The sky was clear, and the summer sun warmed the world. The streets of Tenet were brimming with people, as it was typical of Saturdays. They all walked around with ease, and their chatter filled the air.

  Larna stood out among them, his tense body making him look like a walking robot.

  “Don't be nervous!" Vale almost screamed.

  Larna lowered his head with a sigh. He obviously didn't want to feel nervous, but walking among so many people was uncomfortable.

  "I'm not used to this." He said with another sigh. The years of confinement in his bedroom have cost him that.

  "Me neither," Vale said, making Larna raise an eyebrow. "I walk around sometimes, but I've never taken a trip on a bus on my own."

  Larna nodded as it was his first time, too. The fact that they didn't know the destination of their trip made him feel more uneasy.

  "Larna, why did you agree to join Saint's clan?"

  "He defeated me so easily. I thought that I could gain some experience joining him."

  “I thought that too. But I don't like the idea of joining a Clan. I feel restricted.”

  “Well… what do you think if we wait to see if we can gain some levels? If not, we could leave if you want.”

  “Let's do that.”

  Larna nodded to Vale and saw the bus terminal crossing the street. There, a blonde boy seemed to be discussing with a bus driver. The driver seemed to be in a hurry as the boy tried to stop him.

  Larna was crossing the street with Vale when the blond boy turned in their direction. He seemed to squint at them before raising his arm. “Larna, First Challenger!”

  Larna froze in the street. But quickly followed after Vale, who immediately ran in the boy’s direction.

  When they reached him, Saint, Larna guessed, let out a long sigh, and they got on the bus without time for a word. They sat on the back seats and stared in silence at each other.

  “I recognized you guys thanks to you, Larna. You look like in the Battle Center. And First Challenger, you look… less intense now.”

  “Call me Vale.”

  “I’m Allen. Uh…something’s wrong?”

  “You’re blond,” Larna said blankly. The change in Vale's looks startled Larna at first. But Saint’s appearance was totally the opposite.

  He had long blond hair, and his eyes were intense blue.

  Allen chuckled, looking up at the hair covering his forehead. “I guess.”

  The bus eventually let them off at the next terminal. They had to take another two buses, but luckily they had good timing, and there weren't more discussions with bus drivers.

  Larna sank into the seat of what should be the last bus. He hadn’t done more than being seated, but the trip had turned out to be really draining.

  He leaned on the window. Crop fields extended along a green plain, and scattered houses were apart from the rest of the world.

  Above, the sky had turned cloudy and dark. "I hope it doesn't rain."

  "Don't worry. I can control the weather." Vale said, giving thumbs up to Larna, showing a confidence that would convince anybody it was true.

  —

  "Run!" Vale yelled, using his backpack to cover himself from the tempest that was falling over them.

  "You can control the weather, uh?!" Larna yelled. Vale was so confident before that he could laugh right now, but the cold wind embracing his soaked clothes quickly eliminated any joy.

  Despite that, Allen laughed. "Just resist a bit more."

  They ran following Allen's directions, passing by an enormous field and a big house like the ones from the city.

  "Inside!" Allen yelled as he entered a small hovel made of wood.

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  The drops of water were starting to sting moments before Larna entered the hovel. He did as Allen and seated with his back against the wooden wall. Even soaked as he was, he felt safe now.

  "I'm sorry you had to endure that, guys."

  "Don't mind,"

  "Don't worry, surprise events like this can't be predicted."

  The increasing noise of the rain and the growl of thunder were quite bad signals. It doesn't look like stopping soon. We'll have to sleep here, soaked.

  Larna tried to dissimulate the cold that turned his skin briskly, but it was getting difficult as his jaw started to tremble. Life is so unpredictable. It needs a patch.

  The door opened, making Larna recoil. An old man stepped through it.

  Allen stood up. "Boss."

  The old man smiled at Allen and extended the towels and clothes he brought with him.

  "Thank you," Allen said, and the old man left with a nod.

