“You are very special indeed, boy,” Edith said.

  “What do you mean by that?” Alhen asked.

  “Just as you heard. I have determined that you are not a threat.”

  “You found out I was a human at least. See, I told you,” he said, but Edith shook her head at his words.

  “Calling yourself a human is laughable. I know not what you are yet, but I do know that you are hollow; you are nothing; a husk,” she said.

  Alhen gave her a weird eye as he heard her words. He was going to ask about his identity further when Edith suddenly became serious.

  At blinding speed, she disappeared from where she was, creating a gust of air that hit Alhen straight on, pushing him a little to the side.

  ‘What happened!?’ Alhen wondered.

  He looked behind him and saw Edith stop the wiht's claws just before it could decapitate him.

  He widened his eyes and instinctively walked back a few steps, getting away from the danger.

  Edith was gritting her teeth; it obviously required great effort for her to keep an attack from a creature like that at bay.

  Looking at the creature, he saw something he missed when seeing it for the first time, and that was the black sign underneath its belly.

  The creature was almost at the peak of power, and considering that wihts were normally stronger than humans, it makes sense for Edith to be struggling against it, especially since she took an attack head-on.

  The sight in front of him was spectacular, a tiny human holding massive claws with her bare hands. He didn’t see any thul on her, and wondered how she even does to kill wihts without one.

  A chilling aura came out of her the next second, enveloping the cave in what he could only call killing intent. It spread fast, catching on to him in almost a millisecond.

  His hair stood on end, not believing the powerful intensity. Thankfully, Edith seemed capable of handling her aura; if not, Alhen would be on the ground right now, most likely dead.

  All of the killing intent was focused on the creature, which didn’t relent, releasing its own energy and clashing with Edith’s.

  “BAM!” The ground tore open, and a huge tremor swallowed the cave.

  Alhen was sent flying into the distance without being able to comprehend what had happened. As he flew, all his mind could think of was how to survive the fall.

  His body spun wildly in mid-air and landed on the ground shoulder-first.

  He spun and turned, hitting his foot on a sharp rock, but handling the pain like a pro thanks to the adrenaline coursing through his veins at that moment.

  “Guhh!” he gritted his teeth and, in a rotation, managed to land feet first, feeling his knees almost buckling from the lack of strength.

  Sensing danger, he activated his blessing and saw himself being crushed to death by a stalactite that was heading straight towards him.

  His mind was on overdrive, and with pure instinct, he managed to dodge it with a one-second difference.

  If he had been any slower, his remains would be on the ground right now, but thankfully, he had Oros’ blessing.

  His senses worked again after dodging it, and he realized that the whole ceiling was falling.

  He gritted his teeth and ignored the situation between the two peaks of power and focused on his immediate survival.

  He looked around, trying to find an escape path, but didn’t see anything that would aid him in getting out of danger.

  All he could do now was keep dodging and hope he didn’t mess up with his timing lest he die.

  Alhen ran with all he got, and for the first time in a few seconds saw the situation on the battlefield.

  Contrary to his expectations, Edith and the wiht weren’t fighting, but were staring at each other intently without moving a muscle.

  The area around them was intact, and he knew that the only way to avoid death was to approach them without getting killed.

  Gritting his teeth, he thought, ‘Screw it!’ and sprinted towards their location.

  Running with one hand messed him up; his sense of balance was thrown off, and the feeling of danger invading his body was another thing that slowed him down.

  Huge pieces of debris fell beside him and not on top of him, thanks to his blessing.

  The initial shockwave had made him fly for quite a distance, but after running with all his strength for a minute, he caught up to them without injuries, or that’s what he thought.

  He arrived just behind Edith, and when the adrenaline started to lessen, he felt a burning pain in his foot.

  Looking down, he realized that it was broken and that while he was running, the injury had gotten worse.

  There was a bone poking out of his foot. He exhaled sharply and took a deep breath, holding in a cry of pain.

  The tortures he had gone through didn’t break him mentally or physically; they had made him stronger and more tolerant of pain instead.

  Alhen breathed rhythmically, taking his focus off his foot and looking at Edith and the wiht in front of him.

  They were still locked in the same position without moving a muscle, and now that he was closer, he could see why.

  The wiht and Edith were communicating with each other without saying a word. The way their eyes moved and the subtle shifts in their expressions told him.

  ‘How are they doing that?’ he wondered.

  As he was looking at them, the roof was still collapsing behind him. Taking a glance, he could see the sky and the moon, which shone its bright light inside.

  After a few seconds, the last piece of the cave roof had fallen, and an unsettling silence followed.

  He turned his head to look back at how the situation was going and found the wiht making a nasty expression while Edith lightly smiled.

