Alex’s Strengthening Plan 

A group of black SUV's carried away the thugs that Abbie and Alex had beaten up. With Alex's help, Aiden managed to find the two men who ran away and knocked them unconscious. They were also taken by the agents of Exodia and brought to their headquarters.

Abbie had no idea what the game company was planning to do with them. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't curious, so she decided to ask Alice who was checking whether Alex received any injuries during the scuffle.

"Um, what will happen to those thugs?" Abbie asked.

Alice's lips curled up as she brushed Alex's hair with her hand. "They will be brainwas--, re-educated. Since they tried to harm my Alex, it's only natural that they be taught a lesson they will never forget."

'What do you mean your Alex?' Abbie snorted, but didn't say anything. Right now, Alice was cleaning up her mess. She didn't want to seem like an ungrateful lady so she allowed Alice to have some skinship with her Little Hero.

There was also another reason why Abbie compromised. It was about her little sister Lily. Although the little girl promised not to tell anyone, Exodia was not an ordinary company who would just say "I see!" and be done with it. Abbie did her best to negotiate with Alice until both of them reached a compromise.

Alice decided to talk to the little girl alone without Abbie's supervision. She wanted to know if the little girl could be trusted with their secret. If she could be trusted then all was well and good. If not then even if she was Abbie's little sister, Alice will have no choice but to take her to the company.

One of the heroes that was summoned from the world of Edea had the ability to erase a person's memories to a certain extent. As long as the memory was recent, he would not have any trouble removing it. The good news was that it caused no side effects whatsoever.

Alice had already explained this to Abbie, but the chubby girl was adamant. She didn't want her sister's memories to be erased. Abbie countered that there might be unforeseen side effects from using the skill. Alice wasn't able to deny the logic behind her reasoning, so she had no choice but to agree to a compromise.

When Alice questioned Lily, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the little girl thought that they were a superhero organization like the Avengers. Alice didn't correct her misunderstanding and told her that she was right.

"This is the reason why you need to keep this a secret," Alice said softly as she held Lily's hand. "Your Big Brother Alex is one of the superheroes that protects this world. That's why you need to support him and keep his secret. Do you understand?"

"Un! I will keep it a secret!" Lily nodded her head happily. "Will you be making a movie? I promise that I will watch it when it comes out."

'This girl is so adorable.' Alice chuckled and patted the girl's head. "We don't plan to shoot a movie for now, but it might be possible in the future."

While Alice and Lily were talking, Aiden was also having a chat with Abbie and Alex.

"You did well in protecting your master," Aiden praised Alex. "Good job!"

"Actually, it was Master who protected us, Big Brother." Alex scratched his cheeks with a wry smile. "I only scared them away."

"Even so, you did well, Alex." Abbie placed her hand over the little boy's shoulder. "You were so cool earlier. Honestly, if you didn't do what you did, I'm afraid that I would have been seriously injured. I underestimated those scumbags."

"No, Master, it was all because of you."

"No, it was because of you, Alex."

Aiden watched the two praise each other with an amused expression on his face. He was slightly envious because of their harmonious relationship. He could tell at a glance that Abbie really cared about Alex, and the boy felt the same way about his master.

'Hah~ if only Alice was like Abbie then I would be very satisfied with our relationship,' Aiden sighed in his heart. He then crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Alex.

'Still, Alex needs some combat training,' Aiden thought as he appraised the little boy in front of him. 'He won't survive when the gates of Edea open if he stays like this. The things he will face are more dangerous than mere street thugs. I need to consult Alice and come up in a plan to train the boy.'

While Aiden was deep in thought, Alice returned with Lily. The two girls were walking hand in hand and chatting happily.

"We're back!" Lily announced as she happily jumped into her Big Sister's embrace.

Abbie smiled and hugged her little sister. She then looked at Alice and was relieved when the latter gave her the thumbs up gesture. It meant that Lily would be able to keep her memories.

"Alex, please, watch over Lily for a bit," Abbie said as she gently released her little sister from her hold. "I need to talk to Alice."

Alex nodded his head without asking any questions. "Understood, Master."

-----

Inside Alice's Car…

"I think it's time that we distribute Alex's stat and skill points," Abbie said with a serious expression. "I know that we decided to wait until the game officially starts, but today's incident made me think otherwise. I don't want to see Alex getting beaten up by people in front of me."

Alice leaned back on her seat and considered Abbie's words. She had no problem in agreeing to Abbie's suggestion. But the problem was, even though they would be able to "strengthen" Alex by adding skill and stat points, his foundation would still remain the same.

To give an example, if a muscular man who spent his days exercising inside the gym where to suddenly fight a professional boxer, would he have any chances of winning? The answer was no. Alex would be like that muscular man. All muscle, but no fighting technique whatsoever.

Alice thought that it would be best to find a teacher who would, and could, teach Alex the basics of swordsmanship. Since he decided to specialize in using the short sword, he must know how to effectively wield it.

"Let's put the skill and stat distribution points on hold," Alice finally replied to Abbie's suggestion. "We need to find him a teacher first. Someone who is an expert that can and will impart his techniques to him."

Abbie rubbed her chin in contemplation. "Where can we find one? Is there someone in the city that can teach Alex the art of sword fighting?"

"No. There is not an expert in this city who can teach him," Alice said with a smile. "But, we can let him finish the tutorial first."

"Eh? Tutorial? Do we even have one? When we were in your suite, the AI said…"

Alice waved her hand to stop her. "Every game has a tutorial. The AI was just messing with you because it wanted you to summon your hero first." Alice snorted. "Let Alex finish the tutorial first. Although he won't be able to learn much, it will still improve his combat abilities by a notch."

Alice narrowed her gaze as she looked at Abbie's charming yet plump face. "It would also give you hands-on experience on how you can effectively assist Alex as his Master."

"When do we start the tutorial?"

"Tomorrow is a holiday so there will be no classes. I will pick you up so we can go to the game company together."

"Sounds like a plan," Abbie said with a smile. "Do I need to prepare anything?"

"As a matter of fact you do," Alice replied with a smile of her own. "A week's worth of food, change of clothes, and some first aid items."

"Huh? Why do we need all those things? Are we going camping?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Abbie watched as Alice's smile turned into a mischievous grin. Something at the back of her mind was telling her that this tutorial she was about to experience was not as simple as it seemed.