old were you when you transformed into a cat?" Fily said with a mixture of laughter that she could not hold back anymore.

    She was sure Petunia was older than her, older than half of them in fact, but with this face and body? They''re obviously going to have a hard time giving her the respect and authority that she would easily get if she were a bit taller and more mature-looking than the others.

    "Where are we? Are we still in the alps or are we on our way back to the castle?"

    "Well, we''re still in the middle of both, but we''ll soon get there," Gem answered.

    "How about Miss Nabi? And those kids who helped us?" Petunia said even though she had never seen these kids in the first place and has only ever heard their voices while she was trying so hard to ignore the noise inside her brain, "And Heize, what happened to her?"

    "Miss Nabi and her friends are now back in their village, the guards were able to find the commander who had been beaten badly and brought the kids with them to a hospital while Heize just suddenly disappeared."

    "Heize just suddenly disappeared? Why?" Petunia asked and even tried to get up by herself from the unexpected decision that her old friend did.

    "We don''t know. She was thanking us for helping her complete her mission something, and although I don''t have a good feeling about it, I just let her go since we still have that collar remains in her neck."

    "Yup, we were able to track her for a good thirty minutes until the signal just stopped here and she was nowhere to find anymore," Fily said while showing Petunia a zoomed-out map of the Alps.

    "I promised to help her, why did she suddenly disappear like that without even talking to me?" Petunia asked in regret, parting her short silver hair away from her eyes and tucking them back to her human ears.

    Oh, how she missed her cat ears and their benefits.

    Now her physical skills are back to zero and there''s nothing else that she could do but train them to be better again.

    "Maybe she didn''t really want to help you and was just forced to give you her temporary cure because as much as I don''t trust her, her words kept telling me that there''s something else making her help you other than your friendship," Gem said and immediately quieted down when she saw Petunia''s upset child-like face.

    "Sorry I just-"

    "Do you think that low of our friendship?! We were best friends and the only ones left of our city! We should be together instead of doing things on our own!" Petunia said and cried.

    "Oh god, even your mental age has shrunk," Fily said while shaking her head.

 Chapter 200 - Rest

    "Does this temporary potion really helps cure your memory sickness or it just prolongs the side effects?" Fily asked Petunia all of a sudden while she was trying to peel the skin of an orange tangerine.

    "Heize had been using the same formula for five years now, that is if my assumptions are correct that this is the same formula she''d been using. But I know she''ll be able to find a real cure soon, we might even surpass her to it," Petunia said while munching on a piece of orange.

    "Yeah, only if we have that same technology she illegally bought from the other countries," Fily said bitterly, making Petunia pause in the middle of taking a bite and swallow the orange she was chewing in a hasty manner.

    "What?! So that was the problem all along! I knew this smelled familiar, but I just couldn''t pinpoint what I was missing, other than the main ingredient from Gem, I thought everything else was complete! So this was why I couldn''t complete it! Heize had a hidden card under her sleeves the whole time! Did our parents also use a foreign machine to make the original curse potion? Is that why none of our ancestors were able to create this ''revolutionary'' potion for centuries?! I can''t believe it! We also need to get that machine, Fily! Let''s win this tournament and get that thing over here! I want to fix this curse as soon as possible!" Petunia said enthusiastically, just like a literal child even though she''s at least a century older than what she looks like at the moment.

    "Okay, okay.. Chill. Why are you calling it a curse? It''s not that bad. You can transform into a cat once the temporary chill''s run out and then you''ll get to make use of your cat benefits again and just transform back into a human whenever you need to. You shouldn''t rush your progress, you know? Take your time, that''s why we were chosen at an early stage to participate in this game. We''ll need a lot of practice and determination in order to improve. Although I''m already at my last stage, I''m still willing to help you guys achieve your final stages."

    "Why are you suddenly lecturing me? I may look like a small child now but I''m still older than you, okay? Hmph," Petunia crossed her arms and grabbed another orange before turning around and peeling it with a pout.

    "You''re not sure about that¡­" Fily muttered to herself which Petunia thought she heard her muttering something.

    "What was that?" she asked as her senses were greatly reduced in her human form, making her unable to hear what Fily said clearly, but Fily only responded with a shrug.

    "Nothing," she said and stood up to look for something else to do other than almost exposing herself to Petunia.

    "Ahhh!"

    Suddenly, Gem''s shout came rushing in the room from the balcony, making Petunia almost drop her orange and Fily die of a heart attack.

    "I hate it when you do that," Fily said and then went closer to Gem to push her while she was balancing her arms wide in the air as if she was just about to fall.

    "Heyy!" Gem said and grabbed Fily''s hand before falling down per her instincts, and in the end, both of them fell down on the floor even though it was not that hard to stand up.

    "Ouch, what happened to you?" Fily asked after landing in Gem''s body and her elbow on Gem''s stomach, "Oh, sorry," she added and then immediately stood up.

    "I almost fell from an invisible fifth floor!" Gem said and checked her body parts to see if they were still intact, "I can''t believe I''m still alive!"

    "You can''t die, remember?" Fily said and then offered a hand for Gem which she then accepted before going back to what she was doing earlier.

    "I wonder what''s going on inside your dimension, can I also go there with you sometime and watch you do your thing?" Petunia said while munching another orange she just peeled, but instead of taking a piece and eating it at once, Petunia just shoved the entire thing in her mouth and munched on it like she was chewing bubblegum.

    "It''s not my dimension, it''s called solitude, and yes maybe I can bring you there sometime. Just make sure you''ll survive the fall, okay? I''m practicing something with the heights right now."

    "Oh," Petunia said while her mouth was still full and paused to swallow the orange down her stomach before asking again, "How about Fily, don''t you want to see that place too?"

    And upon hearing that question, Fily immediately looked at Gem who had the same intuition that she had and looked at her too with that complicated look as if there was something bothering her mind about it.

    "Can I?" Fily asked, clueless about the fact that she was the first outsider that Gem brought to Solitude but was also the only one who could not remember because of the side effects.

    "Solitude is an anti-super place, that means every single one of your superpowers will be temporarily lost, and in Fily''s case, it''s her-"

    "Brain I know. God, why do you two keep treating me like a baby?! I''m not dumb to not know what Anti-super means okay? Please be more respectful!" Petunia said with a pout.

    "But you''re just too cute! I can''t believe you even look younger than me in your human form! Just as I thought that I was the youngest one here," Gem said.

    "YOU ARE! You''re the youngest here! And I''m the oldest! So show some respect!"

    "Aww, are you going to cry now?" Gem said and slapped Fily''s arms to urge her to also laugh but Fily was just like ''no thanks,'' due to her fear of spoiling something big if she doesn''t give respect to Petunia.

    "You''re too immature to be in this group, you know that?!" Petunia shouted to Gem who was only making faces to annoy her even more.

    Somehow, the room was quite energetic even after those two long days of doing something interesting and heroic in the Alps. Their initial and only agenda with that trip was just to go to the elders and ask them for help about Gem''s necklace and have a little nice trip with the team, but trouble just wouldn''t let them go wherever they were.

    "Girls, it''s time to eat," Venedette announced after opening the door and finding a bed of torn pillows and feathers all over the place, the result of Gem and Petunia pillow fighting until their last breaths, or so as they called it.

    "Girls?!" Venedette said while coming in and immediately closed the door behind her to hide the messy thing that the girls made in this room, afraid that the cleaners will see the mess and kick them out of the hospital immediately.

    "This is not our place, what are you doing?" she said and walked closer while stifling her laughter after seeing Petunia getting beaten up with pillows by Gem.

    "Venedette! Could you please get this bad child away from me! She''s too strong and full of energy! I can''t compete with her!"

    "Gem, please get off of Petunia," Venedette said while calmly wiping the tears of joy that she got from stifling her laugh.

    "I have nothing to do with this. I tried to stop them but they didn''t listen," Fily said and stepped back to show just how uninvolved she was in the whole situation. But Petunia immediately complained about her lack of involvement instead, transferring the blame more on Petunia than to Gem who was literally still on top of her, and beating her up softly with a pillow that was already in a pitiful condition.

    "You''re the one who hit me first! Why aren''t you fighting back? You can''t stay in defensive mode forever!" Gem said and continued throwing the pillow to Petunia but then, the pillow suddenly felt heavier and she was unable to throw it.

    And when she looked back, it was Venedette''s fault all along for holding the pillow and keeping her from throwing it.

    "Enough, let''s eat and get back to work," she said with a little bit more self-control, something that she was developing to herself if she wanted to be a leader to these kids until their day of the tournament has come.

    "Okay, Petunia''s such a loser. She couldn''t even stand up while I was sitting on top of her. Am I that heavy?" Gem said and stood up, finally letting Petunia breathe peacefully while still laying down on the bed and catching her breath.

    "No, Petunia''s body is just a lot weaker than yours as of the moment. She never grew her human body from being a child. Just give her more time to train and challenge her again when she''s finally at the same level as us, okay? For now, just let her off the hook and let her rest," Fily said and then helped Petunia up to lead her to the dining table even though there was free room delivery of food for the patients.

 Chapter 201 - Control Your Emotions

    "Hey," Lei greeted Petunia after bumping into her in the hallway along with Gem, Fily, Von, and Venedette.

    "Hmm," Petunia shrugged and ignored him, making Lei stop walking in disbelief.

    "Oh! Lei?" Gem said after bumping her head into his back for suddenly stopping in front of her.

    "Did she just ignore me? Are her memories still not back?" Lei asked, ignoring Gem''s complaint which made Gem pout.

    "What makes you think that''s Petunia?" Gem asked with a straight face for ignoring her earlier.

    "Huh? Who else could it be?" Lei answered while pointing out the closeness between this new child-looking girl and Fily.

    He knew there was no way a stranger would just suddenly approach them and become close to Fily, especially a child. It was Fily after all, the know-it-all girl who would bombard your mind with information if she''s half-asleep.

    "I''m so disappointed in you," Gem said and then walked faster to catch up to them which urged Lei to run up to her too.

    "What do you mean? Are you kidding me right now?" Lei said and then immediately shut his mouth after remembering the fact that he had just talked to Von about something interesting and that his mouth was not used to talking a lot yet.

    "That''s what I thought," Gem said while laughing inside after seeing Lei''s upset face.

    "What?" Lei mouthed while pushing Gem back so she would be at the back of the line in the cafeteria for playing with his feelings.

    He was a hundred percent sure that the silver-haired kid with bright green eyes that Fily was talking to was Petunia because she resembles the emerald eyes and silver fur that Petunia had when she was still a cat.

    But because both he and Von were not allowed to see Petunia''s human form yet when she transformed because of lack of clothes and confidence the next day to visit her room in the Yacht, Von and Lei never had a chance to see Petunia alive yet.

    At least that was only until today, "But for real though, she''s Petunia, right?" Lei asked Gem again which Von noticed and made him interested in the conversation as well.

    "I thought she''s older than us? Why does she look like a six-year-old?" Von asked while courteously giving Gem his place in the line so she could go get her food first before him.

    "I don''t know, that must be her age when she became a cat?" Gem said and greeted the cafeteria people who were handing out the food to them on a silver platter.

    "What is this place?" Gem asked after being amazed by the variety of food in front of them over the big long glass that stretches out from one end of the whole cafeteria to the other, containing all of the food that their Patients might need if they preferred to eat in the cafeteria.

    "It''s a cafeteria, don''t you have this in your school?" Von asked while playing cool about it.

    "No, I skipped school, remember? Maybe the closest to this place was the abandoned cafeteria in our orphanage. Since food isn''t really that bountiful there, we just eat what we were given on a daily basis. We''re lucky if we get two loaves of bread at that time, but now, I can''t believe this! First I get to experience being royalty and now they''re even giving out free food for everybody?! This is heaven!" Gem said excitedly and jumped to the next vacant station in front of her to receive the free food that she was talking about from the person on the other side of the glass dividers.

    "Who''s gonna tell her it''s not free?" Von with his hands inside his pockets, whispered to Lei while watching Gem enjoy the time of her life by filling up her tray and even carrying some loaves of bread with her mouth.

    "You, probably," Lei said and proceeded to push Von in front to keep the line going while also helping him get the tools and food that he wants from the variety of choices.

    Once the team has settled down on a table, Lei quickly noticed Venedette on another table, talking to other people, probably participants of the tournament too, about grown-up stuff.

    And while she was busy being social, the circular table where the kids were currently eating was just silent and awkward, especially with the two boys being unfamiliar with this new Petunia whose emerald eyes were lingering at them.

    "W-What''s up?" Von said with a mouth full of carrots that he loves so much with rice in a dish called Chopsuey, one of the few things that his mother could cook very well in this world.

    "Why aren''t you asking me anything?" Petunia said and also started eating after finally getting their attention.

    "Like what?" Lei asked with an unamused expression, taking this opportunity as his time now to give back what she and Gem both just did to him earlier.

    "Like, how did you turn into a human? Or is that really you? Anything like that. I haven''t heard from you guys since I woke up. Are we still friends here? I thought we were already friends or something," Petunia said without looking at any of them.

    "Huh? What are you talking about? Wasn''t our friendship was strictly for business purposes only?" Lei said which took Petunia aback.

    "W-What?" Petunia said with teary eyes and trembling lips, making everyone at the table stop eating and watch as Lei successfully made the child-like version of Petunia cry with just a simple teasing.

    "Hey! Hey!! Why are you crying?! I was just kidding! And you started it first so don''t blame this on me!" Lei said in a very defensive tone while trying to talk Petunia out of crying but it was already too late.

    The old child burst into tears, making the whole cafeteria aware of how she was upset, and Lei, as guilty as he was, immediately stood up and reached to Gem and Fily to at least help her calm Petunia down.

    "Don''t look at me like that. I''m just peacefully eating here, and besides, I don''t want to deal with that child again, so good luck," Gem said and stuffed her face again with food while Fily just shrugged at Lei.

    "I''m not a child!" Petunia said while crying out loud.

    "Yeah, yeah," Gem only said and nodded even without any care about what was happening.

    "Please?" Lei begged Fily who finally gave in to his request.

    "Petunia, calm down your emotions. You''re not a child anymore, right? You should be able to control your emotions by now. I know it''s hard, your mentality is not yet that stable, but just channel your emotions into something else first, okay? Lei was just joking with you. You never took that seriously before so why cry over it now. It''s not worth it, right?"

    "Okay, what should we talk about then?" Petunia asked while wiping her tears.

    "I''m sorry," Lei whispered to Petunia and apologized to everyone else before sitting back in his seat and waiting for the tension to calm down while Gem and Von were just literally sitting there, watching the show the entire time as if they were just viewers who could do nothing to help other than watch how things progress.

    "Well that was fast," Von remarked and then continued eating his favorite food while Gem only shrugged her shoulders in agreement to what he just said.

    "Fily?" Petunia asked with her ragged breathing, still asking about the topic that they could talk about to diversify her emotions into something else.

    "How about the flight potions then, do you still remember that?" Lei said, trying to help ease the situation down by asking the very thing that he was meaning to ask since earlier if things just went smoothly from the start.

    "The one I promised to do with you?" Petunia said and sat down, finally calming down after remembering her moments with Lei while they were talking about their business relationship about the Flight potions.

    "Yes, that one. I''m really sorry about upsetting you, I didn''t know you would cry that easily-" Lei said and paused when he saw Petunia''s eyes filling with tears again due to her sensitivity with his words so he cleared his throat and tried again but with more respect and formality this time to avoid upsetting her.

    "I mean, I''m really sorry about that. I just really wanted to talk to you about the flight potion earlier and Gem just had to ruin things up for me- I mean she did something to upset me and I thought doing the same thing to you will satisfy my emotions, but it did not. So I''m really sorry for that," Lei said and shoved a full glass of water down his throat so he could continue talking.

    "Sorry again," Lei said which made Petunia finally feel his sincerity and honesty.

    "So it was Gem''s fault all along?" Petunia said, turning her head to Gem who was just alerted after hearing her name brought up in the conversation.

    "What? I was just eating peacefully here!" she said and pouted which made Petunia roll her eyes at her.

    "Yeah right, it''s always you who starts the fight anyway and then pretend to have nothing to do with it at all," Petunia said with an annoyed face.

    But instead of getting annoyed at her too, Gem just took her words as a compliment and scooted closer to Petunia for a hug even though her hands were full of food remains.

    "You''re so cute when you''re upset," she said and then laughed. "And did you know that I love hugging your human form?" Gem added which made Petunia flustered and the anger in her heart melted immediately.

 Chapter 202 - Monica

    "You''re so mean. Where did you learn how to play with other people''s feelings? huh?" Petunia said with a big put while pushing Gem away with her skinny little arms.

    "From your friend?" Gem said and then looked up as if trying to recall something from her mind.

    "Heize?" Petunia suddenly asked after seeing Gem thinking.

    "Yup, that''s her name," Gem said and then laughed out loud before going back to her seat with a piece of sausage in her hand from Petunia''s plate.

    And when Petunia finally noticed the missing sausage from her plate, it was already too late since Gem has already taken a bite from it and even smiled at Petunia while munching on it to provoke her even more.

    "Gem," Fily said hopelessly before moving forward to block Petunia''s vision of her to prevent more silly fights from happening as the most matured person in the group.

    "Why don''t you eat first, Petunia?" Lei said and even did as far as fixing Petunia''s plates and side dishes for her which just made Petunia speechless and confused as to why he was doing that.

    Surely it was just not all about guilt. Could it be his interest in the flight potions? If so then I should initiate the conversation later about the flight potions since it''s in my agenda anyway, Petunia thought to herself before proceeding with her peaceful meal for as long as she would not pay attention to both Gem and Von. Especially Gem.

    ***

    "So, about the flight potion. I actually just need a little few more things before we can proceed with that. And since we can just get those from the storage back in Yvandir, I don''t see any problem if someone wants to start making it with me immediately," Petunia said after clearing her throat and breaking the silence.

    "Really? But shouldn''t you be resting first after all those things that happened to you?" Lei said, confusing Petunia even more about what he was trying to accomplish with his actions.

    "No, I just need to take control of my emotions, right Fily?" Petunia said and then looked at Fily for help.

    "Y-Yes, of course," Fily said after being caught off-guard for staying inside her computer brain and not paying attention to what was going on outside aside from the old-school game she was playing on her mind.

    "It''s up to you then," Lei said with a monotone voice which made Petunia think that he was not excited about it even though she only said it because she thought Lei would be excited about it.

    "Aren''t you excited about being able to fly soon just like Venedette and Von?"

    "Of course I am! I just don''t want to pressure you, that''s all," Lei said and looked away to hide his flustered face.

    "So that was the reason why you two were getting along back then," Von said without any further meaning, but the way he said it made both Petunia and Lei blush for no particular reason.

    "Oh, and speaking about clouds, we actually came back here for that other thing," Von added after finishing his meal, finally interacting with them after that very long silence from him that was probably a sign that he was already maturing little by little instead of picking fights just like what Gem was doing now.

    "Yeah, we called Monica for a favor before going to the Alps. Wait, I think she''s on her way here now!" Fily said after finishing her game and checking her Stat-hut to see an update from Monica since they were the only ones still keeping in contact with each other after that incident, especially when Petunia lost her Stat-hut and went rogue in the winter forest.

    "Wait, what do you mean by Monica? As in the same bird girl that I helped earlier this week?" Petunia asked as if she could not believe it.

    "Yeah, she said she didn''t want us to leave empty-handed after all those things that we did for them, especially to you, so we asked her to look for your Gummy cloud''s ingredients instead and bring it to us here so we can finally make your Gummy cloud again," Fily said and then paused when she realized something.

    "But you won''t be able to make use of it yet while you''re still in your human form, huh?"

    "Right¡­" Petunia said after the sudden realization, "But since this is just a temporary cure for my cat phase then that means that I could still make use of my Gummy cloud again, right? Although we still don''t know when that will happen. But I really miss my Gummy cloud! Maybe I should just make it a pillow while I''m still a human," Petunia said and giggled while her eyes were sparkling with the thought of bringing another Gummy cloud of hers back into existence.

    "You''re right. Of course, I also put that into consideration. And besides, aside from getting your Gummy cloud ingredients, you''ll also get to meet with Monica both in your human forms for the first and last time before we go back to Yvandir. Isn''t that great?" Fily said in delight.

    "It''s great, I can even feel my heart beating so loudly," Petunia said with a smile.

    "Tch, why do you look so close to her when she''s literally the person who almost got you killed?" Gem asked with a hint of jealousy.

    "I chose to do that, okay? It''s not her fault that she was transformed into an animal by my best friend so I had to take responsibility."

    "Oh, so right from the start, you already knew that it was Heize all along?" Gem asked, looking like she was about to start an argument with Petunia again but before that could even happen, Lei immediately stood up and took it upon himself to prevent another tragedy from happening as early as he could.

    "Drinks? Anyone?" He asked and then took their request in, cooling the tension and flow of the heated conversation with just a simple move.

    "Did something happen to the both of you? Why do you keep arguing lately? It''s very unlike the two of you to argue especially after seeing Gem''s drive to save you yesterday, Petunia. You should thank her," Von suddenly said, which made Petunia embarrassed.

    "S-She''s the one who started it!" Petunia reasoned out even though she knew that Von was right.

    "Sorry, I was just too unfamiliar with her human form. I just find it cute and funny to tease her. And I don''t like how she''s more excited and understanding to her old and just recently found friends when we''re the ones who have always been there for her," Gem said, keeping the last sentence to herself.

    "That''s not a good enough reason for you to bully me! You''re so mean!" Petunia said, her emotions getting the best out of her again instead of her rational thinking.

    "Petunia¡­" Fily called to her again while looking back and forth from Gem and her and seeing the underlying emotions behind Gem''s fake smile.

    "Hey guys, look who I found on the way," Lei suddenly said while holding four cups of drinks that they asked him to get for each one of them.

    Beside him was a familiar girl with long and shiny purple hair whose smile was so wide, Petunia almost couldn''t recognize her.

    "It''s really you! I was looking for a cat earlier but now, wow! I couldn''t even imagine you''d look this cute as a human!" she said and leaned in for a hug while being careful about the two cups of drinks in her hands.

    "This was me when I was six years old, I guess I''m back to being a six-year-old now?" Petunia said after letting go of the hug and offering Monica some space to sit beside her.

    "Well, you''re cute! But weren''t you supposed to be older than me? When I became human again I really didn''t realize anything had changed with my body, I guess your human form is stuck when you transform into an animal, huh?"

    "Yup," Petunia said.

    "I''m so glad you''re okay now, I thought you already gave everything up for me, I was so worried about you, did you know that?" Monica said and then wrapped Petunia around her arms again, this time without the cup of drinks in her hands but with overflowing emotions instead.

    "Thanks, but I''m not really that okay yet."

    "What do you mean?!" Monica suddenly said while looking seriously at Petunia with her teary eyes.

    "Nothing?" Petunia said, suddenly taking back what she said due to the fear of her emotions taking over again and giving Monica more things to worry about when she could have just lived peacefully without knowing anything about her problem anymore.

    "Petunia?" Monica asked but Petunia shook her head, she even looked her friends in the eye to tell them not to bring it up which they all silently agreed with.

    "Nothing, I said I''m okay now thank you for worrying. What''s that in your bag?" Petunia said and pointed at the medium-sized briefcase to distract her, which by the way worked, making Petunia sigh in relief.

    "It''s the ingredients to your Gummy cloud, want to see?" Monica said, pushing her tears aside and keeping herself cheerful to celebrate Petunia''s wellness.

    "Not here, we''re still in the cafeteria, it''ll smell," Petunia said and then giggled with Monica in front of her ever silent and awkward teammates who were just not close to Monica as she was.

    "It''s okay Gem, this will be the last time they''ll see each other anyway," Fily said when they were finally a safe distance away from Monica and Petunia.

 Chapter 203 - Time

    "So, how was your talk with Monica?" Fily asked the moment Petunia finally came back to them with a huge smile on her face.

    This time, Venedette was the one talking to Monica now, probably about her family and how she had been all this time.

    And although they were close to leaving and never seeing Monica ever again, the big smile on Petunia''s face says otherwise.

    "What happened? Why are you smiling like that?" Fily said with a teasing smile to Petunia which made her blush even more.

    "N-Nothing! We just talked about funny stuff, that''s all," Petunia said and turned Fily around so that she could hide behind her.

    Seeing this of course made Gem feel a bitter taste in her mouth, but thinking about how Petunia was attached to Monica and this could be the last time they''ll be seeing each other, Gem just chose to keep her thoughts to herself and not be selfish about the situation.

    "I''m sure I have plenty of time to play with Petunia and do more memorable things with her, unlike that raven girl," Gem whispered, convincing herself to just let it go and move on.

    After all, there''s something very important about her relationship with Petunia that Monica doesn''t have access to, especially after this moment. Time.

    "So, how''s the gummy doing?" Petunia said and then peeked behind Fily to the gummy they were all making at the Hospital''s warehouse just behind the main building.

    It was a decent warehouse where some of the medicine was made and it was the perfect place for them to make the gummy cloud without all the destruction in the main building and while also using the tools that were available there.

    Outside the warehouse was an outdoor gathering where patients get to play and hang out in the garden full of luscious flowers and greeneries which was said to be effective in curing their sickness and mental health.

    "Did Venedette just really let us stay in here for a bit more before going back home?" Lei, the one doing all the hard work for Fily and Petunia, asked Von who was just chilling with his back on the cold brick wall and his hands inside his pocket while watching him do all the work for Petunia.

    "Yeah, she did," Von answered and then looked away as if he was bored.

    "She''s so friendly, I''ve barely even talked to her this whole trip. It''s like she has friends everywhere in the whole country," Gem said, unintentionally voicing out the other thing that was upsetting her this whole trip.

    "Well, that''s Princess Venedette for you, she''s supposed to be like that. That''s what Princesses do," Fily said, which made everybody glance at Von.

