As Helial brought a glass to his lips, he stroked Lumia's silver head with his other hand. In the past days, he had spent a lot of time with his sister and his other companions, wandering for the streets of Orma and living carefree. It had been a long time since any of them enjoyed a few days off, without any thought on their mind.

Helial, besides, had learned an important lesson from Alexander: one must enjoy his victories and give his mind the calm needed to prepare for the next storm. A long and tiring siege must always be followed by an equally large feast.

Not being fully autonomous financially, Helial had decided to please his companions and accompany them to celebrate in a place worthy of the efforts they had made, hoping not to squander too many funds of the Clan of Sacred Eagle...

However, seeing the portions Snowflake was gulping down eagerly, Helial was beginning to feel his forehead beading with sweat.

The cook, shocked by the number of orders from their table, had deigned to leave his hob to face the Goblin who had decided to finish all the ingredients he had in the restaurant. He was surprised to see a large cat, armed with a bib and golden cutlery.

"Old bastard, where is the remaining lasagna?" swore Snowflake, realizing that the flow of food had suddenly stopped.

"You bastard fatty cat", swore Apicio, Coquinaria's chef, with a benevolent smile on his face, "my biggest wish is to feed the customers, but if you go on like this the ingredients for lasagna will finish. You should order something else; always eating the same thing is not healthy at all."

"Healthy? This Supreme Cat doesn't need to be healthy, only to eat his fucking lasagna."

Apicio laughed and replied blow for blow to Snowflake's curses. Having a customer so satisfied with his lasagna did nothing but flatter him.

At one point, while continuing to talk to Snowflake, the cook had an idea: despite being a warrior in the Eighth Phase and his art being secret to the people who ate in his restaurant, the Goblin took some portable stove in the main room and started preparing a series of different and refined dishes in front of his customers, cooking and serving at the same time. With such a high Level, multitasking a bit did not stop him from continuing to argue with the cat.

"And what are these?" Snowflake said, voraciously sinking his teeth into two huge omelettes.

“You bastard, don't talk while eating, you're spitting half the stuff in your mouth on me and on the table. Nothing should be wasted here, it that clear? "

Snowflake, after belching loudly, took the plate in his front paws and began cleaning it with his tongue, then he held it out again towards the cook, who did nothing but fill it, on command.

The customers all around had their eyes wide with amazement. That luxurious and refined place, where it was necessary to beg the chef to gain entrance, was now at the mercy of a gluttonous cat.

And not only that: most of the customers came from noble families and were nothing short of scandalized by the disaster that Snowflake brought with him as he ate.

Spurts of omelettes, lasagna, béchamel and basically anything were flying through the air, without sparing the faces and clothes of anyone present.

Helial had raised a translucent Mana curtain to shield himself from that massacre. Just as he tried to enjoy the wine in his glass, produced in the countryside surrounding Orma and flavoured with a special herb that stimulated the increase of Health Points, Helial felt a shiver run down his back. Without thinking twice, he unleashed his senses in all directions.

Skill Activated:

Perception

The boy felt that someone was staring at him with a murderous Aura. Yet according to his calculations, the Sect of the Worthy would never have made a move against him in the open. He could not understand who was so crazy as to manifest his murderous intent in broad daylight towards Cesar's disciple.

A black shadow appeared behind him and everyone in the restaurant froze, except Snowflake, who continued to eat, unperturbed.

Helial, without even turning around, finally recognized the Aura that was attacking him and understood that the person behind him was much more dangerous than any mercenary of the Sect.

Leaning forward, the shadow brought her plump lips to Helial's ear, lightly brushing it.

"You are eating in the most exclusive place in Orma and instead of your fiancée you bring a cat that looks like a sewer, two wacky Goblins and a little girl who should have been in bed for some time already?"

Everyone's gaze passed on Circe, wrapped in a black leather bodice that highlighted all her curves. Her perfectly proportioned body and her ice-melting gaze had allowed her to conquer everyone's hearts in a split second. Circe had a stunning body. Her raven hair cascaded down her shoulders, smooth and shiny, and her straight bangs like an arrow shot covered her eyes, which emitted attractive flashes. She looked like a small demon capable of infecting anyone's heart.

Helial, in his relatively brief experience in the Time Block, surrounded by the unrestrained men who were the Madoni, had already experienced the company of a woman's body and was no longer the naive young man he was before. Yet in front of Circe, it seemed to him that he had returned to be a defenceless child.

Grabbing Helial by the scruff of the tunic he wore, Circe did not even give Lumia time to look at her threateningly and disappeared in a flash of black light, dragging the helpless boy with her.

Snowflake that, at first glance, was focused only on eating, hadn't missed anything. "Too fast," he muttered to himself, spitting out more food residues. He too, the undisputed king of speed, had to recognize that he was nowhere near comparable to Circe.

He swallowed and, with a worried expression and a heavy heart, blissfully went back to eating, not giving a flying fuck about Helial.

...

Jumping from building to building, Circe continued to hold Helial by the neck, like an animal. But how could Cesar's disciple suffer such a humiliation without reacting?

Helial tried to free herself, but Circe glared at him immediately.

Okay, Cesar's disciple can suffer such a humiliation without reacting, thought the boy.

Just then, the figure of an old Master of the Mana Congregation made its way into Helial's mind.

…

A few years earlier

“Brat, over the years as a Master of the Mana Congregation I have studied many Skills and techniques. I have developed a Skill that I can pass on to you even before you reach the First Phase. Do you want to see it?"

Helial, feeling from afar the hint of fraud, nodded without particular interest.

Vidio, seated in the tavern, immediately eyed the waitress. As soon as she passed by their table, Vidio winked at Helial and raised his hand wide open.

SLAP

A slap on the maid's ass suddenly startled her.

But Vidio's technique was not about how to slap maids' buttocks, but about the angle and the position of said slaps.

The maid turned, her face red with anger, and behind her she found... Helial!

"Old bastard," swore the boy, getting up from his stool and hurrying out of the umpteenth tavern as fast as he could, before the waitress or one of her shoes reached him.

Behind him, Vidio ran and laughed, holding his chest as if fearing that it could burst at any moment. “Hahahah, look how fast you learned to run. This is how you gain your freedom! What would you do without a teacher like me?"

…

Still thinking about that scene, Helial said to himself that it was worth trying, to see if such a move would have allowed him to free himself from Circe's suffocating grip.

He then raised his hand, ready to slap with all the strength that he had in his arm that wonder of nature not too far from his face...