The villainess shall be mine

:::[Third person POV]:::

The smell of burnt was still prominent in the air, and smokes from the craters rose to the sky. There were even some tree roots that were still burning but Liu used her power to extinguish them.

"I am sorry that you had to witness that Miss Liu, I lost my cool when he belittled you."

Adam walked toward Liu and Ma?ra as if nothing happened but Ma?ra was stupefied by Adam's display of power.

'Who is this kid?' She wondered.

Even though Adam's face was broadcasted all over the planet, not everyone saw it. And even if they saw him, they would still doubt their eyes when they were in front of the real thing.

As for Liu, she just nodded slightly and she still had a poker face. She couldn't help but reevaluate Adam. 'He stronger than I expected. I can't assess his true abilities.'

Liu became a bit wary of Adam and considered his challenge more seriously.

However, these two women didn't know that Adam was extremely relieved that it didn't turn into a mess. 'The trick was to make it seems like you are invincible… If those who did not possess the gift attacked me then I would have had a hard time.'

In the end, all that mattered was the result no matter what trick Adam used. As long as the enemy didn't catch up to this trick, then he had the upper hand. 'But such a thing wouldn't always work, that's why I need Ma?ra's help.'

"I took care of the bad guys as we agreed Miss Ma?ra, now will you listen to my request?"

"I didn't agree to such a thing… And you are already that strong, you even have a particular gift, so why do you want to learn such an obscure technique?"

Ma?ra didn't find any reason for Adam to learn a technique that was far weaker compared to the power of a gift. In the first place, this technique was created by a giftless man who was desperate to change his fate.

"That's the problem Miss Ma?ra, I am weak. I may lose my life or lose people that are important to me if I don't get stronger."

"Then you should increase your gift mastery. Why the hell would you learn sword skills when you haven't mastered your gift yet. You should aim for level 10 or something…"

Ma?ra was a little bit annoyed by Adam's claim and thought that he was just trying to sound cool.

But Adam looked at Ma?ra with serious eyes. "Do you think that I wouldn't have done that already if could? But I can't, no matter how much I train, my power won't increase and my body won't be able to get stronger than an average human. This is a very particular situation and normal solutions wouldn't do anything much."

What Adam said was right, because the way he was now, he would be crushed by his power sooner or later. Normal gifts increased the holders' physique and transformed their bodies little by little to be able to withstand the change that was happening to them so they can evolve into a different kind of being altogether. For example, Liu's could withstand extremely cold temperatures.

But for Adam, it was different. His power was not something that evolved, it was already something complete and absolute, however, Adam himself was still a normal human. So even if he trained, his body won't evolve with his power, at least if he trained normally.

"What kind of nonsense is that? Are you taking me for a fool?"

"No, I am serious. And if you help me, I will pay for the reparation of your house. So what do you think?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞ℯ𝙬𝗲𝗯n𝗼νel.𝒄𝑜𝘮

Adam pointed at the huge hole on the wall of Ma?ra's house.

Ma?ra had never seen someone so eager to learn from that old man.

'He would have been over the moon if he was still around.' She thought.

In the end, she didn't understand Adam's circumstances, but she just thought that her master would have helped Adam if he was still alive.

"Tch! Sorry, I still can't help you, but I can give you something that might help."

"Really? Thank you very much!"

Ma?ra gestured for Adam to follow her.

"I suggest you not expect much from that geezer."

Ma?ra finally invited Adam, Liu, and Cristal inside.

During all of that, Cristal was great at hiding her presence and it felt like she was part of the background.

*****

:::[Adam's POV]:::

"Wow, there's a training ground inside."

I didn't expect to see that Ma?ra's place was even spacious inside. There were a lot of rooms and a huge training ground.

'They build all of this inside of the tree's body?'

No matter how ridiculous it sounded, the tree was more than hundreds of meters tall and its width was not something that to scoff at.

If someone managed to cut down one of these trees then they would be able to build almost thousands of small houses where a family of four could live in.

"That geezer dreamed of creating his martial arts school, but in the end, he didn't even manage to recruit three disciples before he kicked the bucket." Ma?ra still spoke as if she held grudge against this master.

After that, we arrived in front of a room that looked like it wasn't opened for a long time.

I deduced that this might be the room of this legendary master and that his secrets were stored there.

'Even if it's just a book written by this master, it should include a sort of method that will help me to discover the secret behind his technique.'

My goal was to increase my physical power so that I can withstand my evolution to the next level of existence after I find the fragments. It will also help me to defend against frontal attacks and increase my fighting ability.

Ma?ra opened the door and a puff of dust came out of the room. It was clear that she didn't open this door for a few years.

"Here you go. Search for what you are looking for by yourself. I still have work to do."

"Do you live here alone?" I asked Ma?ra out of curiosity.

"Do you see anyone else around?"

I looked around and there was no one.

"So no one uses these rooms?"

"Are you dumb?"

I had an idea. 'If I want to train, then wouldn't this place be perfect?'

The place was spacious and there was a training ground with a lot of equipment. There were also a lot of vacant rooms, probably intended for the disciples.

"What if we rented them for a while?"

"What?"

"I will pay the double for a casual VIP room."

Ma?ra pondered for a while before answering. "Deal. But you need to pay in advance. And I must warn you, these rooms are not particularly luxurious."

"That will be fine."

"Okay, let's continue this discussion later."

Ma?ra left her room and I was alone with Liu and Cristal again.

"What are going to do, Miss Liu? I suggest you wait for a little bit because it's very dusty inside and it would be harmful to Verte, and your clothes will get dirty."

"Okay, I will wait there."

Liu pointed at a nice-looking place full of flowers. It reminded me of the Royal garden but it had this atmosphere of wilderness about it.

As I watched Liu walking away, for some reason, I felt like the communication between me and Liu lacked and the distance between us didn't decrease; she was still like a stranger.

There was a wall that prevented us from getting closer to one another.

*****

:::[Third person POV]:::

Liu was lost in her thoughts as she gazed at the flowers on the horizon.

There was another reason why she decided to go with Adam, but she wouldn't tell anyone else.

'Brother…'

Her brother was a very cheerful person. He wanted to go on an adventure, learn something new and discover the world.

Liu admired her brother who despite being brilliant and intelligent, was also very kind towards her.

But her heart had long closed up… Her brother was not the one she once loved anymore, and she knew that these days were lost forever.

The place that she called home turned into a place that tortured her heart to no end, and at her turn, she also lost her smile.

But Liu had to stay strong, for her sake and her brother's. She promised herself that she would change her clan with her own hands.

Yet…

'I don't want to return to that place…'

She was a little bit envious of Adam as she watched him from afar. From her point of view, he was free and blessed…

'I can't understand why he wants to get involved with that side of the world…'

Liu knew that when someone got entangled with that side of the world, they change completely as if they were being corrupted. That was why she hesitated to involve Adam in all of this, even if it turned out that Adam was related to her mission.

Liu knew that Adam was different from the people that she met until now. She couldn't explain it well. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, but at the same time, he looked like he was just walking forward blindly and following his emotions.

He looked weak but at the same time invincible, extremely kind but very cunning and cold-hearted.

Adam reminded her of her brother, someone that she had lost.

In the end, all of this was no more than an excuse to not return to that place, and Liu knew that, but she couldn't help it.

Her heart was tired...