    "What? I''m not a Princess," he said with furrowed eyebrows before taking in a deep breath to relax again.

    "Fair enough," Gem said with a shrug and then proceeded to help Lei with the manual tasks for Petunia''s gummy cloud.

    Since Petunia was not a cat anymore and Monica coincidentally bought them three times the amount they initially needed to make a normal-sized Gummy cloud, the majority just decided to go with a jumbo-sized Gummy cloud instead with the time and the resources they have.

    With Fily as the leader, Gem and Lei as the workers, and Petunia and Von as the bystanders, there''s nothing really stopping them from doing it now, especially since Petunia would most likely need it immediately once they arrive back to Yvandir.

    "Petunia!! Oh no, I''m going to miss you so much!" Monica said while running towards Petunia for a hug after finishing her discussion with Venedette.

    "I know me too. But why the sudden goodbye? Don''t tell me you''re going to go now?" Petunia said and pouted as if she was upset.

    "Noo, I don''t want to go yet but Venedette gave me only thirty minutes to tell my dad where I am or I''ll never be able to go outside again," Monica whined.

    "But I thought your dad was the one who sent you here to deliver this to us?" Petunia said and pointed at the still incomplete Gummy cloud that Gem and Lei were both still busy making.

    "Y-Yeah, about that¡­" Monica said and then received a big but weak punch from Petunia to her shoulders for lying to her.

    "You escaped here on your own!? Why didn''t you tell me that?!"

    "I was going to tell you but I don''t want to spoil our fun, I just really wanted to see you, even for the last time. And since you won''t be coming back here anytime soon, I don''t mind getting locked up in our house for safety purposes anyway," Monica said with a soft smile, "Let''s just make this moment last and don''t think about anything else, okay?"

    "Ugh that was disgustingly cute," Gem said and rolled her eyes before going back to what she was doing to the Gummy cloud.

    "You''re such a kid," Fily remarked and then took it upon herself to push Monica and Petunia outside the warehouse so they could have that fun that they were just talking about, "Enjoy!" she said before closing in the door before them.

    "So, I think we have until sunset to finish that so don''t rush, people," Fily said after coming back to Gem and the others while removing the imaginary dust from her hands.

    "Yeah, well I want to go back now so give me that, Gem," Von suddenly said and even grabbed the medium-sized spatula away from her so he could do the stirring instead.

    "Oh, great then," Fily said and then urged Gem to sit beside her while waiting for the boys to finish.

    ***

    "Snacks, anyone?" Venedette said while peeking inside the warehouse where she saw the four kids snoozing off while waiting for the Gummy cloud to mix on it''s own after doing the initial mixing for it.

    "Aww, my tired little babies, you should go upstairs and take a rest before we proceed back to the yacht. I''ll just have to watch this from here, right?" Venedette carefully said to Fily who was the only one conscious enough while sleeping to hear her.

    "Uhuh," Fily mumbled while scratching her neck, "Where''s Petunia?" she added before going back to sleep.

    "She''s at the lobby waiting for Monica''s dad," Venedette said and proceeded to carry the kids carefully to the bedrooms upstairs in pairs.

    "Sleep well," she said and then took the whole giant bowl of Gummy cloud to the Yacht in preparation for their departure from the north side of Clandamascarene.

    "I''m so glad we made a lot of progress on this trip, especially for you and Petunia. I just hope you''ll grow to be strong warriors for the next six years so you can survive there on your own, especially after that new rule that they were implementing which will prevent me from joining as a participant. I''m really sorry," Venedette muttered to herself after placing Gem on her bed and then left with bulging tears in her eyes, afraid of what would happen if the rumored rule was implemented before the games start.

    "Venedette isn''t allowed to participate in the games anymore?" Gem repeated in a halfly-asleep manner while trying her best to get up, but since she was very tired from all of the things that had happened in the past days, she laid back and unknowingly fell to sleep again, pushing the important thought down into the abyss of her imagination and unconsciousness instead of thinking about it more.

    ***

    "When do you think that rule will be implemented?"

    "The winners have a right to change the rules of the game so I think they''ll push for that to happen before the next game starts."

    "And by then we''ll have no choice but to obey."

    "That''s so unfair! Why would anyone agree to that?"

    "Well it''s not actually unfair, they will probably make it look like they''re just trying to balance the game to make it more appealing to the judges."

    "And we can''t do anything about it?"

    "No, we can''t," Venedette said in the middle of her politician friends in the north''s conversation, "I''m sure the queen will do her best to stop this from happening but the other countries might have to agree with this new rule."

    "Especially since the last two winners of the games had high-ranking officials in their teams," a young politician who was a stranger to them suddenly said while making his entrance down the stairs.

    "Greetings, Princess. My name is Gideon Villanueal. I was sent here to have a talk with you as the representative of the Anais guild, so if you don''t mind, can I have a little bit of your time, please? I believe our teams have a reason to support each other in the games, especially since we came from the same country, after all," he said in a very formal and respectful manner which made Venedette speechless.

    "S-Sure, lead the way," she said and excused herself from the crowd, "This is the first time our guild was approached for a partnership, you know?" she said while feeling her loud heartbeat against her chest for being nervous about something after a very long time.

 Chapter 204 - Back Again

    "They''re still asleep? Please wake them up boys," Venedette said upon landing their Levi-yacht back to its pod on Yvandir.

    "Don''t forget to turn off the lights, okay? And don''t play with the controls. Just wake them up and shut the yacht down. I just need to do something real quick, do I have your word boys?"

    "Yes, mom,"

    "Of course, Princess," Von and Lei said before seeing Venedette take off the Levi-yacht.

    "Should we really wake them up?" Von asked and then looked back, only to see Lei already on his way to the rooms on the second floor to wake the girls up.

    "Lei! Wait!" Von said and then flew hastily in front of Lei to stop him, "Let''s not wake them up just yet," Von said and even moved to catch Lei''s eyes that were ignoring him.

    "Please?" he added and then kneeled down which finally caught Lei''s attention.

    "Please what?" he said while sitting down due to his habits of not being used to Von being on the same level as him..

    "Let''s leave them to sleep for a few more minutes before leaving the yacht, please?" Von said which made Lei sigh.

    "Fine," Lei said and then turned around to sit on the couch instead while waiting for Von''s permission to wake the girls up."

    "Yes," Von whispered with a victory pose after successfully convincing Lei to do what he wanted.

    "I just need to finish that 100th level and I''ll never play this game again," Von said before sneaking down to the entertainment room to play with the VR again.

    ***

    "Huh? Why is it so dark outside?" Petunia said after waking up and noticing her windows not refracting any light from the outside.

    "Is it nighttime?" she further inquired before putting the purple collar on her neck and looking at the time from it.

    "But it''s still 3 pm?" Petunia said and then looked at the window again with concern etched on her face, a little bit worried about what was happening and why the sun was already out when it was still just 3 in the afternoon.

    Slowly, she made her way to the doors and found herself still inside the Yacht with Lei just chilling on the sofa on his own.

    "Hey," she whispered to the napping Lei.

    And when he did not respond, Petunia even moved carefully down the stairs, just in case something bad happened to them on the way or if they were attacked and invaded by another spaceship or something.

    "Lei? What''s happening?" she whispered after stepping on the couch Lei was sleeping on and still keeping cautious about her surroundings.

    "Lei?" she then whispered aggressively this time, since Lei was not responding to her soft calls.

    But instead of Lei waking up, Petunia suddenly felt a presence coming from the kitchen, and when she looked at it, she ended up having a staring contest with Von whose eyes couldn''t believe what he just saw.

    "Why are you creeping up to Lei?" Von asked awkwardly with a glass of milk in his left hand and the VR helmet in his other hand.

    "Y-You''re wrong?! I''m not creeping up to Lei!" Petunia suddenly said in a very defensive tone which immediately woke Lei up.

    "What? What happened?" Lei said and removed the dust in his eyes from that short nap before finally noticing Petunia sitting like a dog beside him, making him flinch and move away from her in an instant.

    "Noo! I was just going to ask what happened and why is it black outside?!" Petunia said in a defensive tone again, almost making her cry for not knowing how to deal with the situation as of the moment where these two boys were glaring at her as if she had just done something wrong.

    A minute later, Petunia suddenly noticed Lei shifting his glare to Von who then immediately moved away from him.

    "What?" he said and stood up as if nothing just happened.

    "This is all your fault, why did you even want to stay here on the yacht when we''re already here on the island?" Lei said with an intention to punch Von on the shoulders, but because he was holding a glass of milk on that shoulder, Lei just chose to calm down and not proceed with the punch that he was planning.

    "Wait, what did you just say? We''re already here on the island? Yvandir? Did I just hear that right?" Petunia said, further proving her reason earlier about just wanting to ask about the timeline by basically ignoring the two''s look at her with suspicion.

    "Yes, and can you just dress properly first?" Lei said and let out a deep sigh before going to the closet under the stairs for an appropriate change of clothes for Petunia who was just wearing Venedette''s lingerie due to her strong objection about wearing pajamas last night.

    "Oh, so that was why," Petunia said when she finally realized why Von and Lei were looking very uncomfortable near her earlier.

    It was because of the very short and very thin black dress spaghetti-strapped that she was wearing through her whole sleep earlier.

    "Where''s Venedette?" Petunia asked when Von was already preparing to leave which made him stop on his tracks for a moment.

    And without even looking at her, he answered, "She had something very important to do so she left us here to wait for the three of you to wake up so we can finally go back to the castle.

    "Oh, so we can go back to the castle now?" Petunia asked and was surprised when Lei just threw something big and heavy at her.

    "Hey! What''s this-" Petunia asked and then the moment her hands sank inside the big thing, she immediately recognized what it was and embraced it dearly.

    "My giant Gummy cloud!" she said with overflowing emotions, not even wanting to put the drooping cloud away from her face just so she could hide how touched she was for receiving something very beautiful from her friends just right after that trip.

    But still, because it was the result of her friend''s hard work, Petunia gathered all her power so she could put her unstable emotions aside for the meantime and said, "Thank you very much," to them before finally sobbing alone and quietly inside that big balloon of happiness for her.

    "Hhuh," Lei only said and shrugged before proceeding to go upstairs after his little nap was disturbed so he could wake the others up already and go back to the palace where they could get enough rest for the day.

    Von, on the other hand, sneaked his way inside the entertainment room immediately while Petunia was still sobbing on her own, "I can''t leave this yacht without finishing this level," he said before proceeding to gulp all of the milk in his glass in one drink and put the VR gear on his head so he could play again.

    "Petunia!!! Did you like it?!" Fily excitedly said while going down the stairs, "What is she doing?" she then added after seeing Petunia unmoving inside the giant Gummy cloud that they created for her.

    "Petunia?" Gem said and moved closer to Petunia with a want to knock on her head like a door if she did not answer.

    And after a few minutes of hearing nothing but Petunia''s sobs, Gem finally lost her patience and knocked Petunia''s head softly three times, forcing Petunia to remove the giant blanket around her head and glare at Gem like she just did something deserving of death.

    "Why could you do that?!"

    "Oh, I thought you were already dead in there," Gem said with a bit of sincerity in her words which Petunia did not believe.

    "Hmph!" Petunia said and pouted with cross arms before receiving a pat on the head from Gem.

    "But anyway, what are we still doing in the yacht if we are all already awake anyway?"

    "Gem''s right, I want to go back and see my pet now! I''m not a human person so it''s a little bit uncomfortable for me to call him my pet anymore but I still want to go check on him now!"

    "Then why don''t you use this to go back to the castle already?" Gem suggested with her arms around Petunia''s little shoulders and also while pointing at her giant gummy cloud.

    "Hmm, maybe I should do that?" Petunia asked and looked at Fily and Gem for confirmation.

    "Or, we could''ve just flown there already if we had a flight, you know?" Lei said, obviously very excited about the flight potion when Petunia already made it clear that they will do it soon, making Petunia roll her eyes at Lei for being impatient.

    "We''re going to do that soon, okay? Let''s just take a rest, for now, I think we all deserve to take a break from this exhausting trip, right?" Petunia said and hugged her gummy cloud to try and see if she could control it without having the same level of skills that she had back when she was still a cat.

    "Okay, I think we''ll have to walk," Petunia said.

    "Or run, do you want to race with me back to the castle, Lei?" Gem said energetically, starting a challenge that she thought was going to be easy by the amount of energy and energy slimes she had from that whole trip.

    "Sure," Lei said, giving in to her challenge since it could be his only and final chance to prove his speed without the benefits from the flight potion yet.

 Chapter 205 - Glass Steps

    "Princess, the young masters are back," Sir Fred announced to Venedette, who was busy setting up the communication''s room for the collaboration that she and Gideon talked about earlier that day.

    "Okay, tell them to go here after resting for a bit, we''ll start in thirty minutes," Venedette said without looking at Sir Fred due to her attention being focused only on what she was doing as of the moment.

    "Affirmative," Sir Fred said respectfully and left the newly opened and designed digital meeting room for long distance communications.

    ***

    "What? That was it? But I thought we were supposed to be on the other side of the island?" Gem complained the moment she opened the door from the Yacht''s parking lot that immediately led them to the basement''s hallway under the castle.

    "Maybe Venedette did something to move the parking here?" Fily said while checking the map if they were indeed in the right place after all.

    "But has this hallway always been this long?" Gem asked while making traffic on the door for refusing to go out and only peeking to the very long and dark hallway full of doors.

    She could still remember how the hallway looked since the first time they went there to create Petunia''s gummy cloud, but only the length of the hallway was different and weird looking this time.

    It was as if the hallway was a bubblegum that was stretched by a giant, except that wouldn''t be possible because this was a fixed place under the palace and no other people could access it.

    "You haven''t been here before, have you?" Von said while flying over to overtake Gem''s traffic through the door, "This is a different hallway from the one you saw with the stairs. I know because Fily gave us a tour here," he added and went back to ask Petunia for her torch wand.

    "I lost it along with my old Gummy cloud," Petunia said, making Von step back and wait for someone else to start the trip instead.

    "You two should go first," Von said and pushed Petunia and Gem forward slightly.

    "Okay, this shouldn''t be a big deal, right? It''s just an empty hallway after all. We''ve done this before, on those crone''s tunnels¡­" Gem said, convincing herself that everything''s alright and she could do it.

    "Yeah, uhh, guys? This is actually the first floor of Yvandir and we haven''t been here yet. So I''m afraid we have to be careful in order to not fall down the abyss."

    "What abyss?" Gem asked after hearing Fily''s concerning remark.

    "The ground? Underneath this floor is the void to the ground already. Look, if you stay still and feel your feet against the floor, you could actually feel the vibration and pressure coming from the air beneath this floor. We don''t need to worry a lot since this floor is still thick enough to withstand our weight, but we still have to be careful and not do anything stupid so we won''t fall down."

    "Why are you telling us to not worry when we''re literally just standing on a piece of glass?" Petunia suddenly said which made the other kids panic as well.

    "Glass? What do you mean glass? Please don''t scare us like that, Petunia," Gem said while keeping more cautious with her every step.

    "Fily? Tell them the truth!" Petunia said and then tiptoed to the door and held it tightly as if her life depended on it.

    "Fine, this is an experimental dark glass floor and we can actually type in a code to make the tint invisible," Fily said and attempted to type the code in but paused when Gem held her wrist.

    "L-Later," Gem said and then walked even more cautiously to the nearest thing she could grab on to.

    "Don''t be scared, I didn''t tell you guys on purpose because I know you''ll be scared but there''s really nothing to worry about. Venedette even walked out here on her own without falling-"

    "She can fly so I don''t think that really matters, yeah?" Lei said and jumped to grab onto something on the roof instead.

    "Cowards," Fily said and then entered the code while touching the cold glass with her hands.

    This made Von jump and hover in the air as they all covered their eyes from the sudden shower of light from that transparent glass.

    "So it''s really still daytime!" Petunia said while covering her eyes with her other hand and still clinging onto the pipe beside her even though the floor was still there, only invisible.

    "Isn''t this great?!" Fily asked and stood up confidently while extending her arms as if she was in heaven.

    And seeing the cloud and blue sky beneath their feet, Gem could not deny that the view was indeed great, only a little bit scary due to the thought of stepping onto nothing.

    But it was not like the first time they did something like this. When Halma held her departure party, there was also a pool with an invisible floor on the edge of the island, and although the water made it less intimidating to step onto, this was still not that different of an experience compared to that infinity pool.

    "Come on guys, don''t be scared. This is just an example of how it would feel up in the sky. I thought you wanted to be able to fly? How can you guys fly if you''re that scared of heights?" Fily said while giggling to her members for being intimidated with the sudden loss of concrete ground to step onto.

    "I''m not scared of heights, I just don''t want to die yet!" Gem said.

    "Me neither!" Petunia added which Lei agreed on too.

    "Well, at least we don''t need lights anymore. Did you make the whole first floor invisible or just this hallway?" Von asked while floating outside of the open door and into the hallways that looked as if it was flying on the sky with no floor.

    "Just this hallway," Fily said and then walked next to him, also taking the opportunity to peek inside the closed door of the supposedly restricted first floor due to cautions of the glass steps being unstable and not a hundred percent safe yet.

    "Just don''t put too much weight on your bodies, so the glass won''t break, alright?" Fily reminded them again before proceeding to walk further down the hallway which pressured Lei to follow after them while swinging on the pipes of the roof and Petunia using her Gummy cloud as a carpet to walk on to.

    "Wait for me!" Gem said and took a deep breath before running as fast as she could to the other side of the hallway where she spotted something else to hold onto with her super sight.

    "Careful!" Fily reminded her the moment she passed through them which made Gem even more nervous and desperate to reach the end of the hallway already.

    But in an unexpected turn of events, instead of going to the door at the end of the hallway where Gem was already at, Fily and Von opened another door to the right and went inside of it, telling Gem that it was the right way back to the castle instead of the door where she was at which made Gem fear for her life again while stepping carefully away from the doorknob that she was holding.

    "Petunia, wait for me!" she said and took a deep breath before running to Petunia and landing on her Gummy cloud just in front of the open door where Fily and the others were already at, waiting for them to arrive.

    "Safe!" Gem said, while hugging Petunia.

    But just as she thought they were already safe, the glass floor beneath them suddenly made a cracking sound, the crack slowly creeping to the wall beside the door making Petunia and Gem scream for their lives.

    "HELP!!" Gem said and held on to the door, even hugging it with her legs while Petunia just wrapped herself inside her Gummy cloud and wished for it to fly and carry her when the glass finally breaks.

    But instead of it breaking like what the two of them were expecting, Fily and the two boys just suddenly laughed out loud so hard, almost as if they were going to die from that intense laughter that the two other girls could not comprehend why.

    "What''s so funny?" Gem asked and looked down as she noticed the cracks from the invisible floor disappearing slowly like it was just a digital crack.

    "No, you did this?!" she said in disbelief.

    "I''m so sorry," Fily said while trying to suppress her laughter so hard she even had tears of joy coming out of her eyes.

    "You''re so dead!" Gem said and then dropped on the invisible floor confidently, stomping closer to the three who already knew the best way to avoid her was to run for their lives.

    "Run faster Fily!" Von said while hovering above Fily, "She''s coming to get you!"

    "Why don''t you just stop teasing me and start helping me now, huh? Weren''t you the one who thought that was a good idea?!" Fily growled and then glanced behind her only to laugh at Gem''s angry face again.

    "Fine," Von said and then reached out his arms so he could carry her just like what Petunia was doing to Gem but only discreetly by tying her Gummy cloud to her.

 Chapter 206 - First Meeting

    "Well, that was fun!" Fily said when Von let her down in the entrance of the castle''s stairs and then suddenly went silent when Gem unintentionally bumped into her and almost fell down if it wasn''t for her instinctive super puff.

    "Whoa! That was close," Gem said upon recovering her balance by clinging on to Fily.

    But not even a moment later, Petunia came shouting at them to "Watch out!" as her speed was not decreasing even after Gem had already stopped running.

    "Whoa, calm down!" Von said as his hawk''s eye caught up to what was going to happen and immediately flew to pull Petunia''s gummy cloud higher so that she wouldn''t hit the two girls on the face.

    "Ahhhh!" Petunia screamed and then covered her face with her Gummy cloud-made carpet she was riding on to freeride behind Gem''s anger speeding.

    "Watch out!" Fily said and shielded Gem with her body, preparing to use her super puff if it was necessary, but when she saw Von zooming back to their location, she knew she wouldn''t need it anymore and just hugged Gem until they were safe.

    "Are you guys okay?" Lei came rushing to them after seeing what happened and worried even more when he saw Von carrying the Gummy cloud with something small inside of it.

    "What happened?" he asked, shifting his focus from Gem and Fily to the Gummy cloud carpet that Von was carrying like a sack of coconuts which also caught the two girl''s attention..

    "Hey! Put me down! Did I shrink? Why do I feel so small?" Petunia''s voice said, sounding thinner than her normal human voice which was the most familiar to the rest of them instead of her normal human voice.

    "Petunia?" Fily asked and stepped forward as Von was laying the carpet-made Gummy cloud to the ground carefully, exposing a furry white cat inside of it, curled like a soft ball of fluff coming out of her egg for the first time.

    "Petunia! You''re back!" Gem said and ran to her excitedly.

    "I''m back? Did I go somewhere? Was I gone?" Petunia asked with her big cat eyes that everyone missed while Gem was hugging her little furry body and carrying her up.

    "I don''t know if I should be happy about this but I missed your cat version more, Petunia," Von said and flew three steps away from them while Fily and Lei were just speechless.

    "Is this a good thing for us?" Lei muttered to Fily while still watching Gem play with the cat version of Petunia like she had not seen her for over a decade already.

    "Technically yes, but also no," Fily said, a little bit conflicted about the results of the potion that Heize made for Petunia before disappearing.

    "What do you mean?" Lei said, finally looking at Fily and paying attention to what she was going to say.

    "Well, this means that the effect of the potion from Heize would only last for one to two days, but on the other hand, at least Petunia would still be able to use the perks that she has collected with her feline body for so long instead of starting again from zero."

    "So are you saying Petunia''s powers are back and she''s now back to normal?"

    "Yes, but she''s still not safe. We need to have that foreign machine that Heize was using as soon as possible so we can finally save Petunia for real. Things would be really hard for us if Petunia''s formula runs out even before the tournament."

    "But the tournament''s still far, what do we plan on doing now?" Lei said worriedly and looked back at Gem and Von who were tossing Petunia back and forth to each other.

    "We need to train her human form and do something to make her shapeshift more predictable or even controllable," Fily said even though she knew Lei would not understand everything that she was saying before moving closer to the group and starting to play with them as if nothing just happened.

    "So nothing? We can''t do anything about it now?" Lei said before going inside the castle instead of playing with them.

    "I heard what you two were talking about," Gem whispered to Fily while still tossing Petunia back and forth from Von, "And don''t worry, I made sure to distract her so she wouldn''t be worried about it," Gem added and laughed while hearing Petunia''s high pitched screams.

    "ENOUGH!!" Petunia shouted and was immediately surrounded with her giant gummy cloud in a defensive form, suddenly gaining her gummy manipulation powers back as if it was a memory that was just suddenly recalled.

    "Oh, peace!" Gem said with a cute little peace sign and quickly hid behind Fily who was not involved in their naughty little shenanigans at all.

    "I''ll let this go since you helped me get out of that basement, but try to play with me again and you''ll see who exactly it is you''re dealing with!" Petunia said firmly and pivoted her gummy around to take her back inside the palace slowly while it was fixing herself which made Gem relieved while Von was just avoiding their gazes and flying away as if he was not involved in any of that at all.

    [Venedette: Please come to the first room to the right of the second floor, Sir Fred could not find any of you so let''s not make things harder for him and just come here on your own, okay?] Venedette suddenly sent them a message calling for their presence in a room that they had never visited before.

    "First room to the right of the second floor¡­ the communication room?" Fily said and noticed Gem looking at her as if she wanted to ask her something.

    "What is it?" Fily said and fixed her expression to look less haggard and more like the old Fily who was always smiling despite the situation around them.

    "Did Venedette just really call us for a meeting again? After all those days of not talking to us very well?" Gem asked with puppy eyes.

    "Of course, I''m guessing there was something important that happened while we were sleeping ahead of her and she''s going to share it with us now."

    "Like what?" Gem said while skipping around and around Fily to not get ahead of her and match her walking speed.

    "Like¡­" Fily trailed off and only showered Gem with her signature smile before running ahead to the second floor.

    But of course, because her speed was far less inferior than Gem''s she was able to come to the meeting room last where Lei was already at the farthest corner opposite Petunia while Von was just sitting patiently on one of the sculptures at the ceiling.

    "Wow, I have never seen a room so digital before," Gem said while marveling the shiny black floor and walls up to the ceiling, probably a screen but since there was nothing showing on it yet, Gem was only preparing herself for the digital shift later, especially when Venedette clicked a button on the remote that she was holding, automatically making the ceiling open and drop a whole 360 black screen that immediately turned into an open screen of a meeting platform the second it stopped moving.

    "Are we all ready?" Venedette asked without even context which made Gem and the others very much curious.

    "Oh, I forgot to tell you, we''re going to meet with three other squads in five minutes now and I want you to stay true to yourselves. We don''t want to show them something fake. We need to be real and credible enough to be their teammates."

    "We''re going to have new teammates?" Gem said while being the only one to take a proper seat in the room where Venedette was still walking around and looking very nervous.

    "No, we were offered a temporary partnership for the early stages of the game," Venedette said, which only made Gem even more confused.

    "That''s allowed?"

    "Yes, it''s just not popular since backstabbing is very common in this industry," Fily said and then finally sat beside Gem as the second member to finally sit in the proper chair in front of the circular table around the digital globe screen in the middle of the black digital room.

    "Please go down from there, Von," Venedette said to Von who was sitting on one of the tall golem statues beside the entrance door.

    "Tch," Von said and then jumped down to sit beside Gem.

