It was noon, yet the sky was dark. Wherever one looked, bck clouds blocked the sun as a thunderstorm raged high above, blue and violet in color, lightning fshing constantly above the people. On the ground, multiple others stood, including Anya, Dermitos, Carthus, Feynor, Leinor, and Kang, just to mention a few. High up in the sky, the source of the thunderstrikes was none other than Xendar as he cshed against his daughter over and over, both of them wielding a lightning spear. Whenever their weapons met, thunder roared, and lightning flew around them both.

  "Being only a few days since she ascended, she is pretty strong," Carthus commented calmly while his arms were crossed, watching from the ground.

  "You don't get it, Father." Dermitos shrugged, "How strong were you at her age?" He asked but did not receive any answer. "Exactly… and look at the others. They are also way above any of us at the same age..." He smiled, looking at his son, who was watching Ren fight, completely shutting out everything, only concentrating on her. "We can't lose someone like her..." he continued, sending over his voice. "Just look at her influence. A genius like her affects everyone and everything around her. Keeping her close will elevate us and make us stronger. Take her new cultivation method, for example; you saw the results."

  "Why are you telling me this… again?" Carthus asked back via a voice transmission, raising an eyebrow.

  "Because I know you. Deep down, you are afraid someone will usurp our family. Rex. She is part of our family. Feynor will take my pce in a few months, and we will hold a wedding between Leinor and Ren."

  "..."

  "Haahh…" Dermitos just let out a silent sigh in the end as it seemed Carthus didn't wish to continue the discussion right now, ignoring him completely.

  At the same time, up high, Ren just ughed loudly as she threw out her spear, but Xendar grabbed it with his bare hands, crushing it into nothing.

  "Watch out, Father!"

  Her giggle came as she stretched her hands out and formed a giant ball of purple lightning that, when shot out, flew only a few meters before exploding into tiny sparks, connected by purple strings of electricity, creating a giant fishnet in the Sky that enveloped her father. Even though he could cut it with his own power, it quickly reformed as the strands reconnected, clearly filled with Ren's energy, automatically repairing itself.

  "Not bad!" Xendar smirked, then picked out ordinary coins from his pouch, flipping them between his fingers. A moment ter, a blinding, bright light dazed everyone as the spell shot out, tearing open the net. Not even Ren could react in time as she felt something pass next to her, hitting a hole in the clouds above them and letting in the sunshine for a brief minute.

  "YOU IDIOT!" came a screeching voice, and just as Xendar blinked his eyes, a petite leg kicked him right in the face, sending him flying downwards, crashing into the ground, spshing mud and earth everywhere.

  "Ugh..." almost everyone grimaced as Anya was floating up there, raging like the storm itself as rain poured down harder than before, influenced by her powers.

  "M-mom, rex; Father wasn't aiming at me!" Ren tried to calm her down, floating towards her with a smile. "Anyway… what was that?"

  "Hmf, that blockhead's spell he came up with a year ago. He shouldn't even use it, fighting against you!" She kept yelling, still fuming, as Xendar slowly crawled out of the ground, his face swelling like a pumpkin, coughing up dirt.

  "What dif I dfo nowf?" He tried to speak, but his lips were triple their size, as all the water and blood in his body was still boiling and rampaging around because of his wife's affinity.

  "Don't you dare say that!" Anya flew down, "Where did you put your brain?! When you start fighting, you are like your daughter! Both of you forget everything and want to go all out, two idiots!"

  "H-hey…" Ren murmured, wryly smiling, feeling personally attacked. "It's... Hauh... okay, it's true..."

  "At least we know where Master inherited that trait." Poli mused, whispering to zern.

  "I heard that!" Ren looked down at them, but she just rolled her eyes.

  "Ahaha, you always step on your wife's tail!" Dermitos ughed, coming up and pcing a hand on his friend's shoulder, and his face quickly reverted to normal.

  “Brr… thanks… I aimed at-oh… o-okay, s-sorry…” Xendar gulped back his words, seeing Anya's eyes, knowing he could forget about having any fun tonight if he kept talking.

  "Was it your previous technique's upgrade?" Ren nded close to her father, her expression curious.

  "Yup. Let's say I upgraded it!" Xendar grinned, "It shoots out coins with incredible speed and force, instead of attracting lightning."

  "I strong... That attack faster. Stronger. I not stop that." Kang said as he came close, as he was watched silently by Carthus, yet the giant goril ignored him completely.

  "I can shoot maybe 5 or 6, at maximum." Xendar expined, not holding back the information, "That's my limit, and as I unch more, the accuracy, speed, and force fall off a lot."

  "Exactly because you can't aim it well; you shouldn't use it in a practice fight! Against your daughter!" Anya yelled, barely remaining civil enough.

