As Damien and Valentina were sleeping on the bed in their villa, Damien asked wryly, "Valentina, it seems like you were hiding your true power from your Big Brother, eh?"
Valentina waved her hands and said in a confute tone, "Of course not. I had no idea if I could even defeat that big baddie. All I wanted was to kill him for trying to hurt you. I did not think whether I could overpower him or not."
Valentina's words were innocent and open, and Damien sighed, thinking whether it was a good thing for her to jump into things without giving a thought. But he understood that she did it in a spur of the moment to prevent Drake's axe from reaching him.
He was satisfied that she was more powerful and special than he thought. And was glad and happy that she tried to save him, but he was worried about what would have happened had Drake or anyone else been more powerful than her.
He hugged her closer towards him and kissed her forehead, "Valentina, I won't tell you that what you did today was wrong. But I want you to give importance to your own life as well. If something happened to you, then I can never forgive myself. I can't even bear you getting hurt by someone else," Damien said in an emotional tone.
He continued, "I have lost enough people in my life that I cannot bear to lose someone else. Do you understand? To me, the most important thing is that you should be healthy and alive. Nothing else matters."
Valentina's heart stirred, feeling the concern and worry in his words. Her lips arched into a sweet smile, feeling touched by his affection for her.
"Mn. Don't worry, Big Brother. Nothing will happen to me, nor will I ever leave your side. You also have to promise me the same."
Damien warmly smiled, "I know. I promise."
——
The next early morning, Damien and Valentina were in the 'Fallfell Woods', which was a forest region located in the outskirts of the imperial city.
It was said that this region was mainly dominated by the Earth Ethereal Realm beasts, and only by a rare chance would one spot a Sky Ethereal Realm beast.
Luna said that he could either kill a Sky Ethereal Realm beast and slowly absorb its essence or, he can kill a couple of Earth Ethereal Realm beasts and slowly absorb and assimilate their life essences.
And to increase his soul cultivation, Damien thought of using the soul essences he had collected earlier.
He found a safe region and instructed Valentina to start absorbing the blood essence from the ethereal core of the Bloodthirsty Ape.
He said to her to take it slow, unlike before. Damien felt that he almost committed a blunder by making her breakthrough consecutively in a short span of time, which could have made her foundation unstable.
Although he could have guided her to make her foundation stable again, it would take more time and effort.
But he felt that at that time, because of how Valentina almost got sold as a slave, he was determined to make her powerful and didn't want her to be helpless ever again.
And now, knowing her true combat prowess, he was even more relieved.
Damien left Piggy near Valentina just in case he wanted to know if Valentina was in trouble or not.
He then took off with Misty towards the north. He planned to train his ethereal arts by battling with Low-Level Earth Ethereal Realm beasts.
After that, he planned to hunt some Peak Level Earth Ethereal Realm beasts with Misty's help and absorb their life essence.
——-
Two weeks passed, and Damien had been multitasking all these days by training strenuously in the early morning and even spar with Valentina inside the villa.
He was able to more accurately gauge his limits with and without making use of his Origin Seed. After his early morning training, he would attend his alchemy classes with Reva while occasionally bunking the other classes.
When he had Luna, why learn the Ethereal Way from mortals?
And during the afternoon, he would have 'extra classes' with Reva while making her open up slowly. Even though it was a bit tough, he was making progress and became more confident in making her open her heart.
During the evening, he would spend time with the Forsaken people by teaching and training them. Fortunately, from Yara Haley, he heard that her family understands that it was Drake's fault, and he was making a steady recovery as well.
She said that her family places the cause of the Forsaken as the priority before anything else. They didn't want to cause any infighting and weaken the Forsaken.
And just before he slept, he would focus on assimilating the stored life essences along with Valentina. Just as before, he thought of breaking through in a single stroke after assimilating the best he could without damaging his foundation.
Valentina also decided to follow Damien's suit and didn't breakthrough even though she had absorbed enough to breakthrough by a single level. She also stabilized her foundation, which was a bit unstable before due to the successive breakthroughs.
It was afternoon when Damien was in the middle of a discussion with Reva while going through her medical formulas. He realized that she was a quick learner, and it won't be long before she reaches his level.
She was a fast learner who picked up concepts easily, no matter how complex or tough they were. All she needed was more clear guidance to put her on the path to becoming a great alchemist. And that exactly was what Damien was giving her.
Because of some other teacher who wanted to conduct extra classes for a batch of students, Reva shifted towards her residence within the Xeton Ethereal Foundation itself, which Damien had come across her residence on the first day he joined.
Damien felt that it was good that she shifted the location of their afternoon sessions to her quarters.
Even though he knew that no one would spy on them in the alchemy study hall, he felt that now it was safer in her quarters to try his tricks.
"So now that we are done with today's discussion, how about I teach you cooking as planned?" Damien asked expectantly.
"Cooking? But—"
"Hey, you promised me, remember? I remember you asking me how I made my snacks since you liked them so much."
Reva thought back to a few days ago when she asked him if he knew how to cook Seared Quail Slices perfectly.
When Damien prodded her why she asked it, Reva remained mum. But when Damien insisted, she told him that her long-dead mother used to cook it for her when she was just a small child.
Although those memories were from when she was just a child, Reva clearly remembered them. From all these days of interacting with Reva, Damien found out that her soft spot was her mother, who had already passed away when she was very young.
He could understand why she asked him and knew that she was hoping to remember the same taste of her mother's dish.
Damien took that chance and told her that he would teach her how to cook it and give him a few days to prepare himself.
Reva hesitated at his suggestion, but Damien told her that the best way to remember her mother was to do something her mother loved to do. And the happy memories she spent with her mother would play out on their own in her mind.
Reva nodded at that time, and Damien did his best during the past few days to assess what kind of food Reva liked and her tastes so that he would know how to cook her mother's dish in the way she wanted.
The reason he wanted to teach her how to cook was not only because he wanted to get closer to her but also to make sure the dish came out as she wanted. If she was the one cooking, he could make her taste it in between and adjust the spices accordingly just as she wanted.
And at the same time, she would also get some satisfaction from cooking her mother's dish, and that subconsciously will make her feel that it tastes just like her mother's dish.
Otherwise, Damien had no way of replicating the exact way her mother cooked it.
After a brief moment of silence, Reva nodded, "Okay, let's start."
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