It was another morning where Shino woke up holding Beta.
Looking at her resting in his arms, he couldn’t help but think how cute she was.
Her sleeping face was incredibly serene and beautiful.
Beta’s eyelids fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.
“Good morning, Lord Phantom,” she murmured, her voice laced with sleep.
“Good morning, Beta.” Shino consciously got up and left the room.
Beta needed to change out of her pajamas and into her regular clothes, so it was only right for him to be a gentleman and give her privacy.
Watching his retreating back, Beta thought to herself, *You know, Lord Phantom wouldn’t really have to leave while I change…* Time flew by, and Gamma had already been at the base for seven days.
Beta and Gamma’s daily routine consisted of following Shino’s instructions to practice mana control, expand their mana reserves, and train in swordsmanship.
Gamma’s raw talent was right on par with Beta’s, but her physical coordination was absolutely atrocious.
She tripped constantly.
During their sparring sessions, Gamma would routinely lose her footing and fall flat on her face, ending up covered in dirt.
“Lord Phantom…
am I just completely useless?” Gamma asked, her head bowed in self-reproach.
“Of course not.
I know how hard you’re working, Gamma,” Shino smiled, gently patting her head.
“It seems we just need to adjust your training methods.” Shino snapped his fingers.
A mass of mana separated from his body and slowly molded into a human figure, eventually looking exactly like him.
“Beta, this is a mana clone I created.
It has twice your current mana capacity.
Your new goal is to defeat it.” “Lord Phantom…
it has your face.
I can’t bring myself to hit it,” Beta replied.
Shino had been so incredibly kind to her; the thought of raising a sword against his face felt impossible.
“Ah, my oversight.” Shino snapped his fingers again.
The clone dissolved back into raw mana before reforming into the shape of an adult man wearing a black mask.
“Gamma, come with me.
I have a specialized training plan for you,” Shino said.
Gamma nodded and followed him, head still downcast.
Beta watched them leave, then turned her attention to the clone.
Her Slime Bodysuit manifested, a slime sword forming in her hand, and she vanished from where she stood.
*Clang!* The two blades clashed.
The clone only defended, never initiating an attack.
Shino’s control over the autonomous clone wasn’t perfect yet, and he didn’t want to risk the clone accidentally killing Beta while he wasn’t looking.
Shino brought Gamma to an empty clearing.
He manipulated his mana, extending four invisible “mana hands” to push against the ground, lifting his body into the air.
“Gamma, what do you see?” “Lord Phantom, you’re flying!” To Gamma’s eyes, the mana hands were completely invisible.
Shino snapped his fingers, and the mana hands shimmered into view.
“When your mana capacity and control reach a certain level, you can use mana to support your weight and ‘fly’ like this.
You can also camouflage these mana hands to make them invisible.” He looked at her earnestly.
“Your sense of balance is inherently poor.
That’s a natural physical flaw, and even I can’t change that.
However, your mana control is excellent.
If you practice diligently, you can use these mana hands to anchor yourself and stabilize your balance.
Do that, and you’ll never trip on flat ground again!” “Lord Phantom, you are amazing!
Please teach me how to do it!” Gamma’s eyes sparkled with newfound hope.
“First, you need to learn how to shape the mana…” Shino began teaching her step-by-step.
Meanwhile, no matter how hard Beta tried, she couldn’t defeat the masked clone that possessed twice her power.
But after countless failures and relentless effort, she finally struck it down.
That night, Cid happened to pass by the area.
Seeing that the Shadow Garden base was functioning perfectly under Shino’s care, he decided not to show himself.
*A great harvest today!* Cid thought to himself.
*Shino is really putting in the work, training the newcomers for Shadow Garden.
The family of the Eminence in Shadow has grown again!
Truly worthy of celebration!* Six months passed in the blink of an eye.
Both Beta and Gamma’s strength advanced by leaps and bounds.
Gamma had fully mastered the invisible mana hands.
During training, whenever she was about to lose her balance, the mana hands would instantly shoot out to catch her and stabilize her posture.
Beta’s combat prowess, meanwhile, had already surpassed Shino’s sister, Claire.
Considering that Claire—trained personally by Shino—was strong enough to wipe out the entire Kagenou barony by herself (excluding the twins), this was a monumental achievement.
The temporary base of Shadow Garden was located in a desolate, unpopulated wasteland, far from the Kagenou territory.
However, one day, uninvited guests arrived: a band of rogue magic swordsmen.
“Boss, look at this house!
It’s so new, it must have been built recently.
It’s perfect for our new hideout!” “Yeah!
Who would’ve thought that after wandering in the wilderness for so long, we’d stumble upon such a great place!” “Boss, what if there are people inside?” “What do you think?