  "She is strong! There wouldn't be any problem!" He sighed, but just received a pinch at his side, "YEAOW! S-Sorry… ouch…”

  "How are you feeling?" Dermitos smiled at Ren, who was still full of energy.

  "Great! Now I feel like I can call myself a true cultivator!" She grinned, "Previously, we were just strong fighters. I can feel the flow of energy, my blood, all the muscles in my body, and can control it perfectly, release it how I want, where I want; I have so many ideas for spells!" She expined, speaking so fast that she was almost biting on her own tongue with excitement with every word.

  "Ahaha! Gd to hear!" He patted her shoulders. "If there is something you need, just ask!"

  "Teehee, thanks, Uncle!" She winked at the Emperor, "Oh, yes, yes… I'll write up a reformed version of the previous stage's correct cultivation methods. Now that I can feel everything clearly, I know how to modify and perfect it. I'll send it to you soon, and you can implement it! Thankfully, Uncle Boursat brought another pile of books containing the results from training across different affinities. I can cover around... Hm... About 90% of all known ones, except the rare mutations."

  "Don't mention it." Boursat cut in with a sigh, remembering that a few years ago he was mopping the floor with them, yet now he wasn't so sure if he could take on this little imp he once called a mini-bitch.

  "That's good," Carthus nodded, with a calm, cold expression, and then just left, letting the others sigh.

  "I'm not liking him…." Isha murmured, but just received a light knock on her head from Boursat.

  "Leave him be… he grew up differently. Living under Aerthus VII wasn't the best." Dermitos waved his hand at them, "Anyway, the show is over; let's head back. Oh, Xendar, Anya, can you come with me? We need to talk about something important." He said while smiling.

  "What?" Xendar furrowed his brows.

  "Your daughter's wedding, blockhead!" Anya said calmly as she followed Dermitos, shutting down any protest from Xendar, while their open remarks made Leinor blush, especially how Ren looked up at him with a grin.

  …….…..

  Back in the new town for the apes, which was still under construction, sitting near the ke that she made with her advancement, Ren expined every little detail of her experience while the others listened attentively to her.

  "So, to summarize everything I just told you, the tribution is nothing more than your body resonating with the energy flow from the Tear in the Sky." She looked at them, "As it builds up and reaches the purest form, it resonates with the source, drawing down its purest concentration as a lightning tribution. The influx of pure energy remolds your own and your energy points. Like the forging of a bde, it strengthens you but also... disharmonizes your body! You must adapt and do it fast before it goes out of control. Harmonizing with it is like learning to walk again in a few seconds. You need to be ready to guide it along the route I taught every one of you and regain control over your new body before it's too te... or you will perish."

  "Why were there only three?" Zern asked suddenly.

  "There were maybe three, but you also saw how strong and different they were." Poli sighed.

  "It's probably because of how we train." Ren theorized, "Our energy points have been refined since the start, and I felt them resonating strongly throughout it all, forming their own complete systems while I went through the lightning strikes. They were remolded in pairs of three... Now, all these points are truly a part of me, like the blood vessels or my nervous system. I can control it fully, which allows me to create spells. I'll write it out for you so you can study my experience. It will help you get ready for advancement!"

  "Who do you think is the next to advance?" Leinor asked with a calm expression, while Poli became pretty excited.

  "You or Zern," Ren answered almost immediately.

  "Huh?" Poli gasped, clearly not expecting it.

  "After you two, it will be... Isha." She continued and then looked at Poli, who was clearly confused and frustrated. "You are not ready."

  "Why?!"

  "Because of your sword."

  "Eh?" he asked, and not just him but everybody else, too, looked at the bde and then at Ren.

  "You use the sword for every move you develop." She said sternly, "You rely on it as a conductor of your current spells and power. You saw what happened to my cloak! It was ignored and destroyed. What attracts the tribution is your own body. Not your tools! You won't be able to use it to advance… and if you try it and it does not work… You will explode before being able to control it in your body."

  "..." Poli at first didn't react, then let out a sigh, looking crestfallen. "I screwed up…."

  "No." Ren finally smiled, standing up, crouching next to him, and patting his head. "You just have a... different, a bit harder path to travel. You have been trained in swordsmanship until now. You just need to let it take a step back and strengthen the rest of you! After that, it will be a walk in the park. You need bance, Poli. Harmony, if you will."

  "Thanks, Master…" He smiled, still a bit disappointed, but not so much anymore.

  "What about me?" Isha asked, looking into her eyes.

  "If you try to advance now, you will have a regur tribution with nine bolts." She said after a brief moment to think, "That is my guess after helping my Mother out and helping Feynor a little. You could do it like we do, but it takes time. You joined te; you were already advanced when you picked up our method... If you work with it more and slowly convert everything built up inside you in the past decades, you could have the same tribution as us. Only it would take… Well... three or four decades... or more."

