"I don't know if I can do this." Olivia gasped and stumbled forward. Her legs felt as if they were full of lead, and her vision had long since turned blurry.

"You can do it." Davi tried to encourage her and looked back as he jogged forward. "We're almost done."

"Really?"

"Nope." Davi shook his head. "Not even at the halfway point."

"Oh, Haru…"

The beach that the guild base was on was not small. Every two laps was over a mile, so doing one thousand laps was basically asking them to run for five hundred miles. Mana allowed people to do superhuman feats, and Knights were in a tier of their own, so for them, such a thing should have been easy.

For the most part, Davi was doing fine. At around the four-hundred-lap point, he began to get a little tired but was mostly fine. Olivia, on the other hand, looked like hell.

Her new fancy armor was suddenly becoming extremely heavy and hot. The sun was setting, and bugs were coming out to attack her face constantly. Her hair was a mess, and she had become extremely pale and covered in sweat. Both her Sprint and Stamina skills were relatively low, as were her Strength and Endurance, so she was lagging behind.

Her mana flickered on and off, the white aura flashing red every now and then as it tried to keep her going, and she was half in a daze. "H-How many more laps do we have?" Her throat croaked out, and it felt scorched.

Davi casually jogged backwards and gave her a thumbs up. "Five hundred and thirty-two laps left. I assume around the eight hundred or nine hundred mark it'll start to get harder to go on for me."

Olivia gave a weak nod. She had no idea how Davi was managing so well. Obviously, his stats and abilities were better, but he had fought Ragna that same day, and it had been an intense battle. He only had a small amount of time to rest and relax, so the him who was doing these laps wasn't in his peak condition and should have been struggling a lot more.

Sometimes it was hard for her to believe just how excellent Davi was.

"I—I think I reached my limit." Olivia sighed out.

"Don't say that; you can keep going."

"Nah. I'm dead."

"What—"

Olivia's legs gave out, and she collapsed face-first into the sand, falling unconscious. Her body had reached its limit. Of course, when she fell unconscious, her mana was still swirling around her.

Olivia opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief when she saw where she was. She floated in a sea of red. She was back in the World of Paths.

"Oh, thank Haru!" She hadn't lost the power.

As she was feeling relieved by this fact, a blue box shimmered before her, and Maya began to speak to her for the first time since Davi had gone into a coma.

'Welcome back :]'

"Maya." Olivia smiled softly, and she reached out to touch the box. She was glad that Maya and the World of Paths were still here. That did raise some questions, though. "Why wasn't I able to enter the World of Paths earlier? I haven't been able to speak to you at all ever since what happened to Davi. What gives?"

'Ahh, that. :[ Sorry. That was Maya's bad.'

"What?"

'Stabilizing this realm is costly. Your Core isn't that big, and your Mana and Efficiency are lacking. Because of that, while you're here, Maya uses your mana but Maya's control to keep this place working. Maya's Efficiency is much higher than yours, so Maya is able to manage it. After learning what happened to the one Maya loves, though, it caused Maya to become worried. Your own mental state was also not in a good place, so forming a connection was difficult.'

Olivia read the words that the text box fed her, and she gave a nod. It was a little annoying that access to Maya could be blocked off if both she and Maya were worried or stressed about something. There was still a lot she didn't know about this place or how this power worked.

She still hadn't told anyone about this power that she had, even though she should. At this point, she was certain that it existed because of Davi, so she wanted to let him know first, just in case he had some information or learned something that she didn't. After that, she'd speak to Ragna.

Speaking of Ragna…

"Maya."

'Yes? :]'

"Why did the Determined trait change?"

'...It changed?'

"Yeah. When I was showing it to Ragna, that trait's words changed." Olivia flicked her hand out and summoned a new box in front of Maya.

'Determined: Through blood, you aided our kin. You've sacrificed your life force to the one we love, and we took notice. A contract has been forged through mana. Determined to live, the ability to view the paths is yours to use as you please. You are an honorary kin.'

