"Well… who wants a ride?"

Sasha clapped excitedly and said,

"You actually have wings now, sir Lucas! And you look so powerful."

Evélyne, on the other hand, was more level headed,

"Have you ever flown before, Lucas?"

With a much heavier voice, Lucas rumbled,

"No? But I've read a bunch about it. It should be a breeze."

"Hmm, then take a test flight."

Lucas gave Evélyne a pointed look but obliged. Closing his three lidded eyes, he focused on his wings and tensed his legs.

Boom!

With a massive jump, he leaped into the air. His wings flapped in tandem, generating huge gusts of wind as he soared away. Sasha watched on with wide eyes.

"Hmm?"

As he flew higher and higher, Lucas felt himself getting dramatically heavier, like a boulder was strapped to his back. With every meter he gained upward, this weight increased exponentially.

Managing his weight carefully, Lucas spread his wings out and came back down with a measured glide.

Boom.

His now much bigger Rune glowed as he landed on all fours outside the training yard. Evélyne and Sasha moved closer to him as he turned to them.

"Why am I getting so much heavier? My wings should be able to carry me."

Sasha's tail flicked behind her as she still marveled at Lucas' new form. Evélyne answered calmly.

"You're not fighting against just gravity but the Spirit energy in the air as well. If you can't generate a strong enough counter force or bypass that Spirit energy somehow, flight is impossible."

Lucas fell silent before suddenly asking,

"Can you fly Evélyne?"

Sasha's head snapped at her but Evélyne simply shook her head.

"But I do understand its principles. As long as you can add your Spirit into the equation, flying should be rather simple for you."

Lucas nodded enthusiastically. The two women stepped back as steam rose from his slit nostrils. He then shot into the sky light a bullet only to crash back down with even more force. Thankfully, his K.D Rune's effect cushioned his landing.

'Wait, why am I still trying to brute force it? I should try to resonate with the Spirit energy instead. Then the only problem will be gravity.'

With that idea in mind, he got to work. The two women stepped back even further as he blazed with a multicolored, vibrating Spirit energy. With closed eyes he activated his Skill,

'[Adaptive Resonance.]'

Boom!

He shot to the sky once more, flying much higher than his previous attempts. After a few seconds of flying, he glided back to the ground. His expression focused as he went into thought.

"What's the matter sir Lucas?"

Sasha asked,

"My energy consumption is too high."

Evélyne brought a hand to her chin before offering,

"You can try to…"

Putting suggestions from the two women to use and his own comprehension, Lucas kept trying to fly. After trying for about an hour, on one fateful attempt, he shot to the sky. His wings were coated in his vibrant multicolored energy as he flew away, flying faster and higher with each flap.

"He actually did it…"

Sasha muttered. Evélyne watched on with a slight smile.

AWOOOH!

Lucas' sudden roar cut throughout the manor, drawing the attention of multiple puzzled attendants. Lucas let loose a lot of pent-up emotions with this drawn-out roar.

When he relaxed, he felt the cool wind on his feathers. Looking down, everything seemed so small and insignificant.

'Woah…'

Overcome with emotion, he just flew in cycles for a bit and got used to his new found ability.

After a couple of minutes, he was already performing barrel rolls and sharp turns before shooting back to earth like a streak of light.

With extremely precise control, he landed on his feet in the training yard with a dull thud. His K.D Rune glowed like a torch in the day light.

"Now, who wants a ride?"

"I do!"

Sasha rushed forward excitedly; Evélyne followed closely behind. Sasha suddenly stopped at Lucas side, catching her hesitation, he smirked, revealing his vicious teeth as he said,

"Hop on. It's not like I'm going to get a seat for you."

Sasha blushed as her gown morphed into a jumpsuit. She climbed on his back with a hop and sat comfortably. His fur was quite warm. Evélyne sat on his back as well, wrapping her hands around Sasha's waist.

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"Hold on tight."