  "Haah, I'm fine with a 'regur' advancement! Hah! Regur, she says!" She ughed loudly. "Boss advanced when he wasn't even at the 9th Body Refinement realm! Do you know how rare it is to have someone on the 9th?! It's good enough for me!" Apparently, she was in a good mood, making Ren and Zern smile.

  "Anyway, I'm looking forward to your advancement!" Ren grinned as she looked over them. "The advantage of our training will be clear to you after you experience it. Our flow of energy and its gathering are faster and stronger. It's still a feeling, but I think I'm right…." She said as she looked over them, "I will be able to cast more spells than Father with more power behind them; I just need to perfect the basics." She stood before them proudly.

  "I still need some practice before attempting it," Leinor and Zern said simultaneously, making the others ugh.

  "That's why one of you will be the second after me." Ren grinned happily, watching them all proudly, wanting to see what heights they all would reach one day.

  …….…..

  "Leader… the Prince, is thinking about advancing." Knelt a figure, covered in bck, right before Nameless, sitting in a meditative pose in a dark cave, somewhere within the demons' forest.

  "Keep an eye on him all the time."

  "Now that the girl has advanced, we may have been detected." The kneeling figure continued.

  "Just be extra careful; she has known about us for a long time and is used to our presence; she thinks we are there to protect her or the Prince," Nameless said, his voice emotionless. "We have been monitoring them for years now."

  "Are we sure… about this?"

  "It was an order, and that is enough." Nameless grunted, "We follow it. Our oath binds us! Never forget that. We serve the Empire from the shadows. That is our duty!"

  "Yes, Leader."

  "We clearly feel that wretched power on him, even though he masks it." Their leader sighed a little, feeling a bit... conflicted, "Emperor Aerthus VIII has decreed that his father's legacy, the tyrant's all-consuming spell, must not resurface. Ever again..."

  "What about the girl?"

  "She has knowledge of it. If she helps the Prince develop that ruinous power, she also needs to be purged."

  "Understood."

  "Continue monitoring." Nameless shrugged again, shaking his head, "When you catch him using it, notify me. Until then, I will keep an eye on these demons. We can't trust them..."

  "It shall be done," the figure nodded before disappearing into the shadows.

  …….….

  "Oh my, this thing stinks!" Ren came into the freshly built, new boratory of Shaman, who was now wearing a full, white trench coat as he was in the middle of concocting something foul-smelling.

  "Mmm? Of course, it does. Still, it needs some more time to rot..." He nodded as he put a lid on the head-sized cauldron. "Then it will be ready for the next step."

  "Enjoying the new b?" She asked, holding her nose.

  "Yes, finally, I can do real work! But it isn't this why you came, yes?"

  "Yeah. I want to visit the orangutans next." She nodded.

  "What about the baboons?"

  "We'll see." She shrugged, "We won't take them in if they are overly aggressive or stupid. We don't need to break what we are building here. Some of your children also can be rowdy; thankfully, they are more of pranksters and not bullies."

  "Logical. Anyway, that's Niji's and your problem."

  "Yeah, he has washed away with work already," she giggled, "organizing everything and teaching others... Heh. I'm happy he hasn't quit yet, realizing how hard a job it is. Plus, there is Kang, keeping everybody in line with his presence. I think he enjoys it! He sits around all day, eating and watching, while the others cover from his gaze."

  "Ahaha, yeah, he can be zy, but he is a good guy. He is genuinely trustworthy, and you earned his trust." Shaman smiled, "Which was the best move, trust me."

  "Anyway, is there anybody you also know in the orangutan camp?"

  "Yes. I have an ex there." Shaman answered simply.

  "Wait, what?" Ren stumbled forward, looking at him questioningly.

  "An ex." Shaman repeated, "Previous lover. Or whatever you call them."

  "Yeah, I got that the first time. Will it be a problem?" She asked with a twitch of her eyes.

  "No, I think not. Anyway, I'll tell you where to go, and you can go with Kang. It'll help keep up the front with Niji here."

  "Why do I get the feeling you don't want to meet with her?" She grimaced.

  "Because she is annoying." He rolled his eyes, giving a small parchment to her. "Here, just follow this route, and you will reach them."

  "Thanks! I'll tell the others and be on my way tomorrow morning."

  "Sure, sure," Shaman said, as he was ready to go back, scribbling away, now in a correct notebook with a real pencil, when he heard Ren's voice at the door.

  "Oh yeah, you know… If I successfully persuade them to join us… You will meet with her every day. Anyway... Bye~!" She then just smmed the door as Shaman broke his pencil, pushing it through the notebook and the table.

  "FUUUUUUUUCK!" echoed the loud roar throughout the vilge while Ren just walked away from the stone house with a wide grin on her face.