Chapter 120 - Small Developments

"The thing I'm actually most surprised with," Rynold added as he closed his eyes and relaxed, "Is how you'd let her call you Kitty. I thought you were a proud Spirit of Fire. I didn't think you'd let somebody belittle you like that."

"It's not belittling," Prominence Alpha answered in a very proud manner. "I consider it as a personal term of endearment. Truly respectable for a creature filled with pride such as myself to admit that."

"Of course it is," Rynold answered sarcastically as he laid back and relaxed his overworked body. For now, it was a moment of calm. A moment that Rynold could catch up on some sleep and recover.

Meanwhile, back in the cell where Lissa and Leo were...

"You're not gonna hit me using attacks like that! Come on, put your back into it!" Leo yelled at the overly exhausted Lissa.

From a third-party perspective, Leo might have been overworking Lissa. Seeing as how she was sweating more than she ever did her entire life, it was entirely plausible that Leo was pushing Lissa well to her limit.

However, Rynold already knew this would happen. The truth was he couldn't have done anything like this when it comes to the physical activity of others. Rynold was always the one who thought of things. Physical training was entirely different.

When it comes to Leo, however, it was entirely different.

Rynold knew full well that, in order to get Lissa ready in such a short time, Leo was the right man for the job. Combining his combat experience with his overbearing attitude was an effective way of provoking someone to work harder.

"T-time out!" Lissa called out as she panted and tried to catch her breath. Leo's training was visibly taking its toll on the young, inexperienced Princess.

"There is no time out during battle!" Leo provoked once more, "You're not gonna take a break until you actually manage to land a hit on me. I've already reduced my speed to match yours, and you still haven't come close!"

Logically speaking, Lissa had fully hit her limit a long time ago. What she was currently doing was based solely on pure desperation. What's more, is that she only had a single spell in her arsenal, which, funnily enough, was practically useless in close-quarters combat.

"That's it!" Lissa has had enough of Leo's overly arrogant attitude.

Lissa conjured up an arrow made out of pure fire made out her Mana and threw it at Leo without warning. But, the arrow that Lissa threw wasn't really much of a threat. Without any actual propulsion, throwing an arrow with pure strength was basically useless. To Leo, it was basically as fast as a thrown balloon.

Without spending that much effort, Leo casually sidestepped and dodged the arrow that was coming his way. In fact, it was so unthreatening that he technically didn't have to do anything since Dictum was revolving around him. The Accord Sphere would've blocked the projectile with relative ease.

However, Lissa's attack didn't seem to stop there.

Reading her older brother's movements for the past few minutes, Lissa knew how Leo would respond to the attack. Equipped with that knowledge, Lissa quickly shifted her weight forward to attack where Leo would land after dodging.

Casting [Blazing Arrow] once more, a flaming arrow appeared on her hand. Using that spell costed the last of her Mana. It was a do-or-die move that she decided to risk everything on.

What Lissa didn't expect, though, was that Leo had played her all along.

Just by moving his eyes and matching her gaze, Lissa knew that the attack wouldn't work. Leo was too fast for common sense to apply. However, it was too late for her to stop.

As soon as Leo landed, he shifted his weight to the side of his body and dodged the attack with relative ease. It was a move that his experiences from battles had taught him.

The arrow had moved past Leo without even so much a scratch on him. His reflexes moved at lightning speed that his brain registered what was happening as if everything were in slow motion. Raising his hand and grabbing the arrow that was moving as slow as a snail, Leo quickly presented the gap between them.

"Good try," Leo said as he held the arrow in his hand that Lissa had so willingly let go. "It was a nice attack, but... it reeked of desperation. I'm only going to say this once. When your opponents know that they've gotten to you emotionally and mentally, you're as good as dead. Never let them know that they have you on the ropes!"

Leo let out a light chuckle before continuing, "Alright. You deserve some rest. We can continue after to recover." He threw a bottle of water that he pulled from his inventory to Lissa.

The young princess immediately plopped to the ground as soon as Leo gave the okay to relax for a bit. She knew that she had failed, but she was way too tired to care about what just happened.

"So...," Leo spoke as he sat down next to his little sister, "What the hell happened between you and Rynold? Is there anything that I have to be worried about?"

The atmosphere immediately turned awkward as soon as Leo asked that. The change was mostly because of Lissa's stunned expression.

"Nothing happened, I swear!" Lissa answered after a split second of hesitation, "Just... Nothing! There's nothing for you to be worried about because nothing happened! Haha!"

Noticing the change in Lissa's expression and her sudden flustered words, Leo was suspicious.

Well, who wouldn't be?

"Listen," Leo let out a sigh of frustration before speaking, "I know I wasn't that good of a brother to you. There's really nothing for me to do to make up for that. But... I don't really know. I think that whatever decisions you make, you should be okay with them. I know saying something like that is pretty ironic, especially coming from a guy like me. But, from this point on, you at least have to be able to live with the decisions you make."

Leo said that with genuine expression. It was his experience talking.

"Leo...," Lissa stared at her older brother with visible concern. Lissa thought that he had gone through a drastic change since he met Rynold. But, the truth was that Leo had learned all of these things on his own. There wasn't much else except his personal experiences with other people and the battles he had been through.

Back at the cave below, Rynold got up from his very short nap.

It was a short 15 or so minutes, but it was enough for Rynold to recover the bare minimum. His body feeling lighter thanks to his injuries recovering, Rynold walked to the workstation that he had set up.

"What do you plan on making?" the Spirit of Fire asked Rynold as he waited idly by until the Human had recovered.

"A bow," Rynold casually remarked as he pulled a light metal from his inventory. "There's not much for me to work with anymore. And, I don't really have any materials that can actually conduct Mana. This should probably be enough for Lissa to use, right?"

Holding a small chunk of ore that seemed to have a green-like coat on it, Rynold asked for the Spirit of Fire's opinion. It was odd for a person to ask a creature of pure power for something as insignificant as ore selection. But, for some reason, Rynold felt as if the Spirit had much more experience with crafting weapons than he ever did.

"Unfortunately, this particular ore would not work," Prominence Alpha stared at the ore, arms crossed. "This material is perfectly malleable and light, perfect for a person with a lighter frame. However, it is far too soft. The weapon you would make from that would only last a few uses."

"What other choices do I have," Rynold sighed as he scrolled through his inventory.

"Perhaps you could alloy it with another ore," the Spirit suggested.

"I've never had success with alloying ores together before. I wasted so much time trying to alloy one together but only ever produced something far worse than the source material," Rynold commented as he raised his hand to his chin.

"We have the necessary ores right over there," Prominence Alpha pointed to the side, "This time, I guarantee that it would be different from your previous attempts."

Rynold walked over to where the Spirit had pointed and grabbed a black chunk of ore. It was the same material as the one that he had used to house the Exanite.

"How are you so sure that I'll succeed this time?" Rynold curiously asked.

"Because, this time, I, the Great Spirit of Fire, is by your side!" Prominence Alpha loudly announced.

"Alright," Rynold rubbed the temples of his head, "Calm down, Kitty. Let's get some work done."