Sasha gripped a patch of fur. Lucas' grinned broader and said,

"We have liftoff!"

Boom!

"Ahhh!! Hahahaha!"

Lucas shot away like a rocket as Sasha screamed; her laughter soon rang out moments later. When he got high enough to be above the manor, he stopped climbing and shot forward, cruising above the landscape below.

The morning light illuminated all below, giving the three a new perspective on a place they had seen and lived in all this time. Looking down at the calm forest that stretched into the distance, the trio felt at peace.

After twenty minutes of calm flying and almost perfect silence, Lucas went back to the training yard and landed gently. When the two women got off, he transformed back to a more humanoid form.

"That was… breathtaking, sir Lucas. Thank you."

Sasha said politely as she tried to bow. Lucas hastily put a hand on her shoulder and said,

"There's no need for that, Sasha, we are friends. The fact that you call me 'sir' all the time is already too much."

She slowly rose upright with a slight blush.

"Thank you, Lucas. That was… illuminating."

Evélyne said as well, her gaze moving to the forest stretching away from the manor. Noting her vacant gaze, Lucas asked,

"Are you alright, Evélyne?"

She turned to him and said,

"Yes… just lost in thought."

Sasha looked at her mistress but chose to let her be, her tail dipping slightly. The trio stood in comfortable silence for a bit before Lucas asked,

"So, what do you guys think about the One world academy? I'm guessing the Queen plans for all of us to attend."

Evélyne answered neutrally,

"I'm excited for it."

Lucas narrowed his eyes playfully,

"You sure don't look the part."

Sasha immediately pouted,

"That's not funny, sir Lucas. My mistress genuinely wants to go."

Lucas shook his head ruefully as he said,

"I know. It was just a joke. I'm excited as well. We get to meet new people, learn new things, and most importantly, fight new people!… probably."

Sasha giggled before the trio began chatting and theorizing about what school would be like. As usual, Evélyne mostly stayed silent, and the conversation was dominated by Lucas and Sasha.

Weeks passed like this. The trio would train together or individually, creating time to hang out with each other in a comfortable loop. Throughout this time, Lucas saw Katlyn sporadically for cell samples and other purposes.

But the activities that took up the most of his time were probably using the library and introspection. Thanks to those two things, his fighting style and Runes had evolved far ahead of what he was at the cavern.

Currently, he sat under the afternoon sun at his favorite view. Not meditating or thinking, just taking everything as it was. Evélyne and Sasha were nowhere to be found in the training yard as he just sat. With his reptilian tail lying by his side, he fell into thought.

'Hey Crash, today I made some improvements on my life energy usage. It turns out it can be compressed for more violent effects, but as always, it can easily blow up my heart. So I have to work on that… I still can't try out the new transformations and Rune changes I have theorized but… I will create some time in the future for it…'

After a few hours passed like this. Anything he had learned, he would recount to… Crash. Every feeling and thought which wasn't safe to share. As he sat deep in thought suddenly stopped and said,

"I know you're there, Sasha."

Sasha gasped as she suddenly appeared a few meters behind him. Her hair had grown considerably longer, the streaks of sky blue through it now more prominent as well. Her posture was more confident, even as she asked in surprise,

"How did you know, sir Lucas?"

With his eyes still closed, Lucas smirked and said,

"I guessed."

Sasha pouted,

"Hmph, it's fine if you don't tell me. I won't spar with you anymore; we will see who keeps smiling then."

Lucas' smirk falter as he thought,

'When did she get so cutthroat?'

Lucas hastily tried to dissuade her,

"I really did guess, Sasha. Your Spirit energy directly messes with my perception. There's no way around it apart from trusting my intuition."

Thankfully, Sasha accepted his explanation with a suspicious nod before seating beside him. Lucas gave her a little room as he removed his scaly tail from its spot. When she sat, he asked,

"Where's Evélyne?"

