The trio of kids was excitedly fidgeting before Ren, grinning ear to ear as they looked up at her, hands on her hips, eyebrows raised high.

  "What is this?" Ren asked, scanning them again and again.

  Her surprise stemmed from one simple fact: all three were cospying as little treasure hunters, donning mini field dresses, gloves, hats, and even small backpacks. That was not all, as they also had miniature pickaxes, nterns, and bedrolls strapped to them... Even Elyse wore her long, blonde hair in a neat bun, ready for the adventure. The three of them looked ready to dig down, right into the core of the earth, looking like clones of each other, giving the feeling they were here to rob any tomb blind that they came across.

  "We are ready for the adventure, Aunt Ren!" Sys saluted, followed by Valen, mimicking him immediately. Only Elyse noticed Ren's weird looks, so she immediately added in a nervous tone, fidgeting and wrinkling her dress's edges.

  "They told me to dress up like this because we are going on a treasure hunt, and it is a must to be ready for anything…" She dropped the tools quickly, kicking them away.

  "Haaah… yeah, we are! But here, in the pace… So we ain't here to demolish it!" Ren sighed with a smile. "Backpacks off, I won't hear you compining it is heavy or something! The rest can stay on you; you look cute in them~!" She gave a little chuckle, cheering up the trio, especially Elyse. "Okay, so, first of all! There is really a secret room left behind by my Master."

  "See? I told you!" Sys ughed, gncing at his sister, who was skeptical and called them morons for believing in something like this.

  "Even fools are right sometimes," his sister answered with snted eyes, pursing her lips.

  "Second." Ren continued, ignoring the siblings' banter. "I want you to tell me everything you noticed first and what led you to come to the conclusion that there is a hidden room somewhere in here."

  Now, both Elyse and Valen looked at Sys, because he was the one who came up with the idea in the first pce.

  "Um!" He saluted again, "I found a book! It was in the library when I helped Mom organize it. It was tucked between others... hidden and all. It was really thin and only had some weird writings in it, made with reeeally convoluted penmanship!"

  "Huh, what great words you know!" Ren giggled, but Elyse immediately cut in.

  "Haahh… It's Mom; she makes us use too many weird words… and read weird books..."

  "Yeah…" Sys nodded while Valen just blinked his eyes innocently, already used to the fact that sometimes the siblings used such grown-up words that he had no idea what they were talking about. Penmanship? Why would one want to duel with a pen? Or was it a pen-shaped boat?

  "Back to the topic. So, it was handwritten?" Ren cleared her throat, looking at the two.

  "Yes! Completely! But it was… like a rambling. A weird… poem or something!" Sys continued, "I read it through, but I couldn't make sense of it; I wanted to show it to Mom, but…"

  "But?" Ren crossed her arms, scratching her chin.

  "Aunt Ren, are you going to ugh at me?" Sys asked, fidgeting a little.

  "Of course not. Tell us!"

  "It was gone! I'm not lying!" He said, wanting her to really believe him, "After reading it once, it turned to light and disappeared! But when it did, turning into small specks of light, it got absorbed into my hands... That is why I know there is a hidden room!"

  "You absorbed it…?" Ren asked, her eyes lighting up, thinking a little, "Stretch out your hands!" She asked, then gently held them. Sys felt a little tingling as Ren's powers gently flowed into him before receding quickly. "Yeah… I see, I see!" Ren grinned and then ughed, "It IS my Master's energy. No wonder you know about the secret room!"

  "You mean my stupid brother absorbed the Forfather's powers?" Elyse asked, stupefied. "Hmf, if it were me, I may already be a cultivator like you, Aunt Ren!"

  "Hardly." Ren chuckled, patting both of their heads. "It is not something you could absorb the way you think about it. It is a technique that acts like a key, disguised as a book."

  "Oh… then it was not wasted by him!" Elyse sighed with relief. "Phew!"

  "Hmf, you waste much more than I anyway!" Sys countered, "Especially when you occupy the bathroom for hours on end!"

  "Huh? You said something?" She twitched her mouth, cracking her knuckles with a dangerous grin.

  "Oh, I did!" Sys stomped on the ground. "Right, Valen?"

  "Hey! Don't drag me into this!" He yelled, immediately hiding behind Ren.

  "See? At least he learns from it, not like you!" Elyse chuckled, but soon both of them screamed out, jumping into the air, holding their butts while Ren just stood there with a stretched-out finger that was flickering with violet sparks.

  "Enough, you two!" She smiled, and it immediately cooled both of them down.

  "What Sys absorbed," Ren continued, "provided him with the knowledge of the room and acts as a key that he now has in his hands. Literally. When we find it, he can open it. Then it will be gone from his body, probably returning in some form. Only Master would know how and where!"

  "What if others had found it? Hauh… we were lucky!" Sys shook his head, letting out a sigh.

  "If I had found it, I would have told you, promise!" Valen cut in immediately.

  "Ahaha, you wouldn't be able to recognize it." Ren ughed as she stroked his little brother's head. "It resonated with Sys because of the bloodline connection and him still being pure of heart. Maybe even if Feynor touched it, nothing would've happened."

