Within the multi-coloured jungle roars and shrieks were very rarely heard when the moon was hanging in the sky, only areas with many nocturnals would have those ongoing battles under the heavy mist, otherwise, it was a quiet sleep for the day walkers

Well, most of them at least, for some unlucky ones were ambushed in their sleep by the shameless trio who had nothing to do other than bother the slumbering beasts to death

"You're not aiming for the right quills, the Raporc has both normal quills and sharp edges ones, you're supposed to aim between the gaps these two different types create"

"They all look the same Master!"

Ellis said while blocking off yet another attack from the small jumpy porcupine, her weapon was about to break again for the seventh time this night

"If it jumps at you straight it's using normal quills, if it jumps in a slashing manner its using razor quills, from the reference try guessing which is which"

Finished with his tip he moved his sight toward the pitiable hound facing another one of these Raporc, she was having a difficult time with the lack of a weapon or aura to protect her from the pointy attacks thus she spent less time fighting than she did jumping around it

'Just keep distracting it, this isn't the best foe for you to fight'

If he didn't have the need to train Ellis while they levelled up he wouldn't have even engaged with an annoying beast like this one, it was much better facing normal beasts, though one would find it hard to spot a 'normal' beast in the Rainbow Terrace

"Make haste, if you take too long we will have to give this prey up"

Throughout the past three days that they spent hunting in the Terrace, fighting all manner of beasts ranging from easy to kill packs to tricky opponents like now, there had been one common factor that every fight had which was the speed they had to finish every fight in

'Latvia is too persistent with her seekers, it's not like her to push through something so blindly'

The drone-like items that the surveillance charged general made were following them every time they headed out, it was really annoying to change their easy route to a long and danger-filled one just to lose her

'I don't like scurrying around like a rat but I can't have her see us struggling with opponents like these'

With the other choice being staying home he decided to bear the tiresome process and make some gains while his weapons arrived, at least he wasn't going to bore his mind by sitting around all day

The almost inaudible dying sound of the Raporc finally came seconds later, the exhausted Ellis didn't dally though and aided Anput in order to wrap this up

"Thank you, Master, I always felt my attacks were too rigid, I guess I stuck to the same old swings and was too afraid to test new types of strikes, this really helped me figure a few ones out"

After finishing the last one Ellis showed her gratitude, though she learned it by herself she knew that he set the opponent to teach her exactly what she needed without telling her outright, it fit his teaching method, the one where he doesn't actually teach that is

He merely nodded and started moving back to Hortus, the sun was coming up and they couldn't fight during the sun's shift, without the mist the visibility of Latvia's seekers goes way up which forced them to only hunt at night, another thing that bothered him greatly

"? Another one huh, its already been three days how come they aren't back up yet"

Seeing the pools of blood littering the ground and the squshed bodies he recognised the scene to be of the Genus Insania's doing, they left such traces when they were 'recruiting' new blood but it usually only took them a day, these fresh scenes, however, were popping up all over the place during the entirety of his hunt

As curious as he was he could only ignore it and head back to Hortus, whatever those crazy meatheads were doing didn't concern him, not after their leader acted so cautious around him, only a bloody mad idiot would attack him at this point

Passing through the checkpoints without any hassle, except for maybe the scared looks the guards had when greeting him, he and his two servants made it back to their temporary residence where the one-armed, and now one-eyed as well, maid opened the gate for them with her head bowed and her body shaking, fear or anger though he couldn't tell

"Hm?"

As soon as he entered the hall room he sensed something weird, turning his eyes toward the ceiling

The maids saw this and tried to distract him but he waved for them to be quiet and mouthed some words at the ceiling

'Know your limit'

Tik tik!

Once he got the message through to the other side he threw two knives at the ceiling effectively destroying the surveillance device that was 'secretly' planted there, something one would find extremely hard to do without being noticed by the ever-present maids

"I will keep your actions this time in mind, if it ever happens again I will personally drain all blood from your bodies, understood?"

"Yes Sir!"

All the maids replied while shaking, clearly, they were in on the device's instalment and knew he had every right to send their heads rolling, not that he needed an excuse to do it before though

YuJu didn't bother with the maids anymore and made his way to the bath with the two tired and dirty fighters, his intentions were much more than taking a bath though

'To even install a surveillance device in my hall room, something major must have happened'

One thing that didn't deteriorate after his return was his sensitivity to preying eyes, whenever someone set their eyes on him he could feel their gaze, something that every great lurker needed, much less the Unseen

Because of that he noticed that Latvia has been watching their every move in Hortus, she also tried to look for them out of it, and now pried into his home, at this point it was obvious she wasn't doing it under Aminta's orders, at least he hoped she so

'So many things changed, I can't be sure of everything I know...I need to change my plans too'

"Anput, come here"

He called for the happy hound splashing in the water while taking out an object from his inventory

"Awu? Wu!"

She was confused at the start but once she saw what it was he was holding she jumped up from the water landing in front of him, her tail wagging like a fan from her obvious excitement

"I wanted to give you this much later down the road, sadly the situation doesn't allow any more delays, I will be needing whatever strength this brings you"

"WU!"

Anput stilled herself and nodded seriously, showing her will to face whatever situation they are thrust in, her tail, however, betrayed her by continuing its spinning motion which ruined her attempt at a grave look

Shaking his head at the impossibly cute hound he held the Sand Crown with both hands and lowered it until it was just over her head

"Endure the pain young one, I will be here for you"

Allowing it to fall on her head he watched as the solid-looking crown shook, cracks forming on it like glass, then, silently, it crumbled, just like the expression on Anput's face

"Uhh?"

Noting the blissful expression on her face YuJu didn't know what to make of the situation for the first time in his new attempt at life, wasn't this supposed to be a crucifying experience? How come she had her tongue out like it was the best car ride of her life

"Are you, like, okay?"

"Wawuuhuu"

The reply was anything but intelligent, still, it was clearly one of pure joy

"....."

Seeing him so stumped in the face of the silly hound Ellis smiled in amusement, resting her head on her hand as she enjoyed this rare sight while the hot water undid all her taut nerves

'I wish he showed this side of him more often'

She hoped, perhaps then he could enjoy his time rather than worry about his endless plans