I lie on the floor, panting as my mind tries to find a reason for my loss. I was supposed to have won that bout until the Azzure had suddenly performed some strange trick that turned the tides in its favor. After some consideration, I figure out some points I could use to counteract that move should it be used again on me.

“One more,” I say to the deer lying lazily not too far from me.

It flicks its ear as its eyes meet mine. “No.”

“Come on, Luoi, just one more. Please.”

“No. Besides, don’t you have to meet those Erhaz friends of yours today?”

Then I remember, Trevor and Charlotte - the Erhaz couple that had informed me about the Majin’s plan to attack my school - had asked me to meet up with them this afternoon for something important. Or, at least they said it was important. “What’s the time?” I ask Luoi.

The deer closes its eyes. “How am I supposed to know? I’m not a clock It is afternoon here though.” I shake my head at him. After using a few spells to clean up myself, I say goodbye to Luoi and leave the Lands, heading to the spot where Charlotte had told me we should meet up.

As I walk I think about the events of the past few weeks. The day after Hugo had helped us banish the Majin, I had gone to the Lands to thank Luoi. That day, it had asked if it could be my Familiar. I said yes, after all, without it I probably wouldn’t still be alive. Though I did grill it before I agreed, I had to know why it wanted to be my Familiar so bad and what exactly it means to have a Familiar. It had answered my questions and finding them not too bad, I accepted. After that, I began training daily with it. Drew and his team on the other hand had begun preparing for the Wranth exam, so I haven’t seen them all that much lately. As for how Lathia managed to unlock her third eye, I don’t know, but the fact that she very clearly doesn’t want to answer that question makes me very suspicious.

Getting close to our point of rendezvous, I notice a bunch of older teens surrounding Charlotte and Trevor - who both look really pissed. By habit, I turn on second sight. All of them are Erhaz, but judging from Charlotte and Trevor’s reactions the other kids are clearly stronger than them.

I use the enhancement noer to improve my senses so that I can listen to what is going on. Walking unhurriedly, I soon figure out what is going on. Apparently, the four kids surrounding them think they have stolen something from them and they want it back. Even though the two don’t strike me as particularly moral people, they also don’t seem like the type to steal stuff.

Trevor spots me and then nudges Charlotte as his worried look fades away. The moment she knows I am here, she immediately becomes a thousand times more confident and wastes no time antagonizing the leader of the group confronting them. I fight the strong urge to roll my eyes, knowing what exactly they are planning. Predictably, the leader of the group becomes angry at Charlotte’s word and rouses his Uua, as he prepares to use magic.

“Wait!” I shout, stopping him in his track. Every member of the group turns to look at me. At first, they look as though they are going to beat me up, but then they notice the mark on my forehead identifying me as Laen.

“What do you want, Laen? We haven’t done anything wrong.”

I nod at the two mischievous people behind him. “Well, those guys are my friends and I noticed you guys were arguing so I wanted to ask what happened. Maybe we can settle things without resorting to violence.” Even though he doesn’t look like he completely believes me, he explains that he believes they stole something from him. Once he is done, I say, “I get where you’re coming from, and I understand that those two aren’t exactly good, but I don’t they’d stoop so low as to steal from you.”

His bearing changes, calm one second and hostile the next. “Do you think I can’t tell what’s going on here? You’re just trying to cover up for them, aren’t you? Well, I’m not so easily bullied.”

He throws a punch but having expected something like that since the moment his bearing changed, I am not caught unguarded. I swiftly activate the strengthening noer, and using it in conjunction with the enhancement noer, boosts my strength and reflexes. After that, catching his hand is no hard feat. He tries to pull away, but I just make my grip tighter. I twist his hand and like an amateur he follows it, making what happens next a lot easier. I sweep him off his feet and before he hits the ground I hit his chest with a palm, using telekinesis to push him backward.

He flies away from me and hits the ground heavily before curling up, a hand grabbing his chest. The rest of his goons, despite seeing what just happened to him, decide to attack. I easily dodge their slow attacks and consider what I can do to make them stop without attacking them, not wanting to hurt anyone else. That is until one of them gathers Uua on his fist.

My eyes narrow at that. Even though I am clearly stronger than all of them here, if that fist had caught me off guard I would have been severely injured. It would have been like getting hit with a small explosion on the chest, and there is no way that wouldn’t have dealt some serious damage. I attack him first.

Using burst, I arrive in front of him quicker than he expected, then I punch him in the gut. As he reels in pain, the Uua around his hand disperses, but I am not done yet. Using my enhanced strength, I carry him and turn around before throwing him at the remaining two still coming at me, using a bit of telekinesis to make sure he really smacks into them. Not expecting something like that, they are caught off-guard and are all knocked over.

Since I didn’t really hurt any of them that much, they quickly get back to their feet and advanced toward me again. By this point, I am weary of the fight. I make a swiping motion using a bit of telekinesis. The next moment they all come to an abrupt halt, staring at the thin gouge on the ground in front of them. Just a bit closer and whatever part of them that was over that line would have been caught off.

“Don’t make me mad,” I say, thanking Luoi inwardly for teaching me how to make telekinesis sharp.

Their leader has recovered by this point and with a look, he gets them to stop. He glares at me angrily, then shifts his gaze to the two behind me who started all of this.

Walking forward, Trevor smiles widely at the leader as he pats my shoulder meaningfully. “If anything happens to us, remember that we know where you live.”

Hearing his almost blatant threat, my anger fades. This guy just watched me beat up a few people for his and his friend’s sake and yet the next moment he is using me to threaten them. Only an idiot wouldn’t understand what he was trying to say. Knowing that I can beat the hostile group, he just warned them against attacking him and Charlotte down the line because he knows where they live. Simply put, if they try anything funny, he will send me after them.