Chapter 151 - "Working Harder Is Useless."

"Listen, you two…" Red's noticeable change in tone intimidates Akane and Yori.

"If you two are too softhearted with the kids, I think I'd rather have you two do something else and I'll have to take over." He continues.

"I-" Akane is speechless.

"That's… it's just…" Yori stumbles in his words.

Their minds running fast in panic, they fear that Red will subject the children to painful training if they get assigned to new tasks.

"What? Do you two really think I'm so cold hearted to torture the children?" Red asks.

The couple shake their heads, hiding their embarrassment at being seen through.

"You yourselves have experienced the hellish training. You two felt like you were dying, but you never were close to doing so, did you? Not once did I cause either of you serious injuries either, no?" Red asks again.

"…" The couple can only silently admit, knowing that Red's words are true.

"But I understand how you two feel, trust me." Red smiles at the two.

"Even though I've not been spending time with them more than you two, I can roughly tell how tough each of them is and their attitudes with short observation." He assures.

"Ran and Taishiro, for example. They're indeed the weakest of the bunch, but they're not too far behind. The only reason why the two are suffering the most with the physical training, is simply because they have low pain tolerance and weaker wills than the other three.

"They are afraid of pain and too injury cautious, further making them afraid of pushing their bodies to their limit unlike the other three who keep going beyond their limits." He observes.

"I know how much they can tolerate, and it's best to keep them working as close to their limits as possible, for the maximum speed in their growth without having to experience too much pain." He concludes.

"Do they have to grow too fast?" Akane asks.

"Unlike us who were late to the party, they're still young." Yori adds.

"Let me ask you this." Red takes a second to sip on his tea.

"Do you really know what the children want? Or do you only project what you two THINK they want?" He asks.

"They're children…" Yori argues.

"That cannot make reliable decisions on their own, yes." Red nods.

"But you should take into account what they want, and what they feel they need. It's not like they want stupid toys or junk food, do they? It's about training. Did you two bother finding what their wants even are?" He asks.

The couple is stunned for a few seconds before, "No…" shaking their heads.

"And none of them voiced it to you either?" Red asks, which receives another shake of head from the couple.

"You sure?" Red asks.

"..." The couple simply look at him in confusion.

"Why do you think they're so hell-bent on training? Even Taishiro, who was always less than enthusiastic to move his body just three weeks ago? Even Ran who always cried in pain? Why?" He asks.

"..." The couple ponder seriously.

Red's observations on the children loosely parallels what they felt heavily before their hell training, and are still feeling even though they now stand above 99.9999 percent of the entire world's population when it comes to strength.

"They want to get stronger. All of them, on their own accord… It was so obvious… why didn't I see it?" Yori utters in realization.

"That might be true, but…" Akane shakes her head.

"Do they have to grow stronger too fast?"

"Too fast?... Even Taishiro-kun has more foresight than you." Red chuckles.

"What do you mean?" Akane asks.

"The child is willing to grit his teeth to train even though he hates it. He is trying his best to train at the pace of his peers, not willing to get left behind. Do you know why?" Red asks.

"No." Akane shakes her head.

"Because he hates feeling weak and helpless more than his hate of physical activity. He hates the feeling of having to be rescued. He hates the feeling of being a burden. To him, the pain is worth the pain of having the strength to defend himself, and even to defend his siblings." Red rambles.

"Do you really want to suppress the kid's desires to be not the thing he hates?" He concludes with a question.

"…" Akane looks down in guilt.

"And you, Yori. It's heartbreaking to see Ran cry, I know. But doesn't she always pick herself back up?" Red asks.

"She does." Yori nods.

"She wants to grow strong to be a hero. Do you want to stop her from dreaming?" Red asks.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Yori can only apologize.

"Excessive worry, lack of faith in the children, and arrogance. Those are the things have blinded you two from your judgements." Red advises.

"…" The two reflect on Red's words.

A minute of silence passes.

"Judging from your breaths, it looks like you two are almost done consolidating your first True Seas?" Red breaks the silence.

"Yes." "That's right, sir." The couple is spooked by the accuracy of Red's guess.

Red ignores the two's inquiring gazes.

"Very good." He compliments instead.

The couple after all, will not take long before they catch up with his other disciples. Not only are the couple's potentials being at least twice the potentials of the rest of his disciples, he is surprised that they are much more naturally talented than he thought.

His only regret is to have not met the two in their childhood. He figures that if he did, then the two would be in his current level right now.