We kill the men and keep the women!” Shino wasn’t at the base at the time; he was back at the Kagenou estate.
Since he had a family, he had to show his face at home regularly.
However, his remote viewing techniques had improved.
His mana clone remained hidden at the base, observing everything and ready to intervene if the girls were in mortal danger.
Sensing the intruders, Shino immediately began rushing back toward the base while monitoring the situation through the clone.
Since the clone only retained one percent of his power, it couldn’t accurately gauge the bandits’ mana levels.
Inside the house, Beta and Gamma sensed the men outside.
They simply pushed the door open and walked out.
“Boss, we hit the jackpot!” a bandit leered.
“Just two young girls, right at the perfect age!
It’s been forever since I tasted a woman—I’m gonna enjoy this!” Perhaps due to some innate elven trait, Beta was developing quite early and already had a modest figure (A-cup).
Gamma, on the other hand, was already looking quite alluring (B-cup).
The bandits’ faces twisted into ugly, lustful grins.
“The white-haired elf is mine!
I call first dibs!” one bandit yelled, charging straight at Beta.
Beta prepared to draw her sword, but Gamma raised an arm to stop her.
“Let me handle this, Beta.
You already have real combat experience, but I don’t.
Let this be my first real fight.” Hearing this, the charging bandit laughed obscenely.
“Oh, I’ll give you a *real* fight!
I’ll let you experience exactly what it feels like!” *BAM!* The bandit slammed face-first into an invisible wall.
It was the protective barrier Shino had erected around the base.
He had recently upgraded it with an identification system: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Shino, and Cid could pass through it as if it weren’t there.
Anyone else would hit it like a brick wall.
“What the hell is this?” The bandit boss stepped forward and swung his blade at the barrier.
His sword was forcefully repelled, and the recoil knocked him flat on his backside.
Seeing his subordinates staring at him, the boss felt his pride take a hit.
He scrambled to his feet.
“Damn it!
Shatter!” The boss channeled every ounce of his mana into his blade and brought it down on the barrier with all his might.
*CRACK!* A sharp fracturing sound echoed.
The boss smirked, thinking he had broken the invisible shield and salvaged his dignity.
But when he looked closer, he realized the crack was on his sword.
A second later, the blade shattered into a dozen pieces.
At that moment, Gamma made her move.
She dashed out of the barrier and swung her slime sword at the boss.
Seeing Gamma approaching at high speed, the boss thought he was a dead man.
But…
Gamma missed.
She completely misjudged the distance and swung way too early.
The blade missed him entirely, but the sheer wind pressure generated by the impossibly fast swing sent a chill straight to his bones.
He could feel the cold air bite at his neck.
Gamma prepared to swing again, but the boss instantly dropped to his knees.
In that fraction of a second, he had seen his ancestors waving at him from the afterlife.
“Mercy!
Please spare my life!” Gamma’s missed swing had been so close it had shaved a bald patch right into the top of his head.
Seeing her enemy suddenly beg for his life, Gamma froze.
She didn’t know what to do; she had never encountered a surrendering enemy before.
She turned her head to look at Beta, wanting to ask for advice.
Seizing the momentary distraction, the boss pulled a magic dagger from his coat and lunged, stabbing Gamma squarely in the stomach.
*Snap.* The dagger broke in half.
The boss knelt there, dumbfounded, staring at the useless hilt in his hand.
He looked at Gamma’s completely undamaged black Slime Bodysuit and fell into deep contemplation.
*Am I dreaming?
I spent a fortune on this magic dagger…
it’s stronger than my main sword, and it can’t even pierce a piece of black clothing?!* Gamma snapped back to reality, realizing the man had just tried to assassinate her.
This time, she swung without hesitation.
The boss didn’t even have time to react.
His head was sent flying into the air.
Seeing their boss decapitated, the other bandits didn’t run.
They were hardened desperadoes looking for a hideout, and they knew that turning their backs to run was a death sentence.
“She’s alone!
Get her together!” The bandits charged with their weapons drawn.
What followed was the strangest battle they had ever seen.
As Gamma fought, she constantly lost her center of gravity.
She would look like she was about to trip and fall face-first, only to miraculously pop right back up into a standing position.
It completely threw off the bandits’ timing.
Gamma’s fighting style couldn’t be described as elegant; “clumsy” was a far better word.
To the bandits, her movements looked incredibly awkward and full of openings.
Yet, despite this, she was butchering them.
One by one, the bandits were struck down, dying with expressions of utter disbelief plastered across their faces.
Beta watched Gamma from the sidelines.
Gamma was killing people with absolute zero hesitation or discomfort.
Thinking back to how much she had cried and vomited during her own first kill, Beta couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.
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