Earth's Greatest Magus

Emery brought Klea to the forest which was located just roughly at the outskirts of the former Ambrose's family estate. 

Looking at the somewhat familiar surroundings in his memory, he couldn't help but put a bitter yet sweet smile on his face.

Before entering deep inside the forest, Emery took Klea to an area where a few piles of stones could be seen stacked on the ground nearby. He quickly led her to two particular ones who looked slightly different than the others in the area.

Emery squatted down and plucked some of the wild grasses that covered the stones. He then looked at it with a yearning eyes and said, "Father, Mother… I've brought someone special today and I want you two to see her."

The words quickly made Klea's heart racing with happiness. Although they were only their graves, this could still be thought of as being brought to meet the parents.

Klea tried very hard to hold her happiness as she stood in front of the graves. Unfortunately it quickly went into smoke, as quickly as it came when she heard Emery's next words…

"Here is my special friend, Klea."

Friend… As if being plunged into cold water, Klea stood there still like a statue.

Klea quickly recovered her bearings. Even though it wasn't what she expected, all in all, she felt honored that Emery had decided to bring her into such a special place. This meant that their relationship had become closer than ever.

After saying a few endearing words to the two makeshift tombs of his parents and promising he would be back, Emery stood up and led her deeper into the woods.

"I never had siblings or anyone my age in the estate, hence I like to spend time by myself in this forest."

There was nothing special about the forest. It was incomparable to what they had seen in their journey so far. But Klea personally found the place was perfect to spend time together.

They walked and traversed through the forest, before they arrived upon a small lake. Entranced by the beautiful sight of nature, the two subconsciously looked at each other and decided to sit on a massive rock located near the small lake. 

The atmosphere was very quiet and serene, as it was apparent that neither of them wanted to break such solace. There were only two of them, accompanied by the sounds of nature.

Klea had a faint smile on her face, as she enjoyed what was going on. Although they didn't tell each other openly, one could see Emery also felt the same way.

After a while, the serene atmosphere was finally broken by a voice.

RRRrrrrr…. It was the sound of Emery's stomach roaring for some nutrition.

As a high rank acolyte, Emery should have less need for food, as he climbed across the stages. 

Even then, to allow his stomach to produce such a loud sound, he truly had not eaten for a long time. In fact, now that he tried to think about it, Emery really couldn't remember the last time he ate.

Klea let out a light chuckle when she heard the thunder-like rumblings. She then said, "You make a bonfire, I will find things for us to eat."

With her spirit reading and enchantment spells, Klea didn't even need to move to search for something to eat. A few moments later, a rabbit could be seen walking toward their little, makeshift bonfire.

"Great!" Emery commented, when he saw the approaching rabbit. "I will cook the meal."

Unexpectedly, Klea quickly rejected the notion. "No... no no… Let me do it." She said with an awkward look on her face. 

It seemed she was still unable to forget how bad the food Emery cooked for her before. In response, Emery only showed a wry smile and shrugged his shoulder as he stepped away from the bonfire.

A while later, the rabbit had been skinned and cooked. It was a roast rabbit.

When they started eating their meal, with a flip of his finger, a splash of water flew from the lake into the air, hovering and making its way towards them. Emery made a pulling gesture and some of the water flew into his mouth, quenching his thirst. As for the rest, he offered it to the girl as well.

Klea smiled and touched the floating blob of water with her finger and there was a little change in the water. Emery saw her make the water turn cool before she drank it with relish.

Noticing the look Emery gave her, Klea shot a smile and said, "Being too long in an arid kingdom like Egypt has made me enjoy any kind of cool beverage."

The spell Klea just cast was her new element that she gained from cultivating the [9 Moon Divine Technique]. Thanks to her talent, she was now able to cast low tier ice element spells.

"That's impressive, Klea." Emery said with genuine admiration, which successfully made the smile on the girl's face widen.

Klea then started to talk about the High Priestess and the training she had gone through at Gaia Shrine that helped her improve her understanding of the elements better. Emery maintained his silence as he let the girl speak of her experience.

