The villainess shall be mine

At first, Liu didn't understand the point of Adam's training or what Cristal wanted to achieve.

From the moment Adam stood in the middle of these flames, Liu analyzed every detail about him, such as his facial expressions, his muscles, his breathing patterns, his footwork, his posture, etc…

Consequently, Liu could tell that Adam was an amateur, lacked experience, and hadn't even mastered the basics.

It was clear he had never been in a fight against a real bloodthirsty monster.

Liu expected something like sword training or fighting practice, however, the boy in front of her repeated one seemingly useless action over and over again. He activated the fire stones then the flames got suddenly extinguished, but then, he activated them one by one again.

'What exactly is he trying to achieve? Is this training related to his gift? It doesn't sound that special,' Liu thought.

She wanted to see what Adam's training was about so that she would find some clues about Adam's true potential, but the scene in front of her was just too boring almost a little bit irritating.

She wanted to ask Adam directly to tell her everything but it would raise unwarranted suspicion. It was more beneficial to not destroy Adam's current image of her if she considered her real goals.

There was also Cristal who looked like she was observing her.

'This woman is not an ordinary maid…' Liu concluded.

From their exchange, it was clear that Adam listened to Cristal more than anyone else.

Their relationship was still unclear, but it was sure that it was beyond a simple 'maid and her master' kind of relationship.

After all, it was Cristal who gave the instructions and Adam followed them, although she was supposed to be an assistant.

Nonetheless, Liu began to doubt Cristal's ability when she saw that Adam was on the verge of getting bored at his turn.

'This method that she chose seems to be very inefficient. Did I overestimate her?' She thought to herself.

No matter how she looked at it, Adam was not making any progress at all.

Liu was thinking about leaving and then reevaluating the situation, because if this was Adam's level at the moment, then this matter didn't require her immediate attention.

She looked at Adam for the last time, and he looked like he was about to pass out without even achieving anything.

'This was a waste of time…'

But when Liu was about to leave, something unexpected happened.

Cristal approached Adam and Bam! She shot at him with a gun.

'What?'

Even the usually expressionless Liu squinted her eyes.

Adam screamed in pain and shouted, but Bam! Cristal shot him again.

At first, Liu wanted to stop Cristal, but after listening to what Cristal said to Adam, she finally understood what Cristal wanted to do.

'This is…'

At that moment, a face appeared inside of her mind. A presence that brought her to her knees no matter how prideful she was.

Every time she thought she needed to relax, this face reminded her that failure was never an option.

This kind of method reminded her of that person.

No matter how painful it was, no matter how hard it was, no matter how many wounds she had on her body, she wasn't allowed to stop until she achieved what that person considered slightly above average.

And even after all of that pain, she didn't even earn one praise from that person.

All he said was: 'Don't disappoint me like your brother. Even if he was a thousand times more talented than you, he is now worthless. You're lacking potential compared to him, but at least you didn't disappoint me yet.'

Liu glared at Cristal because even if it was true that the method used by that person made her strong, it was a very twisted one.

However, when she was about to make her move, Cristal congratulated Adam and put away her gun.

Adam also stood up from the ground with a more determined face, and a more relaxed attitude, unlike how he looked just a few moments before.

Then Adam reached his hand and closed his eyes.

Liu couldn't see, nor feel, anything happening, but suddenly, Adam shouted with a big smile on his face.

"I finally did it!"

This one statement left Liu confused. 'What? What happened? Did I miss something?'

Adam showed a satisfied expression on his face, one that only people who were satisfied with their achievements could wear.

Liu certainly didn't appreciate the method Cristal use, but after seeing the result, it was clear that Cristal was always thinking about Adam and trusted him.

Adam was a human with emotions, and he needed more than just words to improve.

What Adam achieved on that day didn't appear to be that great an achievement, but it was a big step toward the next level of his existence, and the results of this kind of mentality would be apparent soon.

Even if Liu didn't know about all of that, she still admitted that she was mistaken about the purpose of Adam's training.

'Maybe I was thinking like that person… I judged these two too quickly.'

Liu had some guesses about what happened, but she didn't find out about what Adam achieved, not the importance of this achievement in the future.

Liu's opinion about Adam improved a lot, seeing how he was always trying to become a better version of himself bit by bit, even if it was not an easy thing to do.

Liu knew more than anyone else that even if people become strong, they don't necessarily become better people. Instead, most of the strong people that she knew were the worst of all.

Cristal's ability to understand the human part of Adam, which was at the same time a weakness and a good quality impressed her.

It was clear that Adam would become a formidable man with someone like her by his side.

Liu couldn't help but smile a bit when she saw how satisfied Adam looked even though he looked miserable not a while ago.

Still, it was time to test Adam seriously.

*****

:::[Adam's POV]:::

Cristal looked at me with her unchanging expression. "We will stop here for today, master."

Even if she didn't say that, I was completely exhausted and my entire body hurt like hell.

I couldn't move and just laid down on the ground.

To think that this was nothing compared to my mother's when these mad beasts attacked her.

I almost forgot about this fact just because I had this power.

'If I want to follow the path that I intended to follow, then I will have to go through a lot of pain. There was only two option left for me now: Whether I become strong or I break apart. This is no joke.'

Honestly, I just wanted to use my power to eliminate every obstacle in front of me. However, when I thought that I needed to go through a lot of frustrating, boring, and irritating situations before I could even have a slim chance to use my full power, I lose motivation.

But when I think about what happened today, about that feeling when I achieved something due to my efforts, I realized that it was worth it.

I was also surprised by how Cristal handled the situation. 'Is she just an android?'

"Gugugu!"

Verte's words were still incomprehensible, but I could see her cheerful expression while looking at me.

Then I could also see Liu's face looking at me.

Her face was illuminated by the sunlight and her hair glinted as it waved back and forth under the soft wind.

For the first time, the first first time after I made Liu's acquaintance, I saw a change in her expression.

It was only for a brief, extremely short moment, but she had a smile on her face before returning to her usual expressionless self.

The sunlight played an important part, but at that moment, her face was just too glamorous and almost ephemeral. A little bit different from the cold beauty vibe that she usually exhibited.

Then I realized that I was staring at her too much, so I quickly said something.

"So, how was it? I mean, what can you say about my training?" I asked.

Liu's expression didn't change, but there was a little pause before she answered.

"You haven't mastered the basics yet," she said and answer was brief as always, but I was glad that she watched and answered.

However, I already knew that I needed to learn the basic skills and I intended to do that as soon as possible. This was a training to learn the basic use of my power, so it must have looked useless from an outsider's point of view.

"Yes, I know. I intend to go on a trip and learn from a master swordsman," I replied.

"A trip?!"

Unexpectedly, Liu reacted to the word trip even though she kept her usual emotionless face.

'Is she interested?' I thought. As I expected, she seemed to be observing me somehow.