"It's back to what it was before? Maya, I showed it to Ragna earlier, and the text said something else. Any clue?"

'Huh, that's weird. Straaaaaaange.'

"Do you not know why?"

':]'

"Maya?"

'Perhaps the skill didn't want to be read.'

Olivia made a face and looked back at Maya's box. "What's that supposed to mean? Did you have something to do with it?"

'Maya told you, Maya can't exist outside of the World of Paths. :]'

"Yeah? You did say that."

'Perhaps someone else hid it. Someone else who controls the system.'

Olivia's eyes widened. "The king?"

'Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.'

"Is it him or not?"

'Well, if Maya can't, who else could it be? :]'

"Why would he hide the skill, though?"

'Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Why indeed.'

"You're not very helpful right now…"

It didn't make a lot of sense. The king should have had better things to do than watch her. Besides, it was usually his Core that did stuff like that, and the Core would have to manage hundreds of other systems all at once. No way it would have been able to do that. But if not the king, then who?

Someone messed with the stat window. When she had tried to pull it out, it had paused and taken a bit. As if someone stopped it and then wrote over it. Maya said they couldn't do it, but was that true? She had no reason to doubt Maya so far, but she also didn't have much of a reason to fully trust the blue box. There was still a lot she didn't know or understand.

Not just about Maya or this world, but also about herself.

"Maya, do you know anything about what a witch is?"

'Maya does. :] You want to know because Ragna brought it up? A witch is someone who is the descendant of a dragon. Do you want to know why they're called witches?'

"Yeah?"

'Long ago, when the Dragons were made, they ruled this world. Eventually, though, this led to their downfall. It is said that the Dragons made the Giants, who in turn made the Elves, but what the stories often fail to mention is how powerful the Elves became. Blessed with magic, the Elves were able to rise past the Giants and the Dragons, and soon the Elven king Sylas was crowned as the ruler of the world. With his vast magic, Sylas used a spell on the dragons. One that is forbidden and lost to time. A spell that affected their very souls. Sylas made it so that there would never be a female dragon born ever again. Then, with his army, he attempted to slaughter the women who remained in the Dragon tribe. In a single stroke of cruelty, King Sylas ended the Dragon's bloodline. He doomed the species.'

"So, the Dragons are all men?"

'Correct. Because of Sylas, women could only bear sons, and with no daughters, the species was doomed to decline rapidly. Due to his army slaughtering the women as well, the Dragon women were forced to go into hiding, leaving their kin behind. Dragons are long-lived, but not immortal. This act crippled them and their pride and scattered them to the winds. Of course, the final nail in the coffin was when Haru decided the world no longer needed dragons and she slaughtered what little of them remained. Nowadays, even a male dragon is extremely rare. Some don't believe they even exist at all anymore. That's the case for the women, at least. The last female dragon, Mana, was killed in the arms of her lover.'

"Okay? What does that have to do with witches, though?"

':] I was getting to that. Since the women were either dead or in hiding, the Dragons had to make do with other species. Specifically, a new race was created to serve as the slaves of the Elves. For whatever reason, humans could be bred with any species. An elf and a giant couldn't have kids, nor could a giant or a dragon, but a human and an elf? A human and a giant, and in this case, a human and a dragon. Sylas's curse still affected the Dragons, though, and human DNA is strangely powerful. It was able to bypass most of the dragon's DNA. As such, most of the children born were pure human sons, with a handful being born as minor dragons, known as Lungs. Even the lungs can only have sons, but every now and then. Less than one in a billion, a daughter would be born. Her flesh would be that of a human, but her heart, her blood, her mana, all of it would belong to the Dragon clan. The power of a pure-blooded dragon, compressed into the form of a small girl. They became known as the Witches, because back then humanity didn't have magic, and it was the Witches and Haru who were the first beings to utilize spells properly.'

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Haru was a witch?"

