"Hahahaha! You are extremely funny right now!" Anna laughed out loud while pointing at Noel. The dusk had arrived and they were about to return and continue their training in their room.
So, they took one last look at each other, appreciating the work they had created.
Anna couldn't contain herself when she saw everything she had painted on Noel's face and body. They had been trying to outsmart each other, causing the Spiritual Energy manipulation to become even more ridiculous.
But the reason why Old Ru suggested this method was actually because of their competitiveness. They had been battling each other in Spiritual Energy control at a far higher level than what Noel could do if he was only with Dimitri or Damian.
The reason why Anna couldn't contain her laugh was because Noel's forehead had "Cute" written on it. "I am" was written on his right cheek, and "weak" was written on the other cheek. There were even some cat whiskers on it.
But because there were too many things to write, they moved toward arms and legs to compensate for it. On Noel's left hand, Anna had put "I love Master Anna." On his right hand, Anna made a drawing of him prostrating in front of her, but only with a stickman figure since she couldn't draw.
It was humiliating for Noel. Even though he tried his best to match her movement, he failed at least more than three hundred times today.
Of course, Anna also lost the same number. As a result, Noel had paid her back. He had written Ugly, Stupid, and Bad on her face alongside glasses and a black eye. On her hands, there were words such as "Not wife materials" and "Single for life" on her as if he was cursing that her bad behavior would cause her to lose the opportunity to marry someone in this life.
They had been clashing since the morning and it was truly an enjoyable and frustrating time. Due to their lack of control, they ended up taking some rest to consolidate it during their competition.
Without them realizing it, the battle that was supposed to last only for three seconds had increased drastically. In the last battle, Noel managed to block Anna's advance for almost a minute.
Old Ru had told them that they had to keep up with the control for at least thirty minutes to be able to use it in battle. But due to this competition, it seemed that they would be able to achieve their objective in less than a month.
Even Old Ru wouldn't expect something like this.
"Shut up, you ugly." Noel snorted. "No wonder you still haven't had an engagement, your bad personality remains."
"What is this? My cute Noel is trying to argue or something?" Anna smirked, teasing Noel.
"I am not arguing. I am simply telling you that there won't be anyone who will be with you. In fact, besides me, have you even got close to another man?" Noel snorted.
"Eh?" Anna widened her eyes in amusement. "Are you sayi—"
Before she finished her words, Noel suddenly injected Spiritual Energy and pushed her back due to the imbalance.
"You lost!" Noel harrumphed and grabbed the brush.
"What?! We have finished our training for the day! Why did you attack me again?!" Anna gritted her teeth and tried to grab the brush, but Noel skillfully avoided it and made a last long stroke on her hand.
"What?! It's time for me to pay—" Anna wanted to channel her Spiritual Energy, but Noel had retracted his hands and feet away.
"We're done here." Noel stood up, acting as if nothing happened.
"What? You cheater! You made one more turn than me!" Anna gritted her teeth and tried to grab Noel's hand, trying to do the same.
But Noel hurriedly waved his hand, knocking her hand back.
"!!!" Noel and Anna looked at each other for a second. After that, Anna tried to grab Noel's hands with all her strength, but Noel kept repelling her and even moving toward the house.
"You bastard. Is this how a noble act? You can't even be fair!" Anna kept chasing him.
"I'm a commoner, not a noble!"
They kept clashing until they reached the house where Old Ru made them promise that nothing should happen in the house other than in their room.
And it seemed that Noel had taken the victory for today, albeit with a little bit of cheating.
Anna was glaring at him the whole time, not liking how he had attacked her earlier.
Of course, the fight continued the moment they returned to their room. Noel tried to stop her, but it was impossible since they were in an enclosed space. In addition, it was better to train whenever they had time for it.
In the end, they continued their battle until they fell asleep with all those markers on their bodies.
Both of them might not realize it, but their relationship had changed a little bit ever since the previous incident at the campsite. However, the subtle change was very obvious. Of course, Dimitri and Nicole didn't have any intention of stopping them.
It was the first time Nicole saw Anna being that happy when she trained and played with someone else. And Dimitri was gratified that there was at least someone who could make Noel relax. While they were observing how they trained, they continued to support them so that they didn't have to do anything other than train, eat, and sleep.
This was how they acted most of the time. Eventually, they reached the state where they managed to last for an hour within one week.
And Old Ru gathered them again as it was time to move to the next stage.
"It seems that you two have got your fun." Old Ru smiled, looking at Noel and Anna, who appeared tired from fighting each other.
"We still have a lot of energy to spare." Noel and Anna said the same thing.
"Of course. It's time to continue to the next stage. You are to infuse your element into your energy. This is going to be a bit more intense, so start off slow."