  The next second, they separated, and Edith turned her back on the wiht, facing him.

  “We are heading back to the cabin. I have gotten the information I was looking for. One more thing, never come back here unless you want to die,” she warned him.

  “Thanks, but I wasn’t planning on doing that,” he replied, looking directly at the wiht which appeared to want to tear him to pieces.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Edith nodded and began walking towards the mess of the destroyed cave roof, and when Alhen began following after her, he remembered after the first step what happened.

  “Hiss!” This time, he wasn’t prepared. He had completely forgotten his foot was broken, and Edith noticed this.

  Without missing a beat, she ripped a piece of her dress and wrapped it around Alhen’s foot, surprising him.

  She then took him in her arms and carried him through the ruins, climbing the destroyed roof to come out at the top.

  They found themselves on the other side of the lake, and Alhen wondered how they were going to get across.

  His worries were unfounded, however, because the next second, Edith began walking on the water!

  Alhen couldn’t believe it, it was the first time he was looking at something like this.

  Looking down at her bare feet, he saw nothing strange, no energy, nothing, and wondered how she was able to do something like that.

  “I didn’t know that humans could walk in water,” Alhen voiced out.

  “Now you know. You must have a certain degree of control over your benedictio Lunae to do it. This is just a simple trick that you would be able to learn easily, but it is not taught in many places,” she commented.

  Alhen began pondering her words, and ultimately had a thought about his situation that he couldn’t ignore.

  “You said that I wasn’t a threat, right?” he asked her, and she hummed in response.

  “Then, could I please receive your training?” Alhen asked, pausing for a second and waiting for her answer.

  Edith stopped dead in her tracks, and she stood in the middle of the lake, being hit by the moonlight. A few seconds passed before she casually shook her head in disbelief.

  “Do you have no shame? You are asking someone at the pinnacle of power to train you, and you have to remember that you owe my daughter for saving you. Why would I take it upon myself to guide you?” she asked.

  Alhen remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about the best way he could go about this.

  “Yes, your daughter saved me. I am thankful for her assistance, but I’m going to be serving her from now on. Wouldn’t it be better if I had at least the capability to defend myself outside?”

  “You want to be able to survive on the outside? It is going to take a while for that to happen. My daughter also does not need someone to accompany her into the forest; she is strong enough.”

  “Ms. Edith, even if your daughter is strong enough to handle the weaker threats. I am certain she wouldn’t be able to handle something like what we met in the cave. What would happen to her then?”

  “And you think you can make a difference? What you are saying is laughable at best.”

  “I can be her meatshield, and I would be able to help her against a large group of wihts. Of course, it will take time, but I believe that the tradeoff is worth it.”

  “Absolutely not. I do not trust you enough to keep your word. This is the end of the matter.”

  “But-” He didn’t get to answer. Edith sent him a look that promised pain if he wasn’t quiet, and he had no other choice but to obey.

  ‘Crap, I must definitely get her to teach me some of her secrets. This technique could come in handy one cycle, and who knows what she will have under her sleeve, probably something useful for someone on my level.’

  ‘Alaran is a good mentor, but he is my combat mentor. I don’t know yet if he knows these things, especially since she told me that not everyone knows. I must get her to train me.’

  He sighed and focused on the scenery surrounding them. He looked at his broken foot and resigned himself to his fate.

  It was very probable that if they weren’t able to heal him through other methods, he would stay in the cabin for quite a while until his injury healed naturally.

  During that time, he would have to make sure to gain the favor of Edith and make her train him.

  Alaran must also be on the lookout for him, and he didn’t know how much it would take for him to find him, but he guessed it wouldn’t be long.

  ‘When I see him, what should I do? I should probably go with him if Edith doesn’t accept, but if she does, then I cannot miss this chance.’

  The rest of the way to the cabin was peaceful, and no trouble presented itself. When they arrived at the cabin, Catherine greeted them with a smile on her face.

  This smile faded, however, when she saw Alhen’s foot injury.

  “What happened!?” she asked, rushing to see him.

  Alhen noticed that she had glasses for the moon when stepping outside, and wondered if her power wasn't enough to avoid turning into a wiht by looking at the bright rock in the sky like her mother.

  “It’s nothing, should be healed in a few cycles,” Alhen told her.

  “That is not the problem here!” she said. “I have only recently nursed you to top shape, and now you are hurt again! Why do you keep doing this to yourself?” she asked.

  “Catherine,” Edith began, “stop talking and go to your room. It is already the end of the cycle; you need to sleep.”

  “Alright,” she grumbled before going back inside the cabin and rushing up the stairs into her room.

  Edith brought Alhen to a separate room down in the living room.