Sasha didn't have to think to say,

"My mistress is in her room meditating. It seems she has gotten hold of an epiphany once again."

Lucas caught Sasha's slightly frustrated tone, but he ignored it and asked,

"So what have you been up to Sasha?"

Her tail loosened as she said,

"Just fighting in a virtual combat tournament. Are you sure you don't want to try, sir Lucas? It's really fun and there are lots of strong people on it."

Lucas smiled as he responded,

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure, Sasha. When I master my form to a sufficient degree I will try my hand."

Sasha nodded, and they fell into a comfortable silence. The conversation eventually picked up again, and they began speaking about their respective martial arts as they usually did. At some point, they sensed a familiar yet subtly different aura.

Sasha got to her feet and walked over to the person they sensed. Lucas turned, already knowing who was there.

"Good afternoon, Lucas."

Evélyne's tall form stood before Sasha. Given her easily more than two meter height, Sasha stood barely at chest level to her as she cupped her cheeks gently. Sasha blushed at the intimate action as their minds melded.

Lucas sighed as he got to his feet and walked to the training yard as he thought,

'Things really are different here…'

At first he thought there was something kind of romantic, maybe even a sexual relationship between Evélyne and Sasha. But he had never seen them even kiss. Knowing Evélyne, she would do something like that whether he was present or not.

So when all three of them got to the training yard and took their seats on couches Evélyne conjured, Lucas bit the bullet and asked.

"So… do you mate with, or would like to mate with Sasha?"

Realizing what he said, Lucas almost face palmed at the language limitations. Sasha's ears flickered as she and Evélyne gave him a puzzled look. Evélyne processed his words for a few moments before saying,

"No."

But she continued, citing a reason Lucas hadn't considered.

"We can't mate even if we wanted to."

"Wait, what?"

Lucas was flabbergasted. Evélyne reached out a hand and began stroking Sasha's soft hair as she said,

"Beastkin can't copulate since they lack sexual organs. And I can't as well for the same reason."

As Lucas processed this information, it was easy to see something didn't add up.

"Then how did the Beastkin race come about?"

Evélyne gently scratched Sasha's ear as she said,

"Mother created them. She created each and every one of them. She created me as well."

Lucas' eyes almost shot out of his skull.

"What!?"

Sasha giggled at his wild expression, and Evélyne just smiled. Lucas felt like he was going insane.

Lucas just shook his head and pressed the two women with more questions.

"Then… how come you guys have genders? Isn't that kinda arbitrary since you don't have reproductive organs?"

Evélyne responded casually,

"We present as the gender we feel."

Lucas frowned slightly, mulling over everything he had just learned,

'Things really are different here… Well, who am I to judge? I am not packing any heat down there as well.'

Lucas smirked at the thought as he changed the topic.

"Thanks for enlightening me… Since today is going to be one of our last days at the manor, how about a sparring match, Sasha?"

Sasha nodded enthusiastically. Lucas looked over at Evélyne,

"Do you mind being the ref, princess?"

Evélyne just shook her head and walked outside the field. Lucas and Sasha smiled at each other before standing twenty meters apart. Sasha took her usual claw and fist stance; the only difference being a faint film of sky blue energy coated her form.

Lucas stood opposite her, his stance loose and free. His feet were spread apart slightly and his hands were casually raised to chin level. His tail lazily whipped behind him in slow, measured intervals as he leaned forward slightly. The Runes on his limbs began glowing with a soft red light.

If you paid closer attention to him, you would notice a strange almost fluid-like substance coated his form when he got into his stance. It was almost transparent as it flowed across his skin like a lazy creek.

Both combatants locked gazes, Sasha's eyes were sharp and focused as if she was trying to pierce a hole through her opponent. Lucas on the other hand, had almost unfocused eyes, his pupils now white wisps as his senses tracked the environment, its Spirit energy, and Sasha herself. His loose stance corrected itself with minute shifts he picked up.

"Begin!"

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