Voices could be heard in one of the training rooms of the Alteon city army. The room, square and totally white, was now being occupied by two girls.
"Icy projectile!"
Ethel waved her hand and several magic circles appeared instantly. Two-foot-long icicles emerged from the icy blue magic circles.
"How are you? Do you think you can handle this? Keep in mind that my ice is pretty hard," Ethe asked Kayla, who was wielding her silver sword.
"Don't worry about me and do your best! Today you will see the fruit of my hard training this month" Kayla smiled excitedly with big circles under her eyes. She had been training almost non-stop this month.
The old man had not only taught him mana control this month. As supreme ex-commander of the Sloffizia empire, he prided himself on having some of the most comprehensive, if somewhat simplistic, training in the empire.
So this month, Kayla had not only learned how to apply her mana to make it useful in a fight. The old man had taught him the basics of dozens of weapons, the history of the continent, language, etiquette, and the basics of the world.
All of this was only possible because Kayla had been sleeping only four hours a day. Although she had asked the old man if that was healthy, he had only responded that whether something was healthy or not was insignificant in the path of seeking power…
Kayla went blank for a second, but she quickly nodded her head. She made sense! Anyway, it was not very healthy for her to receive physical and magical blows in battles but she still continued fighting with a smile on her face.
With that logic, Kayla happily slept less than four hours. It wasn't like it was the first time she didn't sleep for an extended time either.
"Hehe, show me your strength!" Although Ethel was a little worried about her friend, she decided to move forward. Kayla knew what she was doing, plus despite having large circles under her eyes, Kayla's eyes were still as vibrant as ever.
So without waiting any longer, she waved her hand and all the icicles flew towards Kayla at high speed, traveling the fifty meters that separated them in an instant.
Kayla smiled and injected a large amount of mana into her sword, causing it to glow brightly. At the same time, a warm current came from the silver sword and strengthened Kayla's body.
Without wasting any more time, Kayla moved forward as she broke the icicles with ease despite her great speed. Kayla smiled excitedly. He had never had a difficult fight since taking his class and now he was finally realizing the great benefits it gave him.
He could never have passed through so many icicles flying at high speeds without the skills his class had given him. Although he had his innate hability foresight, his mind, and body were sometimes unable to keep up with the things he saw.
But this all changed when she got his class skills. Firstly, analysis, despite being an active skill that gave her information about objects, also had the hidden effect of improving her overall analysis ability. So she was able to quickly analyze the best way to move through the icicles.
On the other hand, the Accelerated Thinking skill, despite only being able to be activated for two minutes, also had a hidden effect which was to improve her base thinking speed slightly. Then his already incredible reflexes were even better.
And lastly, the information processing skill, although at first glance it did not seem useful in combat, in fact, it could be said that it was the one that helped him the most.
Thanks to her foresight ability, Kayla could dodge and predict things better, but one of the side effects is that she basically had to be paying attention to two worlds, the present and the future that were constantly changing.
So information processing greatly lightened Kayla's load, allowing her to pay attention to both worlds.
I'll show you my new power, Ethel! Kayla smiled excitedly as she ran towards Ethel. The thought of being able to defeat someone as strong as Ethel gave him chills.
However, Kayla's charge was quickly stopped.
"Frozen chains!"
A blue magic circle appeared under Kayla's feet along with Ethel scream. Instantly, a chain of ice appeared and trapped Kayla's foot, preventing her from moving.
"Don't even think I'll let you get close." Ethel smiled as she conjured more magic circles.
Kayla frowned. She quickly circulated more mana into her chained leg in an attempt to break the chain. However, Kayla had to stop when she felt a sudden pain in her shoulder.
Kayla's eyes widened in surprise. Although she hadn't noticed them before, incredibly thin and transparent ice needles were flying in her direction, and even the future ghost of one had caught up with her.
Panicking, Kayla activated one of her new skills. Quickly the world around her began to slow down. The needles, although fast and almost invisible, could now be seen more clearly.
Kayla's brain worked at full power and she swung her sword decisively, hitting several needles in an instant.
Clink! Clink!
Kayla frowned slightly. The ice needles had been too close to her to block them all, so Kayla only blocked the ones that would cause wounds that would impede her movement.
So three needles hit her, piercing the side of her leg, her arm, and her left shoulder.
I really hate having to suffer the pain of the wounds twice… Kayla sighed in exasperation as she broke the chain around her leg. That was what he hated most about his innate ability.
Meanwhile, Ethel looked at her in surprise. What an incredible capacity to react!...
Ethel had been sure that Kayla couldn't have dodged her new spell, But surprisingly I avoid it. Kayla had emerged almost unscathed from his murderous attack...
