Isalyn smiled. "Let’s get to know each other by telling about ourselves. Our past."

"Past..." Rudrean’s face slightly paled before he composed himself and wryly smiled. "My past is hell. I was born with some defect, but it turned out to be overflowing energy, and since my nodes were sealed, I looked like an ugly monster."

"I was born in a society where magic was considered a fantasy. Long story short, because I looked like a monster from a dark fantasy, I couldn’t mix with other people. They were either disgusted by me, scared of me, or felt fleeting pity before moving on. But... people also started bullying me and making bad videos about me. There was also a rumor that I was a devil spawn, and some religious freaks beat me, made me naked, and were about to burn me."

Isalyn was shocked.

Rudrean continued with a smile. "Ultimately, I just couldn’t live anymore and wanted peace, so I decided to jump off a cliff and end my life. But as I jumped, Aelira arrived and stopped me from falling."

"She first looked at me with pure wonder and amazement. Nobody had looked at me like that before. And then she kissed me, unsealed my energy nodes, which transformed me into my current appearance. She awakened my talent, and we became strong fast."

Isalyn smiled. "You can be considered in the ultra-handsome category with that body and looks. Girls will fall for you at first sight."

Rudrean’s eartips turned red. "Anyway, I can tell you that I had my physical stats at E, and I didn’t know anything about magic a few days ago. But you can see Aelira’s and my bodily aura now. We can cast D-rank to 2-star fire spells with complete mastery. We can increase each other’s stats, learn spells, and do other things instantly. All of this is due to the talent I have."

Isalyn was shocked and felt disbelief, but she could tell he wasn’t lying because she was using a spell that could check if someone was lying or not. Of course, it wasn’t a foolproof spell, but someone at Foundation-rank could not bypass that spell, nor detect its functionality to trick it.

So hearing that his talent could do such things, she was dumbfounded.

"Love..." Isalyn muttered. "All that requires love between two people."

Rudrean nodded.

Frowning, Isalyn asked, "You two just met a few days ago, but now there’s true love between you two. How did you do it?"

"T-That... It’s because Aelira is so bold, and she just showered me with love right from the start." Rudrean smiled, cheeks a bit red as he remembered their first day together. "So it happened."

Isalyn blinked. "What did you do?"

"W-Well, to put it plainly, it was like being between animal and human, you know?" Rudrean cleared his throat, trying to explain while being composed. "Like... instincts of attraction bringing forth... love."

"What?" Isalyn was confused. But then she remembered something, and her cheeks flushed. "Wait, you both..."

Rudrean nodded, cheeks utterly red. "Yes... after I finished my transformation process, she became naked and lay beside me, and then we did things that lovers do. She already considered me her husband, as that was the directive of fate according to her. She was also running away from a forced marriage to a scumbag and encountered me, which created a new fate for both of us."

Isalyn wryly smiled. "Oh god, this is so awkward. I can tell you are unwilling about this, and you can tell I am too."

Rudrean nodded. "Can you show me the spell? I will try to learn it."

"I can give it to you in your head." Isalyn pointed her finger at Rudrean. A brief white-blue light shot out and entered Rudrean’s head.

Then Rudrean saw a complex three-layered magic circle in his head.

"T-This..." His mind spun just looking at it.

"You have to recreate this by observing and perceiving the constructed intents in each segment. This is a mystic-type spell that requires no kind of elemental mastery to learn, which is why it is tougher to learn." Isalyn sighed. "But without this, we can’t escape the radar."

"Anyway, let me tell you about my past. It’s my turn now." Isalyn’s eyes flickered with a hint of sadness and anger as she recalled her past. "I lived happily with my family until I turned eight years old. Then, our planet was attacked by a captain of the Rophalo Galactic Empire who brought an army of 100,000 with him."

"Their goal was genocide of all people, especially kids, because kids were the future. In one day, the whole planet was turned upside down, and billions had died before the forces of the Riglight Galactic Alliance could arrive."

Rudrean’s eyes shook. ’Billions?’

"I was one of the fortunate ones who survived until their arrival because my parents gave their lives to keep me safe." Isalyn wiped her eyes so fast that Rudrean only saw a blur. Remembering her parents always made her cry.

"So I survived there, and I was accepted by the Lotus River Sect. I wanted to get strong and avenge my parents, so I worked hard and climbed my way up until I became the disciple of the sect master." Isalyn’s fists clenched. "And I don’t want to die before killing that captain of the Rophalo Galactic Empire, as well as some big shots in the Riglight Galactic Alliance."

"Because they had intel that the Rophalo Galactic Empire was coming to my planet, but was drowning in corruption, they took their sweet time, not caring about billions of lives. The people in charge of that star system could have easily stationed the army before the enemy arrived, but didn’t do it."

Isalyn’s eyes burned with intense murderous fury. "I refuse to die before I kill those scumbags."

Rudrean gulped. ’She’s extremely angry. An anger that builds constantly until it gets its rightful vent.’

"Then we really need to escape this predicament alive," Rudrean said with a woeful smile.

"Indeed." Isalyn nodded, her face turning weary. "So, how old are you, Rudrean?"

"Eighteen."

"You don’t look like an eighteen-year-old with that physique."

Isalyn got off the couch and stretched her arms. "Alright, let’s have a spar. Pure martial moves, no magic."

Rudrean blinked, then stood up. "Okay."

Rudrean was taller, and his body size was also overall bigger than Isalyn’s, as the transformation had changed him completely.

As they began sparring, Isalyn brought down her physical parameters to match Rudrean’s to keep the spar balanced.

Rudrean was losing every single bout, and Isalyn used different moves each time.

But Rudrean was utterly focused on learning as he copied and tried the moves he saw from Isalyn.

Just like that, an hour passed, and Aelira arrived, only to see them sparring, completely soaked in sweat.

"What are you guys doing!?" Aelira stomped her foot. "It seems there won’t be progress without my intervention."

Rudrean and Isalyn looked at Aelira as they wiped their sweat using magic.

Approaching the duo, Aelira crossed her arms. "You two will do exactly as I say."

Aelira turned to Isalyn. "Unless you don’t want to do this at all. You should know Rudrean is the most worthy one, so there’s no objection to this in your objective mind, right?"

Isalyn opened her mouth, and then words came out two seconds later as she turned her head to Rudrean and wryly smiled. "No objection..."

"Good, now get naked. Both of you." As she finished speaking, Aelira’s dress disappeared. "I shall too. It’s time to ignite the love."

"..."

"..."