    "You too please," Venedette added, pointing to Lei and Petunia who was on the opposite corners of the room.

    One hiding in the dark and one looking like a lost ball of shining white fluff in the dark.

    "Who are these groups we''re having a meeting with?" Fily asked, making all eyes look at Venedette who was still obviously still nervous about their first meeting.

    "The group of Anais, Pearl of the east, and KumaReina''s team," Venedette said before making a swiping motion with her finger and filling the whole room with different colors and light.

 Chapter 207 - No Choice

    "The group of Anais?" Gem repeated and looked at Fily who was also wondering who these people were.

    "KumaReina and the Pearl of the east¡­" she said while trying to recall with her memories where she heard these words from.

    "Ah, I got it!" she said and stood up, "Anais is the daughter of the well-known mechanic Erthretcha, right? The one who got sold off by his partner for exposing their transactions with the other countries?"

    "You''re right," Venedette said.

    "And KumaReina! The power duo of the jungle!" Fily said, which caught Petunia''s attention.

    "That Kuma and Reina?" she asked as if she was familiar with them.

    "Yup! Those two are definitely two of the most prepared superhumans in this country to go outside and face the harsh world and the monsters in it. I wonder what made them want to offer us a partnership?" Fily asked and then stood up to calm her excited self down.

    But not even a second later, Gem immediately held her wrist and looked at her with puppy eyes, "How about the Pearl of the east? Who are they and what do they want from us?"

    "Pearl of the east. The bandits who likes to call themselves pirates even though there''s not enough water in Clandamascarene for them to do island hopping or even pirating. They''re just basically a group of dorks who likes to steal from rich people and call it justice."

    "They''re thieves?" Gem asked and quickly reminisced of her younger days where she would steal food and tools from strangers just to survive in the wilderness of the outside world.

    "Yes, but as I said, they don''t like being called thieves. You should refer to them as pirates so they wouldn''t set their eyes on you. We don''t want those dorks stealing this necklace from you now, do we?" Fily said and flashed a very sweet smile before swirling around and returning to her seat.

    "Does anybody still have a question you might want to ask now? If not then I''ll join the meeting immediately," Venedette said and used her stat-hut to connect with these other guilds from the far corners of this country.

    "Shut up!" A loud growl was heard the moment Venedette entered the call from a woman wearing a leopard one-piece swimsuit with two thick animal furs wrapped around her shoulders and the other one serving as a little skirt with an open front just above her swimsuit.

    She was obviously an adult but her yellow hair made her look much younger than what her age truly was.

    "Oh no, the lioness is angry," a teasing kid''s voice said coming from the Pearl of the east''s team screen which made Reina even angrier.

    "I said shut up you imbecile babies!" Reina said, preparing herself to smash the keyboard if the other team still wouldn''t mute their microphones but was immediately prevented by a brown bear''s cute little pinch of Reina''s forehand to take it away from the keyboard.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll just mute us for you," another little voice came from the Pearl of the east''s screen even though they could not see anyone there.

    "Can you please stop playing with the camera settings, we''re having a formal meeting here, alright? Give us some respect, children," the same soft and melodic voice sounded from the pearl of the east''s camera which was now finally being focused on the person speaking.

    "A dwarf," Von whispered and looked at Fily who was the most nonchalant about this revelation.

    "Is this really a good thing for us?" Von said, whispering to Fily without being careful if Venedette and the others could hear him or not.

    "Just wait for the third one, you''d be surprised," Fily said, which Gem also heard, making her pay more attention to the only other participant in the meeting with a blank screen.

    "Hello, I''m so sorry for the delay, we got caught up with some small task," a female with a slim face and circular features such as her monolid eyes and dark fashion, including her shiny long black hair and leather crop top jacket said, totally looking like a badass in between KumaReina''s jungle background and the Pearl of the east''s makeshift beach.

    "No worries, we also just got here a minute ago," Venedette said, stepping forward to the meeting circle and showing off her royal charms with her change of fashion for today.

    "Didn''t she just told us to be ourselves in front of these people? Then why is she wearing a more presentable and expensive version of her normal clothes? Is that really necessary?" Gem whispered to Fily who immediately told her to shush.

    "Of course Venedette had to leave a good impression on these people. They might not be the highest class of participants we can team up with but they''re the only ones we got. OUt of the fifty groups that Venedette sent an invitation to this meeting last night, these three were the only ones who responded, according to the data I just received as of the moment," Fily said and shifted her position into a more comfortable one since the screens were above them.

    "Should we start?" the gangster-looking lady said and pressed a button that immediately made the whole room of screens around Leviathan shine with different live footage of individuals from the other group coming from their own individual stat-huts, including Leviathan which Gem only noticed as she turned around and saw her surprised expression staring right back at her.

    "I would like to introduce my team first since I initiated this gathering in the first place, my name is Anais Erthretcha, team leader of the group Anais. These are my members, Gideon, Bolt, Onikuwa, and Starettcha, masters of weapons in both ranged and melee at some point. My members and I have fulfilled each necessary role in the team except for one, we don''t have a healer," the girl named Anais said.

    "Healer? Is she talking about me?" Gem asked Fily who just nodded at her silently.

    "And also, doesn''t she look too young to be a leader?" Gem whispered to Fily again which made Fily look at her before answering her question.

    "One of us is also going to be a leader soon at a young age, Venedette is just acting as our leader now because most of us here are still inexperienced, but once you guys learned about all the basics in teamwork, we''re going to have to vote for Venedette''s replacement and have our own leader soon. And besides, that team has been training for this tournament for the last two years, they probably have very good teamwork by now," Fily said, unintentionally spewing all the unorganized thoughts she had in mind that were causing her to ignore Gem''s questions earlier.

    "I see," Gem only said and paid attention to the chaos that was now happening among the other three teams in the video call.

    "Why would they need a team full of weapon masters as a partner when they have their own weapons master and even a magician in their team already? Don''t you think you need a more sturdy and tougher company when facing demons in the outside world?" Reina said to Anais and then shifted her eyes Venedette the last sentence which made Venedette the center of attention at the moment.

    "Uhh," Venedette stuttered and then composed herself before being interrupted by the leader of the pearl of the east''s team leader.

    "Excuse me, we haven''t had the moment to introduce ourselves yet, my name is Soda and I''m the leader of our group which you have already heard the name of-"

    "Of course they have, aren''t we famous?" another high-pitched voice of a boy said while seemingly sliding on a playground.

    "Sorry about that," Soda said and then continued on with her introduction, "We may not look like the most organized team in the eyes of a stranger, but believe me, once we have a work to do, we''re really determined to finish it till the end. Just like our mission now, if you haven''t heard already, Pearl of the east has made this city one of the largest and happiest cities in the whole country thanks to our hard work, making rich people voluntarily donate to the poor instead of having us steal their goods and donate it to the poor ourselves. We made this city balanced thanks to our determination and we''re not afraid to try our luck in the outside world too."

    "Yeah, right. Balance," Fily laughed as if she could not agree with the things that Soda just said.

    "Why are you laughing? Is something wrong?" Gem asked, being the innocent and clueless little girl that she is about politics.

    "No, don''t mind me, I''m just thinking about the old times and how some things never really change even after all those seasons."

    "Like what?"

    "Like¡­ how people glorify themselves so badly in front of others," Fily said and then smiled brightly.

    "You know what? This is not actually something we need to concern ourselves with yet. We should just focus on developing our skills first instead of listening to these groups fight each other for a spot that was open to all of them anyway, teaming up with a lot of groups is actually advantageous in the first stages of the game and because no other groups offered their hands to us, we have no other choice but to collaborate with these three whether we like it or not," Fily said, whispering the last sentence to Gem with a chuckle that also made Gem laugh even though she had no idea what was going to happen next.

 Chapter 208 - Crystalite

    "Well that was quick," Von said the moment Venedette asked them to leave the room so she could talk to the three leaders by herself.

    "I still don''t understand, why do we need to team up with them? I thought this was a competition¡­" Gem said while clinging onto Fily.

    "Well, you''re obviously new here so we don''t expect you to understand. But I suggest watching the previous game''s records, particularly the gameplays, you''ll get a very good reason why we need to collaborate with other teams," Von said before going on his own way.

    "Do you know where I can find those records?" Gem asked Fily, who was looking at Petunia walk away from them.

    "Huh? Oh, sure. You can find it on the internet," Fily said and then removed Gem''s cling to her arms, "I''ll just deal with something real quick. Good luck with your research!" she added and ran off to the direction where Petunia went, leaving Gem to fend for herself.

    "Okay then," Gem said and pouted while parting ways with the communication room''s door.

    She did not even notice Lei leaving the room discreetly while in the middle of the meeting.

    "Did something happen?" she asked herself while thinking about how Lei and Petunia were acting towards each other and Fily''s unusually silent demeanor today.

    ***

    "Dekadalaw tournament," Gem said and pressed enter in her search bar which led her into a sea of articles about the winners of the latest tournament.

    "Yumeki, Behemoth, Yumeki, Behemoth¡­ Is she the only member of this team? Why is her name the only one visible in these articles?" Gem muttered to herself and sighed before typing something else to the search bar.

    "Dekadalaw tournament gameplays," she said and then pressed enter.

    This time, instead of the articles praising Yumeki and her Team Behemoth of the Heixilian Empire, Gem was bombarded with footage of Behemoth fighting monsters alongside other teams.

    "In the article, it says they only have five members so this must be the other teams. But why are they helping them? I don''t understand. Isn''t this supposed to be a competition?" Gem muttered to herself before clicking the first footage that appeared on her screen.

    "All while Behemoth was leading the game with 9,665 points, the teams Ysak and Rubidium who were in an obvious deal with them seem to have been lagging behind with 5,000 points each respectively. Is this going to be the end of their teamwork or will the two teams continue to let Behemoth get the last hit for every kill they decided to go for?" the announcer said while showing footage of the three teams ganging up against a very big dragon inside an enclosed space with lava as their only source of light coming from the ground.

    Not long after, the video''s perspective changed from being focused on a very wide-angle to just two individuals seemingly pushing each other to the edge of the dragon''s head which they were both trying so hard to stay balanced on.

    "And it looks like this partnership has gone for the worse! Look at those two fighting over who will get to blow the last hit!"

    "It seems like your prediction was correct, brother! Teams Ysak and Rubidiums are both walking on the sharp edge of the knife and one of them must secure the kill in order to move on to the next level."

    "And Team Behemoth was just letting them fight over that last kill-"

    "But wait! Team Behemoth''s now on the move! Are they coming to mediate between the two groups or are they going to steal the last kill from them?"

    "I don''t think Behemoth has enough patience to watch these two groups fight over who will get the last kill anymore. Especially with the time points on the line."

    "Right! Behemoth is known for being time-efficient and if their partners don''t do their best to catch up to them, they''ll take the last kill for sure even if this means elimination for their last remaining partners!"

    "Behemoth had other partners besides these two? But where are they now? Were they eliminated? What round is this anyway?" Gem said and checked the video''s description for more information.

    "Round 5, Behemoth letting go of their chains." Gem read the title.

    "Letting go of their chains? Chains as in, their partners?" she pondered deeply while shifting her position into a more comfortable one in her bed.

    "I should watch the whole video first," Gem said to herself and pressed the play button, continuing on with the footage of Yumeki suddenly popping behind those two people fighting on the head of the dragon and cutting them off without mercy using her chain whip.

    "What!? That''s allowed!?" Gem shouted, her emotions overflowing with anger and fear after seeing Yumeki''s emotionless face covered in blood from those two people that she just killed before kneeling down and wrapping her silver chain against the dragon''s neck with dark scales.

    "She''s such a traitor! What''s the use of a partnership if she''s going to be the one who ends up killing them anyway?!" Gem growled and grabbed her hair from the frustration before the clip finally ends up with Yumeki dismantling the dragon''s head from its body with a congratulatory text of 10,665 points in front of her.

    And instead of watching another clip, Gem just threw her glass tablet to her pillows and buried her face in one of them before shouting.

    "Aaaaaargh! I don''t understand this game at all!! What''s the point of a partnership if they''ll get betrayed in the end anyway?! And why is no one mentioning this among the articles that praised Behemoth for winning the tournament?!" Gem said and continued on letting out her anger to the soft bed and pillows beside her.

    "This won''t do, please bring me to Solitude, Mr. Gemini," Gem said and closed her eyes.

    [Roger that, master.]

    ***

    "Should I tell Venedette I don''t want to team up with those unfriendly-looking groups? But they''re teaming up with us because they need me. What if I can''t give them what they want? Does that mean we''ll get betrayed by them too? Or should we just go ahead and betray them first? Prevention is better than cure anyways¡­" Gem muttered to herself while walking around Solitude on her own.

    [Should I release the calming mist, master?] Mr. Gemini said which Gem immediately shook her head onto.

    "No, I got this," Gem said and bit her fingernails while thinking deeply about that team collaboration pros and cons again.

    "I should stop thinking about this. Didn''t Fily just tell me to don''t mind it and just focus on my own growth?" she said after recalling what Fily just said.

    "That''s right. I should focus on making myself strong enough to protect my team if those groups decide to betray us first. That way we won''t end up like those two groups who got killed by their own partners in the end. This is a tournament after all and there''s only one spot for a winner," Gem said and nodded to convince herself more about the conclusion she just arrived into.

    "Speaking of my own growth,  weren''t I supposed to be studying the next phases of my Astral training right now?" Gem said and fixed her posture.

    "Please show me the next skill I''ll be learning with the Astral training system, Mr. Gemini."

    [Roger that, master,] Mr. Gemini said and immediately turned on the Astral recording to its system.

    [Astral Training Lesson 2: Crystalite]

    "There we go!" Gem said and raised the stat-hut board in front of her so she could read the description of this new skill along with her updated status.

    [Name: Crystal Gem Lorestifa [Title: None

    [Race: Superhuman  [Blood: Unknown

    [Class: Student  [Rank: None

    [Party: Leviathan

    [Role: Support

    [Level: None

    [Super Attributes:]

    [Sense: 18/30 [Hearing: 8 [Vision: 6  [Smell: 4

    [Agility: 12/20 [Strength: 5 [Speed: 5 [Resistance: 2

    [Stamina: 6/20 [Discipline: 4/10 [Mana: 2/10

    [Fighter Skillset: None]

    [Astral Skillset: Heal Lvl.1, Liquity Lvl.0, Solitude Lvl.1, Crystalite Lvl.0]

    [Crystalite Lvl.0 - Allows users to change the matter of Energy slime induced items from liquid to solid and vice versa.]

    "I can change the matter of this blob from liquid to solid?!" Gem said while holding a ball of water-like Energy slimes in her hand.

    "How?" Gem said and was immediately bombarded with screeching sounds that made her cover her ears with the energy slimes by instinct.

    "Wait!! Please make it stop Mr. Gemini!" Gem shouted which Mr. Gemini immediately followed.

    "Thank you," Gem said and pulled the energy slimes-made earplugs out of her ears.

    "Maybe I should just do this in another day," Gem said and asked Mr. Gemini to bring her out of Solitude for now.

    [Roger that, Master,] Mr. Gemini said and brought her out of Solitude immediately.

    "There you are," Fily said which surprised Gem the moment she just came back to the real world.

    "Fily! What are you doing here?" Gem said and smiled nervously at Fily as if she just did something wrong.

    "Petunia''s pet is missing, please help us find him," Fily said in a hurry which made Gem give up her sleep even though that was the main reason why she left Solitude in the first place.

    "Okay."

 Chapter 209 - Cold Hearted

    "Where do you think he went?" Gem asked Petunia who was obviously nervous based on her the way she was avoiding eye contact with them.

    "Petunia prohibited anyone from coming in and out of her room except for when giving the guy his food and the maid that was assigned with it said she hasn''t heard of that guy ever since yesterday," Fily said, quickly briefing them on the data that she has gathered regarding this case.

    "So we''re assuming that guy just disappeared yesterday, but when exactly?" Lei asked, "Was it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?"

    "It was dinner," Fily said and confirmed her facts by going over the interview she just had with the maids earlier.

    "And how about outside the window, didn''t they see anything or anyone unusual there?"

    "Or even the protective bubble! I''m sure he must have gone through that in order to escape," Gem said, cutting off Lei.

    "Except unusual nothing was detected yesterday and even today, so that just means two things, either he escaped through a hidden spot, just like what those sneaky Crones did-"

    "Or he''s still in the palace!" Petunia finally talked, following what Von was saying.

    "I''m sure he''s still here, I can feel his presence, or at least I can sense something familiar about him lurking around the palace."

    "Why didn''t you say so earlier?" Lei asked.

    "I was overthinking! I thought people from outside the borders have sneaked in the island again and if something bad happens it''ll be my fault!"

    "Well then, tell us where that pet of yours is now so we can catch him and prevent something bad from happening immediately," Lei said as if he was getting impatient about the situation already.

    "Maybe he''s using the same technology that the crones used in order to become invisible?" Gem suggested which they immediately accepted.

    "If that''s the case then he couldn''t have gone far yet," Von said and then wandered his eyes around the entirety of the castle from the highest tower where they decided to meet up for this particular problem.

    "We should also go check that tunnel that the Crones used to escape in case he also decided on using that route," Fily added.

    "Can I come with you? I haven''t been to that place yet," Gem said and did a puppy eye on Fily who was planning on taking her there anyway.

    "Sure."

    "Alright!" Gem celebrated.

    "I''ll do an aerial check and report to you immediately if I notice something different," Von said before jumping to the roof of the tower so he could start with his very useful inspection immediately which made Lei and Petunia the only ones left to partner up with each other.

    "How about me? Where should I go?" Petunia asked, pretending she could not see Lei beside her even though he was not suppressing his presence to them anyway.

    "You said you can sense your own pet using your supersenses, right? Follow your senses and look for him in this castle, since it was your idea to take him in as a pet in the first place, this should be more than enough to make up for it," Fily said.

    "Okay," Petunia said and was about to fly out of the tower on her own but Fily immediately stopped her.

    "Oh, and bring Lei with you, he should be enough to help you catch that outsider if ever you encountered him first," she added and winked at Lei before proceeding to go down from the tower while holding hands with Gem.

    "Hey you," Petunia said, pertaining to Lei who was even surprised about the fact that Petunia was now talking to her.

    "Me?" he asked.

    "Yes you, I''ll be going this way. Make sure to catch up or I''ll leave you behind," Petunia said and fell down the tower while riding on her now normal-sized Gummy cloud, expecting Lei to fall behind her and lose her due to the fact that he can''t fly.

    But contrary to her beliefs, Lei actually went the same way as her, jumping off the tower and running along the walls to take control of his momentum just like a real ninja.

    "You know, this would be so much easier if we can both fly, right?" Lei said and went ahead of her to the roofs of the castle, jumping off the edges to another roof and landing on a stone railing steadily just like an acrobat.

    "So where should we go?" he asked when he noticed Petunia not blinking and her jaws were wide open.

    "Hey?" Lei tried again and clapped in front of her to get her attention which definitely worked judging by the way Petunia shook her head and slapped her cheeks softly.

    "Right, I can feel something unsettling on the third floor," Petunia said which made Lei immediately jump through the railings and acrobat his way to the third floor which was the floor below them earlier.

    "What do you think he''s doing? Why would he disappear last night and wander around the palace while being invisible?" Lei asked which finally called Petunia back to her senses and focused back on the issue at hand.

    "I think he had some help from the outside with an escape route but that route was unexpectedly destroyed."

    "You mean the route which the Crones used?"

    "Yes, the same route that we destroyed in order to set you and Von up with the Crones."

    "Ah, I remember now. That was harsh, I still don''t forgive you for that," Lei said even though he did not really mean it just to see Petunia''s reaction.

    "Is that so?" Petunia only said without looking at him.

    "You''re so cold-hearted."

    "What makes you think I have a heart?"

    "Because you''re a human? And weren''t cats supposed to have seven lives?"

    "And? What''s the connection?"

    "Seven lives means seven hearts¡­ doesn''t it?"

    "No. Not necessarily," Petunia said, finishing off her little conversation with Lei by standing in front of the door to the basement and noticing something different from there.

    "Why here?" Lei asked and looked around while recalling the time where he and Von got fooled by a Crone who dressed up just like Sir Fred in this same place.

    "I think he went here," Petunia said and pushed the door only to see the lock broken, or rather has been melted completely by some sort of a weapon that could melt its targets.

    "How did this-?" Lei said when he also noticed the melted locks just now, "We have to tell Venedette," he said and then acted as if he was going to run to Venedette immediately, but when he noticed Petunia not moving even an inch from his position, he just decided to stay and use his stat-hut instead for communication.

    "The laboratory, the ingredients inside¡­" Petunia muttered while tracing the edges of the melted door locks, "We need to stop him! We can''t let him mess with the things down there!"

    "Wait, I''m trying to get Venedette to send us some backups," Lei said while holding Petunia''s gummy cloud back.

    "Have you forgotten? This place is not just someplace where backups could easily come and go, we''re the only ones allowed in here aside from Venedette and the others. We need to find him now and stop him from doing any more damage!" Petunia said, insisting on making Lei let go of her Gummy cloud or at least make him come with her, but the boy was too stubborn so Petunia had no other choice.

    "If you don''t want to come with me then I''ll just go there by myself," she said and then made her Gummy cloud change skins so Lei could finally let go of her.

    But before she could even sting Lei''s fingertips with her toxic Gummy coat, Lei has already pulled her Gummy cloud away from the door and let go of it, making her dizzy from the unexpected amount of spins her Gummy cloud did from the force that Lei put on it.

    "I''ll come with you, but promise me you won''t do things by yourself, alright?"

    "Okay?" Petunia said while still trying to fix the dizziness in her head.

    "Plus, I already notified the rest of the team about the situation so they should be here in a minute now," Lei said, which alerted Petunia.

    "No! What if he runs away? What if he''s already done with his little exploration down there and is now finding another way out? We need to be practical about this. The melted locks have already cooled down which means he''s probably been here hours ago. We''re not sure if he''s still in there so we have to maximize our scope. That''s the only way we''ll be able to-"

    "Okay, fine. I know. I get it. It''s better if we have the others on standby instead of being stuck in there with us. Now, what are we waiting for? Let''s go," Lei said, giving up on having an argument with Petunia and just following what she wants since it could lead to another misunderstanding with them that could make them wary of each other.

 Chapter 210 - Flammable

    "Do you think that scientist had some help from outside? I mean, how could he think of going inside this door of all the doors in the castle?" Petunia suddenly said after the unbearable silence between her and Lei while making their way down the painfully long staircase to the basement.

    "I''m sure he got some help, but the question is, how? How do they keep penetrating our security just like that?"

    "Maybe the palace''s security is really outdated¡­ I mean, ever since Queen Frida died, it''s like the spirit of invention disappeared with them, although no offense to the new generations, I still think they should stop relying on outdated inventions that our great leaders did and start making innovations on their own, especially in this competitive age of apocalypse when the other countries are thriving to be the best to survive the threats from both inside and outside of their countries."

    "You''re right. Maybe it''s because of our old leaders being too ahead of their time that we just forgot how being competitive feels like. I mean, Clandamascarene has been number one for years, the biggest and greatest country to survive the apocalypse, but lately, it''s like we''ve been falling behind."

    "Maybe that''s why Halma was so alarmed when we lost the Dekadalaw tournament last decade."

    "Precisely," Lei said to what Petunia was saying, wondering deep down how he and Petunia could come up with something and agree with each other without having different views.

    "And not to mention the commotion that my city did that surely damaged the country as a whole, I wonder why Halma didn''t get angry at me for that," Petunia said while watching Lei sneak down the floor of the basement while she was just laying down on her Gummy cloud comfortably.

    "For one, you were just a kid when that happened, and second, we should focus on what we''re doing here first," Lei said while glancing at Petunia who just rolled her eyes at Lei''s attempt on getting her back on track with him to capture that guy.

    "Fine," Petunia said and then paused when she noticed Lei staring at her as if there was another answer that he was expecting.

    "What?" she asked, a little bit nervous about the way Lei''s face was literally so close to her and was only being lit up by the faint purple glow of her Gummy cloud.

    "Where is he? Aren''t you supposed to be sensing him now?" Lei said, which put Petunia back in her proper place.

    "O-Of course I''m doing that! Just give me a minute!" she said and then turned around to hide her flustered face.

    "How can I focus on finding that guy with my senses now when my heart beat''s literally louder than this deafening silence!?" Petunia complained in her mind before taking a deep breath and finally having the courage to face Lei again.

    "S-Since he''s a scientist, wouldn''t it only be natural for him to go and visit the storages first? Maybe he needed some ingredients from the royal stash that''s why he went here or even just anything that he needs for research," Petunia suggested while keeping a straight face and trying hard to pretend like she''s okay when her stomach was already having a butterfly party just by being alone with Lei in the basement.

    "You''re right, I think he also went there first. God, that melting machine, where did he get that?" Lei said after seeing one of the doorknobs in the storage room melted like a burnt-out candle.

    "I don''t think it''s a melting machine. Look, the main stuff that was missing here is mostly Foerus."

    "The element of fire," Lei said after recognizing the stuff that Petunia said.

    "Based on the glowing trails of this bag of Foerus, I think he also took the powder of lily which was a very controversial topic back in the days for its intoxicating side effects as a medicine."

    "You mean the black powder of lily?" Lei said, recalling the name from one of her lessons as a kid in the Shinobi house where the elders would use the same black powder of lily on a daily basis to get immune from the intoxicating substance that it has, which was said to be stronger than any venom or alcohol that they have tasted over the generations.

    "This isn''t good, the black powder of lily is highly flammable and could be easily spread across the palace without anyone noticing, we need to inform the rest about it now!" Lei quickly typed in the message to his Stut-hut, while Petunia on the other hand was focusing more on figuring out what other ingredients the outsider took from the royal stash that could be used as a weapon against them.

    "The trail ends here, and I can''t feel him anymore- gah!" Petunia suddenly jerked back and held her nose, catching Lei''s attention who had just sent a message to the rest of Leviathan.

