“Isn’t it a bit early to wake up? Aren’t you feeling a little lazy after drinking so late?” I don’t open my eyes as I ask Brendu. She’s getting ready quickly to go somewhere, lightly applying makeup—it’s a bit unusual.
“I know, but I already had a quick commitment. I’ll be back in less than an hour.” She finishes getting ready as she answers. “I don’t have a hangover—there’s medicine to recover quickly. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She grabs a small purse and quickly leaves the room.
Today I don’t feel like getting out of bed. I need to conserve as much energy as possible and recover from drinking so much alcohol yesterday. My body will recover quickly—it’s an advantage as you rise in rank. By noon, I’ll be perfectly fine to continue with my day.
I close my eyes again. Before I realize it, I’m already falling back asleep.
I wake up when I hear the door opening. I still don’t want to open my eyes—I even refuse to use my sensory ability to take a look. I prefer to rest my brain as much as possible until I’m ready to train.
“Brendu? You came back that fast?” I don’t check the time—I can only tell by how empty my stomach feels and my internal clock.
I open my eyes quickly as soon as someone opens the door at an alarming speed. Orange hair flashes toward me, the person jumps on top of me, and I feel their body heat as they hug me.
“No, I’m not Brendu.” Green eyes stare at me, and a wide smile shines on her face.
“Arisa?” At that moment, against what my brain tells me, I activate my sensory ability. I can feel three more people rushing toward the room.
“Yes, we’re here. Surprise!” She hugs me tightly, and I wrap my arms around her small waist.
“It’s great to see all of you again! I missed you.” I lift my head slightly to see Marga and Sol already climbing onto the bed to hug me. Brendu is also sitting beside us, placing her hand over my hair.
“It’s been a while—we missed you too.” Sol, with her neatly tied black hair and bright green eyes, joins the hug.
“How do you keep getting more handsome in such a short time?” Marga joins the embrace, her gray eyes and white hair close as well. I can feel the breathing of the three of them on my face.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming today? I would’ve gone to pick you up.” I ask the girls—I feel like an idiot for not being the first to welcome them.
“We wanted to surprise you. We coordinated with Brendu to arrive suddenly.” Marga sticks her tongue out at me. I can hear the complicit laughter of the other three girls around me.
The group hug and the affection last almost an hour. Now we’ve moved to the table to have breakfast together. Brendu had already hired a chef for us, and the food arrived at the perfect moment for all of us to enjoy it together.
“We’ve been watching all your fights! After each one, I felt more and more motivated to train harder. We’ve gotten much stronger during this time—I’m sure we’ll surprise you.” Arisa shouts while eating, full of energy.
“Congratulations on reaching the final. Your last match was quite close. Saule is well known everywhere for his strength, but we never doubted your power for even a second.” Sol speaks much more calmly.
“Yeah, it looked very close, although I felt like you weren’t giving it your all. Did you hold back a little?” Marga asks me with an accusing look—she has always had a good eye when it comes to me.
“Thanks for supporting me—I always had you in mind in every match. I knew I couldn’t lose under any circumstances.” I give the three of them a big smile, then focus on Marga. “I don’t know if I’d call it holding back, but I can attack with more power. The problem is that my body gets destroyed at the same time—I only use it as a last resort.”
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During the fight there were moments where I did hurt myself due to the excessive gravity used to enhance my movements, but it’s nothing compared to when I had to face the anomaly. Marga is partly right—I didn’t need to use my regeneration at full power either. There was no need, and my brain suffers too much every time I do.
Saule pushed me beyond my usual limit a bit, but I didn’t need to reach the extreme of losing a limb with every movement and forcing my body to regenerate with Glia’s help.
“That means you weren’t forced to reach that point.” Brendu replies. “It’s a bit scary to think you could be even stronger if you really tried.” Brendu feeds me a spoonful of her food directly into my mouth—I accept it without thinking much. I’m not sure that was the best idea—the others are staring at me intensely.
“You must be reaching your limit, right? Recently, I’ve started learning in class about the capacity of cubes to withstand abilities, banners, and Laws at the sapphire rank. You’re definitely at your limit or close to it.” Sol stares directly at my chest.
“Yeah, something like that.” I sigh softly. “I still have one ability ready to reach rank IV, but I haven’t done it out of fear of fracturing or breaking the cube irreversibly. I’m waiting until I rank up—which I hope will be soon.”
It hurts internally to remember I have an ability at its limit and can’t push it further. I’m one step away from fulfilling one of the promises I made to myself—but I won’t take the risk.
“Now tell me about you all—how are things going at school?” Even though we talk daily, they can’t fully tell me about their lives during our short calls. Now, face to face, they can expand as much as they want.
Arisa is the first to speak, bursting with energy as usual. She has shifted her focus more toward practice, doing only the minimum theory required by her father and uncle—but it has given a great boost to her offense.
Arisa doesn’t stop bragging about how much she has improved with her spear and wind magic. She has seen great progress since her uncle started giving her weekly private lessons—her style is adapting to resemble Julio’s.
Marga is in the middle ground—not neglecting theory or practice, keeping both balanced. Her focus on theory is now centered on improving the use of her affinities, especially her life affinity.
The duke sent someone very talented in life magic to help her—apparently a woman at the ruby rank who is quite powerful. Marga assumes she also acts as a bodyguard, and thanks to her, she is slowly improving her use of life mana.
Sol is in the same position as Marga, balancing both theoretical and practical courses. In practice, the three of them aim for the same goals—even most of their training is done together, rarely individually.
In practice, Sol is focusing on several aspects, one of them being people’s cubes. She is especially focused on long-range combat, learning tactics and how to read the battlefield. I can see her like a general pulling the strings from the back.
I lose track of how many hours we spend talking. They also ask about our daily lives—I completely ignore their envious looks toward Brendu because we spend all day together. Even the princess comes to see me when I’m working as a professor.
We decide to train together—they’re eager to test their efforts. The three of them are excited to show me how much they’ve improved. The question is why Brendu has joined them—the four of them are going to face me.
“Damn it! I feel like I haven’t improved at all—it’s a bit frustrating.” Arisa rolls on the ground complaining. Obviously, they lost.
“Stop throwing a tantrum—you’ve improved noticeably.” I approach with hydration drinks. Each of them takes two or three immediately—their exhaustion is clear in how their chests rise and fall. “Your growth is impressive—you’ve all become stronger. I’m proud of you.” My words lift their spirits—they look much happier.
I’m not lying when I say they’ve grown. The three of them have improved their teamwork and individual strength. Sol’s constructs are faster and stronger; Arisa is sharper and more precise—she has become a perfect anchor; and Marga has received a great boost in her plant magic, blending it perfectly with her life magic.
That’s only part of their improvement—there are many small details I’ve only been able to notice thanks to my Personal World. They move in perfect harmony at all times.
The most impressive part is how easily Brendu adapted to their fighting style. She chose to act as the offensive tank. Those monstrous trees are truly a pain, but what bothers me most is how smoothly she followed their coordination—truly impressive.
I give advice to all four girls—I took small mental notes during the fight. It’s a habit I’ve developed since becoming a professor.
We all return to the apartment together. They want to stay home all day—they want me fully rested for tomorrow’s final. We all lie down together on the bed, talking. Seeing their faces, hearing their laughter, feeling every small action fills my heart with joy. I truly missed these moments—small and fleeting moments that will remain engraved in my memory.