Damon stepped through the doorway with Neko still wrapped around his torso, her arms locked behind his neck and her tail coiled loosely around his forearm.

He didn’t try to peel her off.

She would let go when she felt like it.

The living room was warm compared to the mountain air outside, a low fire burning in the stone hearth on the far wall.

The furniture was the same heavy frost-crystal pieces Selene had always kept, but someone had thrown a thick fur blanket over the main sofa, and a half-eaten plate of fruit sat on the low table in the center.

Ariel was cross-legged on the sofa with her back straight and her eyes closed, a faint blue light cycling slowly through her body in long, even pulses.

Cultivating even while sitting still. That had become a habit of hers over the past few months.

Mio sat on the floor beside the table with her legs stretched out, reading from a thin manual with her chin resting in one hand.

Her core disciple robes were slightly wrinkled, like she’d been sitting in the same position for hours.

Mia was at the window, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, watching something in the courtyard below. She turned first.

"He’s back," Mia said, and the flatness in her voice was betrayed immediately by the way she pushed off the window frame and moved toward him.

Ariel’s eyes opened.

Mio’s manual dropped onto the table.

Ariel reached him first, stepping around the table and pressing both hands against his chest like she was checking he was real before pulling him into a hug.

Her hair smelled like the lavender oil she kept in the bathroom, and she held on for a moment longer than a greeting required.

"Three months," she muttered into his shoulder.

"I was forty meters away," Damon answered.

She pulled back and looked at him with an expression that said she did not find that particularly funny.

Mio arrived next, leaning up and kissing his cheek without ceremony, then stepping back to look at him properly. "You look the same."

"Were you expecting something different?"

"After three months alone in a cave, yes," Mio said. "I expected you to look at least slightly unhinged."

Mia stopped in front of him and looked him over once, then glanced at Neko, who was still attached to his neck. "She hasn’t moved since she heard the barrier drop."

"I noticed," Damon said.

Neko made a small sound against his collar that wasn’t quite a word.

He reached up and scratched behind her left ear, and her tail went still for exactly two seconds before resuming its slow sweep.

He moved to the sofa and sat, and Neko finally unwound herself enough to settle beside him with her legs tucked under her and one hand still gripping the front of his robe.

The girls settled back into their positions around the room, the initial rush of the reunion giving way to the comfortable quiet of people who had been living in the same space for a while.

Damon let his eyes drift across each of them.

Then he activated Incubus Celestial Eyes.

The golden patterns in his irises shifted, deepening, and the room took on a second layer of information that only he could see.

He looked at Ariel first.

Her status materialized in his vision, clean and precise.

[Name: Ariel Aquaria]

[Age: 17]

[Cultivation: Earth Spirit Realm - First Level]

[Relationship: Deeply in Love]

[Interest: 4000/5000]

[Chastity: Claim by Damon Arcknight]

[Lust: 0/100]

[Affinities: Water: 80, Spear: 100]

[Spiritual Roots: Sea Spiritual Roots] [Heaven Grade - Low]

[Bloodline: Blood of Sea Princess] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Physique: Body of Sea Princess] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Traits: Sensitive Body, Graceful, Young Lady, Kind, Loyal, Lustful]

’Earth Spirit Realm.’

She had been at the Second Level when he entered the cave.

She become Earth Spirit Realm in a few months months, and her spiritual roots had climbed to Heaven Grade just as expected.

The Heaven Grade Spiritual Root Advancement Pills he had given her before closing the cave had clearly done their work.

Her sea affinity was cycling through her body in long, deep currents now, not the shallow pulses of someone still learning to control it.

He moved his gaze to Mio.

[Name: Mio Nightrider]

[Age: 23]

[Cultivation: Earth Spirit Realm - Ninth Level]

[Relationship: Deeply in Love]

[Interest: 2150/5000]

[Chastity: Claim by Damon Arcknight]

[Lust: 0/100]

[Affinities: Dark: 100, Bow: 70]

[Spiritual Roots: Void Spiritual Roots] [Heaven Grade - Low]

[Bloodline: Blood of Void Sniper] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Physique: Body of Void Sniper] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Traits: Cheerful, Natural Archer, Loyal, Airhead, Doting Big-Sister]

’Ninth Level of Earth Spirit Realm.’

One step from Heavenly Spirit Realm.

She had been at the Seventh Level when he left.

The jump was significant, and the Void Sniper bloodline had clearly started integrating properly into her combat instincts.

He could see it in the way she held herself even while reading, her weight distributed evenly, her posture relaxed but never fully loose.

He shifted to Mia.

[Name: Mia Nightrider]

[Age: 23]

[Cultivation: Earth Spirit Realm - Ninth Level]

[Relationship: Deeply in Love]

[Interest: 240/5000]

[Chastity: Claim by Damon Arcknight]

[Lust: 0/100]

[Affinities: Dark: 100, Dagger: 70]

[Spiritual Roots: Shadow Spiritual Roots] [Heaven Grade - Low]

[Bloodline: Blood of Shadow Queen] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Physique: Body of Shadow Queen] [Earth Grade - Low]

[Traits: Shy, Natural Assassin, Loyal, Intelligent, Close Pervert, Masochist]

Identical cultivation level to her sister.

That didn’t surprise him.

The two of them had always moved in sync, competing just enough to push each other without either one pulling too far ahead.

The Shadow Queen bloodline suited Mia in a way that felt almost obvious in hindsight.

She had always been the quieter of the two, the one who watched from windows and moved without announcing herself.

He let the Celestial Eyes fade.

Four weeks until the tournament.

Ariel at Earth Spirit Realm - First Level.

The twins one step from Heavenly Spirit Realm.

It should be enough for him and Ariel qualified to be a real member of the tournament team.