"Ah~~"

A soft sigh echoed through a dark room as a pair of bright blue eyes slowly fluttered open, focusing on the emptiness before them.

Their owner sat up with a stretch, her muscles stirring awake from their long slumber.

With a simple flick of her fingers, more than seven days’ worth of accumulated grime and odor lifted clean from her body, leaving her skin with a renewed, fresh glow.

Her long, pale, delicate fingers then closed around the cold steel doorknob, and with a gentle push, the meditation room door swung open.

A loud snap echoed down the hallway the next moment, revealing Alice’s slender figure framed in the entrance.

Sunlight streaming down through the opening at the top of the training arena spilled over her body, bathing the creamy, ample skin exposed at her cleavage in a faint, golden hue.

"Oh... look who’s back!"

Alice barely had time to react before Evelyn threw her arms around her, pulling her into the kind of warm, tight embrace only a best friend could give.

The voluptuous bodies of the two beauties tangled together in the hug, their generous breasts mashing flat against one another, the soft flesh squishing between them until the four heavy mounds pressed into a single, heaving cushion of cleavage.

Bright smiles lit both their faces.

"How long was I gone? Ethan wasn’t worried, was he?" Alice asked, stepping back slightly to look at her friend’s eyes.

"Seven days," Evelyn replied, drawing a shocked look from Alice before letting out a mischievous giggle. "And you know how he is when it comes to either of us. Of course he was worried. Fufufu~~"

Hearing that, Alice’s lashes fluttered briefly, but in the end she could only release a resigned sigh.

Her gaze drifted from Evelyn and settled on the door leading to the training arena, where two figures were just emerging.

Elena walked beside Ethan, clinging tightly to his arm, his forearm half-swallowed by the ample, creamy cleavage of her huge dark tits.

Noticing Alice’s arrival, Elena stepped back with a knowing smile, releasing Ethan’s arm so her excited friend could have him all to herself.

Ethan opened his arms, pulling Alice’s perfect, voluptuous body flush against his chest. His hands slid down the curve of her slender waist before descending to cup the full, heavy swell of her shapely buttocks.

He squeezed firmly, his fingers sinking knuckle-deep into the plump, springy flesh.

A quiet realization struck him as he did, her already flawless form had somehow become even more alluring than before.

Was it because he hadn’t seen her in so many days?

He wasn’t sure, but feeling the powerful mana humming within Alice, Ethan found himself torn between the urge to impregnate her as soon as possible and the curiosity to see her new power in action.

"Hehe~~ did you miss me?" she asked with a gentle, sweet giggle that made his heart melt a little.

"Yes..." he murmured, brushing his lips against hers. "Why don’t we pay a visit to the spiritual greenhouse? I want to see your new mana control. Afterward, we can go somewhere more secluded, since I’m curious to see your power, and Evelyn’s as well."

At his words, the eyes of both beauties lit up with an eager flame.

Their personalities were very different, yet there was one thing they both loved.

They both loved showing off for Ethan.

***

In a secluded stretch of the forest surrounding Goldenveil, the wind whispered through the treetops.

Four Goldenveil guards moved through the area, no more than ten kilometers from the village, led by Cain.

After beginning his study of the fourth form of imperial fencing with Doran, Cain had grasped the technique to a certain degree in only a handful of days.

Thanks to that progress, his rank within the Goldenveil guard had climbed to effective second-in-command, above even older second-stage warriors, second only to Doran himself.

Because of this, Doran had begun entrusting him with more responsibility, something the young man gladly accepted. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

This was supposed to be a routine patrol, but it quickly turned into something else entirely.

The five men crouched low against the forest floor, surrounded by tall bushes that brushed their shoulders.

Voices began to echo in the distance, muffled at first, then clearer. The five guards held their breaths, sensing fifteen presences approaching through the surrounding woods.

"Ah... why do we have to come to this hellish place now? We’re only going to march after winter anyway. The Lord using a teleportation scroll to this isolated spot was a waste!" one of the figures grumbled, the thick, irritated voice clearly belonging to a man.

"The Lord only wants an initial sweep of the enemy’s defenses. It’s not much, just a look and then a retreat," another replied in a calmer tone.

"Silence!" A third voice cut through the air with a reproachful growl.

"We’re already approaching our target and must not be detected. The Lord is methodical and likes to have complete mastery over intelligence regarding the enemy’s position, so do not question his methods.

If possible, we should also capture someone to learn more about this Lord Goldenveil."

Those words silenced the other two immediately.

A deathly stillness fell over the five guards.

Footsteps, breaths, even the pressure of the fifteen auras all vanished at once, as though the forest itself had swallowed them whole.

After a long moment of tension, Cain clenched his teeth, his eyes trembling as cold sweat beaded along his temple, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

The enemy had already discovered them!

"Split up and run to Goldenveil, now!"

He leaped to his feet, but before the order had fully left his mouth, a blade sliced through the air and bit deep into the neck of one of the guards.

A pained gurgle echoed through the forest as the man crumpled to the ground, his trembling hands clawing to stem the hot jet of blood pulsing from his slit throat.

The throwing knife had sunk to the hilt, and he drowned in his own blood as the soil around him ran red.

The other four guards froze, eyes wide with terror.

"Ah... it seems some little mice were hiding and eavesdropping on things they shouldn’t have heard... surrender and tell me everything you know about Goldenveil, and my Lord will be merciful." A voice heavy with murderous intent drifted out from the bushes.

"I’d die a thousand times before betraying my Lord, you pig!" Cain roared, his gaze sweeping the woods in search of whoever had spoken.

Before his voice had even faded, a throwing knife was already slicing through the air toward his chest, aimed at his heart and empowered by a powerful second-stage aura.