The Nave had become more of a home than reality ever was. Of course, there was the fact that I needed to heal all these atrocious wounds from running around Aetheris the past week, so it was a given that I had to rest.

What Tristan and the others did not know was that rest was very far from me.

'I wonder if they even know that one can access their soul plane. Does Tristan have a soul plane? Do other summoners?'

Thinking about other summoners naturally led me to my classmates, and my chest twisted like a knot. The thought of them — what they thought about me, how they reacted to all of this — I pushed it away before it could settle.

Then a wicked cold voice broke my train of thought.

"Perhaps increasing the weight of the bracelet would be optimal, since you have the luxury to be lost in thoughts."

'Eh?'

"Onegaishimas, Kassie-san."

She frowned immediately. Quite obvious that she didn't understand what I said. She looked like I had just uttered some blasphemous curse at her.

But I grinned in return.

"I meant, please. It's a language from my old world."

She scoffed it away and focused on me with a remnant of that devious smirk.

"You're taking longer… tired?"

"No!" I yelled quickly, then frowned. "And I'm not taking longer — are you teasing me?"

'This girl, she's getting too comfortable. She teases now!'

Fun fact? I was standing.

Actually standing.

The last time, I had crawled to get to her. And after that, it had been one agonizing crawl after another until I finally managed to stand. Progress measured in inches. In trembling knees and arms that screamed for mercy.

Of course, outside the Soul Plane, I wasn't wearing the bracelets, so I tried to do as many common workouts as I knew about. Push-ups, decline push-ups, Bulgarian squats, sit-ups to strengthen my core since she said I needed to draw strength from there, ah… planks. Side planks, leg raises, Russian twists… all of it.

Every day, I turned it into a routine so I wasn't going to suffer every time I had to enter the Nave. The pain was inevitable, but I could at least meet it prepared.

With nothing else to do while the sea moved beneath us, the routine was surprisingly easy to keep to — except for being bothered by my injury, so I really had to take it easy. Baby steps — which meant listening to my body when it screamed at me to stop.

Moreover, going to the deck and gazing upon the vast body of water was hellish for me. I looked at it that one time and suffered severe ocean sickness, had to be confined to my room for the next two days. My stomach still churned at the memory.

So I rarely came out, except at night where I could check what was going on without the endless blue triggering my guts. Sometimes Po or the crew members would bring me food — breakfast, lunch, dinner. I didn't miss any, and I didn't even have to pay!

Since coming to this world, aside from meeting Lira and my Villainesses, this had been the only good thing that had happened to me. Small mercies that I'd take them where I could find them.

There were other workout routines I revolved around the hours and days, and eventually, today, I was standing with all four weight bracelets and taking a gentle step forward.

My muscles burned. It felt like I could drop dead any moment. But they felt more… bearable. For one, the marble floor didn't feel like quicksand trying to swallow me anymore.

I took more steps and moved further, granted I was walking as if I was treading some impossibly thin wooden bridge suspended over an abyss. One wrong shift of weight and I'd collapse. But I didn't collapse.

Kassie stood in front of the altar, her arms folded beneath her sumptuous breasts, her eyes following me with a completely unreadable expression. Those crimson eyes tracked every wobble, every strain in my legs, every bead of sweat that I could feel forming despite this being a soul plane.

Eventually, in about three minutes, I reached her. The last time, walking had taken about thirty-five minutes — I think — and before that, it used to take even longer.

It was progress.

'A pathetic one… I need to do better!'

She looked at me and smirked.

I glared at her, but my glares were just fangs that couldn't bite. Else I would get crushed trying. I could bite certain places though — places where she wanted me to bite hard.

My gaze drifted to where her nipples would have jutted out if I could just touch her right now.

'Focus. Training, remember?'

"You did well."

I beamed.

"But not well enough."

'Party pooper.'

I regarded her seriously.

"What do you mean not well enough? How long did it take you to walk with them?"

She raised her chin.

"I never had to crawl. And the units my master at the time used on me were sixty each."

'Two hundred and forty units? Hey, this is completely different…'

"And I was ten."

'Hell no!'

Shame overwhelmed me instantly. A ten-year-old version of Kassie, walking around with nearly two times my current burden like it was nothing. Meanwhile, here I was — a grown man — celebrating the fact that I could stand.

But I deflected it with my supreme shamelessness. That was my greatest weapon, after all.

"So? I'm nineteen — that's a nine-year difference. You should be ashamed of yourself. Are you trying to one-up me? Really? Aren't you supposed to be like, what, eight thousand years old?"

Kassie moved, circling me like a predator circling its prey. The weight bracelets suddenly felt heavier under her gaze.

"By the time you reach this Black Snow Company, it is imperative that you are able to walk and do your daily life while wearing fifty units — and also be able to swing the Frostfang. If you can't achieve that by then, I'll lose interest in teaching you." She paused, and grinned wickedly "You can turn to the flame wizard outside to teach you instead."

I entertained the thought for a minute.

The only thing I could envision was hell. Burning in a vicious white-flame hell with the Pyre Saint laughing evilly — bwahahahahaa — while claiming to be training me. Her eyes glowing with that unhinged joy he got from watching things burn. Including, presumably, me.

That path… was more bleak.

And suddenly Kassie was shining like an angel. A strict, terrifying, impossibly beautiful angel who would crush me under weighted bracelets until I either grew stronger or died trying.

'I'll take the angel.'

My gaze darkened with resolve.

"I'll be able to match swords with you by then."

Kassie stopped and looked at me.

Then a small laugh escaped her lips. She had tried to stifle it but was unable to. Instead, she just held her abdomen and let out one hell of a laugh.

I froze there, not knowing whether to be happy or scared.

The laugh continued — loud, unrestrained, completely at odds with her usual composed demeanor. I just stood there, staring in amazement with a small, shocked smile frozen on my face.

'So it's true… the beautiful ones always come with an ugly laugh.'

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