Preparation for the Journey.

"It is a girl your age, we found her because of rumors. She has a unique variant martial spirit but said to be useless. Her name is Jiang Rou. She is studying in Whitemane Academy, however, known as a fallen genius. Commoner, very stubborn with a quiet, but extremely firm and resilient temper. She is a piece of work alright, but her growth stopped at 19 rank and her spirit is a bit special. Dragon Fang reported it as a variant of a lion of sorts. Blue with a few scales, but looking like a fat cat. Weak, with a power of lightning. And what is more, it can be summoned like Cerberus of my husband."

"This is it! Blue Qilin give or take! I bet on it. Where is this academy?"

"Balak kingdom, Whitemane City. Why else would I include her social status if not for that country? Nobles there recently started a heavy wave of oppression. Most high ranking ones are on our hit list and were checked with Oculars of Clarity." - these oculars were a creation of Aiden and Nexus. A little piece of glass that can detect demonic powers. Practically every member of Dragon Fang has them. - "You have quite a few red orders there with high difficulty. Be careful."

"I'm careless by nature, never tell me to be careful!" - Aiden laughed a bit but was defeated in an instant by serious gaze. - "Fine, fine, whatever you say. I'll be careful. No alcohol, no drugs or brothels. Understood."

"Bah! You sure have guts to talk to this lady that way, little rascal!" - she rolled her mesmerizing eyes at him. They were bright, alive, and piercing as always.

"I'm off to do my things." - fled Aiden from his own room.

The next several days were spent in crafting.

He created seven 100.000 rings and about fifty black ones in the span of three days and another two were fruitful with the synthesis of spirit weapons, which thoroughly emptied his stock of ingredients for smithing.

On the sixth day he finally escaped seclusion and after tending to his own hygiene and hunger took a stroll in the academy. He never could do that before, and now something hit him to attend classes. Perhaps it was curiosity or just a lack of social life, but he was eager to talk to his friends.

But his peaceful walk was interrupted by a crowd of people and several familiar voices.

"What is all the fuss out there?" - Aiden stopped a student who came to watch the show.

"Man, have you crawled out of the rock?" - he asked with disdain. - "Who are you, by the way? I never saw you before." - his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"I arrived recently." - stated Aiden bluntly. - "So, what is this all about?"

"Oh." - nodded the student, noticing that the person in front of him should be some prominent figure. First were his clothes, which clearly cost a fortune. That alone makes him consider acting politely. But his tone of voice and aura of confidence too elevated that impression. - "Well, brother, it's nothing new. Our academy recently welcomed a batch of students and teachers. We even changed the headmaster to another and renamed it. The point is, newcomer girls are attracting attention from all around, even the city and other academies out there. So such things are not new." - he waved his hand.

Aiden nodded and moved to have a clear look.

They were all there and in the very front of the spitstorm stood proud an immovable mountain, an iron wall.

Stood the true protector of the female population of Soul Land. The hero of justice and love – Ma Hongjun.

Aiden didn't bother to even look at all this clown show and found the most distant pair of Shrek Team.

"Hey, Yun'er, Bing'er. What's a grand occasion?" - he walked up to them and smiled. The former ran up to him and stretched her arms. She didn't grow one bit and still looked at him from below the waist height.

Aiden laughed slightly and lifted her up. She was light as a feather and small enough to sit on his one arm comfortably.

"Hello, Aiden. Didn't see you for days." - Bing'er followed the little girl and came close while nodding.

"Something different about you."

"Naturally, I'm now a Spirit Ancestor." - she said smugly and glanced at Aiden with excitement. The latter smiled slightly and withdrew an ax.

The first time she asked him to make a weapon he expected something in line with a rapier, sword, or, at the most, saber. He never would have thought a gentle lady will insist to have a double-edged two-handed ax.

"The heavier the better." - she even said back then.

But Aiden must admit... she looked charming yet dreadful with it. Very unconventional. Plus, Aiden created it from ice essence bones and it looked like a shiny moon in her hands.

"Well, don't know where your wildness came from, but here. The ax is yours, like promised."

"Thank you. It's what I wanted." - said Bing'er stepping around him and giving a hug from the back.

Aiden didn't know what to say to this and simply relaxed.

"So, who will explain to me this gang fight out there?" - he finally asked and Yun'er tugged his collar to claim the right to be a narrator.

Then she glanced at Bing'er, who was still hugging Aiden. There was a clear implication in her naive eyes.

"Fine, fine. Little sis can explain." - Bing'er smiled kindly at her and gave a little picture book. Yun'er happily took it and found a proper page. As far as Aiden could see it was full of child drawings. Clumsy, yet colorful.

The three of them sat by the tree. Yun'er on his lap, Bing'er by the side.

Aiden opened the first page.

There he saw a drawing of a girl with wavy aqua hair and a crown running away from a crowd of unknown gray humanoid figures. He looked to the side with laughter in his eyes and the girl in question rolled her eyes at him, pointing to read further.

Aiden read two lines of uneven handwriting.

Above the girl's head was a title – Kind Fairy Sister. And above the crowd – Creepy Uncles and Young Masters.

"Okay, let's see where the adventures of Kind Fairy Sister went, shall we?" - Aiden glanced at pouting Bing'er and continued to the second page.

There, all creepy uncles and brothers feared another Sleazy Crown Brother, who had a bouquet of roses in his hands. Aiden turned to the third page and saw that brother on his one knee in front of Kind Fairy Sister. What is more, she accepted the bouquet.

He felt rather uncomfortable about it somehow and it reflects on his face.

Bing'er looked at Aiden and smiled a bit. He gave her a cursory glance, before turning to the next page.

Then he coughed, stunned by the drawing, and gave Bing'er shocked stare. The latter smiled and fixed his hair that tends to go wrong from time to time.

On that picture, the Sleazy Crown Brother was knocked out. And the weapon that did so was the very bouquet he gifted. Poor soul. That must have been the most depressing confession he ever made in his life.

Aiden scoffed without pity.

"You worked hard." - he said warmly and smiled at Bing'er.

"Of course!" - she understood from the start what he meant. - "Do you know how tedious it is to knock out that boor with a flower bouquet? I really worked very, very hard." - came a pouting expression of a wronged maiden.

Aiden only rolled his eyes at her and continued.

There another crowd besieged everyone and tried to woo several more people. In short, while he was doing business, working his head off, and trying to plan ahead, the guys in Shrek had a very fulfilling time of constant bullshiting and wasting time on unnecessary conflicts.

Aiden felt his mood turning dark.

"These little shitheads." - he growled. - "I cultivate, forge weapons, find resources for them to use, give them arts and what they do? Fine, fine. Looks like this senior brother was too lenient to you all recently. Good, good..."

He glanced at the crowd and laughed sinisterly. First, clean up the trash. Erlong will have slightly more work to do, but let's be straightforward in approach or it will not end. He eyed one particular person.

"Mubai, you little kitty cat! I see you are having fun, huh? I want to have fun too. Can I join in? Fire in the hole!" - roared Aiden and raised his hand, as if he was ready to slap the ground.

"What?" - hearing a loud familiar voice, he turned around. He first didn't get the meaning of the words. But when he saw an image of the dragon and a raised hand, it drained away all blood from his face.

"Run! RUN, BROS!" - he screamed, activated all his arts and spirit power, and escaped the square. Same did other Shrek students, who once saw that damn claw in action.

But the coming crowd of Creepy Young Masters didn't know. They laughed. Yes, they laughed hard until their vision was covered by an immense shadow and tremendous restricting aura fell from the sky.

They laughed no more.

Dragon Claw descended down.