When Bloed woke up, it was four hours later.
The sun had started to set, and the smell of radiation and burnt wood lingered in the air. Bloed's body felt heavy, and he wanted to continue sleeping, but his body refused to fall asleep again.
Looking around, he noticed that Regina and Eres were not inside. He stood up and removed Liu Ying's leg from his body before leaving the portable home.
When he came outside, he heard the sounds of someone fighting. His first thought was that the men of the churches had caught up, but he saw Regina saw sat down cross-legged in front of the door, so he understood that it was not that.
"Your sister is training with the old man." Regina's explained when she saw Bloed's curious expression. "She could not sleep, and the old man asked her if she wanted to spar with him."
Bloed raised an eyebrow in surprise and felt happy for Eres. Eres used a sword, so receiving guidance from the Sword Absolute was an opportunity to become stronger.
"How about you? You can't sleep either?" He asked Regina.
"You know that sleep is not essential to me, master. Plus, I wanted to confirm something."
"Mm?"
"Master, my psionic energy increased."
Bloed was stunned, but immediately, his expression became serious.
"Are you sure?"
"I am. I thought it was an illusion at first, but after a detailed check-up, I confirmed that my psionic energy indeed grew a little bit. Plus, I feel the barrier to the SSS-Grade loosening."
Bloed put on an expression of disbelief.
Regina was not a human, but a Valkyrie. She could not even be considered a living being, but a machine. In theory, her psionic energy should be unable to increase naturally unless her body is upgraded through external means.
But now, she had confirmed that her psionic energy did increase.
"How is it possible? Do you know how it happened?"
"I'm not sure." Regina shook her head. "It should have happened today during the battle against the Sun God, but I feel that my psionic energy is still increasing, albeit slowly."
Bloed furrowed his brows and put on a pensive expression. To be honest, he did not have any idea about what happening.
He decided to check Regina in the laboratory in the portable home, but the equipment inside did not find anything amiss besides the slight increase in her psionic energy.
"At the very least, it doesn't seem like something bad. But I should check your body carefully again when we are back in Academy City. The equipment there is better, and perhaps I can find something." Bloed sighed.
Regina nodded in understanding.
"Actually, I don't feel it's something bad. Quite the opposite, if I can grow stronger, I will be able to protect master better."
"You are already doing a great job." Bloed chuckled and hugged Regina's waist. Then, he kissed her lips softly.
The kiss soon became more intense and the two of them looked at each other with gentle expressions. Regina then put her head on Bloed's chest and closed her eyes.
"I love you, master." She muttered softly.
Bloed stroked her silver hair gently and basked in her warm embrace.
The two of them stayed a while like that before separating with another kiss.
"I'm going to prepare something to eat."
"Mm, go."
Regina then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Left alone, Bloed left the portable house again. He then decided to watch the spar between Eres and the old man.
To Bloed's surprise, the battle between the two of them was very intense. Although none of them was using mana, the power of their strikes was enough to generate shockwaves when their swords clashed.
Eres was attacking the entire time, trying to use her swordsmanship to strike the old man, however, the old man deflected every one of her attacks with seemingly-slow movements.
At first glance, it seemed that Eres had the advantage, but observing closely, Bloed could see that although Eres was always attacking, her movements seemed under the control of the old man. It was as though he could predict every one of her movements.
"Amazing..." Bloed could not help but mutter to himself.
The old man's swordsmanship could be considered perfect. It was so flawless that improving it anymore seemed impossible. Bloed felt that he could not reach this level of swordsmanship even if he tried to imitate the old man's movements with the help of his eyes.
After another five minutes, the old man finally attacked, and Eres's sword was sent flying, ending the spar.
"Do you understand?" The old man asked.
Eres closed her eyes deep in thought. She recalled every detail of the old man's swordsmanship once and again before nodding.
"I do."
The old man smiled in satisfaction.
"As expected, I was not mistaken. Your talent is really monstrous, way better than mine. I heard that a prodigy had appeared in the royal family of Alterna, but this is beyond my expectations."
"Thank you for your praise."
"It's not praise, it's the truth." The old man stated calmly. "However, you should not become complacent. You need more than just talent to break the limits of mortals and become an Irregular. I had met dozens of people with better talent than mine in my life, but in the end, none of them managed to create their own path."
"I will keep your words in mind." Eres nodded respectfully.
At that moment, the old man looked toward Bloed.
"You are also pretty good yourself, boy. To think that the manaless prince of the Kingdom of Alterna reached this level."
"You know about me?" Bloed asked surprised.
"I know a bit. Your story is a bit famous. When it was revealed that the second prince of Alterna was a cursed child, it caused a commotion among the human kingdoms. That must be the reason why you were exiled."
"I suppose so. The royal family's name could not be stained by the existence of a cursed child."
"Idiots. You are just as amazing as your sister. I can see that you can't use mana, but despite that, you found another way to become stronger. If I'm not mistaken, you are using your soul energy to fuel your abilities, right?"
Bloed was amazed by the old man's observation ability.
"That is right."
"Amazing. To think that something like that was possible. Also, for some reason, I feel a faint threat from you, as though something inside you can injure me."
Once more, Bloed was surprised.
He knew that the old man was referring to his second ESP ability, [SSS-Grade Molecular Disintegration]. The old man managed to get a clue about Bloed's strongest ability just from observing him.
The old man continued observing Bloed and nodded a pair of times. Then, he showed a smile of interest.
"How about this, do you want to spear with me? Even though you don't use a sword, sparring with me should help you to improve your combat abilities."
Bloed was stunned, but in the next instant, he nodded.
"It's an honor."
"Good. Come here, then. Show me what you got."