After Gerald left his home the day before, Blum decided it was time to do good on his word and went to the lab to pick up a book or two. He loved reading and learning about every possible thing, except math, so of course, he would be tempted to see what secrets lay inside.

When he entered the room, however…

"Help me, I'm stuck!" A familiar voice traveled to his ear. He turned around and saw Xilia in a small iron cage inside the lab. She was also naked.

Blum blushed and quickly covered his eyes and turned around. "What- What are you doing in there?"

"Never mind that, help me get out! I'll explain it later," she begged while trying to pry open the cage door.

"I- I don't have a key…" Blum stammered. He came closer, while still covering his eyes. Yet, he just couldn't help but peek through his fingers.

"Try to break the lock, I think I saw a hammer there somewhere," Xilia said and pointed to a cabinet where Gerald was keeping his tools.

"Alright!" Blum Ogma quickly went there, opened it, found a medium-sized sledgehammer, and then ran back to the cage. He was trying his hardest not to stare at the naked girl inside. She didn't even attempt to cover herself! "Stand back, I'll begin!"

As Xilia moved away slightly, he swung the sledgehammer and struck the lock.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The cage was sturdy, and the lock was also of good quality. So, although it was starting to deform, it was still keeping strong. It was, in fact, stuck together even more than at the beginning.

"Harder, do it harder!" the girl inside encouraged him, producing soft moans as he pounded the cage.

Blum's breaths became faster, and his heart was beating wildly. He almost couldn't control himself. "I'm almost... there!"

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Xilia suddenly shouted.

Blum turned around instinctively and said proudly, "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here soon!"

However, then he suddenly froze. Why was Xilia standing at the door? And how was she fully clothed all of a sudden? And why are there two of them now?!

"That's not me you idiot! Get back!" Xilia shouted and ran towards him.

"Ack!" However, before he could react, a powerful headache assaulted Blum's head and he suddenly felt dizzy and without strength. The naked girl inside the cage suddenly transformed before his eyes and jumped at him with her claws.

"Aaaah!" Blum shouted and fell backward in fright, but not before getting his sleeve torn to shreds. Luckily Xilia caught him and dragged him away from the cage despite the pain in her head. She closed the door behind them and breathed loudly as she used the wall to support herself.

"W- What was that?!" Blum trembled as cold sweat poured down his back. He just got a fright in his life.

Xilia calmed her breathing and said, "That's the Pixie Gerald spoke about! Look, I don't know what you saw, but it was not real! This thing can create powerful illusions, so you need to be careful."

"You... didn't see it?" Blum gulped, too ashamed to look her in the eyes.

"I saw my little sister, as for you, I guess you saw me since you said so? It doesn't matter, I was also shocked when I first saw it in there. I thought Gerald went mad, hehe…" Xilia laughed at the memory when she almost tried to kill him for the second time. Luckily a few good punches made the Pixie revert back to its original revolting form. No way she would try to save that thing!

Blum nodded like a bobblehead. Just the thought of that small sickly-looking body and rows of razor-sharp teeth made him shudder. He only looked at it for an instant and was already scarred for life.

It was just so ugly! The contrast was too much!

"Anyway, if you try to get anything from Gerald's room you need to keep this in mind. No matter what it shows you, you must stay strong! Luckily I heard you this time, but believe me, if I came just a minute later you would be a goner!" Xilia warned.

"Aha," Blum agreed absentmindedly and said, "I think I need some fresh air." He then ran through the back door and collapsed on the grass outside, breathing heavily and suddenly violently purged his stomach.

"What a horrible monster…"

Gerald woke up around noon as the air became too hot for a comfortable sleep. He stretched his body and yawned in a slow, relaxed manner.

The gains from yesterday exceeded even his wildest expectations, and he couldn't wait to drown himself in bottles of Mana Elixir. It was just too bad he didn't have the proper tools with him, or else he would refine the potion on the spot and then spend the next few weeks absorbing it.

But, as the universe didn't allow for such things, he had no choice but to return home. If nothing else, he was concerned about the Giant.

The beast was most likely marching towards the capital based on its path. It would be the most logical place to attack after all, especially if the Blood Sun Viper sect truly had a way to control it.

Slana probably wasn't much use against a being of that size, however, if they could just nudge it in the right direction, that would be more than enough.

With those thoughts in mind, while being also slightly worried for his team, Gerald decided to abandon his herb hunt and leave it for some later date. He flew straight up and then oriented himself in an approximate direction of the great city.

He followed his instinct until he came across a clear path. It was of course the one the Giant made, and the ground was well walked over by at least thousands of smaller beasts.

The muddy ground perfectly captured the footprints of all sorts of shapes and sizes, and Gerald decided to follow them if nothing else just for fun.

It actually wasn't long before he came across some stragglers. Lone Goblins, here and there, were slowly advancing over the soft soil and sticky mud as they struggled to keep up.

Gerald was quite amused. He flew closer to the ground, relying on his gravity manipulation to stay afloat, and gloated. His hands made finger guns and he pointed them downward.

"Boom! Headshot!" he shouted. A Goblin collapsed almost immediately afterward with a small hole going straight through its cranium. Gerald laughed stupidly in a swaggering kind of manner and directed his gaze towards another Goblin who just noticed him.

It appeared to be tired as well as stunned by the sudden apparition of a flying human. It was that way for only a moment though, as in the next second it already collapsed, dead.

"Hey, this is kind of fun! And I can practice my aim too! Ah, but I don't quite have enough Mana for that… yet!"