Adrien chuckled as he waved his cousin off with a limp hand. "Don't be so paranoid, Jessaphel. Can't family just help each other out?"
However, when he saw the unfazed look on Jessie's face, he relented.
"Fine. I'll just throw down all the cards on the table. Even with your par--" There was a brief hesitation on Adrien's face. He knew that Jessie disliked the mention of her parents and the reminder of their accident. "You are still part of the head branch of the family," he continued. "With you out of the picture, I'll be properly in place as the next in line for becoming the leader of the Diamante name. It's just that simple.
"So think of this way. This place I'm giving you is a parachute. You can go off and disappear. Do whatever your bleeding wayward heart wants and leave the family matters to those who wants to be part of the family."
Jessie drew her lips until they were a thin line across her face. It did seem like a good deal, but she could feel that there was something left that her arrogant cousin was leaving out. She didn't particularly like the idea of being blindsided by something in the future.
On the other hand though, this was a solution to all her problems. And the chance to go to Coldspark City really was an opportunity she didn't want to miss.
After a moment of silence as she pondered on the dilemma, she decided to do what Jessie D does best whenever faced with an inscrutable decision. She turned off her brain and went with her heart.
Jessie looked at Adrien with an expression of stony resolve.
"Fine. I accept."
…
In one of the cultivation rooms of the One Breath gym, Mel concentrated on the Brown Lizard in front of her. Likewise to her who was sitting down on the mat with her legs crossed, Dru was sitting on her haunches like a dog with her eyes closed, equally focused in concentration.
The mana around them swirled as they pulled in the ambient mana and injected into the closed circuit of mana between the cultivator and her bonded refined beast.
In Dru, the beast could feel her pool of mana increasing, enlarging the channels between her meridians and the meridians overall to give her a noticeable change in strength.
In Mel, the changes were more pronounced. Her body seemed to tan more and more into a darker hue as scales flaked into existence over her skin. Her nails grew into sharpened points like claws.
Mel could feel her mana, after passing through her refined beast, pushing in through her meridians like a river into a multitude of lakes. Try as she could, she could feel that inherent bottleneck keeping her meridians from enlarging any more like walls keeping her lakes in check.
Mel tried to keep calm, but the anticipation of reaching Rank 3 Mortal Stage was strangling her concentration.
"Dammit," she grumbled. She broke off her focus and stopped 'flexing' her mana. Her body paled back to its normal shade and the bestial attributes faded into nonexistence. The mana swirl in the room quickly became still again.
Dru opened her eyes and licked her lips before letting out a 'harrumph'. She leaned in and burrowed her head into Mel's lap.
Mel sighed as she scratched the top of Dru's head on that one spot the old girl loved on the right corner just above her neck. "I need a break, girl," she muttered more to herself than to her refined beast. "Clear my head a bit."
"Come on, girl. Let's go hit the bags," she patted the lizard before getting up to her feet. Today, she was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a white zipper vest hoodie and she relished the feel of the nylon cotton underneath the soles of her bare feet from her oversized pants.
She roamed outside of the cultivation room, the likes which lined both sides of the hallway of this section of the gym. Each room was silent, given how intense everyone in this gym was towards their own personal cultivation. One of the reasons she liked this gym, really. Everyone here was dedicated towards their training. No one bothered her.
In the last gym she joined, with her looks, she had to constantly deal with guys trying to hit on her or, gods forbid, try to mansplain to her how some of the equipment worked. After a guy had gotten a little too handsy, she ended up breaking the guy's nose. Which was how she found this gym. And it was a good change of pace.
Mel quickly made her way through the weightlifting section and went over to a solitary corner where a couple of punching bags were set up.
She barely got into a good rhythm when she could hear voices a few feet away from her.
"So that's the girl that kicked your ass in a spar? Heavens, she's a princess!"
"Bro, you don't even know! She's strong! Just try her!"
From the corner of her eye, she could see a large stature come into view. "Excuse me."
Mel sighed and lowered her fists to her side before turning her head to see the large man in dark blue active shirt and shorts. She notched a brow and shot him a grim glare. "Yeah?"
"Woahh. Take it easy," the man said with an easy smile. "My buddy said you did a number on him when you guys sparred together last week. I was hoping to test my luck as well." He crossed his arms while holding the same kind of easy confidence that went along with his smile.
This time, Mel smiled. "Sure. I have to tell you though. I don't fight for nothing. Wanna put a bet on it? Fifty bucks if I win. You name your price if you win."
"If that's it," the man's smile grew wider as he leaned back and put his arms to his waist, revealing the taut muscles underneath his active shirt. "How about a date? I know a place around here that has the best ramen."
Mel snorted. This was hardly the first time this happened. "I see. Well, game on. I'll take that fifty bucks and try out that ramen place myself."
Without looking back, she walked towards one of the sparring rooms. Excitement ran warmly in her body.
Gods, she loved to fight.