Aryan carried a massive crimson double-edged axe with black patterns, while Sister Aisha had a claymore sword made of shining orange metal.

Even though the clash of their weapons radiated sharp energy bursts outward, the hall was completely still, as if it was absorbing all the power from their attacks.

When the door opened, their focus shifted to me and they halted their duel.

"What brings you here, little shit?" Aryan asked, placing his axe on the floor.

"Just curious how you were training to defeat Sword King," I replied, shrugging.

"Brother Raj, how is Inayat?" Sister Aisha asked, joining in. "She must have thrown a lot of tantrums to meet us."

"Not in the slightest," I replied with a smirk. "She is Uncle Raj's princess now and doesn't miss you two even for a second."

"Hm, I heard from Maa that she didn't leave your side for the whole day. You are good with children, Brother Raj. You should also get married and bring a little brother or sister for Inayat."

"Haha! It's too early for me to marry," I laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh right! It's not time for these small talks," I said, turning to Aryan. "How are you planning to defeat him?"

"Since Inayat was born, I haven't participated in any dungeon raid, so I'm currently out of shape. Until the day of the deathmatch, I'm planning to spar with Aisha to remove the rust from my bones," Aryan replied, stretching his arms.

"And you think this much will be enough?" I asked, my voice serious. "The Sword King is already a rank higher than you, not to mention that he never stopped fighting even once."

"How do you know that?" Aryan asked, surprised.

"I have my ways, and that's not important!" I snapped, my voice turning louder. "I was an idiot to believe it when Maa said that you would win."

I turned to Sister Aisha and said, "Forgive me for the disrespect, Sister Aisha."

Before she could ask the reason, I turned to Aryan again and scolded, "You are hoping to defeat an Awakener in a higher rank than yours by sparring with someone obviously weaker than you?"

My eyes turned sharper and my voice became louder as I demanded, grabbing Aryan by the collar, "Do you think this is a game!?"

Both Sister Aisha's and Jasmine's eyes were wide open in shock. It must have been the first time for them to see Aryan being treated like that.

After a brief pause, Aryan spoke up, a smile tugging at his face. "And I was trying to hide it from you because I thought you would oppose it."

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"There's an A-Rank gate that appeared in Mumbai. Normally, when an A-Rank gate appears, the guild in whose territory the gate appears invites an S-Rank Awakener from other guilds to clear the gate, and they split the resources from the dungeon. To clear an A-Rank gate, two S-Rank Awakeners and a team of A-Rank Awakeners are required."

"Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?" I asked, confused.

"Because the Guildmaster of the Thunder Lion Guild, in whose territory this A-Rank gate appeared, is a close friend of mine. I made a deal with him that I will be entering that gate with his team of A-Rank Awakeners without any S-Rank Awakener. In return, all the resources earned from the dungeon will belong to him."

Letting out a chuckle, Aryan continued, scratching his temple, "I didn't tell you because I thought you would oppose me."

"Now, I seem like an idiot for crashing out for nothing," I sighed, holding my forehead.

"I didn't know Mr. Raj could get angry like that," Jasmine gasped, murmuring to Sister Aisha.

"Neither did I. He always carried that gentle smile on his face. This was the first time I saw him snapping like that," Sister Aisha added.

Ignoring those murmurs about me, I asked, "So when are you leaving to clear the gate?"

"Two days before the deathmatch," Aryan replied.

"So you still have three days till then?"

"Hm. I'm thinking of spending these three days increasing my skills with weapons. Your sister-in-law is the most skillful sword wielder in our guild. This was the reason the two of us were sparring."

Releasing a deep sigh, I removed the carry bag from my shoulder and said, "I have brought a good luck gift for you."

"Good luck gift?"

I moved my hand inside the bag, opened the inventory gate there, and pulled out a Grade-1 Mid-Tier Soul Stone.

The energy the Soul Stone radiated almost rendered me unconscious, so I quickly handed it to Aryan.

The moment the three of them saw the Soul Stone, their jaws almost dropped to the floor and their eyes popped out of their sockets.

"Wh-what is this mana stone!?" Aryan exclaimed, utterly baffled.

"Even the mana stones we obtained from A-Rank gates didn't radiate this much energy!" Sister Aisha added, equally shocked.

"R-Raj, where did you get this?" Aryan asked, still in a daze.

"The Brahmin sage gave it to me," I said, averting my eyes. "I don't know what it is, but I thought this could be helpful in your training."

"D-darling, have you ever seen or heard of a mana stone more pure than this?" Aryan asked, his words stuttering.

"N-no, honey. This could be the purest mana stone in the entire world. How strong must that sage be, to give away such a mana stone like it was nothing?"

"But Raj…" Aryan asked, confused. "When I arrived at Hastinapur, I didn't see either this stone or the space bag with you."

"Because it's Jasmine's bag," I replied with a straight face. "Since I couldn't withstand the stone's energy, I put it inside Jasmine's bag. Right, Jasmine?"

Jasmine, who was the most confused by the appearance of this Soul Stone from her bag, was still in a complete daze. She clearly knew that she had given me the bag empty, so how could a mana stone of such purity suddenly appear from inside it?

"Jasmine?" I called her again, this time tapping her shoulder.

"R-right. This bag belongs to me," she blurted out, her mind still disoriented.

"Oh, is that so…" Aryan said, his gaze fixed on the Soul Stone.

It was only then that Jasmine understood what I had meant by keeping secrets between friends.

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