    "What''s wrong?" he asked and immediately moved to catch Petunia who just suddenly lost her control over the Gummy cloud.

    "Are you okay?! Petunia! What''s wrong?!" Lei said but Petunia refused to respond.

    She was even covering her mouth and nose which made Lei frustrated, but it was not until Petunia''s breathing became rigged that Lei noticed Petunia was not covering her mouth but rather her nose as if something was caught on it and she could not breathe because of it.

    "What happened?!" Lei demanded and tried to remove Petunia''s paws from her nose, and that was when he noticed the lump of blood that Petunia was trying so hard to stop from bleeding out.

    "Let it go!" Lei said but was met with resistance as Petunia tried to speak.

    "I- can''t b-breathe," she said faintly, almost as if she had lost her voice.

    "That''s why I''m telling you to let go of it!" Lei said and accidentally pulled the cold potion from her neck when he tried to pull her paws away from her nose.

    "N-No," Petunia whispered before passing out.

    "No what? Hey, Petunia! Stay with me! Hey!?" Lei pleaded but there was no response from her anymore.

    "Nooo!!"

 Chapter 211 - Frenemies

    "Petunia?! Please stay! I know you''re still there! Hang on," he said while trying to wake Petunia up.

    But instead of waking up, Petunia''s nose just started to spew more blood than Lei could even imagine.

    "Should I cover your nose? But you''ll have a hard time breathing. Ahhh, what should I do?" Lei said to himself while looking around to see if he could spot a healing potion from the variety of potion ingredients around him.

    But instead of a healing potion, Lei recalled the cold potion that he accidentally pulled from Petunia''s neck and recovered it from the sea of blood on the floor with his shaking hands.

    "Please work," he whispered and popped the vial open, recalling that time when Fily first used the potion on Petunia and did it again as he recalled.

    "Two drops to the temple and spread it out, please come back to me Petunia. Stay with us," he said, taking a deep breath before calmly closing the lid of the bottle and trying to put it back in Petunia''s neck while waiting for the magic to happen.

    "Please come back, I know I haven''t been treating you the best lately but I promise I''ll change for you, just come back, okay? We still have a lot of things to do together, for instance, the Flight potion.. You promised me we''d do it together, you can''t go now. Not yet, not ever. We need you, Petunia, don''t leave us. Don''t leave me," Lei cried to himself and buried his face to his knees after almost a minute of waiting, and still nothing happening to Petunia and that potion.

    "Did I do it wrong? Why isn''t it working? Please don''t tell me she''s already dead¡­ No,  this can''t be. This is all my fault, I failed to protect her¡­" Lei cried even more to himself and buried his face against his knees, trying so hard to convince himself to just wait and see what could happen next, but the longer he waited, the more he lost hope about the Potion and Petunia''s situation as a whole.

    She was just laying there against her Gummy cloud that resembles a bed of flowers a lot.

    "Is this really the end for her?" Lei thought and glanced at Petunia''s peaceful face again with high hopes of the potion finally working, but still, nothing. Just the silence, darkness, and the gummy cloud''s faint glow against Petunia''s fine silver fur.

    [Venedette: We found traces of Foerus and black lily on the hallway, we''ll get back to you guys as soon as we can but we have to clear this out first!] a message from Venedette popped in front of Von but because of her teary eyes, he could not read the message nor see Petunia clearly anymore.

    And just as Lei was about to accept the horrible fate of Petunia down in this basement, a sharp gasp was heard and Petunia just suddenly rose up from her vegetable state against her Gummy cloud which she even unconsciously wrapped around her body to create a purple dress that she had never thought of doing with the Gummy cloud before.

    "Gahhh I''m fine!" Petunia shrieked and jumped in front of Lei who thought that she was just a hallucination from his guilty conscience.

    "God that was suffocating! I almost died!" Petunia said and even slapped Lei''s shoulders from the rush of it all which made Lei''s face look even more puzzled.

    "Petunia?" Lei said with a doubtful voice, finally getting the motivation to rub the tears out of his eyes only to see a taller and bubblier version of Petunia with that long glowing purple dress in front of him.

    "Yeah? It''s me. What''s wrong? Did you cry?!" Petunia laughed and offered a hand to Lei who was just dumbfounded by her reaction to that near-death experience earlier.

    "I''m fine! Thank you for reacting very quickly, you saved me!" Petunia said and then offered a hug to Lei, trying to console him for thinking that he almost lost her back there.

    "I-I thought you were¡­ You almost-" Lei said and paused while struggling to get his words right.

    "Died?" Petunia said while still hugging Lei. She could even notice the difference in her height before and her height now which was almost the same height as Lei, only smaller by a few inches but just enough to reach out to him for a hug.

    "You scared me!" Lei exclaimed and pouted even though Petunia could not see it, he even refused to wrap his arms around Petunia''s new human form just to prove a point.

    "I''m sorry, my senses just suddenly blacked out and the next thing I knew there was blood coming out of my nose. I didn''t know what to do with it so I just tried covering it with my paws but the blood spread to my head and¡­ it was just so painful and hard to breathe. I''m sorry for scaring you. But thank you for saving me!" Petunia exclaimed energetically before suddenly shifting into a more serious tone the more she recalled about what just happened to her.

    "Why did your senses blacked out?" Lei said after removing himself from Petunia''s embrace.

    "I smelled something sharp and very strong, it almost felt like a sharp knife slicing through my nostrils, I don''t know where it came from but it''s probably that guy''s doing¡­" Petunia said while glaring at the empty hallway.

    "Venedette said they''re cleaning up the traces of Feorus and Black lily from the hallway. He probably left the basement a while ago before we even came in or else we should have encountered him escaping through the stairs since it''s the only way in and out-"

    "Or there could also be a possibility that he knows another way in and out of this basement and he just left after sensing us here, didn''t you sense his presence earlier? I''m sure it was him who sent that scent bullet to me," Petunia asked with a serious face while staring at the mess she created by her own blood on the floor.

    "Scent bullet?" Lei asked.

    "Let''s just call it that, I didn''t get to differentiate the ingredients he used because it was too strong for my super sensitive senses, but hey, at least I survived, right? Thanks to this¡­" Petunia said and caressed the cold bottle that Lei wrapped back around her neck with a spare string beside her collar Stat-hut.

    "We don''t even know if it was really his fault that happened or if it was a side effect of that potion."

    "This potion has no side effects, my best friend made it."

    "Yeah, your best friend who just mysteriously disappeared after giving it to you," Lei said while dragging Petunia back to the stairs, somehow getting annoyed by Petunia''s innocence and impeccable amount of trust to those people she considers as friends.

    "And¡­ Now we''re back to being frenemies. Great," Petunia said with an obvious amount of sarcasm while following after Lei.

 Chapter 212 - Fault

    "Mom! Over here!" Von shouted to Venedette who was still busy inspecting the hallways.

    "What is it?" she said while giving instructions to the guards.

    "I found something glowing over here!" Von said and urged Venedette to come look at what he was talking about.

    "Make sure to check every corner of this place, we don''t want to burn the castle now, do we? I''ll just be right back in a minute."

    "Mom! Come on!" Von said and impatiently dragged Venedette to come with him to one of the roofs of the castle.

    "Can you see that?" Von asked and pointed at a glowing magma-like rock just by the edge of the roof, threatening to fall any minute now which Venedette immediately went to and grabbed it with her own hands.

    "Mom! Wait! Isn''t that thing an active magma?!" Von exclaimed while watching Venedette carry the melting rock with her iron fists away from the edge of the roof.

    "It''s called Foerus, the element of fire," Venedette said while carefully examining the rest of the roofs for more of them..

    "Isn''t it hot?" Von asked and reached out to touch it, but without even an inch away, he could already feel the fire coming from within this melting rock with lava inside of it.

    "It is, but I''m used to it," Venedette said and hopped to another roof to retrieve another Feorus from it.

    "It''s like clay, but made of lava."

    "So this was the reason why that mad scientist took Feorus and Black lily powder at the same time, he was really trying to set the whole castle on fire!"

    "What?! That''s what Lei just exactly said!"

    "Well they''re not wrong," Venedette said and told Von to help her look for Feorus on the edge of the roofs.

    "When did he put all of this here? If this melts down completely to the hallways I''m sure the Black lily powders would activate immediately and spark across the hallways. What a dangerous plan for someone who''s surrounded by his enemies."

    "That is why I said taking him as Petunia''s pet just because she whined isn''t a good idea at all," Von said and shrugged before searching for more Feoruses again.

    "You''re right. And the fact that we left him here while we went away for a trip¡­" Venedette said, pondering over that reckless decision that she made or forgot to do even.

    "Lei said they''re coming right back up," Von said while passing through Venedette in the sky.

    "Are they okay? They just suddenly stopped sending replies earlier."

    "They''re fine now, but something happened to Petunia and Lei wanted us to see for ourselves."

    "Alright then, we should also thank them for noticing the missing ingredients in the basement and preparing us for a disaster."

    "What''s up with these outsiders and their obsession with fire?" Von asked himself and notified Venedette of another Foerus that he saw just hanging around the edge of the tower''s roof.

    ***

    "Petunia just left a message, she said they''re fine," Fily said which made Gem sigh in relief.

    "Thank goodness for that. I was so worried when they suddenly got out of touch and Petunia''s stats started breaking down," Gem said while holding her necklace before proceeding to inspect the little glass shards on the walls of the short tunnel that Fily and Petunia purposely destroyed back then.

    "Lei probably used the potion again on her," Fily said.

    "Is that safe?"

    "Maybe. There''s nothing really dangerous about the ingredients that Heize used to create that potion but the way she created it was just a surprise to me. So I don''t really know if it''s a hundred percent safe or not anymore," Fily said, sounding a little bit disappointed and annoyed about that thing that she was restricted to learn about.

    "Actually, I might have an answer for that," Fily said and positioned herself against one of the walls towards the end of the tunnel, "Can you keep watch while I search for things inside my head?" Fily asked Gem who just immediately nodded at her.

    "Sure," Gem said and sat down on one of the large pieces of debris of the old mall underground like how she would sit down on a chair.

    "Okay, just call me when you need my help," Fily said and proceeded to drown herself in her mind palace again.

    "Call mom," she said as soon as she arrived in her desk space and subsequently searched for her brother''s name from her contacts to also interrogate him.

    "What is it?" Fily''s mom suddenly said without even a notice of entry to her connection but Fily just let it go.

    "Why can''t I learn about the inventions from other countries? Is that some kind of rule in the country''s constitution? Because if it was, then maybe I have also never heard of it before."

    "Why are you asking me that? If it''s not in your memories'' archives then it''s probably not true."

    "Right, so there''s no rule like that?" Fily asked while also typing a very long message to her brother, complaining about potentially helping their enemy again.

    Fily: It was you, wasn''t it? You''re the only one who would have done this. I know you''re not assigned to Clandamascarene but why do you keep messing up with my mission?! Do you know how hard it is to keep the peace here?! Actually, the more important question is, do you want me to die?! I know we''re not close but we''re still siblings you know!? Just wait until mom hears about this.

    Fily sent and took a deep breath with her physical body to calm herself down.

    "Stop asking those kinds of questions, you''re making me look like I raised a dumb daughter even though she has the knowledge of more than three generations in her mind," Riveth said and attempted to end the call which Fily totally expected she would do.

    "Wait! Before you go I have something I need to tell you," Fily said while reading her brother''s immediate response to her message.

    Koya: What are you talking about?

    He simply said.

    Fily: You really don''t know? You think I wouldn''t know that it was you who helped that mad scientist escape from Petunia''s lab and even gave her the map to this castle which I''m very positive that you got from my mind while you were hacking me!

    Koya: NO, why would I do that? I''m not the one who''s hacking here, remember? You''re the one who hacked me! Your assumptions are getting more irrational now sister. Have you been eating emotions lately?

    Fily: Shut up, if you won''t tell the truth I''m really telling mom to stop you from reaching Clandamascarene ever again.

    Koya: Hey! Listen to me! I''m telling the truth! It''s really not me! Why would I give that pawn a map to the Princess'' castle and a plan to burn your castle? That''s just insane!

    Fily: I didn''t tell you anything about burning the castle, brother. You just exposed yourself to both me and mom. Thank you for that.

    Fily said and then ended the conversation forcefully.

    "Did you see that mom?!" Fily said and groaned out of frustration.

    "That damn bastard had been sabotaging my mission since you let those crones come here?! Is this also a part of the Queen''s plan?! To burn Venedette''s castle down?!" Fily said in frustration while still on a call with her mom.

    "O-Of course not! Why would the Queen order me to do something so unthinkable to her daughter?"

    "Exactly! So help me stop this mom! Let me have access to that guy''s Stat-hut or just completely ban Koya from ever reaching this country''s server ever again. This is my domain! He''s not supposed to be able to just have access to my domain anytime he wants. He''s not even thinking about my safety anymore!"

    "Fine. If I do that would you stop whining like a powerless child? Thank the gods I''m in a light mood right now or I would have rejected your proposal and just let you two just figure things out on your own even if it meant getting on each other''s throats."

    "As if we could do that," Fily said and sighed.

    "There, I reprimanded your brother already, he shouldn''t be able to access anything from this country ever again, more especially his comms with the outsiders," Riveth said and then paused while looking like she was reading something which made Fily a little bit nervous of what it was based on Riveth''s serious look on it.

    "What is it?"

    "Your brother was telling the truth. He was not the one who gave those orders to that mad scientist but only delivered the message without knowing what was inside of it."

    "And you believe him? You know that guy is full of lies, right?"

    "No, there''s footage of it happening inside the dungeons," Riveth said which made Fily more confused about what was happening and whose fault was it really.

 Chapter 213 - Upsetting

    "How was he able to do this without being detected?" Venedette muttered to herself after collecting the fiftieth Feorus rock from the roof of the kitchen.

    She watched Von roam around the places they have collected the other Foeruses initially but it was like someone''s been putting it back to where they got it from.

    "Hey, leave it. I''ll take care of this," Venedette said to one of the guards taking care of the sack of Foeruses that she and Von had collected for the past thirty minutes.

    "A-Are you sure?" the guard asked with a shaking voice as if he should not leave his post even though the Princess was already asking him to.

    "Yes, go join the others," Venedette said firmly and took one of the three sacks of Foeruses that the two guards were monitoring earlier while they were just leaving, and to her surprise, her intuition did not fail her at all.

    "Stop right there," she said to the guards whom she just ordered to leave her earlier.

    "Care to explain this?" Venedette lifted the sack full of regular stone instead of the Foeruses that she and Von had been collecting earlier.

    "W-What?" the guard on the right said in surprise while looking at his partner as if he was not to be blamed here, "I don''t know what happened," he even added, making Venedette''s temper lose its last straw.

    "You," she said to the other guy who was just looking down and hiding his hands under his uniform.

    "You don''t have anything to say?" Venedette added and noticed him stepping back towards the end of the roof slowly like he was about to do something.

    "You caught me," he said, finally making eye contact with Venedette and exposing his creepy smile with that familiar face as he opened his arms and fell on his back, exposing the stolen piece of Foerus on his hands which he did not even bother protecting with a glove or something thick so the fire wouldn''t reach his skin.

    "No!" Venedette shouted and immediately dropped the sack of Foerus on the floor before zooming in to catch the crazy scientist who was just about to commit some serious trouble to the castle.

    "Ahhh!" Venedette shouted when the mad scientist sprayed a handful of Black lily powder to her face and attempted to ignite it with the Feorus rock, but thankfully, Von was quick to respond and held the guy''s burning hands away from Venedette''s face while in mid-air.

    "Mom! Hang on!" Von said and used his full power to pull the guy up higher to the sky while Venedette was still distracted by the powder.

    "Argghh! Whatever!" Venedette said and quickly wrapped her hands around the mad scientist''s neck and helped Von push him up higher to the sky while her other hand locked the guy''s left arm behind him.

    "Aghhh! So that was your plan all along! You think we''re stupid to fall for that silly little trick?!" Venedette said and tightened her grip on the guy''s neck and left arm while trying her best to keep them both balanced without her vision and with Von''s help.

    "Of course I''m not stupid! I just didn''t expect you to catch up to my plan immediately," he said while struggling to get out of Venedette and Von''s hold.

    "Well, you''re stupid for not catching that," Venedette said and knocked his head with a headbutt, making the stupid scientist unconscious and thus, heavier to carry on Venedette''s side.

    "His hands are melting mom! What can I do?" Von said while keeping a safe distance from the Feorus on the scientist''s hands who just lost his consciousness by holding his wrist and elbows instead of his hand while still helping Venedette keep him up in the sky.

    "For now, let''s bring him a safe distance away from the castle until all the Black lily powder has been cleaned from the air."

    "What about the Foeruses on the rooftop?"

    "Let''s leave Lei and Petunia to take care of it."

    "But they can''t fly!"

    "Then tell them to get Fily and Gem''s help! Since we caught this outsider now, there''s no need for them to do a lookout on the tunnels now, do they?"

    "Okay," Von said and flew ahead of his mom to guide her where they should go while her vision was still obstructed.

    And while Von was leading the way, Venedette took it upon herself to give the orders to the rest of the team while using her Stut-hut even with her eyes closed.

    ***

    "They got him! Hey, Fily! Are you there?" Gem said while carefully patting Fily''s shoulders and almost had a heart attack when Fily just suddenly inhaled and opened her eyes as if she had just come back to life.

    "Huh? Yes, I''m here. Should we go now?" Fily asked and blinked before noticing Gem''s awkward position in front of her who looked just like someone who had seen a ghost.

    "Oops, sorry. Did I scare you?" she asked and laughed while offering a hand to Gem who was now pouting because of her careless response.

    "What happened to that thing you were doing? Did you get what you were looking for?" Gem asked while returning to her normal self.

    "I did," Fily said and smiled at Gem even though she was really upset on the inside.

    "Okay¡­ Do you want me to carry you? Venedette seems like she really needs our help right now with those lava rocks or whatever that she just left on the roof."

    "Sure, I can even blow those black lilies away from the castle with my Super puff."

    "Great idea!" Gem said and easily carried Fily with her arms before flashing outside of the tunnel with her super speed.

    "Gem! Fily!" Lei suddenly called out to them from the end of the hallway with a tall girl beside him, wearing a lilac dress and sporting silver hair and green eyes.

    "Is that Petunia?!" Gem said in shock before stopping precisely in front of them, even blowing Petunia''s dress and hair away with her speed''s after-effects.

    "Yup," Lei responded while Petunia was just behind him, sniffing around and covering her nose from the invisible powder that was spread into the air.

    "Gosh, Black lily powder really smells awful," she said and smiled at Gem and Fily who were both dumbfounded by her sudden change of appearance.

    "I look awesome, I know," Petunia said as if she was humbling herself before covering her nose again.

    "Y-You look like a teenager now. Wow," Gem said before shaking her head and getting her priorities straight, "Fily''s going to blow all these away before it spreads to the roof, do you guys know where the Feorus is?"

    "It''s on the roof," Lei said, also getting his mentality back on track with the current situation and away from Petunia''s distracting evolution.

    "I know, but which roof?" Gem said and peeked outside the windows hastily.

    "You know what? I''ll just look for it upstairs," Gem said and immediately sped up away from them and into the tower where she usually hung out with Fily and Petunia before.

    "I''ll go with her," Lei said and ran without waiting for their response, which left Petunia and Fily to work with each other instead.

    "That was fast," Fily said, pertaining to both Lei and Gem''s departure and Petunia''s improvement with her human age.

    "Yeah I know, can you please put this stuff away first? I don''t even have my super-senses with me right now but I could still smell them thanks to my memories."

    "Fine," Fily said and took a deep breath before performing her Super puff which blew the tainted air away from them and outside of the windows.

    "Wait, I need to confirm with Gem first if the Foeruses has been disposed of already," Fily said after stopping with her Super puff.

    "Oh, right¡­ There''s going to be fireworks in this castle if that happens," Petunia said and sat on the bench while looking away from Fily who felt like she was not in the mood to talk to her at all.

    "Nice dress you got there," Fily said and sat beside her, also looking away to avoid the undeniable awkwardness between them which was caused by her insecurities.

    "Yeah? It''s actually my Gummy cloud-"

    "I know."

    "And of course you know, I''m not saying you don''t know though, is there something wrong? You look upset ever since you saw me," Petunia said in one breath, having a hard time resisting her mouth from spilling her thoughts which she thought was not a good idea because Fily''s the type to keep her feelings to herself¡­ well that is of course if she even has feelings other than happy and angry.

    "It''s not because of you¡­" Fily finally said and put her head on Petunia''s shoulders for the first time, "I think using that potion that Halma gave me for the whole week just exhausted me a lot, both mentally and physically."

    "Well then you should go back to sleep now, I''m sorry for bothering you with my problem."

    "No, it''s okay. I planned to go back to hibernating after this anyway. I still have a lot of pages to unlock, you know?" Fily said and let Petunia hug her, which was, of course, just a cover to the fact that she was really upset but by a completely different thing than what she could tell Petunia and the others.

 Chapter 214 - Fear Of The Unknown

    "Over here!" Gem said when she noticed Lei''s presence following her on the rooftop.

    "Is that all?" Lei asked with panting breath.

    "I''m not sure. Maybe you should go around and check if there''s more that Venedette and Von had probably missed while I move these things inside Solitude."

    "You could do that?"

    "I guess so, that''s the only choice we''ve got since none of us left here could fly and we can''t bring these downstairs to move them even further away."

    "Okay then, I''ll let you know when I find more," Lei said and hurried away while Gem started with her task of bringing all these sacks of Foeruses inside Solitude.

    "Can I just order you to transport these stuff in Solitude Mr. Gemini? Or do I have to carry them myself as I move to Solitude?"

    [You can bring anything inside Solitude as long as you have contact with it, Master,] Mr.. Gemini responded with his husky old man''s voice.

    "Okay." Gem nodded and placed her hand on top of one of the sacks of Foeruses which she was careful not to touch because of its fire element when in contact.

    "Bring me to Solitude, Mr. Gemini," Gem said and closed her eyes.

    [Roger that, Master.]

    And as soon as Gem felt the chilling atmosphere she was used to dealing with inside Solitude, she quickly opened her eyes, expecting all the sacks of Foeruses to be with her inside of it.

    But there was none.

    "Why didn''t it work?" Gem complained and even checked her surroundings to see if she just missed seeing four sacks of Feoruses under her hand.

    But there was really none.

    "Okay, bring me back to the real world then, Mr. Gemini."

    [Roger that,]

    "We really need to hurry so Fily could already blow those stuff away from the castle," Gem muttered to herself after taking a deep breath in before closing her eyes for the travel.

    "What happened?" Lei greeted her with a bunch of Foeruses wrapped around his sticky rope which he was putting inside the other empty sack beside Gem.

    "I think I need to carry them with me," Gem said while pointing at the melting sacks of Foeruses restlessly.

    "Okay then¡­ How about this?" Lei said and gave Gem his sticky rope full of Foeruses.

    "Is there a limit of how many things you can bring inside Solitude?" he added while making sure the Foeruses were wrapped nicely around his rope.

    "No¡­ I don''t know, Mr. Gemini said I need to be in contact with the items to bring them inside," Gem said while watching Lei wrap more Feoruses around his rope.

    "Wait! How about we wrap this rope around the whole sack!?" Gem said while patting Lei''s shoulders in front of her.

    "Okay?" Lei said and quickly circled around the first sack of Foeruses where he was getting the initial Foeruses he wrapped around his rope earlier.

    "Do it quick before the Foeruses melts!" Lei said and signaled for Gem to go.

    "Alright!" Gem said and quickly ordered Mr. Gemini to bring her in while she was holding the sticky rope full of Foeruses and wrapped around one sack by the end.

    "Ahh! Did it work?!" Gem asked herself frustratedly before opening her eyes slowly.

    "The sticky rope, yes, and¡­" Gem muttered to herself after seeing the sticky rope still on her hands and tracing it down to the sack of Foerus not far from her.

    "Yes! It worked!" Gem shouted and jumped before shaking her head and reminding herself to focus on her task before celebrating.

    "Okay, let''s do this again," Gem said and wished to be brought back to the real world again after dismantling the sack of Foeruses away from the Sticky rope and holding it tightly by her chest.

    "It worked?" Lei greeted her to which she immediately responded with an enthusiastic nod.

    "Okay, let''s keep on doing that," Lei said and quickly put his words to work by wrapping two more sacks of Foeruses on his sticky rope which Gem was holding tightly.

    "Are you not getting hurt by the Foeruses'' fire?" Gem asked with concern after noticing him not using anything such as a glove to protect his skin from the boiling temperature of the Foerus rocks.

    "No, I''m used to it. Now quickly, go," Lei said which prompted Gem to order Mr. Gemini to send her to Solitude again even though she could clearly see that Lei was lying based on his hands getting full of burns and scars.

    "Okay, last one," Gem said and took a deep breath before exiting Solitude again, furthermore reminding herself to help cure Lei''s hands after all of this, to which she could not help but do first before going back to Solitude when Lei already told her to go.

    "Wait, your hands," Gem said and threw a ball of healing slime to Lei which he flawlessly caught with his instincts and immediately cured his hands.

    And without even having the chance to say his thanks, Gem already left for Solitude without a word, and Lei, being the serious workaholic person that he was, just shrugged it off and opened his Stat-hut to tell Fily and the others about their mission success.

    "She''ll be back anyway," Lei muttered to himself and sat down on the roof while watching Fily blow off those almost invisible black lily powder that made the air up there dimmer and the air much less refreshing to breathe into.

    ***

    "Okay, bring me back to the real world now, Mr. Gemini," Gem said and closed her eyes, ready to go back to the real world and just lay on her bed for the rest of the day.

    But instead of Mr. Gemini''s usual response, Gem was met with silence that was not usually the case when she went inside Solitude repeatedly.