Sigh... and here I thought my transparent needles were incredible. Ethel had recently developed a spell that created fairly sharp and hard ice needles that were incredibly thin and made of transparent ice, almost imperceptible to the eye if you weren't paying attention.
But Kayla had dealt with them easily...
"I guess I won't be able to go very easy with you…" Ethel murmured as she watched Kayla approach after breaking the ice chain.
Get ready Kayla...
Ethel raised her hand and dozens of magic circles appeared in the air, forming ice swords.
Kayla, who was approaching, smiled excitedly. "You finally got serious, huh."
Knowing that if she didn't do it now she wouldn't have the chance later, Kayla activated accelerated thinking at maximum power.
Ethel, who had raised her hand in the air and was preparing to lower it, was now moving at a much slower speed.
I have to finish this in less than two minutes...
Kayla circulated a large amount of mana through her legs and ran towards Ethel with her maximum speed. But despite that, he couldn't close the distance between them before Ethel finished casting her spells.
In an instant, dozens of swords flew in her direction mercilessly.
But Kayla moved forward without fear as she calculated the trajectory of each flying sword. And waving her silver sword, Kayla intercepted most of the ice swords before they touched her.
Kayla passed through the hail of swords with relative ease, with only a few wounds. Kayla smiled and continued running hard. She was only fifteen meters away from reaching Ethel...
However, Kayla focused too much on the swords and lost sight of Ethel, who had been conjuring several dozen magic circles.
"Shit…" Kayla muttered in frustration.
Another rain of swords, this time more extensive, fell on Kayla. And the process was repeated, Kayla crossed the rain of swords and got a little closer to Ethel, only to be greeted by another rain of swords...
Each time, the rain of swords increased in size, and the number of wounds Kayla received also increased.
But after a minute, Kayla was finally only a couple of meters away from Ethel.
"I finally caught up to you!" Kayla smiled triumphantly as she sweated profusely. Her entire body and her "battle outfit", which consisted of a jumpsuit and a sweatshirt, were full of cuts.
However, Ethel, who was wearing a somewhat glamorous dress, just smiled.
"Safe?" Ethel looked at the ground Kayla was walking on.
Kayla, with a creepy premonition, lowered her head...
As she expected, a magical circle, literally made of ice, was under her feet.
"Hey, what is this-!?" Kayla couldn't even finish screaming before the magic circle glowed and chains of ice wrapped around her body, imprisoning her like a neddy. Kayla tried to escape, but she just ended up falling forward...
"Hehe, do you like my new skill? It's called an ice trap~" Ethel crouched down and smiled at Kayla.
"Hmp, this is unfair! You used the abilities of your newly evolved class," Kayla complained. Ethel was only supposed to use her spells!
"Pfft, that doesn't matter, even if I just used my magic spells, you wouldn't stand a chance, so it doesn't matter that I have a little fun." Ethel tapped her finger on Kayla's forehead.
Yes, Ethel had already done her class promotion and gained new skills!
"Do not do that! Besides, the result was uncertain before you cheated!" Kayla twisted her body trying to escape the chains... Although she only managed to look like a worm trying to get out of its chrysalis.
Plap! Plap!
Suddenly, a corner of the white wall opened and the old man appeared, clapping his hands.
"Haha, don't get your hopes up Kayla, even if Ethel didn't use her new abilities, you wouldn't have been able to defeat her either. After all, she is a magician and her main source of power is spells."
Kayla pouted and didn't respond. She knew that too, she just resented losing, no matter how justified it was...
"But leaving that aside, I want to congratulate them both for such a spectacular fight. Especially you, Kayla. Although I was already expecting a performance like that from Ethel, sure you surprised me by being able to withstand someone like Ethel so much at your level." The old man approached Kayla and touched her forehead with his finger.
A glow of golden light, which seemed sacred, ran through Kayla's entire body, healing all of her wounds.
"Your skills have improved much more than I initially expected, so I can proudly say that your training is complete, Kayla…" The old man tapped the chains restraining Kayla, breaking them into thousands of pieces.
"I guess it's certainly been a month…" Kayla smiled, but her eyes were a little sad. Today was the day they were leaving Alteon and going to the capital... So he wouldn't see the old man for quite a long time.
"Yes, and it's almost time for the teleportation portal to activate. So go prepare for the trip, I have left some things in your room." Although the old man noticed Kayla's feelings, he couldn't do much. The best thing for Kayla was to attend the academy and he couldn't leave his position, so his farewell was inevitable...
Kayla nodded sadly and headed towards the sub-space where her room was located with Ethel in tow, who looked at her with concern.
"Are you okay? It seems like you've grown fond of him..." Ethel knew that Kayla and the old man had spent a lot of time together, so it was inevitable that they would form a bond.
