Rough Start

Their training continued even after they finished their current exercise. With no rest, the puppets monitoring them switched places until all of them were done with the five total exercises.

The deity guiding them from time to time personally didn't help at all. He said something close to 'playing with them because it seems fun~'. In which he succeeded.

***

"It seems like everyone is already here except me. Was I too slow?" Kokomi calmly inquired as she walked towards the haggard maidens.

"You sure took your time, Sa-Kokomi. But you don't look slightly tired at all..." Sara awkwardly said. The tengu starting the conversation was really weird, but it's a good start to loosen her up.

"I assume you all passed each exercise he gave us?" The other not so tired female asked. It was none other than the absurd Lumine, of course.

"I did at least... And speaking of which, where is he anyway, Lumine? You got here first right?" Ayaka cooly questioned.

"You guys haven't asked her that yet?" The divine priestess gasped.

"We were busy resting. And we thought it's best to do it when we're all here..." The tengu replied with a wry smile.

"Ziya said he has something to prepare and we should relax ourselves until he comes back. I don't know when he will and what he's doing though..." Lumine flexed the name card again with a shrug.

"You're getting awfully casual with him lately, Lumine. Are you hiding something?" Kokomi interrogated her with a serious yet ambiguous tone.

"All of us are. I probably just had more things to hide. But to answer your question... Perhaps nearing his age range is advantageous for me?" The traveler answered with a sassy grin.

"Advantageous for what?..." Sara murmured to herself.

"You're really old then, Lumine, if you're as old as him..." An annoyed Ayaka mocked. She even said the forbidden word twice.

"Anyway! You've been weirdly quiet for a while now, Kuki. Something on your mind?" The atmosphere was getting tense, so the Shogunate general changed the subject to someone else.

"This is truly surprising... I was expecting you to curse him repeatedly if he did the same things he did to me~." Kokomi added with a smirk, clearly insinuating a different thing.

She didn't even take her eyes off Lumine. It's like there were two conversations occurring at the same time or something...

"I did at first... But... In the end, nothing worked." Shinobu replied weakly.

"I know that look... It's the same face my brother has every time I handed him paperworks. In other words, she got used to his antics..." Ayaka explained with a sigh. And another one bites the dust.

"Isn't that nice? Although Ziya is annoying sometimes... most of the times. He is fun to be with~." Lumine stated with a smug smirk.

Not backing down from her staring contest with the jellyfish (Lumine's Imagery) , Kokomi.

Winter has come once again, and it's back with a vengeance.

"How was the exercise everyone? I hope everyone enjoyed themselves with what I did first." Kuki said with an unsettling bright smile.

"The dodging exercise one?... It was... hell." Ayaka grieved, and Sara nodded with a serene look.

"It was not bad... I guess." Kokomi added without looking away from the smug traveler.

"Ziya probably went easy on you since... you're all soft and that." Lumine reckoned while donning a sneer.

"I on the other hand, completed my first exercise flawlessly. I was able to manifest every single element after all." She bragged blatantly. The blonde didn't give the full detail though...

"Ara~, Lumine. You've changed a lot that since the war. I can hardly recognize you..." The strategist wasn't even hiding her hostility anymore.

"So I did. I just hope it's not as bad as yours..." The Tsarista must be tired of managing the cold everytime...

"The elemental control one? Lu advised me on focusing on two for now, specifically my first specialty, Cryo, and my new pick Electro." Ayaka mumbled.

"It's the same with me then. Except the fact that he told me to focus on three because of my bloodline advantage. If you're curious, its Electro, Pyro, and Anemo." Sara added to the conversation.

"Me too. Electro and Anemo." The shinobi went straight to the point with a bored tone.

If you're wondering what Kokomi picked. Its Cryo, to mesh well with her Hydro Element. The Classic Freeze Comp.

"I doubt you were even close at beating him at the Intellectual Exercise. Unfortunately, you're not that smart after all..." Kokomi giggled.

"Neither are you good enough to defeat him." Lumine fired back.

"Sadly, you're right. But at least... I was able to play it while sitting on his lap." The divine priestess gave a nonlady-like smirk.

"Huh?!!!" The blonde raised her voice in surprise.

"Should we stop them?" Sara asked with a worried expression.

"Don't bother." Kuki shook her head.

"Forget about those two. How did you guys do in that exercise? I thought I had a chance because I played a similar game ever since I was you young, but I was proven wrong." Ayaka said in frustration.

"Although I am a general, I'm not really an expert when it comes to tactics so I think I did decent enough." The tengu replied.

"Same." Kuki just nodded in agreement.

"I had some fun during the duels though. The payback was satisfying..." The Kamisato princess said with an evil look.

"Battles in the air is fun." Sara murmured as she reminisced.

"Physical contact..." Kuki muttered the same word over and over with a blush. Something definitely happened.

Silence took over the scene as the three got into their own world of memories. However, bickering between the two ladies never stopped...

"Are we not gonna talk about my first exercise?" Sara questioned.

"The Firepower one? It's about our trump cards so I think its best to gloss over it." Ayaka suggested, and the tengu nodded. The shinobi was still busy muttering the same exact words as earlier...

"Ziya is a nice name, maybe I'll try calling him that too." Kokomi said with an innocent smile.

"You better not. It's my trademark by now... First Come, First Serve, as they say." Lumine glared at her 'innocent' behavior.

"Welcome back everyone~! I hope you all enjoyed yourself!" The bastard strikes again at the right time.

"Ziya!... Wait! What on Teyvat are you wearing?!" Kokomi shouted happily at the start. But in the end she asked what all they were thinking with a blush.

Raiden Lu was currently going topless, with only an apron to cover his body. And a lot of food floating above his hands. Behind him was an entire dining table...

"Some delicious food made by yours truly! Shall we dig in, ladies~?" Lu remarked with a teasing smirk and a peace sign.

***

Bonjour!

Gimme all them powerstones!

Holy Shit! We ended at Top 119! That's 6 chapters damn...

Mass release tomorrow! One or two chapters might be late since I didn't expect this outcome. I still need to make it... Give me 4 hours, okay?...

Our Goal this time is Rank 110 above for a bonus chapter. After that would be one chapter per 10 ranks as before.

Powerstones aren't rare, but there's a lot of good shit out there, so I want to reward you guys for giving it to my work. Thanks as usual!

***

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Adios!