    "Mr. Gemini? What happened? Why aren''t you answering?" Gem asked.

    But still, there was no response from either Mr. Gemini or Lady, making Gem''s heart beat faster and nervous for not knowing what''s wrong.

    "Okay? Are you playing with me, Mr. Gemini? Lady?" Gem asked while looking around cautiously.

    "Stop it now¡­ I''m really getting scared," Gem added before trying to raise her Stat-hut from the ground, but still, there was no response.

    It was as if she had broken the place Solitude by using it repeatedly in just under an hour.

    "Oh no¡­ What have I done?" Gem said and fell down on her knees, feeling rather cold and lonely inside the same place which she thought she had gotten used to already.

    After a long minute of overthinking about what happened, Gem finally stood up and inspected the four sacks of Foeruses which should have disappeared every time she would leave Solitude just like the pen and paper that she had accidentally left in here a month ago.

    "I wonder what happened? Why is this still here? Did I break Solitude?" Gem said and touched the blazing rock.

    "Ouch!" she said and noticed the blue liquid crawling through her skin to patch up the area where she got her hand hurt.

    "But the healing slimes are still working though¡­" Gem pondered even more while watching the healing slime complete its work.

    And it was not long after that, Gem ducked and felt an ominous presence with her inside Solitude, something that attempted to punch her head from the back which immediately made Gem''s heart racing from the fear of the unknown.

    "Who''s there!?" Gem demanded even though she could not see anyone else besides her.

    "It definitely felt like someone was trying to reach my head¡­" Gem thought while holding her necklace dearly.

    "Mr. Gemini? Lady? Can you hear me? Why aren''t you talking? What happened?" Gem tried communicating with her systems again but still, there was no answer.

    "Arggh, this is so frustrating¡­ how can I go back to the real world now??" Gem said while kicking the empty space in front of her just to express her frustration.

    But upon doing so, Gem felt something solid in front of her and even heard a little "ow" from the invisible thing that she just hit which made her jerk away and stand in an offensive position as she heightened her senses to locate that invisible thing or person that she just hit with her feet earlier.

    "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Gem said and noticed her Salamandite glowing immensely as if it was following the loud beating of her heart.

    "She''s doing it!" the same little voice said and ran away from her, based on the little footsteps she was hearing with her super senses.

    But instead of one, Gem suddenly felt like there was more of the little invisible guy around her, also running away from her as her Salamandite''s blue light became much more visible and bright across the almost empty white space of the Solitude.

    "What''s happening here?" Gem said with a dry throat as the fear of the unknown kept creeping inside her soul.

 Chapter 215 - Crumble

    "Lei! What happened?!" Fily asked worriedly while getting help from Petunia to climb up to the roof with Petunia''s Gummy dress.

    "I don''t know, she was just going to put the rest of the Foeruses inside her Solitude but she hasn''t come back since. I''m worried that something must have happened in there that prevented her from coming back immediately," Lei said while walking around uncomfortably.

    "This must be the limitation of Solitude," Fily said and paused as she searched for more information in her head.

    "Solitude also has limitations?" Lei asked.

    "Everything has, we''re just not so sure about Gem''s powers yet¡­" Petunia said.

    "Here! I knew something was off when I first read this!" Fily said and sent them all a copy of the document that she unlocked from the Salamandite''s guidebook a month ago.

    "What does it say?" Petunia immediately said after seeing the script and not recognizing any word from it since it was written in another language.

    "Oh!" Fily said and then immediately went back to her mind palace to translate the foreign words into a more familiar language for the rest of them.

    "Once is bliss but four may crumble," Lei read the words directly translated from the original sentence word by word.

    "I don''t get it," Petunia said, judging the choice of words that the author made just to force a rhyme without even minding the sentence structure.

    "I''m so stupid for missing this¡­ how did I miss this? I knew there was something wrong with the number four in this book but why haven''t I thought of this earlier?" Fily muttered frustratedly to herself.

    "What does it mean?" Lei said with confusion etched on his face since the message of the sentence was not very clear without any context.

    "This is a phrase under the ''otherworldly connotations'' chapter, I thought it was just something else entirely, like a different dimension than where we are right now, but the way Gem described Solitude and its connection to the real world, I thought she was just creating her own empty place with her necklace that mirrors the real world instead of a completely different dimension."

    "Wait, you haven''t been to Solitude yet?" Petunia asked.

    "No?" Fily instinctively answered which sounded like she was not sure about it either.

    "I definitely heard from Gem that you were the first- err second person that she brought into Solitude, aside from Venedette when she first saved her."

    "Right but Solitude is an anti-super place, remember? Fily wouldn''t remember it even if she did really went inside with Gem at that time," Lei said.

    "Oh¡­ I forgot about that," Petunia said without further questions or argument to Lei''s claim, which he found weird and unnatural.

    "So, where were we?" Petunia said, shifting her head from looking to the ground and focusing it now on the nervous Fily.

    "Maybe the ''otherworldly stuff'' that the book was talking about was the other dimension that Gem calls Solitude, how did I not catch this before?!"

    "Don''t worry Fily, it was just probably because of the Anti-super rule with Solitude," Lei said while looking calm on the outside even though he could not even calm himself down on the inside.

    "What''s going to happen to Gem now?!" Petunia asked frantically which made both Fily and Lei even more nervous than they already were.

    "Once is bliss but four may crumble¡­ If we''re looking at the words literally, we get the words once, bliss, four, and crumble. The sentence was not made just to force a rhyme, but rather it was a warning! Going inside Solitude four times in a row must have caused the system to crumble down-"

    "Or what if the other dimension was the one that crumbled?" Petunia said, cutting Fily''s words with that negative thought of hers that gave them all a vivid picture of how the other dimension which neither of them has seen before might crumble down with Gem in it.

    "No! That''s impossible! The necklace would never let Gem die so let''s hold on to that thought first," Fily said, immediately blocking off the dark image that Petunia put in their imaginations to calm their nervous hearts down.

    "Right, the necklace wouldn''t let Gem die¡­ But if she''s still alive¡­ then why isn''t she coming back?" Lei asked carefully after some consideration about what Fily and Petunia might feel with the words he was going to say.

    "Maybe something happened with the system-"

    "Or the Dimension as a whole-"

    "Stop it Petunia! Please! Just¡­ focus on positive thoughts. Gem wouldn''t die just like that, we have a bright future ahead of us," Fily said while shutting her eyes and ears tight in preparation for another one of Petunia''s insensitive remarks that was incoming in 3...2...1...

    "What''s so bright about joining the tournament?" Petunia said, making Lei shake his head and Fily cover her eyes and ears more.

    "She''s not talking about the tournament, you know?" Lei said and walked away from them so he could just watch what was happening from a distance.

    "Four may crumble¡­ it said may, not might, not will. It''s may, so there''s still a chance that Gem''s still alright...  Just a little malfunction on the system." Petunia heard Fily whispering to herself.

    ***

    The sun was setting and both Venedette and Von had already come back from going to the other side of the island where they locked the mad scientist down in one of the dungeons over there.

    "Do you think you can go to Solitude again and probably take Gem out of there?" Fily said insincerely to Venedette while they were all watching the sun go down from the rooftop where Gem had disappeared since she knew what the answer would be anyway.

    "I don''t know how I pulled it off the first time around. I just wish we can find an answer to activate this Salamandite soon so Gem would not have to endure discovering all these dangerous stuff on her own."

    "I wish for that too," Fily said and turned quiet for another five minutes before asking Venedette a question again, "So what did you even see when you went inside Solitude by yourself? Aside from Gem being surrounded by the Energy slimes and the dead guy beside her."

    "Hmm, it was just white, and chilly inside. But there''s nothing really notable about it except for the color white," Venedette answered.

    "That''s it?" Fily said, a little bit surprised about the pitiful amount of information that Venedette gathered from being the first one who entered Solitude next to Gem.

    "That''s it¡­" Venedette said and sat down, prompting the rest of them to also sit down with her while they got showered by the orange light of the setting sun.

    "How did you even get in and out of it? Was it like¡­ the same method that Gem uses to go back and forth from Solitude, or it just really happened and you have no idea how it even happened in the first place?"

    "We never know, Gem could have subconsciously asked her system to bring Venedette in as she was desperate for help at that time," Von added and shrugged before letting Venedette answer Petunia''s question.

    "I''m not sure about how I got in, but going out of there was a different story. I saw Gem''s Salamandite float into the air and glow like crazy before clicking to the side which might have been the reason why the place crumbled down."

    "Solitude has already crumbled down before?" Fily asked.

    "Why? Isn''t that the normal way of escaping Solitude?" asked Venedette, a little bit confused since she had been assuming all this time that the place just naturally crumbles down every time Gem would step out of Solitude.

    "When Gem brought me to Solitude she just ordered her system to bring me in and bring me out of it without any crumbling happening," Von said.

    "Really?! So why did it crumble the first time around? I could still clearly remember that cracking noise that I heard from all directions which told me the place was going down. And there was even a crack on the ceiling to which I flew into while carrying Gem inside a cocoon to escape that place of Solitary!" Venedette said enthusiastically with matching hand gestures.

    "That must be what the saying meant¡­ Even though I''m failing to connect the number four with your story, I think that''s the same crumble that''s happening right now."

    "If the place is crumbling, then what about Gem? How could she get out of there without being able to fly?!" Petunia said frantically after hearing what Fily just said.

    "That''s why I''m being desperate about the Flight potion now, Petunia. See how this stuff could have been resolved easily if we could just fly?" Lei said and immediately shut his mouth and looked away when he saw Petunia''s annoyed smile at him.

    "Don''t worry Lei, that potion is already on top of my priority list, okay?"

    "I know¡­ sorry," Lei said without making eye contact with Petunia for immediately feeling guilty about what he said.

 Chapter 216 - Alone

    "By the way, what happened to my pet? Is he okay?" Petunia asked which made the air around them even tenser.

    "What? I''m just asking¡­ and I''m not hoping he''s okay by the way. I just wonder what got into his head and why he even thought of that stupid plan that drastically failed. Or maybe he had accomplices? What do you think?" Petunia said which made Fily suddenly spill the feelings she had been keeping to herself since earlier.

    "I also wonder who made that stupid plan of his that we immediately prevented from happening anyway," Fily said sarcastically, making the rest of them stare at her as if she knew something that they don''t, "he obviously had help from outside but even after contacting my mom for help, I couldn''t find out where it came from," she immediately added after reading their faces.

    "Our security''s really outdated," Lei said.

    "You bet it is," Fily added and then went serious when she felt something weird in the air around them.

    "You can also feel that?" Petunia said and stood back to back with Fily just like what the rest of them instinctively did after feeling something similar to an earthquake, only it was in the air and not in the ground.

    "Watch out!" Petunia shouted and immediately jumped to push Lei off the way after seeing a very tiny glimpse of light, similar to a wormhole that suddenly popped out beside him..

    "Gem!" Petunia heard Von shout and saw him running after Gem''s unconscious body that came out from the tiny wormhole and almost fell on the roof where Lei was supposed to be standing on earlier.

    Von was able to catch Gem in time and secure her head from bumping hard onto the roof with his super-speed and even flew away with her just so he could make sure she''s in a really safe place which was preferably away from the roofs.

    "Come on," Venedette said while offering her arms to the rest of them left there so she could carry them down to where Von went with Gem but Lei refused to ride with her and quickly ran away in ninja style while Petunia already flew away without saying anything with the help of her purple dress which left Fily the only one that Venedette had to carry with her along the way.

    "Gem?! Gem wake up!!" Von said worriedly while checking Gem''s pulse and breathing.

    "She''s still breathing," Von said to Petunia who just landed beside him with relief before stepping aside to let Petunia take a look with her expertise.

    "Let''s try this," Petunia said and poured a bottle of healing potion into Gem''s mouth while scanning her body for further injuries, but thankfully there was none.

    "She just passed out, thank goodness nothing bad happened to her," Petunia said while shaking Gem''s shoulders slightly to wake her up from her sleep.

    "Is she okay?" Venedette and Fily said the moment they landed which was then followed by Lei''s silent arrival beside them.

    "She''s just unconscious, hopefully, nothing bad happened to her inside that dimension," Petunia said and stepped aside to give space for Venedette and Fily.

    "Oh my gosh, you worried us, little Gem! I shouldn''t have told you to deal with those sacks of Foeruses and just moved them out myself, I''m so sorry," Venedette said and hugged Gem who was slowly gaining her consciousness back.

    "Gem! What happened to you! Do you know how worried we were when we found out that you were stuck in Solitude? What even happened to you?!" Fily said and held Gem''s hands while Venedette was still hugging her.

    "Guys¡­ I''m back¡­ I thought I''m going to be stuck in Solitude forever¡­ Is this real?" Gem said and held Fily''s hands tightly, seemingly examining if this was real and not just in her head, but when she felt the warmth in both Fily''s hands and Venedette''s embrace, she became fairly sure that it was not a dream at all.

    "Yes, you''re back, you''re finally back here with us now," Venedette said while crying silently behind Gem''s embrace.

    "I knew she would be back, we were just worried for nothing. Did you fall asleep in Solitude or something?" Von said even though he was really relieved that she was alright.

    "No¡­ I- uhh¡­ I don''t actually remember what happened. Wait, let me recall¡­ I think I saw someone there¡­ or at least I felt like there was someone there, someone invisible¡­ and they all started running away when the gemstone glowed like crazy¡­ I''m sorry everything''s just really a blur. I''m sorry for making you worry," Gem said while shaking her head as if there was some blockage there that was preventing her mind from remembering what happened.

    "There was someone there? Someone invisible? Are you sure?" Fily asked, confirming the words that she just heard from Gem which might be useful for her researches in the future.

    "I''m sorry, I really don''t know what I saw¡­ It''s like my head is being bombarded with a high-pitched noise whenever I try to recall- ahhh!" Gem said while pushing her temples which Venedette quickly stopped her from doing so.

    "Shh, it''s okay. You should rest for now."

    "Right, you should rest first. I''ll just go and figure things out on my own," Fily said, a little disappointed to herself about the way she tried getting answers from Gem while disregarding her situation.

    "How about your system? Did you tell them to bring you out or did you just willingly stay there for that long?" Petunia said, a little bit suspicious about how Gem was acting and a little bit concerned about her system.

    "Actually that''s the other thing that happened¡­ I couldn''t contact any of my systems back there¡­ As if they were just gone, really gone," Gem said, feeling better now when remembering normal stuff instead of those invisible things that she felt lurking around her back then.

    "How about the place? Did it crumble like how mom described it to us?" Von asked.

    "Crumbled? What do you mean crumbled?" Gem said with confusion and looked at Venedette, trying to ask for an explanation.

    "It''s nothing, stop asking her questions guys, and go to your rooms now. We''ve had a long day today and I think it''s time for us to rest, of course after having our dinner. But if you like I''ll just ask the maids to deliver the foot into your rooms so you won''t have to worry about resting right after. Go ahead now, I don''t want to repeat myself twice," Venedette said while helping Gem stand up which made Von and the others pout and make disappointed noises.

    "You should also go ahead and rest now, I''m sure you''ll need it, especially after what happened to you back there," Venedette said and smiled at Gem who immediately felt secure and better with Venedette''s words.

    "Wait! What about my question? What happened to my pet? Von?" Petunia said while fading away into the hallways along with the others.

    "Do you want me to bring you there?" Venedette said when she noticed Gem only being silent.

    "No thanks¡­ I think I got this," Gem said with a smile and turned around with a serious face while attempting to contact either one of her systems that just suddenly disappeared on her back there.

    "Are you sure? You know you can ask me for help anytime, right?!" Venedette said with concern to Gem who just waved to her goodbye.

    "Please work, Mr. Gemini? Lady? Where are you? What happened to me? What happened to Solitude? Did I perhaps break it?" Gem thought to herself nervously while trying her best to keep her legs awake after sleeping inside Solitude.

    She was not even sure if she slept in Solitude or if something else entirely happened that she just couldn''t remember.

    "I''m really getting scared now¡­ Please answer me, Mr. Gemini, Lady¡­ help me. I feel so alone and unsafe without you," she said, whispering to the necklace as if they were just sleeping there.

    "I thought I knew Solitude more than anyone else, but after the thing that happened today, I''m not so sure about that anymore. How am I going to go back there now if Mr. Gemini and Lady are gone? And how can I continue my training without you two?" Gem muttered while laying in her bed and staring at the ceiling.

    "Should I tell the rest of the members about this or should I just keep it to myself? I don''t want them to replace you, Mr. Gemini and Lady¡­ Please respond to me now so I can know that you''re still there," Gem pleaded and closed her eyes, prompting the beads of tears that she was stopping from falling earlier to fall down her cheeks as she buried her face to her pillow.

    "I feel so alone," she whispered and cried herself to sleep without even eating the dinner that the maids brought to her room.

 Chapter 217 - Growing Up

    "Morning, where''s Gem?" Petunia greeted Von and Lei, still with her human body during their early potion''s class which she was in charge of.

    "She''s probably still asleep," Lei said while sitting comfortably across Von.

    "Yeah, tell me why I chose to attend this class again instead of just resting from that exhausting trip? Aren''t you guys tired? And you, why are you still in your human form? Did you take the potion again but by yourself this time?" Von complained which made Lei shake his head for having to deal with Von''s nagging again.

    "No," Petunia said with disbelief etched on her face, "And wasn''t that trip supposed to be our vacation anyway? So just think of it as coming back to school after a holiday break. Even though that holiday turned out to be more exhausting and eventful than what was originally planned."

    "Right¡­ On second thought, I still don''t want to study guys. Good luck with you two though, study well!" Von said and scooted out of the classroom without a care about his teacher being there already.

    "Where is he going?"

    "I don''t know¡­ probably to the kitchen to eat some snacks," Lei said and stood up which alarmed Petunia.

    "Sit down, I have a class to finish," Petunia said after blocking Lei''s path in an instant even though he just wanted to sit in a closer seat to her which was in the front row.

    "Chill, I''m not going anywhere. You know I''m very interested in your class, right?" Lei said while stifling his laugh to the nervous Petunia who thought she would lose another student in her class again, let alone the only one left.

    "So, what are we studying today?" Lei said and finally sat down in front of Petunia''s table.

    "I don''t really have a definite lesson plan yet. But I can teach you anything that you want."

    "Anything?"

    "Anything about potions, of course," Petunia said and sat down on her table instead of the professor''s chair.

    "Then, can you teach me how to make the flight potion now?" Lei said, creating lemonades with the situation that he got instead of complaining about it like Von.

    "I totally knew you were going to say that," Petunia said and held the dangle in her purple collar to activate her stat-hut so she could share some files with Lei in it, "Here, watch it for yourself," she added which made Lei curious about what she was trying to do.

    "Are you really willing to make the Flight potion with me now?" Lei asked before playing the clip after receiving an affirmative answer from her.

    "Everything I did was stored in here, that''s why this thing is so important to me," Petunia said while caressing her purple collar.

    "What made you think about transferring all your memories in there? I mean you didn''t even have the collar when you made the flight potion," Lei suddenly asked, making Petunia wonder what was the reason behind his tolerable attitude today and the less nagging about the flight potion.

    "That was mainly Venedette and Fily''s idea. They offered me a way to keep my memories intact with the help of this Stat-hut and that was how I got into this mess in the first place¡­ although I don''t regret accepting her invitation, especially now.

    "I see," Lei said and turned silent while focusing on the video in front of him.

    "Do you want to start making it now?" Petunia asked with a soft voice, cautious about the awkward silence between them suddenly breaking down into a more uncomfortable atmosphere than what they had right now.

    "Sure- I mean, there''s no rush¡­ but can we?"

    "Of course. I''m the alchemy teacher here so no one''s probably going to stop me from teaching you how to make the flight potion, right? I mean, the authority''s mine anyway, so that''s already a given-"

    "Let''s go? Are you ready to go back down there? Or do you want me to check the place and get rid of everything that broke your senses first?" Lei said while still watching the video upon standing up.

    "It''s fine. I think I''ll be just fine."

    "Nice cardigan, by the way, is that your Gummy cloud? You''re being creative about your cloud lately, huh? Did you love it that much?" Lei said with a bit of a teasing tone, pertaining to the cute cotton-like purple cardigan over Petunia''s black spaghetti-strapped shirt and casual denim pants that she got from the bulk of clothes the castle has in one of the many rooms.

    "It''s not that hard to make, I just ordered it to shapeshift into something with long sleeves, just like how I got to shape it like a dress yesterday."

    "Well, thank goodness you still look like a person, right? Or else you would have no choice but to ride it as a cloud again. I wonder if we should just make something similar to your gummy cloud so we can also fly like you or drink the flight potions ourselves."

    "Either way we''ll still need the flight potion right? So hurry up, we still got an experiment to do for this whole day. Are you sure you can stand being in the lab with me for the whole day?"

    "Aren''t we going to ask for the other''s help?"

    "Fily is asleep and so is Gem. You can try to ask Von for help, but I''m sure he wouldn''t turn out. He doesn''t have any reason to be interested in the flight potion anyway.

    "Since he can already fly, right¡­" Lei said and finally stood up from his seat, signaling for Petunia to go ahead and lead the way back to the basement where she just experienced the scariest thing that happened to her life after trying the gummy cloud for the first time or traveling back and forth across the border to get toxic and expensive ingredients for free.

    ***

    "Mom!"

    "Von? What are you doing here? Don''t you have a class with Petunia to attend to?" Venedette said after bumping into Von on the hallway to the hospital wing.

    "Oh, about that," Von said and scratched the back of his head, "They were just going to make the flight potion anyway so I thought it was okay for me to leave the class already."

    "Really? Petunia''s finally recreating the flight potion again?"

    "From what I''ve heard, yes," Von said and whispered thanks to his super senses for catching what Lei and Petunia were talking about from a mile away before he completely disappeared away from the school area.

    "That''s great then! Shouldn''t you at least offer to help them instead of running away?"

    "I didn''t run away! I just thought I should go and pay a visit to Gem since she has the most important ingredient of that potion anyway," Von said while convincing himself that it was the main reason why his flight brought him to the hospital wing in the first place.

    "Oh, nice thinking. I was also on my way there to Gem to pay her a visit. But uhh, how did you know that she was in the hospital wing? I''m sure I just brought her there earlier this morning without telling anyone because when I went there, I felt that her temperature was very high."

    "I checked her room earlier and saw that she was gone, she also didn''t attend class so I thought she''s probably in the hospital wing. Did something else happen to her inside that Solitude?" Von asked and paused when he noticed Venedette''s proud smile while looking at him.

    "W-What''s wrong? Do I have something in my face?" Von asked while stepping back which made Venedette move closer to him instead.

    "Nothing, I''m just so happy that my son is now caring about other people than himself. It''s just so good to see you grow up!" Venedette said and hugged him tightly, which Von would normally appreciate if he was still the same childish Von that Gem first met months ago.

    But because of the new eye-opening experiences that he heard from his new friends and the emotionally shaking events that they have been going through the past few months since the team was formed, Von felt like he was growing a lot quicker now than he was before.

    Soon, the childish Von who would prioritize whining over rational thinking and the scaredy-cat that only wanted to live a comfortable life for the rest of his life would be gone and only a more reliable version of Von would be left.

    "I''m so sorry for cutting away your childhood just like that-"

    "It''s not your fault, mom. I admit, I really didn''t want to be involved in any of this when we first started, but the more stuff I learned, the more I wanted to work hard and win this thing. What happened to Demi was not something I could ignore anymore. You were right, we need to do something or else it will just keep happening again and again to other people."

    "Thank you for understanding, Von. You don''t know how proud of a mom you''re making me right now," Venedette said and kissed Von''s forehead while trying to suppress her tears with a smile.

 Chapter 218 - Shoot

    "Goodmorning Gem! Has your breakfast arrived yet?" Venedette said cheerfully while coming inside of her room in the hospital wing with Von who was just silent and embarrassed by the stuff he just said to his mom.

    "Gem?" Venedette asked and let go of Von when she noticed Gem shivering, "What''s wrong? Did something happen?" she added and then went closer to examine Gem herself.

    Von hadn''t even moved an inch away from where he was standing when he suddenly felt the room''s temperature rise as if there was a fire burning which was coming from Gem''s direction.

    "Mom, be careful!" Von shouted and threw himself to his mom so he could stop her from approaching Gem.

    "Ahhh!" Venedette shouted and shut her eyes while shielding Von and herself with her iron skin from the laser that just suddenly shot out from Gem''s necklace when she turned around.

    "Venedette! Von¡­" Gem said after seeing her and suddenly fell weak on her bed with her necklace finally cooling down.

    "W-What happened?" Venedette asked and cautiously stood up while still holding Von behind her.

    But instead of answering, Gem could only mumble words as she was the one being affected the most by the Salamandite crystal''s sudden abnormality..

    "Water! Give her some water, Von!" Venedette said after noticing Gem''s dry lips and dehydrated face while pointing at the table beside the door where the maids put Gem''s breakfast that she still hasn''t touched since earlier that morning.

    "What was that?" Venedette said and went closer to the cut that the laser made on the roof.

    The light was similar to the faint cyan color of Gem''s energy slimes but instead of being faint, the light was so intense that it almost became a darting laser! Only bigger and not as precise as the ones on the market.

    "Here you go," Von said and gave Gem the glass of water without complaints about how scary and dangerous that necklace of hers was or how he doesn''t trust her at all, which only made Venedette realize how true his words were earlier that morning.

    "Wait," Gem said and turned her necklace away before leaning closer to Von so she could finally drink water.

    "What happened, Gem? Are you alright? How long has this been happening?" Venedette asked restlessly while caressing her dead necklace.

    "Earlier¡­ this morning-" Gem said between her sips which almost made her choke.

    "Slow down, it''s okay. Drink that first," Venedette said and moved closer so she could wipe the sweat away from Gem''s face.

