The third day at the camp, Kai trained with Keth.

It lasted eight minutes before Keth said that was enough for today.

The camp veterans who had witnessed it processed this in silence.

The previous record with Keth was four minutes. And it had been provoked by Brek.

Brek had taken three years of training in the camp to reach that point.

Kai reached eight on the third day.

Mara watched from the edge with her arms crossed and a smile.

Serah watched from the other edge with her confident look, knowing that for Kai it would be simple.

Lira watched from behind the two, wearing her glasses and holding an inventory of supplies in her hand because Gorm had asked for one from the previous week as well, and Lira needed something to distract herself from her thoughts.

"It was obvious, after all you are your little trash."

Keth said something to Kai before heading to the far end of the field.

Kai listened.

Nodded.

Walked over to Mara.

"What did he say?" said Serah.

"That tomorrow we start where we left off today."

Serah watched Keth walk away.

"Is that good?"

"Yes," said Mara, before Kai could answer. "If Keth said that, it’s because he has more to learn from Kai than Kai has from him... Interesting."

---

> **[DraconicLegacy: EIGHT MINUTES WITH KETH. THE RECORD WAS FOUR.]**

> **[Chris_Murray: Seems like Keth feels Kai’s vibrant energy when fighting]**

> **[Warwolf: Brek took three years to reach four minutes. Kai reached eight on the third day.]**

> **[Per_Sundin: Lira doing Gorm’s inventory while watching the training. She wants to clear her mind of Kai but can’t stop looking at him.]**

> **[Kalgarth: Looks like Lira is slowly falling into Kai’s arms]**

> **[Drakeking: Do you think their children would be half-human half-vampire or simply vampires?]**

> **[TheDeadDragón: The question is, will Serah allow it?]**

---

Mara waited for the field to empty for the midday break.

She didn’t go to her fire.

She went to where the three were at the edge — Kai with water, Serah with the marks pulsing post-training, Lira finishing the inventory.

She stood in front of them.

Looked at each one.

With an evaluative expression.

"An SSS who needs a human to complete her power," she said, looking at Serah, "isn’t really SSS."

The marks rose.

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"You’re an SSS with training wheels."

---

Serah processed it in silence for two seconds.

"An SSS who defeats a Warlord on her own territory," she said, "doesn’t need anyone to complete her."

"You haven’t defeated me yet."

"Not yet."

Mara looked at her.

The smile wasn’t hostile — it was genuine, as if she had been looking for exactly that reaction from Serah.

"The ice you use as a first response," said Mara, "tells the opponent where you don’t want them to go. An opponent who knows your next move knows exactly where to hit you."

"I heard that yesterday."

"And did you think about it?"

The marks pulsed.

"Yes."

"And?"

Serah looked at the field.

"And I have more than one first response."

"Show me tomorrow." Mara didn’t change her tone. "Not in training. In real combat with me." A pause. "Then we’ll talk about whether you need your training wheels or not."

Serah looked at her.

Didn’t answer.

Around her, a bit of frost grew.

Which was the answer.

---

> **[DraconicLegacy: "SSS with training wheels" — Mara went straight to the point]**

> **[Chris_Murray: Serah didn’t give an inch]**

> **[Warwolf: Mara didn’t insult. She made a technical argument with a provocative image. Different.]**

> **[Per_Sundin: Mara doesn’t provoke just to provoke. But it’s clear her intention is to get a fight]**

> **[Kalgarth: "Mara closed the argument with an invitation. Serah obviously didn’t reject it."]**

> **[Drakeking: Serah’s marks throughout all this. They rose, fell, pulsed, and even frost formed around her.]**

> **[TheDeadDragón: Mara knows exactly which button to press and how hard.]**

---

Mara turned to Lira.

Lira had already put away the inventory and had her arms crossed.

"What?"

"An eight-hundred-year-old vampire," said Mara, "who still has no territory of her own, a noble self-exiled from her kingdom, following a human across the continent —"

"I chose to be here."

"I know." Mara neither sped up nor slowed down. "A vampire who chose to have no territory, not to build a kingdom, not to establish anything permanent — at some point, she has to ask herself what she’s been doing all this time."

Lira looked at her.

"Surviving," she said. "That’s what I’ve been doing."

"Just that?"

"In some centuries, yes."

"And in the others?"

Lira lowered her glasses half an inch.

"Learning."

"What did you learn?"

"More than any three-hundred-year-old Warlord could list."

Mara considered this.

"Eight hundred years of learning," she said, "and you still use blood magic as a first response instead of using all your vampiric power."

Lira didn’t answer immediately.

"And you?" said Lira finally. "Three hundred forty years and you just became a Warlord. What did you learn in three hundred forty years that you didn’t know at the start?"

Mara looked at her.

The smile changed slightly.

"That the strength you can’t lose isn’t the one you develop." A pause. "It’s who you are when you have nothing else."

Silence.

Lira looked at her.

"Silly metaphors, if you ask me."

She pushed her glasses back up.

"I can show you it’s not just a metaphor."