  She opened the door and found himself inside what appeared to be a torture room, with many pieces of equipment lying around and a table with dried blood.

  “What is this?” He asked, a little scared of what was going to happen to him.

  “You do not want to know what happens in this place, just lie on the table, and I will take care of your injury.”

  “Very well,” Alhen said, but still held on to her. Edith sighed and dropped him on the table, laying him without care, which caused his foot to drop on the table and hurt him even further.

  “Ughh!” Alhen exclaimed from the unexpected pain, but didn’t complain.

  “This will be better if you are not able to look, so I am going to place this bandage over your eyes. Take off your glasses, and then we can begin.”

  Alhen didn’t know what she was going to do to him, but he took off his glasses and threw them at a shelf on the wall, placing them there for the moment.

  Edith took out a dark cloth that acted as a blindfold and covered his eyes.

  Alhen lay on the table listening to how she moved to the shelf, which he had briefly taken a look at, and it was filled with many instruments that he didn’t know what they were used for.

  He heard metal rubbing against metal and many other sounds that he could only describe as the start of a prolonged torture session masked as healing.

  Taking a deep breath, he stabilized his heart before he heard Edith approaching him and standing beside him.

  He didn't doubt that she had grabbed something out of that shelf and was about to use it with him.

  His leg was exposed to the world when she took off the piece of dress she had placed on his leg, and Alhen could feel the cold air hitting his bone.

  Blood was leaking into the table, and he felt sick, but no word of complaint left his mouth.

  He felt Edith’s hands touching his foot and realigning the bone in a flash; he didn’t get the time to prepare himself and let out a small cry of pain as a result.

  Clenching his fists, he slowly relaxed them as Edith moved on to doing something with her palms, which started emitting heat.

  He could feel his foot and bone, and every cell in him was being revitalized.

  It was as if he had received the massage of a skillful masseuse in an instant, leaving him feeling great.

  That wasn’t all, however, Edith did something with her hands which he couldn’t see, but it made his skin and nerves regrow, covering his leg little by little.

  In a short amount of time, she took off his blindfold, and Alhen saw the surprise of his leg being healed, but not completely. His skin seemed off; it was black, contrasting with his pale body.

  He also couldn’t move his leg very well, and wondered whether she had cursed him instead of healing him. The injury looked better than before, but he practically couldn’t even move his foot now.

  “What did you do to me?” Alhen asked.

  “It might look like I have made your injury worse, but this is a process. I cannot fully heal you as I do not specialize in things like this; all you can do now is to wait until it heals naturally, although it should not take long," she explained.

  “Very well, thanks for the help. I will go rest in my room then,” Alhen commented, and Edith smiled.

  “Do you think that this is your home? I could make you sleep outside if I wanted to. Do not let any weird ideas get into your head and think that you can do whatever you want," she threatened.

  Alhen looked at her straight in the eyes without saying a word. Edith was completely serious about what she had said.

  ‘I almost forgot how she was,' he thought, and despite the hidden danger in her words, he couldn’t help but think that she wasn’t a bad person.

  Yes, she made her daughter eat human meat all her life growing up for unknown reasons, but it was clear that she loved her.

  And also yes, she treats him like trash, but it makes sense because she has a lot of experience when it comes to human nature and their behavior.

  ‘It’s only natural that she’s like this,’ Alhen ultimately thought before nodding in her direction.

  “I understand, sorry for looking at things that way.” With those words, he stood with one leg and went to the shelf to get his glasses and go to the room.

  Edith didn’t stop him, leaving right behind him and closing the door with a key.

  He immediately headed to the entrance of his room, and when he looked inside, he was surprised to find Catherine lying on his bed.

  Edith was just a couple of steps behind him, and just before she could see her daughter in his room, Alhen went inside and closed the door.

  He stood with his ears glued to the wall, but no sounds reached him.

  He waited for a few more minutes before he made sure that they weren’t going to be disturbed and approached the sleeping Catherine.

  Wondering what to do, he scratched his head and began thinking.

  ‘What can I say that will make her want to tell her mother to train me? I have to think of a plan of action before she wakes up to make the process smoother,’ he thought.

  Apparently, his wishes were not going to be granted that cycle, as Catherine woke up at that moment. She opened her eyes slowly and lightly jumped when she saw him in front of her.

  Alhen sighed, and before Catherine could wonder what was happening, he said, “Hello, Catherine.”

  Regaining awareness of her surroundings, she lightly chuckled and said, “Hello, Alhen. I wanted to talk with you but fell asleep. I have to tell you about… you know,” she said.

  He nodded his head, looking at her deeply in the eyes.

  “Yes, I also want to talk about that, but first, how about a proposal?”