Earning More Bond Points

Knowing that gesture like the back of my hand, I sighed and picked her up once more. She tried to laugh aloud, but I quietened her by placing a finger on her lips. Then, while carrying her, I made my way to the living room, just a door away from the bedroom.

It was much brighter in the living room, having a cozy fireplace. There was a mat in the middle of the room, on the floor. Now that I'm more awake, I realize this was a hunting cabin. He decorated rifles and weapons all over the walls.

I walked over to the mat and placed Mavislin down on her little bottom. She smiled and wiggled her little bottom, finding a comfy spot. She called me over with her little waving hand, asking me to sit in front of her.

"Hold for a bit. I'm going to get some soup for the two of us," I said, turning to go back into the room.

She nodded, and I went to get the soup out of the room. Man, either I've gotten stronger in this realm, or the pot was very light. I had expected it to be heavier. Once I got back, I poured some of the lovely soup into the empty bowl and placed it in front of Mavislin.

She shyly took a few sips of the soup, her eyes lighting up after realizing how delicious it was. But her expression soon changed to a sad one.

"Ashley..." murmured the small girl, drinking more.

It looks like she remembers the taste of his cooking despite him being dead. Looking at her sad face again made her heartache. Not because of how low she looked but because she was the spitting image of my younger brother when he missed me.

There were times that I needed to go to camps, and my parents would message me his crying face. He was too young to understand the concept of time, so if I didn't come back after he woke up from a few naps, he would think that I'd disappeared. And then he'd freak out.

Without thinking, I softly placed a hand on the Valkyrie's head. I was gently smoothing out her hair and comforting her. I saw a green diamond beside her in my vision getting filled up as I did. It looks like I was getting Bond Points while comforting her. So far, I've got half a diamond.

When I checked up on Bryan, I found that I had gained two diamonds after talking to him. So I focused back on the pouting child.

"Save the tears for later, alright? When more things are worth crying about... Because the road ahead is the bumpiest than it'll ever be."

I shook my head as those memories came back. And something wasn't right as well. Why am I still so energetic? Shouldn't I be dead tired now?

"Notice. You may be a human, but certain aspects have been enhanced while making your body in this world. As such, your body does not require sleep if your Elemental Energy is above 50%. However, this will not apply for an instant knock-out."

At least I've got an excuse not to sleep now. And this feature is good if I need to get things done. After that, though, I'll probably miss dreaming. Nights will be longer than usual then... I shook my head. Right now, I needed to focus because I had a Valkyrie in front of me.

"So, why are you here?" I asked, looking at Mavislin with steely eyes.

The Valkyrie sighed and returned to her teenage form.

"I should ask you the same thing. Why are you in one of my students' homes?" she shot back, knowing that I was still afraid of her.

"I met him after fighting off another one of your underlings. He offered to give me a place to stay for a bit while I thought of what to do," I replied like I was at an interview.

Why was I so prim and proper while speaking to her? For what happened earlier, I wanted to roundhouse kick her.

"And what do you want to do, Elizabeth?"

"I want to join the Arks. But I have to challenge one of the Founders first. Particularly, the Founder that created the Ark that I'm interested in."

Mavislin widened her eyes for a second and drank the rest of the soup. Then, finally, she sighed and scanned me from head to toe. She then got up to pour more soup and lay it on the mat.

"Well, you've exceeded my expectations. Raiyen and I had a mini bet on whether you'd survive the enemies of the forest. When you won against Rina, Raiyen lost the bet entirely. So my bet was on Bryan, the most powerful Pillar I've got now."