"Can your tiny brain only think about fighting...?"

"You’re just like the little trash... You’ll be Trash Number Two."

Mara watched her. Her expression changed.

She said nothing.

---

> **[DraconicLegacy: "the strength you can’t lose is who you are when you have nothing else" very poetic... I get you, Lira]**

> **[Chris_Murray: Lira tried to turn the question around, and Mara answered with something she didn’t expect.]**

> **[Warwolf: Lira pushed up her glasses and fought back. Go, Lira!!]**

> **[Per_Sundin: seems like that last bit got to Mara. Lira being more honest than usual.]**

> **[Kalgarth: Mara fell silent and her expression changed... I think this could escalate]**

> **[Drakeking: Lira used Kai’s nickname on Mara, even though technically she’s not wrong.]**

> **[TheDeadDragón: the glasses slowly going up. Lira’s smallest gesture and the most eloquent.]**

---

Mara looked at Kai.

Kai was with the water, his left side still processing Keth’s impact.

"And the human with no rank?" said Mara.

"Me?"

"Well, you’re the only human here." Mara looked straight at him. "A human with no rank traveling the continent with two high-rank entities isn’t going to find what he’s looking for."

Kai looked at her.

"What do you think I’m looking for?"

"A rival." Mara nodded toward the field. "Someone who pushes you toward something you haven’t reached yet."

"And I won’t find it here?"

"Maybe." Mara looked at him. "But not as long as you go into every fight knowing that if things get complicated, there’s an SSS and an SS behind you."

Kai lowered the water container.

He thought about it.

"Serah and Lira aren’t backup," he said.

Mara smiled.

"So they’re the damsels in distress?"

"They’re not that either."

"What are they?"

"They’re the two women I care about most so far, but..." Kai looked at her. "What they do, they do because they want to. Not because I need them to."

"And if they weren’t here?"

Kai considered this too.

"I’d be here anyway." He looked at the field. "Though more lost in the world than with them, and without someone to love, there’s no real motivation to become stronger." He turned back to Mara.

"What I’m looking for doesn’t depend on who’s behind me. It depends on what’s ahead and the level of threat it represents to them."

Mara looked at him for a moment.

The three hundred Orcs of the camp who had finished their break and were returning to the field — several of them near the edge, listening without pretending not to listen because in Mara’s camp, no one pretended not to listen.

"And what’s ahead?" said Mara.

Kai looked at her.

"You," he said. "Eventually."

---

Mara didn’t respond immediately.

Not because she didn’t have an answer.

Because it was the first time in several years that someone had said that to her with that specific calmness.

Just eventually.

As if he were scheduling something.

The smile that appeared was different from all the previous ones.

"Tomorrow," said Mara, "we train for real."

She turned toward the field.

The three hundred Orcs who had been listening went back to their business with the synchronization of people who knew when to stop listening.

---

> **[DraconicLegacy: "you. eventually." KAI SAID THAT TO AN SSS WARLORD WITH THAT CALMNESS]**

> **[Chris_Murray: Mara said he wouldn’t find it with them. Kai said he was looking in the right direction. Without saying it like that.]**

> **[Warwolf: "what I’m looking for doesn’t depend on who’s behind me." — Kai answering in the manliest way possible]**

> **[Per_Sundin: the Orcs listening, the camp wanted to hear Kai’s response.]**

> **[Kalgarth: Mara said "tomorrow we train for real" after Kai said "eventually you." That’s a response.]**

> **[Drakeking: the three provocations answered. Serah with firmness. Lira with silence. Kai with calm.]**

> **[TheDeadDragón: Mara smiled differently. She didn’t expect Kai to respond so calmly to her provocations.]**

---

That night by the central fire, Urgo said:

"The human with no rank told her that you would eventually be a threat."

Brek took his cup.

"I heard."

Gorm:

"What does that mean? Is he planning to overthrow her?"

Urgo:

"I think it means more that he has a plan with a timeline."

Brek:

"And for the Warlord?"

The three looked at the fire.

No one answered because the answer was obvious, and in Mara’s camp, obvious things didn’t need to be said.

---

In the tent on the east edge, Lira lay with her eyes open.

*"The strength you can’t lose is who you are when you have nothing else."*

She thought it through completely.

She thought it again.

And that led her to Kai. Just like Mara had said: self-exiled, now following a human weaker than her only because she was starting to feel something for him.

*’Does that count?’*

Fingers on her fangs.

*’Mara is three hundred forty years old and found the answer to that.’*

*’I’m eight hundred and I still wonder what this is.’*

The fire in the tent made its sound.

Lira looked at the ceiling.

She didn’t take as long to fall asleep as the night before.

But it wasn’t quick, either.

---

`[System — notification]`

`[Day 3 at the camp — completed]`

`[The system registers that Kai trained for eight minutes with Keth]`

`[The system registers Mara’s three provocations]`

`[The system registers that Kai keeps getting into more trouble than he should]`

`[The system: Kai is not as stupid as it initially thought]`

`[Current viewers: 6,100,000]`