After waiting for a bit, Sophia and Mary were finally met with a challenge that sent them packing.
Both of them couldn't pass a test that required them to beat a savage dog that kept on dodging their spells.
"Ah! Fuck!"
As Sophia teleported back into the throne room, her face was still full of fear as her mage cloak was ripped into pieces.
Meanwhile, two seconds later, Mary appeared right after, being teleported directly on top of Sophia.
"I don't want to die!"
"Ouch!"
Seeing Mary covering her eyes in fear and Sophia being pressed down by her, Alex and Katherine couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Mary, you aren't dead. Stop panicking."
As Katherine gently lifted her back up, she finally realized she was back in the throne room.
At the same time, Sophia could finally get up from the ground, her face looking a little annoyed by Mary's action from earlier.
"You idiot. Why did you move away? I already cast the barrier on you specifically to block it."
"I got scared, okay? You try to stand in front of that dog with his sharp teeth and claws lunging at you."
"Why would you be scared? That barrier literally blocked it if it wasn't for you being a coward."
"Bullshit. I saw it crumble just as I ran away. Those claws cut through that barrier like butter!"
Seeing the two starting to get heated, Katherine quickly broke the two apart.
"Stop arguing. You both did a good job. I don't want to hear you two talk to each other with profanity."
"Hmph!"
As the two of them crossed their arms in anger, Alex had sneakily moved behind the two of them.
"Come on, don't be mad at each other. I saw how you two fight. It was a valiant effort."
The two wanted to push his arm away, but his grip was too tight as he brought them both closer together.
"Sophia, you have to understand that Mary is still so young. You can't expect her to stand there and block it."
Before she could argue back against his point, Alex turned his attention over to Mary.
"And Mary, you should have communicated that you were about to run away first. Communication is key, okay?"
Seeing them both falling into silence and not arguing back, Alex knew he had accomplished his mission.
"Mom, didn't you say you were going to give them a gift after completing three different challenges?"
"Oh right, yeah, I should have brought that up. What do you two want for your gift?"
"Um, I don't know yet."
"I don't know either."
As the two gave the same answer, they finally got to common ground.
"Well, you two can tell me the answer when we head back——"
Before Katherine could finish talking, both Meiya and Luqing finally teleported back from the dungeon itself.
"Kate, this thing sure is fun. Did your teacher really make this?"
As Meiya swung her sword to remove all the blood, Luqing had already made her sword vanish into the thin air.
"Yeah. Anyway, let's go back to the inn."
Katherine quickly started casting a teleportation spell, not giving Sophia or Mary time to ask about what Meiya had just brought up.
---
As the six of them arrived back in a dark alley, they quickly walked out before heading back to the inn.
"Why?"
"For Luqing to advance to the next stage, she needs an environment that has more Qi in it.
This continent has too much mana in place of Qi for that kind of breakthrough to happen."
"I see... When are you guys leaving?"
"We'll probably leave when your guy's summer break starts. So it's not anytime soon yet."
Meiya's answer finally relieved the three kids, knowing they would still be with them for now.
"You scared me, Meiya. I thought you two were going to leave today the way you said it."
"Sorry, I probably should have said it at the start."
As the two of them started eating breakfast, the atmosphere in the kitchen finally returned to normal.
---
The next morning...
"Mary, wake up! Time for school!"
As Alex shook her arms, she still barely showed any signs of getting up. But seeing her rolling to the other side indicated that she was already awake.
"If you aren't going to wake up, Mom is going to come over and wake you up."
"Okay, okay. Fine."
With Mary finally getting up from the bed, Alex quickly headed back to the kitchen table.
"Mom, I woke up Mary."
"Okay... Breakfast is almost ready."
As he sat down in his seat, Meiya was already at the table waiting for the food to be served.
"Miss Meiya, what do you do at the school every day?" Alex curiously asked as the question popped into his head.
"Ask your mom. I can't give you that information."
Alex didn't ask any further, knowing that Katherine had already refused to answer that question before.
"Here's the breakfast."
As Katherine and Luqing carried the plate onto the table, it contained bowls of noodles, a piece of meat, and vegetables.
At the same time, Sophia had just come out of the restroom, sitting down next to Alex.
"Is Mary done yet?" Katherine curiously asked as the two of them took the seat together.
"Nope, she just started brushing her teeth."
With everyone except Mary here, they all began eating their bowls of noodles.
"Sophia, you ready for school today?" Katherine asked.
"Do I get a choice to say no?"
"What do you think?"
Sophia rolled her eyes, picking up her fork as she began eating the noodles in her bowl.
"Alex, you excited for school?" Katherine asked next.
"Yeah, I'm ready... I feel like I have been rotting for too long at home already."
"That's good to hear..."
As the five of them continued eating, Mary finally finished getting everything ready as she left the bathroom.
"Good morning everyone!"
"Good morning."
Sitting down, she quickly joined in eating the breakfast before being handed a cup of milk from Katherine.