  "Haha, I told you it's a destined treasure room!" Sys cpped happily, getting excited again, "How are we going to find it?"

  "Hm…" Ren scratched her chin, thinking. "As you have the key, you could resonate with it if you get close to the door... Sooo, we can tour the whole pace and see where you feel… weird."

  "Onwards!" Sys ughed, ready to walk around randomly just as he had done with Valen in the previous nights anyway.

  "I can speed things up!" Ren ughed, and two sparks jumped out of her, forming into two other Rens, each of them picking one of the kids up, seating them on her shoulders as she flew out from the pace, bringing them high up while they screamed with excitement.

  Of course, Valen was the most used to it, sitting there rexed, even stretching his hands out as they flew up high.

  "I can't wait to start cultivating like you, Big Sis'!" Elyse said with heartfelt excitement.

  "Ahaha, no rush, kiddo~! Just enjoy yourself!" Ren looked at her with kind eyes, taking them on their first flight.

  "When I grow up, I want to be just as strong as you..." Elyse replied again, still a bit nervous when looking down from so high up, clutching onto her neck.

  "You never will be; Aunt Ren is the strongest!" Sys grinned, sticking out his tongue at his sister.

  "Who said that?" Ren answered him at once, "I never call myself the strongest; that would be a mistake. Listen here, you three, when you think and believe yourself to be at the top and to be the strongest, that is when you are finished... It is going to bring you down quickly."

  "Because you won't take others seriously?" Elyse asked with a thinking expression.

  "Mhm." Ren nodded with an approving look. "It breeds overconfidence; soon you are going to be compcent, looking down on others, and in the end, you won't realize any danger you may be in and die to something overly stupid and easily avoidable… Because you stopped paying attention, believing that nothing can hurt you."

  "Ah, I remember, you told this in a lecture to the disciples!" Valen hummed, remembering a lesson he heard while walking around in the Sect.

  "Yup, I am surprised you remember; you were much smaller back then."

  "I have a good memory!" He answered as he puffed up his little chest proudly, making Sys and Elyse roll their eyes simultaneously.

  "Heh, then when we get back, you can recite some lessons for me. You can help me organize some new ones, too," Ren smirked, making the proudly posturing Valen shrink back immediately.

  “B-b-b-b-but…”

  "Yeah, it's your butt on the line, remember? If you want me to smooth things over with Father, you must pay the price!"

  "Hauuuh… Oooo… Ohkaaaay…" he moaned defeatedly, giving up.

  "Anyway, let's focus on finding my Master's vault first. I'll spread out my consciousness, shut out everything around us. Do not be afraid; it is going to be like being thrown into a completely quiet room, but there is no need to panic."

  "Yes!" all three answered in unison, like little soldiers.

  "Sys, you try to recognize the feeling; it should be clearer for you then. Don't try to tell me; just focus on it, I'll know." She smiled before her real body formed an invisible bubble around them, and the kids felt like they were being cut off from reality.

  Their hearing was completely gone; they couldn't even hear their own voices in their heads, and if not for Ren's precise control, their mortal bodies would feel like being squashed below a mountain. Sys, knowing it was his time, closed his eyes, immersing himself in the completely still darkness. If Ren didn't warn them, he was sure he would be panicking by now, and then Elyse would hold it against him, even after they had grown up.

  What Sys didn't know was that Elyse felt the same way. The feeling of isotion between her senses and the world was the scariest experience she had yet encountered in her short life. The only comfort she got was sitting on Ren's shoulders, which gave her immense trust and motivation. One day, she will be able to do the same and look down on the world from above, just as she does now.

  "Got it!" Sys's eyes snapped open, thinking to himself as the world suddenly recovered its sound and color as Ren pulled back everything.

  "Where?" Ren asked with a smile.

  "There! It was a weak feeling, but it was there!" He pointed towards the pace's back, where the royal family's own little observatory stood.

  "Huh?" Elyse tilted her head. "In it or under it?"

  "I don't really know." Sys shook his head.

  "Well, it's not really used much." Elyse thought out loud. "I was told that Forefather was really into watching the stars and the moons above, so he made an observatory for himself."

  "He wrote books about consteltions." Valen chimed in. "I read them back in the Sect; it's fun to watch the night sky and find them... They draw out figures and such!"

  "Oh?" He successfully piqued both twins' interest. "It sounds fun!"

  "Yeah, we should go to the observatory one night, I can show you the ones I remember," Valen said proudly.

  "I'll accompany you three, too; I knew not about this..." Ren said as she slowly descended. "Master never mentioned anything remotely simir to me."

  "Hehe, I only know because of Big Brother Frenir." Valen expined, "He was taught some consteltions as a reference to his new technique, and then, he told me."

  "Ohohoho, that little~!" Ren chuckled at once, "He held back everything that reted to it at our st spar; maybe he wasn't ready? Mmm, I am looking forward to it now! He still has no wins against me, after all~!" She chuckled, her violet eyes fshing with light. "Maybe it will be some kind of formation-based attack… mmm… nice…" she murmured quietly, already thinking about it.

  "Aunt Ren is scary sometimes…" Sys whispered to Elyse, who just gently nodded as they flew down, ready to find their Forefather's great vault.