"Sigh…" But regrets will not do anything. He can only try and compensate for the cultivation years that the couple have innocently wasted.

"What's wrong, sir?" Akane asks.

She and Yori managed to catch the disappointment that appeared in Red's face for a split second.

Their pride from Red's 'Very good' is quickly replaced by fear of having done something that disappointed the man.

"Nothing." Red shakes his head.

"It seems that you also are practicing your elixir controls very diligently. Very good." He compliments instead.

"Thank you." The couple thank Red, but they no longer dare to feel proud.

The crack in Red's demeanor that showed great disappointment, has been etched in their minds and they suspect that they are not improving as quickly as Red would have liked.

"W-we'll work harder." Yori pledges.

"Working harder is useless. What you need is to improve your mastery over the Celestial Body Breathing Technique." Red advises.

"I understand." Yori takes the advice to heart, and so does his wife.

"As for your practice of your elixir control and basic spiritual energy techniques, you all are lucky to cheat time and practice in the treasure dimension." Red comments before standing up.

"Are you going to the pocket dimension, sir?" Yori asks as he too stands up.

"Yes. You two, come with me. It's been a while since you have had your battle training." Red says as he leads the way out.

"…" The couple exchange nervous glances.

While it had been 'a while' for Red who stays in the treasure fragment all the time doing all sorts of things, to the couple, it has only been two days.

Even though they can refuse Red's offer for sparring, they know that they need it so they can use the extent of their use of spiritual energy, and more importantly, to prepare themselves for when they are confronted with threats.

<>

Aga, Niigata Prefecture, Fumio's Hill.

"How is this possible?" Ahdem asks himself in disbelief.

"…" Havvah meanwhile, is speechless.

The two are currently riding atop of the Olthralos who is has transformed into his beetle form, and are suspended twenty meters above the ground, looking down at Fumio's hill in stupefaction.

What has them mystified is instead of the beautiful gardens, they are seeing nothing but a barren snow-covered hill that has some shrubs and wild grass scattered throughout it.

"Go down… slowly." Havvah orders Olthralos and they descend slowly.

When they reach the height of a two-story building, the barren hill suddenly transforms into the ethereal gardens that they have come to know in the past two days.

"Go up…"

"Go down…"

The trio repeat their actions a few more times just to make sure that the phenomenon they just witnessed is true.

Ultimately, "My word…" Havvah utters, reflecting what her two companions are feeling.

"It's real." Ahdem adds.

"No wonder that demon said that this place is undetectable from the sky." Havvah says, still in wonder.

"Will you please stop doing this?" The trio is startled by a voice that echoed beside them.

They look towards the direction of the voice and find Fumio, standing on an invisible platform, and is looking at them with arms crossed across his chest.

"Excuse us. This is mindboggling to us, is all." Havvah says as she orders Olthralos to bring them back to the grounds.

"Why are you all still here, anyway?" Fumio asks as soon as they all land.

"I told you that you are free to go."

It has been three days since the visitors arrived in the hill after all. After Fumio's 'interview' of the three in their day of arrival, he is satisfied of his findings and is convinced that the three mean no harm. The three even want to keep the hill's secret to themselves. 

That resulted to him telling the three to leave first thing the next morning, ordering Nishiki to keep eye on the visitors, before going back to his treasure dimension.

To his surprise, after leaving the treasure dimension earlier, he found that the trio is still in the hill.

"May we stay for a few more days? It's the holidays." Ahdem asks.

"This place is perfect. We're rich too and we can pay generously for our accommodations." He offers.

"I'll even cook every meal for you." Havvah offers too.

"I'll show you the culinary experience of someone my age. Ingredients are on me." She adds.

"…" Fumio gets tempted, especially by Havvah's offer.

He figures that someone like Havvah can only be a great cook.

And him spending a total two months in the treasure fragment focused on studying and training, only going back out to the real world to cultivate during the night, had not eaten good food, which makes him crave.

"Okay..." He decides.

The good food is only a part of his decision. It has something to do more with the idea that crossed his mind seeing the couple's eagerness to stay.

"You can stay, but I don't need your money." He says.

"Instead, you will have to answer whatever questions I have." He proposes.

"What questions?" Ahdem gets cautious.

"History of the world? Of civilization? Demons and Angels? You can refuse to answer if you find a question too intrusive." Fumio explains.

Ahdem and Havvah can see the honesty in Fumio.

"Very well."