"Don’t worry about that, little sisters," Clementine voiced with a reassuring smile.

"After all, once you are done absorbing the dead calamities you brought along, you can have him all to yourselves for the night," she spoke, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "We will continue the rest of our journey tomorrow. I think we are nearing the place where Auguszta had devoured that elf already. After all, I can already see some of the landmarks mentioned by her, though there are some differences, most of the description matches."

"I suppose I’ll be meeting the outsiders sooner than expected," Aezaleon spoke from the side, his tone turning cold. His expression lost its usual warmth, becoming as hard as a frozen lake in midwinter. "I wanted to develop my strength further before going towards that path."

"Meeting them would be a crucial step for your growth too, you know," Clementine responded, gently disagreeing with his assessment. "Remember, there is only so much you could gain by killing the unintelligent."

He nodded, understanding the wisdom she was trying to convey. There wasn’t much Clementine could do in terms of training him right now, either.

One, she was way stronger than him, standing like a giant beside a sapling. Two, because of having a newly constructed form and her soul being weakened by a considerable magnitude, she did not possess the needed control to guarantee that she would not accidentally kill him during their sparring.

Three, he was simply too young and didn’t have the required abilities nor the battle experience to spar against her effectively.

Even his offensive type ability effects couldn’t be used, because the sheer resistance from the world was like a crushing weight that was too much for the current him to handle.

There was also no point in him using his girls’ abilities to train, because they could always share their own experience with him on how to use them effectively through his sub-ability effect—[Shared Ascension Matrix].

From an outsider’s perspective, Aezaleon was far too overpowered just with his three companions, but from his own perspective, he felt so weak that he couldn’t even defeat any one of them. Not even Aphryne, who was currently in the same material and spiritual ascension ranks as him.

He exhaled a weary breath.

Setting aside these useless thoughts, he focused his attention on the both of them. "Alright, let’s see what you two have hunted." They nodded eagerly. "Follow us," they said with bright expressions, leading him to the designated spot. It wasn’t far, so in under a minute, even when walking at a casual pace, he reached it.

The area was already left devastated from his fight against the Cryonox Glacioryx Ursidon. In simple words, where he stood, there wasn’t much flora left, only an open field covered in a thick layer of permafrost. In this place, there were two mountains made of dead calamities piled on top of each other.

Also, from the presence Aezaleon sensed, these calamities were all either rank 3 or rank 4 material ascendants.

With their spiritual ascension ranks being mostly 1 and at the highest 2. As for how many there were? In the mountain on the right, which was Auguszta’s pile, there were four rank 4 plus five rank 3 calamities. Total 9. In the left mountain, which was obviously Aphryne’s, there were seven rank 3 plus two rank 4 calamities. Her total was also nine.

Aezaleon was genuinely surprised that Aphryne had actually killed two rank 4 calamities, and the number of rank 3 beasts she took down also wasn’t small either. ’My girl is so strong,’ he thought with pride.

"Okay, so who wants to go first?" Aezaleon looked at the two, who were quite satisfied after watching his reaction and sensing his amazed and proud emotions towards them. They certainly liked to boast before him, and even more so when he looked at them with such appreciative eyes. It made them feel fulfilled, as if they were basking in the warmth of the sun.

"I want to go first," Aphryne voiced, her tone eager and high-pitched. "I got myself some good calamities. Luckily of my element too. They will definitely make my concepts’ proficiency rise by a good percentage."

Aezaleon raised his brow in interest.

With growing curiosity, he turned his head towards the mountain to the left. There were clearly many types of calamities there. From insect types—like scorpions and mantises—to beast types—like the saola, pangolin, and leopard—to antelopes and even massive gorillas.

Wait, there was one that baffled him completely. He looked closer at this specific calamity—it possessed a humanoid head, a lion’s body, and a wicked scorpion’s tail.

Also, there was another corpse nearby, but it was composed entirely of bones and had no flesh, which reminded him of something that Clementine had told him before.

"An undead," Aezaleon voiced in an uncertain tone. "But what about the other one?"

He looked towards the only source of ancient knowledge he had, his wonderful girl—Clementine Eyth Lifeblood Ezodious.

Previously, Aphryne was only interested in the concepts of the calamities she had killed, but she also couldn’t deny the temptation of new knowledge. Therefore, she also focused on her big sister with an eager face, waiting to learn more.

Clementine watched the three expectant faces and couldn’t help but feel a bit strange. What was she, their teacher? She sighed, shook her head, and gave the expected answer without more delay.

"The one with the face of a humanoid existence is a manticore. Specifically, its name is Venyx Decaylith Manticore and its element is Decyra. It is an element that came from the combination of poison and decay. It has some concepts of one and some of the other, so it is not particularly stronger than them, but it is certainly more versatile, like a blade that can both cut and poison."

Clementine briefed them on the creature. "As for the undead..."

She paused, her eyes narrowing as she gave the bleached bones a closer look.

HM!

She rubbed her chin, using the undead’s unique energy signature to search for its kind within the vast library of her memories. It was not evident that she would know all the types of undead there were, but she surely knew most because of her undead friend whose name she had even given to her own husband.

"Ah, I remember now," she muttered.

Refocusing on the three, she continued. "It is an undead type calamity as you three can already guess, and its name is Necroth Veyrix Undead Revenantiz," she said in a measured tone. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"However, what makes it distinctive and powerful amongst other undead is its element—[Necrox]. It is an element of decay birthed on the foundation of death. It is death energy that doesn’t just destroy—it feeds on decay and keeps itself alive. Instead of fading away, it grows stronger when things weaken, rot, or die, just as a fire grows when fed more wood."