With an excited expression, Klea said, "Oh yeah! More importantly, I have just passed the 400 points milestone in my spirit force, Emery! How about you?"

This was actually the first time Emery showed his own stats. The reaction was much more than what he imagined.

"Sev-seven hundred?!!" Klea exclaimed loudly that it almost sent Emery stumbling into the lake.

Well, Klea's surprised was to be expected honestly. 

Just a year ago, the two of them had a similar spirit force with Emery still trying to reach his maximum 500 spirit force. But now, he had broken through that ceiling and went further beyond, while she still hadn't reached the said ceiling.

She couldn't help but feel there was now a large, massive bridge separating the two of them. She was utterly speechless and dumbfounded when she realized such reality.

The girl turned quiet, like immediately. It was no wonder all her supposedly power spells had minimal to no effect on Hades. Seeing Emery's impressive number of spirit forces honestly gave her mixed feelings.

She was happy, of course, knowing that the man she chose grew into a powerful individual. However, she also couldn't help but feel a little dejected, as she was the one known as the genius with the S rank aptitude.

Her nice, comfortable afternoon was suddenly ruined by this revelation.

Klea instantly knew the only possible reason for Emery's rocket-like rise was because of the dragon Emery was telling her about before, hence she was 'demanding' for an explanation.

Although his Master Xion told him to keep a secret, Emery decided to explain the rough gist of it, about how much impact it had on his improvement and the reason why he had been gone for 35 days. He also told these things to make her understand that he would probably spend all of his remaining few months before the recall in the Khaos Space.

It was really unfortunate that no one could enter the space without Killgragah's permission. If that wasn't the case, Emery was sure the spell he used would be helpful to all of his friends. Of course, he had tried to persuade the dragon on this matter a few times in the past, but to no avail.

At this opportunity, Emery also decided to share his concern about the next recall with Klea.

"Actually Klea, I'm sure that you will improve much faster than me if you really focus on your training."

Klea immediately frowned when she heard Emery's words. She was sharp enough to read between the words, to infer what he actually meant.

"You're saying that spending time with you only hinders my training, aren't you? "Don't worry about me, alright? I just want to be close to you ." Klea said confidently.

Emery was silent. He recalled how Klea decided to stay in the normal class despite being invited into the elite class on the last recall. Although her gesture was appreciated by the others that time, now with the threat of Nephilims and many other uncertainties hidden in the shadow, Emery couldn't help but feel worried. 

He sincerely hoped Klea would never lose such an opportunity again. Especially not because of him.

Klea realized Emery's mind was once more filled with concern, hence she quickly stuffed a large rabbit leg into his mouth which immediately resulted in a continuous coughing of the latter.

Thanks to that, the tense atmosphere earlier melted away a bit. It was apparent what Klea just did was able to bring the atmosphere back to life a bit. 

After a series of laughs, Emery suddenly fell silent, turned to her and said with a smile, "Thank you, Klea. I… I really needed this."

He knew Klea taking him out 'for a date' was merely an excuse to get him to relax from all the problems that trouble his mind. He really appreciated this kind gesture.

On the other hand, said girl didn't say anything. She only slowly moved closer to him and, under Emery's confused gaze, she unexpectedly pushed him into the lake.

"Wha-"

Splaasshhh!!!

"You also need that!! You are smelly!" Klea said with a bell-like laugh.

Emery quickly shot his head onto the lake surface, as his lungs craved for the needed oxygen. With most of his body being submerged in the lake of freshwater, Emery then realized he did need to bathe. He even couldn't recall the last time he had cleaned himself, thanks to all the events happening around him.

He dived into the water a little to enjoy the refreshing sensation and when his head popped from the lake surface, he noticed that on top of the huge rock they were sitting before, the Egyptian Queen was already standing half naked. 

Emery became like a statue, completely still.. This was all because he could clearly see her smooth silky skin and curves as she jumped into the water, toward his location.