'Hahaha, no. Haru was something else… Anyway, the first generation of witches were unbelievably powerful and, in some cases, were able to go past the strength of dragons. Nowadays, though, a witch is extremely rare and vastly weaker. This is because the witches born today are descendants of the first witches, so the power of the Dragon clan has greatly dried up.'

"That sucks. I guess that explains why I'm not all that powerful." Olivia chuckled. "I must be like one percent dragon or something. Maybe even less."

'As you grow stronger, your Witch powers should develop as well. Maya can help you train them.'

"Awesome. I had some other questions." Suddenly the world began to shake, and everything turned black. "Never mind. Looks like I'm waking up. Later, Maya."

':] I'll see you later. Mary Roads.'

Olivia's eyes opened slowly, and she stared up at the face of Davi, who was holding a bucket toward her. An empty bucket… She was covered in seawater.

"Really?"

"You wouldn't wake up." Davi offered her a hand, and she took it.

"Olivia, did you collapse?" Ragna suddenly crashed into the ground next to her and Davi, causing her to squeak and fall back. The intense man stared down at her with wide, worry-filled eyes. "Are you okay? Here!" He reached into his Speedo and pulled out a large bottle of water… "Drink this!"

"I'm good."

"I insist—"

"I'm not drinking that."

"I will." Davi took the bottle and undid the lid, taking a large gulp. He let out a satisfied sigh when he was done. "Finally. My throat has been killing me. That hit the spot."

"Perhaps you'd rather have a sports drink?" Ragna asked, about to reach into his Speedo again.

"I'm fine!" Olivia shook her head rapidly. "Seriously." She began to stretch and moved her shoulders back and forth. "I just got a little tired. I already feel a lot better, though. Maybe because of my Quick Regeneration?"

Mana was tied to physical health and energy, so using a lot of mana would make a person physically tired, and sprinting would also use up a person's energy. What did that mean with her Quick Regeneration, though? It was explicitly based on physical health, but wouldn't it also boost mana recovery if they were connected, and if she did get the Mana version, would that boost stamina recovery? That could be a neat combo.

"Want me to keep going?" Olivia asked once she was done stretching. "I think I can get another hundred or so laps before my body collapses again!"

Ragna shook his head. "No, it's okay. I wanted to see both of your limits starting out. Davi seems like he can do one thousand, so I'll increase his laps to two thousand laps starting tomorrow to see if that causes him to collapse as well. Olivia, you'll do five hundred going forward until it seems easy, then we'll go back up to one thousand."

"Aren't those numbers still a little intense!"

"That's the only way you'll make progress." Ragna pointed a thumb at himself and gave a broad smile, proudly showing off the tooth Davi had knocked out of his mouth. "What doesn't kill us will only make us stronger. Remember that." Ragna then folded his arms. "Anyway, we can stop here."

"Oh?" Davi raised his head once he was done drinking the bottle. "Going light on us already?"

Ragna let out a hearty laugh. "Nothing like that! Rather, I can feel an intense mana back near the base. The Captain is about to return. Let's go greet her."

"Captain Laerton returned?" Olivia blinked. "I didn't know Captain Laerton was gone?"

"She went to the Captain's meeting," Ragna explained, and they began a long walk through the junkyard back to the base. "It's held every few months, and as the name implies, the captains get together, and they discuss some stuff. Usually, it's about the recruits and if there are any new dungeons that have popped up or any loot they want to trade."

"I'm guessing Phoenix Flight gets nothing?" Davi asked.

"You're a fast learner!"

They arrived back at the train just in time to see a massive zipper pull down. Pock and Laerton both stepped out.

"Captain!" Ragna let out a booming cheer and jumped to embrace the woman, but Laerton lazily slammed her palm into the man's gut, forcing him to his knees instantly. He wheezed and kept chuckling. "H-How did the meeting go?"

Laerton made a so-so hand gesture and looked past him to where Davi and Olivia were. "Oh, hey, you're not dead yet." She gave a half-nod to Davi. "Does this mean you're finally training them, Ragna?"