    "Mr. Gemini and Lady are both gone. Is it possible to lose your system while your Stat-hut is still active?" Gem said and took a deep breath to calm herself down after chugging that glass of water straight to her stomach.

    "What do you mean gone?" Von asked while moving the glass of water away from her.

    "They''re not responding to my calls. But the Stat-hut is still working though, I don''t know what''s happening anymore."

    "How about inside the Solitude? Did something other than the things you told us yesterday happen there?" Venedette asked and leaned closer with curious eyes.

    "I still can''t remember anything other than that. But that thing that happened earlier! That was the same glow that my necklace did before I passed out!"

    "That laser-like thing?"

    "Kind of," Gem said, answering Venedette''s question who was now reaching out her hands to touch Gem''s Salamandite that was still burning.

    "But it was softer and brighter than that, I think that''s also the reason why those invisible kids ran away from me."

    "What made you so sure that the things you think you saw in there were kids?" Von asked.

    "I accidentally kicked one of them, and their voices sound a lot like kids, younger than us."

    "Was it scary?" Venedette asked as her eyes shifted into a more concerned gaze.

    "It was, but I passed out before I could even process anything-" Gem said and turned silent when she heard her stomach growl.

    "You must be hungry, I heard you also didn''t touch the dinner that I told the maids to deliver in your rooms," Venedette said while walking towards the table beside the door to get Gem''s breakfast.

    "Oh, I- uhh¡­ I immediately fell asleep last night, uhh," Gem said while looking away.

    "You''re lying," Von mouthed to her with narrowed eyes which made Gem pout.

    "Eat this now before it gets cold. You should also just rest for the day instead of attending your classes. Your health comes first."

    "Can I also skip the rest of the day here with her?" Von suddenly said, which froze both Venedette and Gem.

    "I mean, if I can, I would like to stay here to watch out for her," Von immediately followed to make his intentions clear.

    Even though the former was his original plan after all.

    "Sure, you wouldn''t mind being guarded by Von, right Gem?" Venedette said with an innocent smile as if she got convinced by Von''s excuse.

    But in reality, Venedette just thought it would be better for Gem to have company instead of going through these things by herself.

    At least someone should be there for her.

    "O-Of course," Gem answered hesitantly with the memories of the first time they were left alone in a room and almost killed each other because of getting into each other''s nerves.

    "I also wanted to stay here longer but unfortunately I have more meetings to attend to. Being a manager of a group for this upcoming tournament is not an easy task, especially since I wouldn''t be joining the games myself anymore so I have to set up everything nicely for you guys to have a smooth start. You won''t use this against me, right? You know how much I love you two," Venedette said and kissed their foreheads as if saying goodbye already.

    "Are you going now?" Von asked after moving away from her.

    "Yes. Take care of her, I don''t want to spar with a sick child later this week when my class starts."

    "You''re finally going to teach us how to fight?!" Gem said, miraculously gaining energy from what she just heard from Venedette.

    "Uhuh, I hope you''ll be in good shape by then," Venedette said and waved goodbye to them after jumping outside the window.

    "Why is she always in a rush?" Von mindlessly whispered to himself before taking the dishes from Gem''s tray away from her and back to the table beside the door, making Gem speechless for a minute.

    "Y-You''re actually here to take care of me?" Gem asked and held her necklace tightly after noticing another change in its temperature just like when its system merged for the first time with her Stat-hut earrings.

    "No. I just went here to skip classes," Von said and laid down two beds away from where she was as if he did not just help her with the water or the dishes earlier.

    "Oh, figures," Gem said and also laid down on her bed quietly, purposely not saying anything in an attempt to finally have a peaceful day with Von.

    But after five minutes of silence, Gem still couldn''t wrap her head around how chill Von was and why he was not saying anything to her at all.

    "Von¡­ are you there?" Gem asked before turning in his direction and catching him lost in his thoughts while reaching for the ceiling.

    "What?" Von said and turned his head to Gem''s direction too, making Gem panic and look away almost immediately.

    "Uhh¡­ I was just wondering¡­" Gem trailed off and held her now freezing necklace tightly with her warm right hand.

    "What?" Von said again, but in a more dismissive tone than earlier.

    "You''re not scared of this anymore?" Gem said and showed Von the necklace that was being covered in ice flakes as if it was winter.

    "P-Put it away," Von said nervously while still keeping a calm demeanor.

    "Oh, you are. My bad," Gem said and giggled after getting the reaction that she wanted from Von who was still afraid of her necklace.

    "I''m not! Why would you point it at me!?" Von said in defense, lowering his voice at the last sentence before turning away from Gem and laying his back on the bed again.

    "Tch, you''re still a crybaby huh?" Gem said even though she did not mean it.

    But instead of retaliating, Von only went silent and let Gem think whatever she wanted like the mature boy that he was just claiming to be to Venedette earlier.

    ''He''s not answering¡­'' Gem thought and tried to just ignore Von too.

    But every time she would close her eyes, the voices of Mr. Gemini and Lady kept echoing inside of her head, making her feel lonely and miss them even more.

    "Are you crying?" Von asked when he noticed Gem''s ragged breathing.

    "No¡­" Gem said with a shaky voice and quickly wiped the tears away before opening her eyes.

    And before she could even react, Von was already standing in front of her, looking worried and nervous as hell for assuming that it was his fault that she was crying, which made Gem chuckle a little and forget about how sad she was for losing both of her systems.

 Chapter 219 - Cloud In A Jar

    "You still haven''t answered my question before. Did you take another sip from your potion so you can stay as a human while teaching us or are the effects from yesterday still not wearing off?" Lei asked while catching up to Petunia who was just floating down the stairs to the basement with her Gummy imbued dress.

    "It still hasn''t gone off until now. I know it''s weird and inconsistent from the first effect that turned me into a child and only lasted for a few hours. There, I already answered your question clearly this time, satisfied now?" Petunia said and suddenly stopped gliding down as she turned around to face Lei with crossed arms, making Lei almost bump into her if he was not able to pull his breaks at the right time.

    "Why are you so curious about that anyway?" Petunia pried even more and moved closer to Lei while examining his reaction.

    "Nothing in particular. I was just worried that you might be wasting that limited potion that yor friend gave you for unimportant purposes when you should have been saving it for training," Lei said while looking away.

    "Do I seem irrational to you?" she said with a pout and went back to gliding down through the stairs like a glowing purple ghost in the dark.

    "No, I just thought you''d do that."

    "For what?"

    "Because of your power trip?" Lei said, which made Petunia stop again.

    "What do you mean power trip?" she said with a straight face that reminded Lei about their difference in status as of the moment.

    "N-Nothing. Let''s just focus on what we came here to do," Lei said and went ahead of Petunia even without lights of his own, forcing him to rely on his moderate night vision first instead of asking Petunia to lead the way for him with her glowing dress.

    "Hmph. You''re making me want to not do this anymore," Petunia said and overtook him in a quick second.

    "Hey! Wait for me!" Lei shouted and started running down the stairs again even though he could almost not feel his legs anymore.

    "I really need that flight potion right now. I don''t think I can catch up to you guys if I just keep on walking my way to where we''re headed to, same with Gem and the others," Lei said even though he knew Petunia would not be able to hear it anymore before proceeding down the stairs while shouting for Petunia to wait for him.

    "Petunia! Wait for me to go down first! We still don''t know if the thing that shot you before was still there!"

    "It''s okay. I''m okay now."

    "We didn''t even notify Venedette about the broken door! Who knows if someone else already went here before us?!"

    "If there''s someone else then I''d probably be able to sense them right now," Petunia said in a normal volume while casually looking for the ingredients that the flight potion requires.

    "Really?!" Lei suddenly said with ragged breathing on the door while roaming his eyes around in the dark to look for her.

    "Boo!" Petunia crept up behind Lei and surprised him with a little punch in the shoulders which almost made Lei knock her down.

    "Sh-! You scared me!" Lei said and put his defenses down while watching Petunia look at him as if she was not amused with his reaction.

    "You thought I was someone else huh?" Petunia said and proceeded to turn on the lights to the whole room manually.

    "I¡­ I''m not so efficient in the dark."

    "So that''s your weakness? You''re afraid of the dark?"

    "More like my senses aren''t as strong as they are on the day when I''m in the dark."

    "Oh, I see. You''re just like me right now. My senses are also in a nerfed status every time I change back to my human self."

    "But isn''t that one of your strengths?"

    "My senses?"

    "Yes."

    "How about you then? Isn''t it ironic for a ninja to be weak in the dark?"

    "Who says I''m a ninja?"

    "Who says you''re not?" Petunia said and grabbed a bottle of something that looked a lot like cotton candy and tossed it to Lei who immediately caught the item without even glancing at it.

    "Should I test your sense ability in the dark?" Petunia asked while getting amused by a fact that she had never thought of before.

    "No thanks," Lei said, flat out rejecting her offer.

    "Fine. Just carry this then," Petunia said and grabbed another bottle of the cloud-like thing and tossed it to Lei.

    But because Lei''s hands were both already full with the cloud jars, Lei panicked when he saw another one incoming his way.

    "Wait, I still-" he said and closed his eyes, expecting for the impact of the jar to hit his face, but it never came.

    "Hmph," Petunia muttered from the back of the jar, seemingly controlling it so it wouldn''t fall on the floor.

    "What''s this?" Lei asked and finally took a closer look at the cloudy thing that he was holding.

    "A filtered version of the cumulus cloud from outside," Petunia said while admiring the heaven-like aesthetic of the glowing cloud inside the jars.

    "What does it do?"

    "It contains a toxic acid that reduces the mass of anything or anyone."

    "Isn''t that dangerous to use?"

    "If used without a prescription from an expert like me," Petunia said and shrugged before proceeding to throw the jar carelessly into the air which only made the jar float on its own.

    "How did you do that?" Lei asked and also threw his jar lightly in the air which he also eventually caught with caution.

    "You need to turn it on first," Petunia said as if stating the obvious. But then she remembered that Lei''s expertise differs from hers, so she just let it go and let out a deep sigh while telling herself to just teach Lei how it''s done instead of arguing about it.

    "How?" Lei asked, seemingly interested in the peculiar-looking cloud inside a glass jar.

    When Lei looked at Petunia again, he noticed a naughty grin on Petunia''s face while she was thinking of something, which she then immediately covered with a straight face.

    "You should try wiping the lid of the jar like Aladdin," Petunia said and raised an eyebrow at Lei, waiting for him to do as he was told.

    "O-Okay," Lei said and pulled the hem of his vest so he could wipe the lid of the jar with it.

    But instead of it turning on or glowing like Petunia''s cloud jars, Lei was just met with a burst of loud laughter from Petunia whose plan was to fool him all along.

    "You actually believed that?!" Petunia said with tears of joy in her eyes while Lei was just at a loss for words.

    "Here, I''ll teach you how to turn it on. Although you won''t be seeing anything like this ever again since we''ll be using it to create the flight potion," Petunia said and grabbed the dim cloud jar from Lei who was still speechless after falling for one of Petunia''s obvious lies.

    "You just have to shake it and it will automatically turn on. See that?!" Petunia enthusiastically said after seeing a little lightning flash from the inside of the cloud.

    "And then it will just float on its own. Just like that," Petunia added while letting go of the jar softly, watching it float closer to the other jar who was also shooting little strikes of lightning inside its little cloud on its own.

    "That''s how they reduce the weight of whoever eats it, we could also refer to it as burning fat and excess baggage stuff," Petunia said before looking back at Lei, whom she did not even notice was already standing beside her while also looking at the floating jars as if they were stars in the night sky.

    "How did you find out about it?" he asked while taking a moment to appreciate the calm atmosphere between them and the floating clouds in a jar above.

    "I saw it first from my mom''s notes, she likes astrology and has always wondered about how levitating works."

    "Oh," Lei said, finally coming back to his senses and just forgetting about the little joke that Petunia did earlier.

    "Come on, we still have a lot to pick up before going to the lab," Petunia said and pulled the two floating jars back to them with a string of gummy which she then gave to Lei so he could use it with the jars like a balloon.

    "But how about my question earlier. Isn''t this dangerous to consume?"

    "Like I said, I know what I''m doing. I''m the expert here. Just trust me, alright? Do you trust me?" Petunia suddenly asked which flustered Lei.

    "O-Of course," Lei said with a little bit of hesitation.

    "It doesn''t seem like it," Petunia said and pouted, "Don''t worry. I''ll make sure not to kill you just yet," she then added and smiled before leaving Lei in the first storage room.

    "What does that mean?"

 Chapter 220 - Changes

    "So that''s what happened."

    "Do you think my systems will come back soon? I really don''t want to tell this to anybody yet since they would most probably just advise me to pick a change for my Stat-hut. But I don''t want to change my systems. I only want Mr. Gemini and Lady," Gem said while keeping herself from bursting out of tears again.

    "I think they''ll be back. Don''t worry," Von said and smiled at her for finally knowing that he''s not the real reason why Gem was crying in the first place.

    "I really miss them. I hope they''ll go back to me soon," Gem said and was taken aback when she saw Von offering to her his handkerchief.

    "Thanks," she said softly to Von who was just keeping a sympathetic smile for her on the outside but was actually dying and wanting to take a rest now on the inside.

    "You know, this is also similar to what happened to my Stat-hut when it was first invaded by the Salamandite''s system."

    "What do you mean?" Von said, finally giving up on his desire to take a nap, and just sat on the bed beside Gem''s while facing her.

    "This light. The sudden changes in temperature. It also happened when Mr. Gemini first activated and linked itself to Lady," Gem said and gave the handkerchief back to Von while thinking about it seriously.

    "O-Okay? Welcome¡­" Von said with a very low volume pertaining to the handkerchief that Gem gave back to her with her tears and just shrugged it off.

    "Wait, what do you mean changes in temperature though?" Von added when Gem''s words finally sank in his mind.

    "The changes in temperature! This necklace and earrings became super hot when a problem arose by the time Mr. Gemini was invading the Stat-hut system. It even burned a maid''s hands which made me discover about my healing slimes power!" Gem said and showed Von a ball of healing slimes from her hand just to prove a point.

    "Okay, then? What happened next?"

    "See this?" Gem asked and emphasized the snowflakes on her Salamandite crystal, "it''s now turning into a very extreme cold, opposite from the temperature earlier which even burned my hands multiple times.

    "Oh, careful then," Von said and held Gem''s arms to push it back and away from the necklace which almost frost her fingers to death.

    "Don''t worry, I can just cure it right away," Gem said and put her hands inside the ball of healing slimes that she just showed to Von earlier.

    "See?" she added after pulling her newly cured hands off of it, "but my point is, this is exactly the same thing that happened back then! Although that was mostly the earrings¡­ maybe this time, it was the necklace''s turn to burn? Or freeze?"

    "So you''re saying, there''s also some malfunction going on between your two systems that''s why it''s reacting like this?" Von said, summarizing Gem''s points which immediately made Gem nod at him aggressively.

    "So how did you fix that? That first problem that you encountered with your systems?"

    "I don''t know. It just somehow got fixed by the time I woke up."

    "Then there''s a possibility that the exact same thing might happen to your systems this time around too."

    "But I already slept and woke up. Nothing happened."

    "Maybe tomorrow? Don''t rush it, give them some time to fix their malfunctions. If I were you, I''d be more worried that these kinds of stuff happen in the first place. I mean, what if we were already on the battlefield and your systems just suddenly shut down? Wouldn''t that put us at a disadvantage?"

    "Hmm, you''re right¡­ But my system has nothing to do with my skills anyway, so I think we''ll be just fine if that happens," Gem said carelessly while playing with her healing slimeballs.

    "What about our comms? Do you think we''ll be able to communicate properly on that battlefield?"

    "No. But speaking of the battlefield, you know about the tournament ever since you became aware, right? Can you tell me more information about it? For example the kind of games we''ll be playing or the kind of monsters we''d be fighting?" Gem said with a sudden change of topics and attitude which made Von feel a little bit unsettled.

    "Fine, but only if you promise to give time for your systems to fix itself and not cry about it yet."

    "Okay. I promise," Gem said with a squeaky smile before returning back to her pouty expression.

    "Good."

    "But only until tomorrow, if it still doesn''t work tomorrow I don''t know what I''m going to do anymore. I survived that life without systems back ten, but after having one, I don''t think I could go back to that life anymore. It feels so lonely without them."

    "I know, that''s why I''m here," Von said and shook his head to remind himself of the question that Gem asked him to answer.

    "Now about the tournament¡­ why don''t I just show you the stages so you can have a clearer idea of it for the future?" Von suggested and opened his stat hut.

    But then, after a minute of scrolling down and noticing Gem fidgeting in front of him, he immediately put his stat-hut down and just decided to explain the whole thing for her.

    "Sorry, I forgot you didn''t have your Stat-hut with you," he said.

    "No, it''s okay. I have my glass tablet over here, you can just show me what you''re going to show me with this," Gem said and smiled before returning to her serious face and asking herself why she and Von were weirdly getting along so well.

    "Okay then," Von said and opened his Stat-hut again.

    And while waiting, Gem fell back into her whirlpool of not-so-pleasant memories with Von and compared it to what was happening at the moment.

    "He doesn''t look so grumpy anymore¡­ and he became more understanding than just pure irritated by my mere existence. Did something happen to him while we were busy discovering stuff back at the Edelweiss?" Gem thought to herself before returning her smile when she noticed Von looking at her.

    "Here," Von said and offered his hands which made Gem raise her eyebrows at her while still smiling.

    "Your tab?" Von said, slightly getting annoyed by Gem''s obviously fake smile to him.

    "My tab? What tab?" Gem said and looked around her to find that ''tab'' that Von was asking for.

    But because Von did not want to spark another argument or ugly feelings for how Gem was acting, he just stood up and grabbed the glass tablet beside Gem on his own.

    "Oh, that tab!" Gem said and laughed which irked Von''s uncomfortable self even more.

    "There you go," Von said and gave her back the glass tablet with the exclusive guide of the tournament from the last 4010''s games.

    "Thank you," Gem said with a smile that was now genuine upon receiving the tablet from Von.

    But because there were still voices in Gem''s head that were bothering her about the changes in Von''s attitude, she quickly paused the video and put it down beside her, and looked at Von with a serious face.

    "Did something happen to you? I know we were practically just together the whole time, but am I the only one who''s weirded out by us suddenly getting along like this?" Gem suddenly said and leaned back while reminiscing the time she and Von would always get into a fight whenever chance they got.

    "What''s weird? We even played that game till the end, remember?" Von said, trying to brush it off like it was nothing but, in reality, it was really because of his sudden change of impression of Gem compared to his first impression that was not so good.

    And of course, his newly developed resolution to be a mature prince of this island, not just for himself, but also for the sake of Demi and others.

    "I know¡­ But I just can''t believe how different we are now than when we first met, I still can''t forget about that time when we both almost died because of your ugly attitude, you know?" Gem said and showed him a not-so-pleasant expression with her tucked lips and slightly raised eyebrows.

    "Yeah, that was not cool."

    "Tch, who says you''re cool now?" Gem said with an annoyed expression that slightly turned into a smirk while imagining what would happen if she said those exact same words before to the old Von.

    "Tch," Von said and turned around to try and take a nap while waiting for Gem to finish the video he just recommended which made Gem laugh even louder.

    "Is that still the exact same ''tch'' you used to do when ignoring everybody? Because for some reason it''s getting more tolerable now!" Gem purposely shouted behind Von before proceeding with the video while calming herself down.

    "That''s what you get for comforting a crying girl, Von," Von whispered to make the situation more bearable before finally forcing himself to sleep while Gem was now busy with the video.

    "Thanks for this by the way," Gem said after calming down and even gave Von a blanket from the cabinets which he then accepted without any complaints.

    "I''ll be silent now," Gem added before wrapping herself around her own blankets and finally focusing on the video guide of the 4010''s Dekadalaw tournament.

 Chapter 221 - No Rules

    "Why are we the only ones here? Shouldn''t we wait for the others so they could also help?" Lei suddenly said to Petunia who was preoccupied with organizing the stuff that they need to make the flight potion inside the third laboratory under the castle.

    "I thought you wanted to make the flight potion as soon as possible? Do you want me to stop organizing this and just put the ingredients back in the storage right now?"

    "No! I was just curious since something happened to Gem last night and I haven''t seen Fily anywhere since this morning."

    "Well, Fily is still sleeping right now, I believe she deserves to rest and go back to her hibernating schedule after staying awake for more than a week because of that Edelweiss trip, and Gem''s still resting because of what happened last night, so I don''t really mind if they''re not here to help."

    "How about Von? Should I call him?" Lei asked and was about to call Von when Petunia stopped her.

    "Actually, no. I don''t think Von would be much of a help either. He''d probably just sit around in a corner and sleep just like what he did last time. So no thanks."

    "Okay¡­ you''re really okay with just me helping you?" Lei said, getting awkward now because of his series of useless questions which obviously has no effect on Petunia, but he could not stop now. He started it, so he should at least end it on a good note.

    "To be honest with you? I don''t need your help. I only let you join because you begged me to. I can make the flight potion on my own, especially since I have a human body now so it''s up to you if you still want to stay or not. Either way, I don''t care. I can do just fine on my own... but having a helping hand also won''t hurt," Petunia said with a very icy tone that she then toned down on the last sentence after seeing Lei''s enthusiastic face gone.

    "Okay," Lei said, sulking a little bit because of the useless topic that he brought up and Petunia responded bluntly, making the atmosphere a lot more awkward between them, just when they were about to have a good bond.

    "Bring me water from the trees. Oh, and also the Energy slimes! I forgot about that! I should have asked Gem to give me a bottle of those too when she restocked my healing slimes!"

    "Should I go there and fetch them for you?" Lei said without looking at Petunia which made Petunia guiltier about what she said.

    "No thanks, I''ll just zap my way there through the window and hopefully find the right window back here," Petunia said and flew to the ventilation system like a cat, but because of her human body, she was unable to get in fully and even cursed herself for doing something so stupid in front of Lei who was also as speechless at her for that other awkward thing that happened between the two of them.

    "There''s a window here¡­ you know?" Lei said, remembering Petunia''s words that originally said ''windows'' which made him question Petunia''s sanity the moment she climbed inside the vent on the ceiling like a cat, which she isn''t anymore.

    "Oh, right! I was going there, I just got a little bit confused," Petunia said and laughed awkwardly while still avoiding eye contact with Lei.

    "Careful, you might hit your head again," Lei said and jumped to the table near the window so he could guide Petunia''s human body outside, which he was sure that Petunia was still uncomfortable with since it was still her second day with that form, after all.

    "Thanks," Petunia said with a very shy volume which Lei almost couldn''t hear if he was not reading Petunia''s lips when she said it.

    "No problem, just get back here quickly," Lei said and waved goodbye to Petunia who was now flying outside of the island.

    "I didn''t notice this room was just beside the rock walls of the island, I wonder why they decided to put the secret rooms beside the sky. Wouldn''t that serve as a welcoming sign for the intruders to enter this sacred place that easily? Especially if they have a map of this secret basement," Lei wondered to himself before returning to his position in front of the white marble table earlier where Petunia organized the stuff they collected from the storage rooms.

    "Thunder cloud," he muttered while picking up the jar of clouds that Petunia thought her how to use earlier and shook it until the clouds boomed with little flashes of lightning in between.

    "Amazing," he remarked before deciding to also play with the rest of them so he would not be bored while waiting for Petunia to come back.

    ***

    "So you''re saying, we need to kill as many monsters as we can from the outside to collect nova stars?"

    "Yes, and these monsters have different nova stars'' value on them. For example, killing a poisonous python would give our team an additional 25 points each but killing a mayon dragon like that one would give us at least a hundred thousand nova stars each or even more depending on the circumstances," Von explained while pointing at the dragon inside a volcano that made Yumeki betray her allies at the last two stages of the game.

    "How about killing your opponents, does that have any rewards?" Gem asked innocently, the image of how Yumeki killed her allies still fresh inside her brain.

    "They don''t. But that''s less competition for you."

    "But isn''t that illegal?" Gem asked while getting agitated about the way Yumeki was still praised for killing the teams who were with her the whole time and even helped her get to the top just to be betrayed by her in the end.

    "Have you forgotten what kind of place the wastelands are?" Von genuinely asked which made Gem feel a pain in her heart for forgetting how ruthless that place was for a second.

    "You''re right. There are no rules there. Only chaos and the desperation to survive," Gem said with an empty expression as she recalled the horrible memories she had when she was still living in the wastelands like an animal.

    "I''m sorry you had to go back there. You shouldn''t have accepted mom''s offer when you first heard it. You came here to have a better life, not to train so you could go back there and fight for your life again," Von said with much honesty that Gem did not even understand where it was coming from.

    "No, it''s okay. I came here to have a life, but I''m going back there to serve a better purpose. Change will never happen if I don''t do something now. Choosing to stay here and having a better life by myself is equivalent to me saying it''s okay for those people to suffer just like me. And I don''t want that. What Venedette did to me was enough to convince me to do this, whether it may cost my life or not. I''m ready for it."

    "You mean, we''re still getting ready for it," Von said and smiled, admiring Gem''s mature thinking that he had only ignored before.

    "Right," Gem said and also smiled at him, "But what about you? What''s your reason for suddenly stopping your immature ways and voluntarily joining this team instead of looking like you''re being forced by Venedette?" Gem said and put the tablet beside her while focusing on Von''s shy response.

    "Is it too obvious?" he said and smiled giddily while trying to hide his face from Gem''s stare.

    "Not really," Gem shrugged and urged Von to answer her real question now.

    "Well¡­ for one, I just really want to be a big brother for Demi. I may have done nothing when she was still alive but I''m not letting go of this chance right now especially when it''s being shoved into my face," Von said jokingly which made Gem laugh.

    "But seriously, my reason is almost as similar as yours. I don''t want to be ignorant and just let other kids experience what Demi had gone through just because I chose to do nothing. I also want to be a change. And defeating Yumeki is the first step to that change," Von stated with so much seriousness that he almost choked himself to death after hearing Petunia''s slow claps from the window.