"Ah? Me, getting attached to him? Of course not! That old man hasn't even told me his name!" Kayla accelerated her weight and ignored Ethel.
"Sigh... Seriously, I've never met anyone more stubborn than this girl." Ethel simply shook her head and followed her.
They quickly arrived at her rooms in sub-space and packed up their things, mainly Kayla, who didn't have a storage ring.
"Although wow, the old man did leave you several good quality things." Ethel looked in amazement at the various sets of clothes that had appeared in Kayla's closet.
She had already finished packing and had come to Kayla's room to help her, but she was amazed by the wide variety of dresses the old man had left for Kayla.
Some were elegant dresses worthy of the ladies of the most powerful families, others were comfortable garments to wear at home and, what was most abundant, battle suits. Whether full body, dresses or two-piece suits...
"You know, these things are quite expensive, since they are made of monster materials and made by great craftsmen…" Ethel couldn't help but imagine the fortune all these dresses were worth…
"I guess, but I honestly don't know where to keep all this…" Kayla sighed. She was about to ask Ethel to carry her things in her space ring, but something shiny on her bed caught her attention...
"Isn't that?..." Kayla quickly ran to her bed and grabbed a ring that was resting on her bed. The ring was gold with a small purple gem on the front...
"That old man…" Kayla took a deep breath, trying to suppress all the emotions she felt.
"Nmm?! I also left you a space ring?! That old man certainly thinks of everything!" Ethel, who had finished looking at Kayla's new clothes, suddenly peeked behind her and looked in amazement at her gold ring.
"Y-yeah…" Kayla smiled awkwardly and quickly put on the ring before putting all the clothes the old man left her in it.
Although she had never used a space ring, it was nothing out of this world to wear it. One simply had to touch what he wanted to keep and inject some mana into the ring.
So after hastily putting everything away, Kayla left the room, leaving Ethel behind.
I thought that if she fought Ethel these feelings would go away... But apparently, it was a naive thought.
Kayla was the one who had the idea to fight Ethel at the last minute, hoping that it would distract her from the deep sadness she was feeling.
Although he had only spent a month with the old man, he could safely say that it was one of the best months of his life... Since "she" died.
The moments they spent together resurfaced in her mind and that only deepened her sadness.
In this busy month, full of training, the old man had always been smiling at him and giving him support. Although she felt like she didn't need that, somehow it made the month much happier.
Not to mention mentioning all the effort he had made for her. Although it was not very obvious, every time she encountered a problem in her training, instead of telling her his answer directly, the old man guided her to find the answer herself no matter how long it took.
And what had moved Kayla the most, was the tea parties they had after training. To her surprise, the old man was a man who loved sweets to the point that he only ate what he prepared. So after a tiring day of learning and training, there was always a cup of tea with a chocolate dessert waiting for her...
All the little moments he spent with the old man passed through his mind and he couldn't help but feel his eyes burning.
"Ah, shit... I guess I did grow fond of the old man in the end..." Kayla smiled bitterly. But despite that, she kept walking. She knew very well that now was the time to separate and she couldn't do anything to change that...
She left the army building along with Ethel who had finally caught up with her and greeted Bret, who was waiting for them at the main entrance.
Bred's black ears twitched as he heard his step and turned his head. "Hello, I will guide you to the portal place."
"Sure, Mr. Grumpy…" Ethel followed Bred while rolling her eyes. Even though they had spent a month here, Bred still treated them with the same coldness.
Kayla didn't pay much attention to the wolf though and instead, she looked at the city she had stayed in for the last month. Although she hadn't done much tourism, the unique aesthetic of the place had made her quite fond of the city.
I have to go back someday... Kayla looked at the murals that were in all the buildings, without exception, with a certain nostalgia. Soon she would stop seeing this beautiful sight...
"We're here," Bred spoke suddenly.
Without Kayla realizing it, Bred had led them towards a fairly tall single-story building. The building also occupied a large plot of land, on which several buildings could be built.
"I'm going to guide you here, the teacher is waiting for you inside" Bred opened the door for both of them and stayed outside.
"Sure, bye…" They both said goodbye to him and entered the building. However just before the door closed, Bred's voice sounded again.
"I will be waiting for news on both"
They both turned around quickly, but the door had already closed.
"Heh that fool, he's just a tsundere…" Ethel shook her head with a smile.
Even Kayla smiled and nodded. What a strange wolf...
After that little episode with Bred, they both walked through the building.
The first thing they saw was a small reception where the old man was having a cup of coffee.
"They finally arrived…" The old man finished drinking his cup in one gulp and quickly led them down a hallway behind the reception.
No one spoke during the journey, leaving a palpable tension in the air...
Finally, after several turns and several minutes of discomfort, they arrived in front of a wooden door with a sign that said: Capital.