  "Who was he?" Vale asked, wrapping himself in a towel.

  "I’ve been working for him for a good time, in exchange for his help building this place.”

  Larna tilted his head. "Why did you build it in a place like this?... I-I’m not deprecating it! It was just a doubt…"

  "Our clan needed a base, didn't it?"

  “...Yes”

  Larna looked around with new eyes. Allen had built this with his own hands. The place looked robust, and he noticed wooden carved swords hanging on the wall above him.

  Allen scratched his cheek with a smile. "I know it's just a humble shack, and it's quite far from the town, though."

  "What are you saying? This is awesome!" Vale said, standing on his feet, and walking to the swords on the wall.

  "I think the same," Larna said, still looking around. The three fitted easily inside, and there was room for around another twenty persons. "It's amazing you did it with your own work."

  “Thanks. The work was tough, but I enjoyed building it.”

  The rain continued pounding on the wooden ceiling for several hours, but still, no drip leaked inside.

  It was night when the noise stopped, replaced by the sound of crickets and several other insects. Larna had expected to be still soaked, uncomfortable, and hungry by then. But thanks to the old man, they were doing fine. He had even brought them food.

  Curious to see the nocturn biome, he opened the door of the wooden base. A fresh breeze of a summer night caressed his face. The sound of insects filled the crop fields that seemed to infinitely extend as the darkness hid its borders.

  Larna breathed deeply, satisfied by discovering a new zone.

  "Look. He thinks he looks cool," Vale whispered to Allen, still, Larna could clearly hear every word.

  Allen's chuckle only made Larna’s face turn redder. "I don't!"

  Vale dropped onto the wooden floor at his side. "What's wrong?"

  Larna lowered his eyes and played with his fingers. "It's nothing, just my typical doubts."

  Vale didn't say a word, but his stare forced Larna to keep talking. "I don't know if I'll be capable of entering the tournament."

  "Me neither.” He said with a shrug. “Nobody knows."

  "Yeah, it's just… Allen defeated me so easily. And is he just the rank three?! I'm expecting to enter a top twenty with people like this..."

  Vale scratched the back of his head and looked back at Allen. "Is everyone at the top as strong as you?"

  Saint smiled awkwardly and sat beside Vale. "I don't think so. Kuro and I had been practicing since we were kids. To be sincere, I reached this rank easily."

  Larna sighed. Not all are monsters. That’s good to hear.

  "I know how you feel, Larna," Allen said, looking at the full moon with a nostalgic smile.

  "Kuro and his brother Kaito were always better than I at kendo. I wanted to be better than them and surprise grandpa. So I used to stay at the dojo for more time or train in my room.”

  “But one day, grandpa saw me." Allen chuckled. “He stopped my swing and made me sit with him. He told me that I didn’t need to be as strong as my cousins. I just needed to love and enjoy what I was doing.”

  “Everything else would eventually come."

  “That day, the dojo changed completely for me. Training started to be fun, and I laughed when training with grandpa and enjoyed bothering Kuro."

  Allen smiled, looking at Vale and then at Larna. "I want to create a clan following the teachings grandpa told me. A clan in which we help each other as a family, and have fun while getting stronger."

  —

  The night was growing deeper, and one more time, the old man whom Allen worked for had brought them three mattresses to sleep on the floor.

  Larna had been resting for a while now, staring at the wooden ceiling.

  Maybe Allen's grandpa was right. Maybe he needed to stop being so obsessed with strength. Allen and Rising Shadow had been training since they were kids; it was normal that he wouldn't reach their level in just a month. Maybe he just needed to enjoy what he did and focus on getting better each day.

  Larna turned to the side, ready to fall asleep, but he recoiled when he saw Vale’s open eyes looking at him.

  "Vale?"

  "I still feel restricted. But I think I can bear it.” Vale smiled. “We did well on joining him.”

  "I think that too. I feel I've already leveled up without even training.”

  “Larna, let's help him create his dream clan."

  “Yeah... let’s have fun while doing it too.”