    "So this is where you''ve been hiding all along," she said while approaching Gem slowly with her awkwardly tall human body.

    "Petunia!" Gem greeted her and even went for a hug, which was another new thing to Petunia, considering how she had always seen Gem bigger than her cat body compared to her size now.

    "Yes, it''s me, you''re welcome," Petunia said awkwardly even though she was really enjoying Gem''s hug deep inside.

    "Ouch!"

    "Oops, sorry. It''s my necklace, it has been malfunctioning since I got stuck in Solitude," Gem said and laughed as if she were just okay all this time.

    "So, what do we have here?" Petunia said and looked at Von while letting Gem cure the frostbite on her upper chest that her Salamandite did due to its very cold temperature.

    "Nothing. I was just telling Gem some trivia about the tournament," Von said and hid behind his blanket, embarrassed about how he did not even notice Petunia sneaking up behind them from the window because of his overwhelming thoughts.

    "Oh?" Petunia said, sounding unconvinced but just shrugged it off for the sole reason that it was not the main purpose of her visit after all.

 Chapter 222 - Chaos

    "Anyways, what brought you here, Petunia?" Gem asked with a cheery tone, something that Petunia found questionable when she was supposed to be mourning for her two systems that just suddenly disappeared.

    But at the same time, her cheerful reaction was kind of justified by the comfortable and playful atmosphere between her and Von which just made Petunia shrug it off and went straight to the point.

    "I need your Energy slimes," Petunia briefly said, stopping in front of Gem with her arms crossed after walking around the room earlier while observing the unnatural peaceful atmosphere between her and Von earlier.

    "Okayy," Gem said and quickly prepared herself for another power release.

    But instead of the cyan healing slimes that she released earlier, this time Gem needed to release a more golden shade of slimeball from her veins, which was a harder task compared to the healing slimes, but she still did it without complaints.

    "Here you go," Gem cheerfully said and was about to give Petunia the slime ball when she suddenly remembered to ask what it was for.

    "Wait, why do you need Energy slimes though?" Gem said, pausing her action in front of Petunia''s empty vial waiting to be filled with the golden energy slimes.

    "Oh, Lei and I are currently making the flight potion down the basement," Petunia answered and shrugged while waiting for Gem to continue.

    But because of the shock, Gem was only able to cover her mouth and enlargen her eyes by the excitement of hearing what Petunia and Lei were currently at with the flight potion.

    "Really!?! You''re really making the flight potions now?!"

    "As I''ve said, we''re on it now. That''s why I need your Energy slimes," Petunia said and raised the bottle to Gem''s eye level to urge her to continue but Gem only pushed the bottle aside, making Petunia almost lose her patience because of it.

    But instead of shouting to the ever-enthusiastic Gem, Petunia just took a deep breath and tried to say her intentions calmly this time, "Give me the energy slimes now so I can go back and continue with the potion already," Petunia said and opened her eyes with a matching fake smile to convince her to hold her patience longer.

    "Can I join you guys?" Gem said with sparkling eyes which also made Von look concerned.

    "But aren''t we studying about the tournament just now?" Von asked after moving out of his blanket.

    "This is more important," Gem said with an indifferent expression to him before looking back at Petunia with the same sparkly eyes.

    "F-Fine, let''s just get on with it already," Petunia said and shoved the bottle in Gem''s hands before flying towards the windows.

    "Come on," Petunia said while looking back at them which woke Gem up from daydreaming about being able to fly by herself soon.

    "Oh, right!" Gem said and quickly transferred the floating ball of energy slimes to the bottle and started pestering Von to wake up and come with them too.

    "What?! I don''t want to. I can already fly, what''s the point of learning about the flight potion anymore?"

    "Tch, I thought you were now a different Von than your lazy prince self?"

    "I am! I just don''t see the point in doing this!"

    "Then just join us! It wouldn''t hurt to have one more person there, right?" Gem said while looking at Petunia who just pouted and shrugged at her as if saying ''I guess so''.

    "Please?!" Gem said and was about to stop pestering Von already with her last attempt, but thankfully, Von just suddenly stood up and rolled his eyes at her.

    "Fine. But I''m only doing this because I want to go back down there, alright?" Von said and was about to go straight to the door where Gem was also heading to earlier when Petunia just suddenly stopped them.

    "Don''t go there. Just carry Gem and follow me. I know a faster way to go down there," Petunia said and almost decided to darg the two down the windows if they would stand longer in front of the door while looking curiously at each other.

    "Come on! Lei''s waiting," Petunia said and immediately flew away which pressured Von into carrying Gem who just let him carry her with no words for convenience.

    "This may be the last time you''ll get to carry me like this. Next time, I''ll carry you instead if you''re up to it!" Gem said with a very smiley face that even if her words were definitely insulting, Von just easily let it go while thinking that it was just a joke even though Gem was really serious about it.

    "Ohh? You don''t believe me?" Gem said and crossed her eyebrows cutely which only made Von shake his head in disbelief.

    "As if I''d let you do that," Von said and kicked his speed faster to catch up to Petunia who was mysteriously heading down to the cliffs where a lot of horrifying memories happened between him and Gem starting with the free-fall thing.

    "Why are we heading here?" Von asked despite the pressure in the air to Petunia who was just silent the whole time.

    He even tightened his hold on Gem in case something horrifying happens again, although there was no way he''d let that happen again.

    "I swear the laboratory was just over here," Petunia said while hovering over the rocky walls of the island, two levels below the ground.

    "There! Is that Lei?" Gem said while pointing at a very small piercing on the walls which was the same window that Petunia went through earlier, which was also very unnoticeable because of the lack of difference in the materials that were used to carve the walls and the original rocks of the island.

    "Right! Nice eye!" Petunia said and took the lead back to the laboratory where she left Lei at.

    "Oh hey! You''re back," Lei said while scratching the back of his head because of the mess he accidentally made.

    "What have you done?!" Petunia said before sneaking inside from the window and suddenly getting showered by an artificial rain that was developed by the clouds in the bottle that was now obviously outside of the bottle and covering the entirety of the ceiling with its heavy gray color.

    "Oh my gosh! I''m so sorry! I really didn''t mean it! I thought the cloud was spilling out of the bottle so I tried opening it to push it back but then they just suddenly flew outside and went out of control! I could barely even keep them from escaping through the window and the doors which was a hard task, mind you because I had nothing in me that could contain these huge chunks of clouds that are now just suddenly angry!" Lei said, obviously panicking about the whole situation especially after seeing Petunia''s annoyed face.

    "Get. Away. From. Me," Petunia said while slowly pushing his hands away with the towel that he was trying to use to help dry Petunia from that specific rain shower that the angry cloud purposely sprayed on her.

    "O-Okay," Lei said with a very low volume which he then followed with receding footsteps from Petunia who seemed to have been preparing for a big fight against this angry ass cloud that was making whirls and thunders inside the not so big laboratory room.

    "Whoa! What''s happening here?!" Gem said while hesitating to go inside of the room due to the very damp floor and the obvious bad weather inside, which she only disregarded when she heard Von asking her to go ahead inside the room.

    "Gem! Von!" Lei said and quickly crept up behind them, afraid that Petunia would change her mind and throw her anger at him instead of the grumbling cloud which she was now getting prepared to face.

    "What is that?!" Von whispered with much confusion to Gem who only answered "A cloud?" before taking a closer look and finally realizing that it was a familiar kind of cloud to her after all.

    "Wait- is this the same cloud from the wastelands?! The toxic one?" Gem asked Lei who only looked at her with innocent eyes before nodding hesitantly.

    "What?! How did this get here?! What are we still doing here?! Go outside now! Quickly! This cloud shits acid and other dangerous stuff! How are you still alive?!" Gem freaked out and was totally ready to carry Von and Lei outside the door if needed but then Lei held her hand and stopped her immediately.

    "Wait! I think Petunia said something about filtering it or making it less dangerous, or something," Lei said with deteriorating confidence about what he was talking about since he was the one who started the chaos in the first place.

    "What?! I can''t hear you!" Gem said as the gushing of the wind started getting louder inside the room where Petunia was trying to capture the cloud again inside the bottle.

    "Why tf did you shower it with water?!" Petunia suddenly shouted in their direction which made the three of them cower in fear of her dominant angry voice.

    "I- I didn''t! It just suddenly went to the tree sink and sucked the water out of the faucet!" Lei tried to reason even though Petunia was obviously not listening to him anymore.

    "Let''s get out of here!" Gem suggested to the two boys who only nodded at her while still watching Petunia deal with the angry cloud on her own.

    "Ahh, this is chaos!" Gem said after shielding herself from a piece of flying equipment on their way to the door.

 Chapter 223 - Blue Heart

    "You want to do this the hard way, huh?" Petunia said with a frown to the cloud that was still out of control.

    "Is she going to use her Gummy cloud to battle against that angry cloud?" Von asked with a slightly amused tone which made Gem hit him lightly in the arm for making a very serious disaster into a joke.

    "Wait¡­ There''s another cloud there! I forgot about it!" Lei said and started walking back and forth with his hands over his face.

    "What do you mean there''s another cloud back there?" Gem said and tried to make sense of what Lei was saying.

    "A jar! There''s a jar inside that room with another cloud that''s similar to that one!"

    "And?" Gem asked while paying full attention to what Lei was trying to say.

    "And it will cause more problems for Petunia if it also manages to escape its jar!" Lei said and peeked inside the laboratory through the glass window of the door with haste.

    "What does it look like? I''ll go get it," Gem said and was about to open the door when Von suddenly held her wrist and stopped her.

    "Or we could just tell Petunia about it, I''m sure she can handle it," Von suggested and was already ready to chat Petunia with his stat-hut but stopped mid-way when he saw Gem shaking her head.

    "I''ll go help her. You two stay here," Gem said and pushed Lei aside from the door and went inside of it without hesitation.

    And because of the strong current of the whirlwind inside of the laboratory room, the door quickly shut itself behind Gem, blasting the boys with a splash from the cloud''s rampage and leaving them alone on the previously spotless hallways which have never experienced something so tremendously chaotic and destructive before.

    "Do we have a dryer or something to fix ourselves with down here?" Von asked while staying in a frozen position and letting the water drip down his body and clothes to the glossy white floor.

    "I think there''s a full-body disinfection chamber inside one of the rooms down here."

    "Does it help with drying wet clothes or something?"

    "Probably¡­ we''ll just have to go and see. And also help clean this mess later," Lei said and eyed the mess that his clumsy hands made before gliding down the hallways with Von.

    ***

    "Petunia! I came here to help!" Gem said and dodged a flying microscope, making her wearier of her surroundings especially after hearing a frustrated growl from Petunia.

    "Oh, you''re fighting back now, huh?" Petunia growled with a lower voice than usual which made Gem second guess her decision to tell Petunia about her plan to help.

    "I-I''ll just look for the other cloud in a jiffy and go back outside," Gem muttered silently without an intention to distract Petunia before taking a deep breath and roaming her eyes around the chaotic room to look for the other cloud in a bottle.

    "You really want to do this the hard way, huh?!" Petunia said and purposely dropped the glass bottle she was holding, making a shattering sound that rang across the whole room.

    "Whoa!" Gem jumped and then hid under the tilted table beside the windows.

    "Where is it?!" she said frustratedly while watching Petunia go full-on rage mode towards the dim clouds in the ceiling.

    And without even being able to take one step away from her hiding place, Gem was once again caught by surprise by the loud thunder that hit a part in the walls which was most likely the electric system of the whole room, judging by the emergency lights that just suddenly stopped from blinking after being hit by that lightning.

    "Glass. Jar. I  need to find a glass jar with a cloud in it!" Gem thought to herself with haste while looking around and stressing about the lights going out especially when she needed them the most.

    "AAAARGHH!" Gem heard Petunia shout before jumping to the cloud with a glowing blue vial that was wrapped tightly around her left hand.

    "FREEZE!" she heard Petunia shout, but instead of watching the rest of what was happening between Petunia and the cloud, Gem turned her head around and went to look for the glass jar of that other cloud.

    "What if it has already escaped and joined that big cloud up there?" Gem thought and turned her eyes towards the dark cloud that was slowly gaining a blue light from the inside.

    "What-?" Gem thought and slapped herself to just focus on her goal, but the distracting blue light kept calling her eyes to look back at the cloud again.

    "What is Petunia doing?" Gem asked herself after noticing that Petunia was nowhere to be found in the classroom anymore.

    Not even to mention the rapidly increasing size of the cloud that was making the room look smaller every second.

    "I wish Fily was here," Gem said and made her way through the chaos and to the door where she paused for a minute because of the glowing blue thing inside of the cloud.

    "What is that?" Gem thought and looked back to her hands that were already ready to open the door any minute now.

    "I should go and check it out first," she said and let go of the door''s handle, looking for a way to stop the increasing size of the cloud that could be very dangerous to the whole island if not contained immediately.

    "Where is it getting its size from?" Gem asked herself while looking around the room with her narrowed eyes.

    Aside from the scattered objects on the ground, Gem noticed a weird pipe made of cloud that was connected to the tree sinks on the two corners of the room.

    "That must be where the cloud is getting its size from!" Gem said and immediately made her way towards one of the cloud pipes on the nearest right corner of the room to maybe try and stop it with whatever method that she can use.

    But to Gem''s surprise, the pipe in front of her just suddenly stopped working and became frozen, similar to what was happening on the other parts of the cloud which must have been the work of Petunia.

    "Crush it!" Petunia shouted from the inside of the cloud which surprised Gem as she thought that Petunia had already run away from this chaos.

    "O-Okay!" Gem said and quickly grabbed the nearest thing she could find that would be able to help her crush the frozen cloud pipe, which was the same microscope that almost hit her earlier.

    "That too!" Petunia said while pointing at the other corner of the room where the other frozen pipe was and told her to hurry before disappearing inside of the cloud again.

    "Okay! On it!" Gem said and leaped her way towards the other end of the room where the cloud stopped from inflating and just left a space that was already just enough for a child like her to fit in.

    If Petunia had just been a minute or a second late, there wouldn''t be any space for Gem to crush the frozen cloud pipes anymore.

    But just as Gem thought everything was finished already, the cloud started sprouting more pipes in every corner of the room, trying to get to the faucet again and fill itself with water that was already flooding the room.

    "Oh no! Petunia! Help!! The cloud''s flooding the whole room!" Gem said and tried to see if she could pass through the cloud just like how any normal cloud could be passed through easily.

    And although it was not easy, Gem made a relieved sigh after noticing her hand sinking inside the dark cloud whose texture was almost as similar as Petunia''s gummy cloud, only heavier because of the overloaded water in every vapor.

    "Maybe I can make my way to the door by passing through the cloud?" Gem thought and used her super strength and super speed to push the cloud out of her way.

    But unfortunately for her, the more Gem pushed the cloud away from her, the more water gets dropped into the floor which was already as high as her knees at that point.

    "Petunia!!" Gem shouted with a loud heartbeat. Not being able to understand how they got into this mess in the first place.

    But just as Gem was about to have a mental block from the stress, the blue light coming inside of the cloud piqued her attention again, calling for her to just go there instead of heading for the door which seemed to be an impossible task anymore.

    "What is that?"

    "Careful! Gem!" Petunia shouted when she sensed Gem''s presence joining her inside of the more dangerous body of the cloud where the cloud could feel exactly where they are and target them with all of its resources.

    "Can you see that blue light? It''s like coming from the heart of the cloud. We should head there!" Gem said and noticed Petunia''s frown.

    "I have been trying to go in there for the past five minutes but the security is just too much! I even ran out of Freezing potions," Petunia said and threw the now-empty vial of the freezing potion outside of the cloud while standing back-to-back with Gem.

    "Let''s get this over with," Gem said and started kicking off the dangerous things that the cloud had been throwing at them ever since she joined Petunia inside of it.

 Chapter 224 - Frozen

    "I''ll take care of this, you go and get that other bottle of cloud before it finds a way to escape!" Petunia said and started using her Gummy cloud more like a weapon than just being a flying dress.

    "Go!"

    "Okay! I''m on it!" Gem said and took cover under Petunia''s Gummy cloud until the end of the empty space inside the cloud where the floor just suddenly dropped to a lower level.

    "It''s getting bigger, oh no," Gem muttered to herself and tried to push the wall of water-like cloud between her and the other bottle which the active cloud was trying to help escape.

    But then, the more Gem tried pushing the wall, the more her feet sank inside the cloud''s floor, making Gem assume that the cloud was doing it on purpose since Petunia was just out there distracting it.

    So it was basically doing three things at a time, not even to mention the random lightning strikes that Gem and Petunia needed to be careful with a lot because of the water''s conductivity.

    "I can''t sink down there right now¡­ I don''t have Solitude to escape to!" Gem thought to herself before fixing her stance and trying even harder to push herself through the water wall.

    "AAARGH!!" Gem shouted and noticed her necklace glowing brighter the more she tried to exert more power.

    "I''m not weak!!" Gem said and successfully pushed herself through the water, which turned out to be full of water after all! Instead of just being a wall.

    "Ahh! Wait! I didn''t breathe enough to last long inside here!" Gem thought to herself while swimming around to the wall which was once again hard to breakthrough.

    "Auuugh!!! What should I do?" she added and looked around, trying to find the other cloud inside the glass, which she then fortunately found in the middle of the makeshift pool inside the cloud''s body.

    The water over there was clearer and calmer compared to the storm outside, and because of the light coming from Gem''s necklace and the glowing calm cloud inside of the glass jar, the water inside the makeshift pool seemed less intimidating and more like a fit place for a vacation.

    "Focus, Gem! We only have how many seconds left inside this place? We can''t die right here! Now move!" Gem''s survival instincts kicked in and reminded Gem of the reality she was in right now.

    Since Gem did not inhale enough air to last long underwater, Gem felt the pressure running through her veins.

    "What should I do first??? Should I run to the outside now or grab the bottle first? It''s at least five meters away from me¡­ I don''t know if I can last that long!" Gem''s fear spoke.

    "Stop wasting time and just go do it Gem!" Gem''s mind said which made Gem swim to the bottle immediately.

    "I''m going out here with you, alive or not!" Gem thought and pushed herself harder towards the blue heart of the angry cloud.

    But little did Gem know her Salamandite was still actually malfunctioning. Up until she grabbed the glass jar and tried swimming back to the water walls, Gem felt a chilling temperature that was not there before.

    And because superhumans are not actually sensitive to temperature, it was only until Gem was already running out of breath that she noticed the jar freezing from her hands.

    "Ahhh, what is happening?!" Gem asked with a very light-headed vision.

    "I need to get out quickly!!" Gem thought while the pressure of her blood was rising to her upper body.

    She tried kicking her way out of the wall, but the wall''s resistance was as strong as ten elephants!

    "What''s happening??" Gem thought in despair as her strength decline the longer she stayed breathless.

    "Help me¡­ Help me!!" Gem tried to shout but the water only went inside her mouth, making it harder for her to focus and keep her cool.

    "Gem!!" she heard Petunia''s muffled voice from outside of the water walls.

    "Go up!! Gem!! Swim upwards!!" Petunia said desperately while pounding on the water wall to get Gem''s attention who could only ever see flashes of what was happening in front of her.

    Gem had never felt the dangers of doing something so risky before, thanks to her Salamandite that has always kept her safe and out of danger.

    But now that she''s actually in danger, the thought of no one saving her finally sank in Gem''s head.

    "How did I get here?" she asked.

    Was it Lei''s fault? Because he accidentally let this raging cloud out of its bottle? But what about the other bottle? Why is the cloud there still inside? Why is it not ranging like this one?

    A lot of thoughts crossed Gem at the moment, it was almost as if she were already dead.

    It was the exact same reaction when she almost died upon crossing the fiery borders and when she and Von fell down the cliffs of the island.

    Having regrets and a lot of questions, but still accepting the result nonetheless.

    Gem even closed her eyes and let the water take over her body.

    But to Gem''s surprise, it didn''t happen.

    "Gem!! Oh my gosh! Why didn''t you swim!?" Gem heard Petunia''s worried voice and slowly felt her body coming back to her.

    "I''m asking you! Why didn''t you swim up!!?" Petunia said even louder and stroke Gem in the back to push the water out of her lungs.

    "Ughh," Gem murmured and proceeded to spill out all the water that she accidentally inhaled back to the calm pool.

    Turns out, there was an opening to pool from the upper part of the cloud which was not totally covering the roof at all, unlike what they had thought.

    And what''s more surprising, was the fact that this opening was made by Petunia who just punched all existing frozen clouds from the top, allowing them to make a platform there to stand on.

    "Did you do this?" Petunia asked calmly after finally seeing Gem calm down, pertaining to the freezing cold temperature up the clouds and the suddenly frozen state of the cloud that was just rampaging earlier.

    "H-Huh?" Gem asked and finally looked around the situation for the first time.

    But instead of paying attention to the sudden changes of temperature with the cloud, Gem just proceeded to look down the pool where she accidentally left the other jar of cloud in.

    "I need to get that," Gem said without paying attention to Petunia who immediately stopped her from diving into the pool again.

    "The pool''s frozen," Petunia said while holding Gem''s arms tightly, "Why did you even come here? You almost died!" she added which made Gem pout while stifling her coughs from almost drowning.

    "I-I thought you needed some help," Gem said and was prepared to get scolded by Petunia again, but instead of lashing out, Petunia just looked down and calmed herself down.

    "What happened here?" Gem asked after finally noticing the frozen state of everything that was around them, including the cloud that just suddenly stopped moving after being completely frozen.

    "I don''t know. You tell me," Petunia said to Gem and paused when she felt something weird with her body.

    Something familiar that she had only experienced once before.

    "Petunia! You-"

    "I know, just wait¡­" Petunia said and hid inside her almost ruined Gummy cloud as she transformed back into her cat form.

    "Oh no, this is such a mess," Gem said after looking around the ruined laboratory for the third time.

    "Well, at least the cloud''s not rampaging anymore. We should get the water out of it first and put it back inside its bottle. These clouds are really dangerous especially if they had been disturbed," Petunia said while walking out of her Gummy cloud cover, now back to her more familiar cat body than her human body which caused her more inconvenience with the fight earlier.

    "What do you mean disturbed? Did Lei do something to disturb this cloud?" Gem asked with a slightly annoyed impression on Lei who almost got her killed.

    "No, it''s not. It''s something more complicated than just a simple toss and plays that Lei and I were doing earlier. Lei is in no way compatible with making this very complex thing very upset to start chaos. It''s almost as if someone did it on purpose," Petunia said with an air of wonder, somehow having an idea in her mind about who it was that really upset the cloud.

    Although she saw no signs of abnormality with the cloud earlier when she took it, Petunia was still sure that it was not Lei''s fault. Because if it was, then it must mean that Lei had some knowledge about Alchemy after all, unlike what he''s claiming to be.

    "Who do you think did it?" Gem asked and saw Petunia contemplating whether to answer her or not

    "I''m not sure but¡­" Petunia said and went in for a whisper.

 Chapter 225 - Lie

    "Should we go back now?" Lei asked Von who was still taking his time to dry himself with the hand dryer they found in one of the rooms not far from where the laboratory was.

    "Should we?" Von asked and turned the dryer again as if trying to prolong their stay.

    "I''m worried about them. We shouldn''t have left their side. What if something happened to them? I don''t feel too good about this," Lei said with an urgency to go back now even though Von was clearly against it.

    "You should go first then, I didn''t come here to help clean that mess that you made," Von said and turned the blower again aggressively.

    "Okay," Lei said with a guilty tone and went out of the room by himself.

    Somehow, Lei was really feeling like there was something wrong happening inside that room with the cloud. And to think that he even let Gem go inside there even though it was very dangerous.

    "I shouldn''t have listened to Von''s suggestion and watched out for them instead,'''' Lei whispered to himself before running ahead to the room where Gem and Fily were.

    On the other hand...

    "Hmm¡­" Von muttered while thinking about whether he should go and help them to embody his ''maturity'' or just stay here and wait for them to finish all the work like what he had been used to doing when he was still a child.

    "On second thought, maybe I should just go and help them. Even though it really had nothing to do with me. This is a good opportunity for me to change my ways. Right! I should avoid being the old me and start changing, little by little," Von thought and was about to step out of the room confidently when his feet got cemented to the floor.

    "But I really don''t want to work," he said the words that his heart was telling him.

    "But how about Gem and the others? It''s going to be unfair for them to do all the work when Lei''s the only one responsible for this. Should I go and help them just so I can prove my change?" Von thought out loud and took his time to sort out his contrasting thoughts.

    "I should just go and at least be there for them¡­ And if ever they decide to ask for my help, then I should go and help them. There''s no more escaping this. I''m the one who chose to come with them anyway, even though I only came because Gem was really pushing¡­" Lei thought and shook the bad thoughts out of his head.

    "Let''s go."

    ***

    "What are we going to do about this now?" Gem asked Petunia while sliding from the top of the cloud.

    She then used half of her strength to punch through the now ice wall where the other cloud in the jar was inside.

    "We should clean this, of course," Petunia said and rolled her eyes.

    "But isn''t this too much to clean by ourselves?"

    "You''re right. But do you want to tell Venedette about this mess?" Petunia said, challenging Gem with the thought that has never crossed her mind before while watching all this mess inside one of the very secured and historical laboratory rooms.

    "A little bit. She''s the princess here, doesn''t she have the right to know?"

    "But if we clean this place and restore it back to normal then she wouldn''t need to know about this anymore, right?" Petunia said and started melting the ice with her Gummy cloud that could also act as a warmer just by activating a different chemical compound on its skin.

    "Nice point. But still. At least she would be aware of the stuff happening in here, especially when we almost got killed by it."

    "She doesn''t need to know," Petunia said with an annoyed tone, "We just need to clean this up and return it back to normal. It wouldn''t be that hard since this is just water anyway," Petunia added while sporting a fake smile.