Ragna rapidly nodded his head. "That's right! I hope to train them, Ghost, Falco, and the two other members we'll be getting! By the way, anything on those two new members who are joining our guild?"

Laerton's face soured. "They said the same thing they always do. They need to look into it more before they give us them."

"It's so unfair." Pock sighed and shook his head. "We were getting two new additional members that were scouted, but because they're a little strong already, the other Guilds are being mean and not letting us have them."

"Guilds being bastards." Laerton lazily picked her nose with her pinky. "Nothing new. So how did those two do?" She lazily gestured at Davi and Olivia.

"Well, and in fact, I'm glad you're here, Captain!" Ragna looked up at the blonde woman. "I was hoping you might consider training Davi a bit in the way of the sword—"

"Pass."

"Not even a lesson or two?"

"I'm not a babysitter." The woman said flatly.

Ragna sighed and nodded. "You refused to train Falco as well, so I'm not shocked. Hopefully, Falco and Davi can bring out their skills together then, since Vlad will also refuse to train them."

Laerton gave a shrug that showed she really didn't care, and she turned away. "Since you're here, come along, Ragna. I need to have a talk with you in my office. I have a job for you starting tomorrow."

Ragna didn't have time to argue as the woman grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to the front of the train car, where her room was. Pock watched them leave, and then he walked to Davi and Olivia. "Nice robes, Davi."

"Thanks, I didn't make them."

"So, how was training with Ragna?" Pock asked.

"Intense." Olivia shuddered.

"Neat." Davi hummed.

Pock laughed and patted them both on the shoulder. "I train with Ragna a lot as well. Not as much since I'm the vice captain now and have gotten strong, so it's better for him to focus on others."

"Since you're the vice captain, does that mean you're the strongest?" Davi asked, picking his nose with his pinky like the captain had done.

Pock laughed at his remark as if it were a joke. "Nah, Ragna is stronger than me. Our guild is very strange. If you wanted an official rank, it would likely be Vlad as the captain, Laerton Eman as the vice captain, and Ragna, Tea, Clause, and me as Title Knights. Olem, Ghost, Falco, Greenie, Doggy, Mama Herta, Gormay, Miranda, and Merlin would all be regular Knights, and then naturally you two, plus any new members, would be Squires. I guess another way to put it into perspective is that the difference between a Squire and Knight is small, since to be a Knight you just have to be a Squire for one year, but the difference between a Knight and a Title Knight is like night and day, and then the gap gets even further between a Title Knight and a Vice Captain, and then a Vice Captain and a Captain. And then the difference between a captain and a Black Hand member is about the same, with a Black Hand member maybe being a little stronger since they have more backing from the king, so they would have better enchanted gear and improvement pills they can take."

Davi gave a nod, getting a better idea of the scale of power. Not all Knights were equal, either, and that naturally meant not all Title Knights and vice captains were the same.

He still wanted to beat the snot out of Tori and Grey, which meant he'd have to reach the level of vice captain, but Tori was well beyond Grey's power, so she'd be closer to the top. For now, his main goal would be reaching the level of Falco, who was above him.

Pock gave a slight wave and turned away from them both. "I'm going to head down into Oleander City. Do you two want to join me?"

"Sorry, I need a shower." Olivia sighed. She stared down at herself. "I smell bad."

"You sure do." Davi patted her head.

Olivia scowled at his blunt response. "Have fun, you two!" Pock began to walk off. "It's nice you two are able to have showers together."

"We're not taking it together!"

"We're not?" Davi asked.

"No!"

"Damn."

Olivia's eye twitched. Then she realized, though, this was her chance. "Davi." Suddenly growing serious, she reached out and took his hand. "Come on."

Davi let her drag him, and they walked to the part of the train cart that belonged to them and boarded the ramp. Davi did a double-take when she opened the bathroom door and took him inside. "Are we taking a shower together?" Dare he hope?

