–––One month later–––
Max woke up in Anna's embrace like usual. They treated it as something normal now. Unlike initial days where they would end up unintentionally in each other's arms while sleeping, now they would hug each other before sleeping.
There was one time when Max returned late in the night because of training. He thought Anna would be sleeping but when he came back, she was waiting for him.
When he asked her why she didn't sleep even though it was almost midnight, she pouted cutely and said while holding her hands towards him 'I tried but without you being by my side, I couldn't. Quickly eat your dinner and come here. I need to sleep.' Max almost laughed seeing her act like a spoiled child.
"You finally woke up." Anna who was staring at him while laying by his side said smiling.
"Hmm. Good morning" Max nodded while caressing her cheek.
Anna feigned anger and moved his hand away "I told you not to treat me like a child." She then remembered something and said in a low voice "You should get up now, you are going to be late for your outing today."
Max remembered that yesterday was the last day of their training and today will go for the 'adventure' in the mountain range elder Jack had mentioned.
Seeing that he was going to be late, he asked Anna with a small frown "Why didn't you wake me up earlier then?"
For the past month due to training he would exhaust himself daily and would sleep until late in the morning but Anna would wake him up on time because she considered this training period as the most valuable period. So it was strange now that she didn't wake him up.
Anna didn't look him in the eyes and her voice sounded a little sad as she said "Well, it's because you were too tired yesterday and it's going to be a while before you come back from the mountain range, so I thought I should let you sleep for a while more."
Max instantly understood what she meant after hearing her. Because he will be going down the mountain and would spend around a month fighting and hunting monsters there. So, she will be alone for a month and would miss him.
Moreover, she was also worried about his safety because many disciples would die during the outing period. So she wanted him to at least spend a bit more time in front of her eyes.
Realising this his gaze softened. He hugged her tightly and whispered in her ears "Don't worry, I'll be back soon and with elder Jack with us, we will be safe." Although he said this, he knew that only one elder won't be enough to keep an eye on 10 different groups.
She snuggled deeper in his arms and nodded "Un. But be extra careful okay. The beasts in the cloud mountain are stronger than average beasts because of the abundance of mana here. Don't let your guard down even for a moment."
"Okay my little princess." Max pinched her nose while laughing.
After that Max got ready and had breakfast with her. She also made more food for him and stored it in his spatial bag.
"Max I know you are strong but don't be careless okay. Please return s-" As Max was about to head out, she warned him again in a pleading voice. She didn't want something to happen to him.
When she went on outing the first time, even when they were in the lower fringes of the mountain range where only One-star and lower beasts reside, two of her teammates were killed and she was also injured after encountering an agility type beast. If not for her teammates using distress signal on time, they would have been killed too.
However before she could say anything more, she stopped because Max gave her a peck on her lips and said "Don't worry too much. I'll return safe and if haven't broken through to the Two-star realm by then, I'll help you. I'm going now. You too take care of yourself bye."
Saying what he wanted, he went out of the dorm, leaving Anna stunned. She touched her lips dazedly while her heart was beating like drums.
Even though they were intimate with each other and none who saw them would think that they weren't lovers, it was first time Max had done something like this. However she quickly came out of her daze and ran towards the door to bid him farewell but he had already disappeared.
...
After living with Anna for over a month, Max realised that he didn't thought of her as his sister, even though because of the influence of Maxwell's memories, he was protective of her but that sibling feeling wasn't There.
Whenever she would come out after taking a bath, he would find her very sensual and his body would react to her as it would toward any other woman.
When they hugged each other at night, he would find it almost impossible to stop himself from doing something inappropriate with her.
Therefore, today he finally gave in to his feelings and kissed her as a way of expressing his feelings to her. When he came back, if she didn't act differently, he would completely turn their relationship into one of a man and woman. That's why he said that he will help her breakthrough to the next realm if she couldn't do it by herself.
***
Max reached the stony place where they trained for the past month. The main part of their training was battle.
They had to fight a total of nineteen times a day. Ten group battles, where every group had to fight nine other groups while ten individual fights.
Elder Jack's reasoning was simple, only battles could improve your fighting capabilities and make you realise your weaknesses and strengths. He would also give pointers to them when he felt they needed them.
Their daily training didn't stop after fighting. The groups that lost more than five times were required to move 100 rocks that weighed from 2000-10000 pounds from one place to another in one mile distance as punishment. As for the rewards for the top five groups, they would only receive a nod from him. However, they would be satisfied by it because they would be relieved as long as they didn't have to move the rocks.
Although it sounded simple, in reality it wasn't simple at all. A mage with their strength attribute at 50 could only lift 2000+ pounds with difficulty and none had their strength attribute at 50. Of course Max had however, as he wasn't able to utilise his attributes' full potential initially, he also found it impossible.
Therefore, the only way was to lift them using their mana to inhance their strength or use their magic spells to assist them. But using mana constantly for a mile's distance while carry such heavy weight was next to impossible for Two-star mages like them, most of whom were only in the initial stage of the realm like Max.
When one time he came late was because they lost more than five group battles because Haory and one other member of their group were injured, so they had to move the rocks as punishment.