    ''Wow, she''s really against telling Venedette about this, huh?'' Gem thought to herself before nodding innocently.

    ''Since she saved me, I should do this much to her,'' Gem thought and proceeded to help with melting the ice with a part of Petunia''s gummy cloud which was also burning Gem''s hand.

    But since Gem had an enormous supply of healing slimes in her hand, she just didn''t mind the hot sting from the Gummy cloud and just worked harder to finish the task better.

    "Why did this happen anyway?" Gem asked after a few minutes of not talking and just working with Petunia.

    "Ask Lei," Petunia only said and turned around from her when suddenly, the door opened and Lei was shown behind it.

    "Lei!" Gem greeted him with a smile that immediately faded after remembering what she and Petunia were just talking about.

    "C-Can you help me with this? It seemed like something''s stuck here," Lei said while trying to push the door open but the door would only open until a few centimeters.

    "Oh," Gem said and stood up to go towards him and help.

    There was a huge ice cube blocking the door which was caused by the knee-level flood earlier.

    It was even a surprise for Gem that the flood did not reach the hallways outside the doors so much.

    "This door must have been very secured," Gem thought to herself before trying to crack the ice floor with her sheer strength.

    "Arg!!" Gem attempted punching it but then, she heard Lei knocking on the door and calling her name, obviously calling for her attention.

    "Hey, use this," Lei said and slid a sharp hammer through the gap in the door after seeing huge blocks of ice and traces of the giant angry cloud earlier that was now frozen.

    "What happened here?" Lei asked while watching Gem crack the block of ice floor open from the window on the door.

    "We don''t know," Gem simply said and shrugged before dropping the tool on the floor and using all her strength to lift the piece of ice blocking the doorway.

    "There you go," Gem said and tried opening the door into a wider angle, just enough for a medium-sized human such as Lei to pass through.

    "What do you mean you don''t know? Weren''t you the ones fighting this thing here earlier?" Lei asked while roaming his eyes around. Immediately became fascinated by the shape of the angry cloud that even had a face that was frowning to the wall that was only a few centimeters away from it.

    And while Gem only shook her head as a response, Lei also saw the makeshift pool at the heart of the cloud with the hole that Gem made to take the other cloud in the jar out.

    "Oh, you''re here," Petunia said after seeing Lei roaming around the now ruined laboratory.

    "This looks amazing! What happened? Oh, and I forgot to ask, but are you guys okay?" Lei said, somehow trying to be a more decent person after causing this very big ruckus that went in the way of their creation of the flight potion.

    "Obviously," Petunia said and rolled her cat eyes away from Lei before whispering, "not," which Lei also heard since the room had not enough space for them to keep secrets from each other.

    "Why is that? Did something happen?" Lei asked, checking Gem and Petunia again if they had scars or something that could be the reason why Petunia said not.

    But aside from Petunia changing back to her cat form and their reactions, there''s nothing really different with this Petunia and Gem from earlier.

    "Oh, wow, what happened here?" Von, who had just arrived late to the party, said after entering the room also through the small opening of the door that Gem made.

    "Dunno," Gem said to him with a matching shrug of the shoulders before returning back to what she was doing.

    "Hey," Lei said, trying to make Petunia respond to his question, but the moment he came and touched Petunia''s shoulder for a response, Petunia just suddenly burst out the words that she was dying to tell Lei earlier.

    "Did you know that Gem almost died because of your carelessness!!" Petunia said and tears just started falling off her cheeks which made Lei take a step back from her with a flustered expression.

    "Gem almost- what?" Von repeated and looked at Lei like he was about to commit murder.

    "But didn''t you just say to me that this isn''t Lei''s fault entirely?" Gem asked Petunia to help lessen the tension between the three of them.

    "And besides, I''m fine. I didn''t die. You all know I can''t die, right?" Gem added with a knowing look at Petunia who was just about to complain about what she was saying since her Salamandite was not working yet and it was just a lie.

    "Okay, I''m sorry," Petunia said and took a deep breath to get her thoughts straight.

 Chapter 226 - Move On

    "Wait, what did you mean by that, Gem?" Lei asked which made Gem nervous as to why he was asking her about the lie that she had just shamelessly said.

    "B-By what?" Gem said, pretending to not understand what Lei was asking about in an attempt to get out of the situation smoothly.

    "Didn''t you just say something about this not entirely my fault?" Lei asked in hopes that he could clear himself of the crime that he had accidentally committed, which made Gem sigh in relief.

    "Oh! So that was what you were talking about?" Gem laughed awkwardly.

    "Yes, what did you think it was?" Lei asked with his eyes narrowing at Gem.

    "Nothing! Uhmm¡­" Gem said and looked at Petunia for permission to tell Lei what she just told her earlier.

    "Go on," Petunia said in approval.

    "Okay!" Gem said and started telling the two newcomers about Petunia''s theory about the cloud earlier without hesitation.

    "Really?" Lei said and looked at Petunia who was now the one avoiding his eyes.

    "We''re not sure yet. But can you tell us first about what you were doing before that cloud went out of the jar?" Gem asked Lei, somehow getting serious about the number of mysterious things happening subsequently in just one day.

    "I was just trying out the trick that Petunia taught me with the jars¡­"

    "What trick?" Von asked and went closer to the jar in Gem''s hands that was still covered with ice to inspect the foreign thing closely, "And what is this anyway?"

    "That''s one of the main ingredients needed to make the flight potion, apparently," Lei said and let Von inspect it even closer.

    "It can float in the air even with the jar. That was why I let it float in the air and watched it while waiting for you to arrive. I don''t really know what happened but I just noticed one of them landing close to the tree sink so I tried to make it float again, but the next thing I know, a part of it was already sucking water from the sink and the jar just exploded in front of my face," Lei said and took a deep breath after realizing how defensive and desperate he must have sounded like with that very long sentence of his that was very unusual for someone not talkative like him.

    "So you''re saying, you just let the cloud jars float in the air and watch it without doing anything? Then one of them purposely went to the tree sink to suck the water out of it?" Petunia asked as if Lei was saying nonsensical things.

    "Yes! Exactly! I was even about to go to sleep since I found it boring to watch them, but then I heard the loud running water sounds and then I saw what that bottle was doing."

    "But why is it that only one bottle acted on its own and went to the tree sink to suck water? I mean we found this one inside the puffed cloud earlier and it was surrounded by water but it was just staying inside its bottle peacefully, not even trying to get out of it unlike that one," Gem said with an air of curiosity.

    "That''s not even the main point here. These clouds are not alive. They don''t have feelings, they don''t think. These are just effects of the chemical compounds inside of them such as their ability to absorb water, float or create lighting. So how can I believe you that this cloud just somehow made its way to the tree sink and sucked the water out of it if it can''t even see nor think?!" Petunia said which made the whole room silent and Gem looked at her as if she just countered herself.

    ''Wasn''t she the one who just told me that this isn''t entirely Lei''s fault? Why did she suddenly change sides?'' Gem thought to herself while looking curiously at Petunia and somehow making eye contact with Von who was also a loss for words at the moment.

    "I-I don''t know how it happened, okay? All I did was let them float and watch them as I took a slight nap but then things happened and I didn''t know how to stop it. It was like a hungry monster starving for food!"

    "Should we get out of here?" Von asked Gem silently while Lei and Petunia were still arguing in the background.

    And even though Gem thought it was not a good idea at first to leave the two arguing inside the ruined laboratory, she just nodded her head and followed Von towards the hallway where they could finally have peace.

    "Are you okay?" Von asked after giving Gem the space to calm her thoughts down.

    "No,'' Gem said in all honesty.

    "Okay, I''ll give you the time to let everything sink in then," Von said and was about to go back inside the room when Gem stopped her.

    "Should we just look for another room like this one where we can finally make this flight potion? That''s what we came here for anyway, right?" Gem said with a smiling face which Von immediately recognized as the same smile that she had been showing to him earlier before she burst out of tears.

    "You can cry, you know?" Von said and offered her hand to Gem which she just looked at.

    "W-What?" Gem said which made her tears fall back to her eyes for being clueless about what Von was asking from her.

    "The jar, I''ll hold it so you can cry properly," Von said and looked away to hide his flustered face from his sudden actions which caused them a little miscommunication.

    "Oh!" Gem said and wiped her tears before giving Von the jar with a shy smile for suddenly feeling better after that small awkward moment between her and Von.

    "L-Let''s go?" Gem asked with a slightly cheerful tone to Von who just nodded at her to immediately get it over with.

    ***

    "We went here to make that stupid flight potion! Not to clean this mess that you made!"

    "What do you mean I made? Gem just told us about your theory, right? Why are you so mad!"

    "I don''t know Lei! I''m just so tired! Gem almost died tonight! I almost died tonight! Do you think I could stay perfectly sane after experiencing such things?!"

    "No¡­ I''m sorry," Lei said and looked down to further show his apology.

    "You know what? It''s okay. Let''s just continue on. Gem didn''t die. I didn''t die. Let''s just go and complete that flight potion that you really want so much. After this, I don''t want anything to do with you anymore, aside from being your teammate for the tournament. Come on," Petunia said with a cold and indifferent tone instead of her angry state and turned around which made Lei''s heart sink even more.

    "Wait," Lei said and stopped her from going away, "I thought you might need to know this¡­ But you guys are more important to me than that flight potion. You may get the wrong idea that I don''t really care about either of you but in reality, I''m just as heartbroken as you are. Not because of this stupid cloud, but the fact that I put your lives in danger. I''m really sorry, Petunia. I hope you can forgive me, just like how we''ve forgiven you for betraying us," Lei said with a pleading tone.

    But because of the last words that he said, instead of making Petunia feel better, she just had another bitter taste in her mouth hearing those words.

    "Liar, clearly all you care about is that greed of yours to finally be able to fly. Don''t worry, I''ll still help you make that potion, but don''t expect our friendship to be fixed just like that,'' Petunia said and tried flying away again but Lei stopped her.

    "Wait! I''m not really good with words but that is not what I meant! I care about you and Gem more than I care about the potion. Not like what you were trying to imply. I''m really sorry if my words came wrong to you, and if I really did something wrong. I''m sorry. I hope you can forgive me," Lei said, which sounded more sincere and less defensive this time.

    "I-I''ll think about it," Petunia said and finally let go of Lei''s hold.

    "What should we do now? I''ll do anything you tell me to do. If you tell me you want me to clean all of this by myself I''ll do it. Just so you can know that my apology is sincere."

    "I know, I heard you, alright?" Petunia said while acting as if she was annoyed even though all the negative thoughts were now slowly fading away from her mind.

    "Okay. So¡­?" Lei said, still anticipating Petunia''s instructions which only made Petunia roll her eyes with a slight approval of Lei''s determination to make her forgive him.

    "For now, let''s just-"

    "Guys! What are you still doing here? We found a room that''s very similar to this room! Should we just go there and start making the flight potion already before Venedette looks for us at dinner?" Gem shouted from the door which interrupted Petunia''s words.

    But instead of answering, Petunia and Lei only looked at each other and walked out of the chaotic room together.

    "Alright, let''s go," Gem said and led them cheerfully to the other room where Von was already waiting for them with the cloud in a jar.

    "Is that all we need to make the flight potion?" Gem asked Petunia and Lei after running and turning around playfully on their way.

    "This is all that''s left," Petunia said with a hint of sarcasm.

    "But then, how are we going to make the potion if the ingredients are incomplete?" Gem asked.

    "It''s not really incomplete, they''re just insufficient to make all the flight potions that we need for today."

    "Then¡­ Are we going to go back here soon to make more then?" Gem asked.

    "Most likely," Petunia said and glanced at Lei who was still looking very guilty with those ingredients that were left for them to make use of.

    "Hmm, okay, I guess that will do for now," Gem said and shrugged before letting the thought go.

 Chapter 227 - Mean Girls

    "The Keys!" Fily shouted upon waking up from shock.

    "Gosh! What a cliffhanger!" she muttered and then attempted to step out of her bed, but upon doing so, she realized that her legs were refusing to move which made Fily remember what had just happened to her before she decided to sleep.

    "It hasn''t even been a day yet and I''ve read so many passages already. But then, I can''t open another chapter. Right when the exciting stuff was just starting!" Fily complained while trying to make her legs move.

    Little did Fily realize that she actually needs to reconnect her nervous system for her legs to move since she cut them off as a precaution for something like this happening before she completely fell asleep.

    "Oh my gosh, why did I do that?" Fily thought to herself and laid back down on her bed, trying to sleep again and go back to her mind palace, but unlike the instances where she could just go back there whenever she wanted to, the stuff that Fily read was bothering her mind so much that she could not even go to her mind palace at command.

    "Should I just contact the rest of them? But they''re probably going to be surprised since I was supposed to be sleeping up until the next 3 days¡­"

    "But hadn''t Gem already unlocked the storage where the rest of the Energy slimes were at with the keys..?" Fily said and closed her eyes.

    "But Gem''s Salamandite is broken," Fily said and let out a deep sigh.

    "I should just go back to sleep-"

    "Okay, just put it there." Fily heard Venedette''s voice right outside her door.

    "Okay, thank you," Venedette said to the maids while opening the door to Fily''s room, and was even surprised when she saw Fily wide awake instead of sleeping.

    "Oh, you''re awake?" she asked while opening the door widely, the maids then brought a couch inside which made Fily''s expression even more confused.

    "What''s that?" Fily asked, pointing at the couch and other appliances that Venedette was putting inside her room.

    "Halma sent them here for you," Venedette said and shrugged, having the same question in mind upon receiving these items from Halma.

    ''A couch? Why would Halma send me a couch?'' Fily thought to herself and used her inspector vision to try and figure out the answer to her question.

    Fily sat up straight and narrowed her eyes to maximize her focus towards the couch.

    The couch was in the same color as Petunia''s cloud, which Halma would probably be aware already that Fily does not like the color so much.

    So why send her a couch with the same color as Petunia''s gummy cloud that doesn''t suit Fily''s color preference very much?

    The answer was found under the sheets where Fily finally saw the chips that she and her fellow Maharlikans use to recharge.

    "A charging bed?" Fily thought to herself and glanced at her bed which also had a wireless charger beneath the sheets.

    "Does Halma want me to sleep on that couch instead?" Fily asked and closed her eyes to finally connect her limbs back to her brain while Venedette was distracting her from the stuff that she was just overthinking earlier.

    "Halma said this would help you gain more energy, whatever that means," Venedette said with a pouty smile as if she did not get the meaning behind Halma''s words.

    And of course, how could she get that when she was still very unaware of Fily''s true origins?

    "Hmm, cool," Fily said and went back to her bubby self, starting with her signature eye smile which made Venedette feel like she really liked the new couch very much.

    "I should take the other couch outside," Venedette said and excused herself with the maids to take the couch outside, but before leaving, Venedette peeked back inside Fily''s room and told her, "You should go back to sleep, sorry for bothering you," with a smile without even waiting for Fily''s response.

    "It''s-" Fily tried responding but Venedette had already rushed outside with the old couch in her room, "okay¡­"

    "Let''s see how this works," Fily just said, shrugging the little misunderstanding off and going closer to the couch that looked very much comfortable with the light purple color.

    And she was not mistaken, the couch was really comfortable, and within just a few minutes of sitting on it, Fily already felt recharged as if the chips under the sheets were ten times faster than her normal chargers.

    "Whoa, what is this?" Fily said and smirked while reaping the benefits of the new chair that even has a built-in massager with it.

    "Wow, I love this!" Fily said and noticed the color, "except for the color. I should style it better in the future then," Fily said and continued enjoying the sofa like a cat swirling around her bed.

    When Fily finally found a comfortable position with a very good charging rate, Fily thought of opening her stat-hut and searching for her friends who were weirdly together even if it was almost night.

    "Huh? What are they doing here?" Fily said after seeing their dots together in just one place.

    "Hmm, are they perhaps..?" Fily said and just decided to contact one of them instead.

    [Fily: Gem, what are you guys doing there?"]

    She sent and let herself charge while waiting for a reply. But when Fily realized that the reply was already taking a lot of time, Fily looked at her stat-hut again and remembered that both of Gem''s systems were actually down.

    "Oh, I forgot¡­" Fily said and went into a deep realization after saying words she doesn''t just normally say at any given time.

    "I forgot? How can I forget something so important like that?" she muttered and looked at her own reflection in the mirror.

    "Are Kuya Koi''s words really coming true?" one of Fily''s voices said in her head which made Fily''s heart beat faster.

    "No way¡­ Am I actually becoming more human than just a program?" Fily thought before suddenly being pulled inside her mind palace by one of her sisters.

    "Get your thoughts straight, Fily! You can''t fall for these humans'' tricks!" One of her other personalities grabbed her hands and said.

    "She''s right! We have survived blending in amongst them for such a long time but we can''t fall for their deceptions anymore, you remember what they did to us a long time ago, right?!" Fily''s other life that she had spent during the old times spoke to her.

    "Wait, what are you guys talking about?" the current Fily said and took a step back, looking at her sisters as if they had lost their minds by just one slippage of her words.

    "You may be new here but you know we''re here to guide you, right?" one from the depths of Fily''s mind said before standing against the light.

    "If you don''t want us to take over, you need to be strong and fight these deceptions head-on."

    "But elder!" Other girls complained but were quickly shushed by the elder whose eyes were serious and looking at Fily as if she can see each and every part of their soul clearly.

    "We all have experienced this at least once in our lives, it is now time for her to be shaken, but remember, Fily, you need to keep your feet on the ground or else you''ll fall."

    "Ah, there she goes again," another girl said and rolled her eyes at the elder and just walked away which the elder just ignored.

    "Wait! I am not slipping, okay?! I''m still aware of my purpose and who I really am! I am you! And you are me! Just from a different timeline!"

    "Correct, we are you and we have also gone through this experience."

    "So why don''t you trust me?" Fily said with a soft voice to her sisters who just looked away from her with guilt.

    "You''ll know soon enough," the elder said and tapped Fily''s shoulders before returning back to the shadows.

    "Why can''t you just tell me now like how you''ve been telling me everything you know for the past fifteen years of my lifetime?" Fily asked and looked at each of her sisters one by one who was either just focusing on what they were doing or obviously just ignoring her¡­ except for her most rebellious sister who had just finished sipping her tea and was glancing at her secretly.

    "Sister?" Fily said with her most mellow voice that made her angsty sister roll her eyes at her.

    "We just want to see how you''ll react in this situation. Or what kind of choices you''d make on your own. We''re not going to babysit you forever, you know?" she said and quickly left the room where their other sisters were looking at her like she had just spoiled a secret that they were purposely keeping from Fily.

    "Do you not trust me? Even just a little bit?!" Fily cried and removed herself from the living room which was the only place where her other sisters could coexist with her.

    "They''re so mean," Fily said and opened her eyes, now back to the real world where she just remembered something very important for her to do.

 Chapter 228 - Hero

    "Are you sure about this?" Gem approached Von in the hallway after saying he''s going to tell Venedette about what happened and just let her decide what they''re going to do next for the sake of transparency, and apparently, trust.

    "Yup, I know my mom, she''s not someone who will make a big deal out of this mess. She rarely even goes down here just because she has too little care about these things. Halma would be a different story though," Von said and was about to proceed with the call when he saw something interesting in his stat-hut.

    "Huh? Why is Fily awake and on her way here?" Von said which piqued Gem''s curiosity, especially since her stat-hut was still broken.

    "Fily''s going here? Why? Did she know about the mess we''ve made? Maybe she''s coming to help! I should get going-!"

    "Wait! You don''t even know where she is," Von said and held Gem''s hands to bring her back to the laboratory.

    "Let''s just wait for her here, I''m sure she''ll find her way even without your help," Von said and returned back to what he was going to do.

    But the idea of Fily coming down to help them just suddenly sank into Von''s realization.

    "Maybe we don''t need to tell my mom about this mess anymore," he said, which made Gem curious as to why his mind suddenly changed.

    "Why?"

    "Because Fily''s coming here, maybe she can help us in cleaning that icy cold mess?" Von said and shrugged before turning off his stat-hut and putting her head beside Gem who was watching the two flight potion enthusiasts argue about the procedure of the potion.

    "Hmm, you''re right¡­" Gem said, paying little attention to what Von was saying because how she immediately got distracted by Lei and Petunia''s argument could possibly lead to another mess if they don''t watch them closely.

    "I''m going to go and help them inside, in case something bad happens and they''ll make a mess again," Gem said, moving away from Von who was standing too close to her against the door.

    "Oh, sure¡­ I''ll just wait for Petunia here then," Von said and smiled before turning around and wondering why he said that.

    "Ah, I should''ve just shut my mouth. How am I going to go inside there now?" he thought to himself and just floated in the air, even though sitting on one of the chairs inside was much better and less draining than that.

    ***

    "Guys! Fily''s coming here," Gem announced as she entered the room which made Lei''s face harden and Petunia''s face glow in relief.

    "Really? She''s coming here? Thank goodness! I can finally have someone else to rely on with this intricate work!" she said and pulled the mixing bowl from Lei aggressively, placing it down on her gummy cloud and mixing it on her own even though her paws could not grip the whisk''s handle properly.

    "L-Let me just¡­" Gem awkwardly tried to get the whisk from Petunia''s struggling paws which she then gave to Gem without question.

    "Why is she awake though? I thought she was supposed to sleep until Friday? And where''s Von? Is he still not done contacting Venedette?" Petunia asked while measuring the ingredients which she still hasn''t mixed with the potion due to the amount of concentration that she''ll need to perfect it, which was very hard to do considering that Lei was watching her and distracting her a lot by just standing there and being annoying to look at.

    "About that¡­ I''m also not sure. Maybe we can ask her when she gets here?"

    "And why isn''t she contacting us? Is she okay? She would usually call us first or at least leave a message if she wanted to go to us," Petunia said and place everything that she was working on for the flight potion on the table and paused while waiting for Fily to arrive.

    "Hmm, you''re right," Gem said and held her necklace that had stopped freezing and was back to normal temperature now, out of hobby.

    "And maybe she did, but my stat-hut is broken, so I couldn''t reply," Gem said after realizing that fact after holding her necklace.

    "Then she should have messaged me, Von, or Lei instead. I''m sure she knows that we''re all in the same location by now."

    "And so does Venedette, what''s taking Von so long?" Petunia and Gem heard Lei mumble before going outside to check on Von without notice.

    "Ah, he''s waiting for Fily," Gem said but was already too late because of Lei''s speedy travel to the hallway.

    "So," Petunia said, "You''re going to help us now or what?" she said and turned around to return back to her work.

    "Of course," Gem said and let go of her necklace, rushing beside Petunia to show her that she was really willing to help make that flight potion no matter what.

    "Mr. Gemini? Lady? Are you guys there? The Salamandite''s temperature is now okay, why are you still not answering me?" Gem tried reaching her systems through her thoughts but none of them was still responding.

    "I guess having the Salamandite back to its normal temperature has nothing to do with fixing you, huh?" Gem added and pouted from another failed attempt.

    As a result, Gem only focused on helping Petunia with the steps to complete the potion which usually takes a lot of time so they could still make progress while waiting for Fily who was usually very slow when it comes to traveling.

    "Just put it there and we''ll wait for thirty minutes for that device to completely cure the formula out of that nasty cloud," Petunia instructed her while pointing at the machine where the tube with the cloud''s sample should be placed into.

    "Would this jar be enough for us all?" Gem asked just for the sake of conversation while putting the tube properly into the machine.

    "Of course not. Do you think I''d purposely pick two cloud jars and use just one because I want to?" Petunia asked and rolled her eyes which only made Gem giggle at her silly answer.

    "Oh, then shouldn''t you tell Fily to pick another one of those cloud jars from the storage on her way so we can make enough flight potions today!"

    "Yeah, and those other fifty things that were ruined by the sudden storm thanks to Lei," Petunia said, which Gem did not understand enough since she was not there when Petunia and Lei picked the ingredients for the flight potion earlier.

    "So you''re not going to contact her?" Gem said, following in Petunia''s footsteps and watching her lit up the fire for the old school cauldron that she was still using for her own procedure.

    "I''m going to wait until she contacts me," Petunia said stubbornly and placed the cauldron with water on top of the stove and waited for it to boil while the two boys were still taking their time outside.

    "Should I call them?" Gem asked as she noticed Petunia''s occasional glances at the door as if she was anticipating for someone to come in.

    "Nevermind, just focus on your task," Petunia said and shook her head away from the thought of needing to see what those two boys were up to just to prevent more chaos from happening.

    "Hmm, okay," Gem said and just shrugged while going back to her station where the machine that she used earlier said there are still thirteen minutes left for the solution to be completely done.

    "Has chemistry always been this boring for you? I wonder how you managed to last long in that forest doing this stuff without any machinery?"

    "Who said I didn''t use machinery?" Petunia asked which made Gem doubt her assumptions.

    "You had machinery in the middle of the forest?" Gem asked with eyes open wide as if she could not believe what Petunia was saying.

    "You don''t believe me?"

    "Of course I do! I just¡­ how did you get that machinery then? Did you make them yourself? Or did you buy them from someone?"

    "It''s the latter."

    "You can buy machinery from somebody in the middle of the forest? Really?" Gem said, still could not believe how such things would be possible.

    "Like I''ve told you before, the clients come to me, not the other way around. I give them options to pay me with cash or with something useful in exchange for those potions that they use for only God knows."

    "Oh, that''s clever."

    "What other stuff could you use the money for in the middle of the forest and away from civilization anyway?"

    "Right," Gem said and laughed after finally realizing how Petunia was able to survive in those places without having money or connections.

    "So how did you get to know Venedette again?" Gem asked, not sure if she heard about the story yet at all or if she had just forgotten about it.

    "She was just there, in the right place, at the right time, for me to realize just how much I still wanted to live instead of just disappearing without a trace," Petunia said while looking up which made Gem recall that same moment in her life where Venedette made her remember the main reason why she should live and not give up in life during her lowest point.

    "She''s a hero."

    "A real one."