"No!"

He should not have hoped.

Olivia closed the door and turned around. She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. "Davi. I have something I want to ask you."

Davi's eyes focused on her, and he could tell that she was serious. "What is it?"

"That weird trait you have, the Loved by Mana one—do you know anything about it?"

"Nope."

Olivia sighed. "I bring it up because I think your trait activated."

Davi's eyes suddenly narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You know how I have Polymorph, right?"

Davi gave a slight nod. "Actually, that's something I wanted to bring up. Olivia, Ragna said, that trait is only something witches can have. I learned about it from a friend. Ragna wasn't wrong when he said the blood of a dragon is in your veins, but the thing is—"

Suddenly, he stopped. He felt his body freeze up. A chill went through him, and he could feel hundreds of hands upon his body. Unseen, his mother's arms held onto him, and his mouth began to move on its own.

"-The dragon that is your ancestor is likely a distant one. Not related to the one I'm looking for at all. It's likely you won't awaken many powers. Witches don't have much dragonic might inside of them nowadays." Davi stopped and frowned as the words left his mouth. That wasn't what he wanted to say. What a pain. Because it was related to the Dragon, his mother's will wasn't going to let him blab about it. After all, if Olivia knew, she might run away, and then he couldn't use her as bait anymore, and that wouldn't work with his mother's plan.

'Shit. That fucking woman. Still getting in my way.' Davi closed his eyes and sighed.

"I figured I wouldn't gain much." Olivia giggled. "I'm not that salty about it. Even getting Polymorph was a crazy boon." Her smile then faded. "That's the thing, though. I wanted to tell you how I got Polymorph. You see, during the exams, I noticed I had a new trait. It was—"

Olivia suddenly froze. Literally, before her eyes, everything seemed to slow down to a crawl. The world lost all color, and everything grew dark. Then she felt it. A pain. One worse than anything she's ever felt before. Intense and strong it was in her chest. It felt like a hand was wrapped around her heart, and her blood ran cold. Something was holding her heart.

Then in the darkness she saw it.

A flicker of blue.

'...Maya suggests not saying that.'

All at once, the pain vanished, and Olivia gasped, nearly dropping to her knees, but Davi caught her as time resumed. "Olivia!" He stared down at her, clearly worried. Her body was shaking, and her face was pale. Sweat was pouring down her chin. "Are you okay?"

Olivia shook, and it took all her effort not to accidentally wet herself from the terror. Her mind was racing faster than it ever had before. She had almost died. She was sure of that fact. Trying to tell Davi about the Determined trait nearly killed her. Had Maya saved her life? Or was Maya the one who had almost done it…?

The trait had hidden itself when Ragna wanted to see it, and now, trying to actually speak about it nearly killed her.

"It's nothing!" Olivia forced herself out of his arms and stumbled forward, still shaking. "I—I just wanted to say I got Polymorph during the exam." She breathed heavily, and finally, the terror that was around her began to fade. She felt as if a powerful gaze was on her but was now turning away.

Davi looked at her, and he could tell something was wrong. She had been about to say something else. Was she like him? Was there a force guiding her?

Davi clenched his hand into a fist. Then he nodded his head. "It's okay."

Olivia blinked and looked back at him. "Huh?"

"I get the feeling we both have things we want to say that we can't right now." Davi turned and began to walk toward the door. "There will come a time when we can, though. So it's fine. As long as we can keep going on this adventure, I don't mind."

Olivia bowed her head and felt a new sharp pain in her heart, but this one wasn't a hand gripping it, nor was it real. "Thank you."

Davi gave her a rare smile, and then he stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door. As soon as he did, his smile faded.

'I'll find a way to break it, Olivia. Don't worry. I don't know when it started, but you brought up loved by Mana. That must be it. The thing that has bound me to my own curse, and now yours as well.' Davi felt his nails dig into his palm. 'I'll find a way to shatter this curse, and then we can talk. Then, there will be no more secrets.'

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.