"It's here" The old man opened the door with a bitter smile, revealing the interior.
A strange device was on the ground with several glowing blue crystals connected to it by cables.
Although normally Kayla would look at the device curiously, currently she was not in the right mood...
"I guess it's time to say goodbye…" Kayla spoke suddenly, breaking the tension in the air.
Neither Ethel nor the old man responded immediately, not knowing what to say. But the old man, as the only adult in the room, decided to step forward.
"Yes... although you should know that goodbyes are not eternal…" The old man tried to console Kayla, but she just looked at him with a deadly look, silencing him.
"Obviously I know it won't be the last time we see each other, but it's still...sad," Kayla murmured the last word so quietly neither of them could hear it.
But despite that, the old man was able to understand what he felt. The attempt opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, the device on the ground lit up.
Suddenly, something resembling a purple tear appeared on top of the device.
Kayla looked at the tear in amazement. It was the first time she saw something so magical...
"Oh... I guess it's time." Ethel looked at the tear with regret. She had expected Kayla and the old man to share a few words, but now they had to get through the portal in less than two minutes or it would close.
And they couldn't afford to wait for the next portal to open in half a month, since enrollment in the academy started this week...
The old man also knew that, so he sighed.
"Ethel, dear, can you go first?" The old man smiled sadly.
Ethel thought for a moment and nodded. She thought that was the best option at the moment...
She quickly told Kayla that she was waiting for her on the other side and passed through the tear, disappearing.
Normally Kayla would be watching this event with fascination, but currently, she could only stare at the ground, wondering what the old man wanted to tell her.
"Kayla, look me in the eyes" The old man's voice sounded in the Kayla ears, as warm as ever...
Kayla hesitated for a moment, but she finally raised her head and looked into the old man's green eyes and his wrinkled face.
"You know... in this short time I have become attached to you in a way that I never thought possible in such a short time." The old man smiled. "And although I know you don't like to accept it, I notice that you have also grown somewhat fond of me…"
Suddenly, the old man knelt in front of Kayla and extended his hand.
"I'm not very good with words, so I plan to keep it simple... Kayla, I have an offer you won't be able to refuse..." The old man repeated the words he said when they made their first deal with a smile.
"Do you want to be the granddaughter of this old man named Aaron?" Aaron smiled as he revealed his name. He knew very well that Kayla had been waiting for him to reveal her name, but he had never found an opportunity.
But he felt that this moment was quite good...
"Eh?" Kayla tilted her head, confused. She never expected the old man, now Aaron, to suddenly say that to her.
"What do you mean? We're not related by blood and I'm sure you have a family of your own..." Kayla looked at Aaron skeptically.
"Haha, it's pretty simple, I've seen you as my granddaughter for a while now, so it wouldn't hurt to make you your real grandfather if you want…" Aaron looked at her with a slightly nervous smile. He never planned to do such a thing...
Kayla looked at him for a few seconds and suddenly she laughed, she had never seen Aaron with such an expression.
"Hahaha, I never imagined seeing such an expression on your old face…" Kayla clutched her stomach. The negative emotions she had been feeling were gone. "As for your offer that I cannot "refuse"…"
Kayla looked at Aaron and remembered the times she spent with him. After thinking about it carefully, she couldn't help but think that Aaron had acted like a loving grandfather to her all this time.
Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be bad to have the grandfather I never had in my previous world in this one...
"I accept it, but you should know that being my grandfather comes with a lot of responsibilities, plus you have a lot of overdue gifts!" Kayla shook Aaron's big hand with a vibrant smile.
"Oh? What I gave you before was not enough?" Aaron asked with a warm smile, typical of a grandfather who wants to spoil his grandchildren...
"Of course not! "That was just you buying me clothes!" Kayla smiled cheekily.
"Haha, this granddaughter of mine turned out to be quite expensive…" Aaron sighed, acting repentant. "Do I have time to take back what I just said?"
"Not, too late! You are now my grandfather, no returns!" Kayla grabbed Aaron's hand and walked with him toward the purple tear.
They both stood in front of the purple tear for a moment, thinking about the short but happy time they spent together.
"I guess this is where I say goodbye…" Kayla watched with resignation as the space tear slowly began to close.
"Yes…" Aaron ruffled Kayla's hair before pushing her lightly toward the portal. "Go and make a big mess in that academy!"
Kayla smiled and nodded as she walked through the portal, leaving a few words behind.
"Just wait for the news, grandpa Aaron!"
With a flash, Kayla's figure disappeared moments before the tear closed.
Aaron looked at the spot where the tear had been with a smile and turned around, leaving the room with a smile on his face.
"Heh, I wonder how long it will take for news about you to reach Alteon…"