Chapter 374: A new day

(AN.: Got some family troubles, making me barely have any time in the last 5 days to write. Quite a hectic situation...)

After the eventful day, the long-awaited night, and with it, their rest could not be any more welcomed. 

From the first ray of daylight until late into the night, this day was filled to the brim with the unexpected coming at them one after another. After finally managing to convince Lily to go rest in her newly rented room with Sam and Biggy standing like guards, Aiden heaved a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind him.

He looked at the peacefully resting Galina on the bed, smiled at her soft little sighs before she nodded at the still awake and bored-looking red-haired Ryg leaning against the windowsill. 

No words were exchanged, yet they both understood each other. Ryg nodded in acknowledgment at her master before her body turned into golden sparks of light and entered Aiden's body. 

He then sat down in the center of the room in a lotus position, closed his eyes, his tired mind slowly ascended to a relaxed, trance-like state as Aiden entered into his usual meditation once more.

Similar to him, in the room next to his, after washing up and cleaning herself from the dust and grime of the daily chores, Lily followed her brother's footsteps and sat down on the floor as well. 

She closed her eyes, slowly exhaled a long gasp of air. Her lips parting, she muttered before she as well began her nightly meditation. 

"Rest well, brother… I will catch up to you someday!"

—

When the first morning rays peeked through the window glass and illuminated the dark room with the bright pillar of morning light, Aiden was already up and was just returning from the bathroom. Her tanned, bronze-tinted skin, toned, muscled upper torso, was glowing, the drops of water were glistening as they traversed towards the floor one after another.

A short white cotton towel was hanging around his neck as he entered the room, silently, making sure not to wake the slumbering princess in the bed.

Still, even before he entered he could feel movement from the bed, and a cute little yawn coming from deeper in the room. He smiled at this, slowly pushing on the door only to be met with the stunned, and blushed look of the long black-haired, golden-eyed little beauty.

"Good Morning, Galina. I hope you have slept well and are well rested!" Aiden greeted the girl with a bright smile as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Anyway…" He smiled, seeing the girl's totally still and frozen look. He almost laughed seeing as her eyes silently followed his every step. He walked closer to the bad and sat down at her right side. "How are you really feeling after your sudden evolution? Besides the obvious, have you noticed anything different?

Whilst her master took his time getting to her side, Galina eventually managed to snap out of her daze. Though still looking like she ran a marathon with her colored cheeks, she nodded at his question.

"Yes… Master…" She spoke, suddenly jumping in a seating position in surprise as it dawned on her. "I… I can speak common?!" She exclaimed with a shocked look.

Aiden who noticed this small little detail last night, simply smiled, reaching out with his right hand and gently rubbing the top of her head.

"Yes. Although I can't check it, for now, I believe that you somehow gained the ability through our Master-Servant connection. I'm not entirely sure about the details, and if you have gained anything else, but you inherited some of my skills and abilities."

He explained, his warm smile suddenly turned serious as he looked at her in the eye before continuing.

"This is why it is important that we understand the full length of your changes. Do you know what else has changed? For example, what are you currently? You look just like all the humans out there, but I feel something familiar coming from you."

Galina was listening to her master intently, she yelped in surprise when she was reminded that she now looked like the humans. She looked towards the bathroom door, wanting to check how she looked in the mirror, but in the end, remained at her place and instead nodded at Aiden's words. 

She closed her eyes, focusing on her own self, trying to analyze the changes in her body. Initially, a sense of shock and fear seeped into her gentle expression as she could no longer feel any mana coursing in her veins, before surprise and a growing smile replaced it. As she scanned her own core, she felt a new source, a new type of energy, which she could now recognize similar to her Master's course abundantly in her.

Slowly her eyelids peeled open as she finished her hurried internal check-up, and explained the findings.

"I see…" After listening to her, Aiden looked at her thoughtfully. "We will need to wait a bit more, but I believe you are no longer a simple goblin from the woods."

Thinking back to his own experience from yesterday, he asked.

"Try to look deeper into your core. What do you see?"

Nodding, Galina once again closed her eyes, focusing all of her attention at the core deep inside her. However, when she tried to follow her Master's orders and pierce through its crystalline walls, her thoughts were repelled. No matter how many times she tried, or how much mental force she tried to exert, she could not glance through the dark walls. Its depths remained a mystery to her, its contents eluded her mental scans.

"I…" With a downtrodden look, she sighed and explained what she experienced. "I cannot look into it, Master. Some strange force keeps me out. The only thing I can say is what I felt…"

"I understand." Aiden nodded at her with a warm, calm smile, giving her one last head pat before standing up and leaving her side which was rewarded with a growing pout. 

"He smiled at her fake hurt look, as she walked towards the window and looked at the city street below them. The usual groggy-looking figures waking up, or setting up their stalls could be seen slowly filling the streets. The occasional robust-looking fierce warriors wandered the streets, strolling to their preferred breakfast spots.

As if nothing strange had transpired, the city slowly woke up, the events of yesterday were behind them.

"Go and clean up, we will need to go out and check what else has changed Galina." Aiden said, whilst his eyes followed the traffic below them. "Also… We probably need to ask my sister for some new clothing…" He sighed as a thin smile appeared, stretching across his face.

—

While Galina made her way to the bathroom and consequently gasped with shock and amazement as soon as she saw her new figure and analyzed all the drastic changes, in the neighboring room, Lily also awoke from her nightly meditation session.

Her eyes slowly fluttered as they peered open, a soft sigh escaped her lips. Standing up, she stretched her limbs, as she removed the previous day's weary clothes and threw them at her side.

As she took off her blouse, she reached for the talisman hanging from her neck. Giving it a gentle rub, she watched with a smile as the small ruby in its center lit up, glowering with a vibrant scarlet luster. She glanced at the pile of used clothing, focusing her mind on them, watching with intent focus as they slowly vanished from their place, only for a new set of clean clothes to appear in their place.

As the new, clean attire appeared her fingers left the talisman's gemstone which instantly lost its luster, returning to its normal state. She heaved a tired but satisfied smile, as she picked the new neatly placed pile in her hands and went into the bathroom to freshen up.

This strange gift, this old relic she received from her Master turned out to be a surprisingly useful tool. Although it required quite a bit of concentration and mental power, it was capable of transferring items to some unknown space. She only became aware of it when her Master told her about it during one of their training sessions. As it was a good way to train her mental fortitude and with it, her powers and defenses as well, she explained its use. 

Since then she stored a few smaller objects such as clean clothing in it, along with her bow and a couple of sets of quivers filled to the brim with arrows, just in case she needed it.

Still, ever since her training, she was instructed to use her close-combat martial skills and continue developing, training them and only use her weapon when there was no other option.

As she was about to step into the bathroom, she stopped at the door and sighed at herself with a dismissive look before turning around and looking at the already expectant-looking two guardians of hers.

"Sorry, you two… I almost forgot." She apologized with a bitter smile as two large pieces of dried-up meat appeared in front of Sam and Biggy. 

As they engorged themselves in their breakfast, Lily stepped into the bathroom, only to be startled by the sudden feminine-sounding yelp coming from her brother's room.