The villainess shall be mine

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

On the way to the training ground, I saw a familiar silhouette walking toward Cristal and me.

Black hair, cold blue eyes, and a dazzling red dress. It was no other than Liu, and as usual, Verte was very attached to her.

I thought that they left the planet already, but it seemed like they were still staying within the Castle.

When I recognized that she was Liu, I took a deep breath and straightened my walking posture.

This was an opportunity to talk with Liu again, and I didn't want to leave any bad impression. "Good morning Miss Liu, I didn't expect to see you here today," I said.

"Good morning."

Liu's reply was as brief as usual, but at least, she stopped and didn't ignore me completely.

"Baba…" After seeing me, Verte reached her little hands towards me. She was as adorable as always.

"Can I hold her?" I said, looking at Liu.

Liu handed Verte to me, and soon as she did, Verte attached to my body like a sloth.

"I am happy to see you too," I said while stroking Verte's head.

Then I looked at Liu, but she wasn't looking at me and Verte. Instead, her eyes were fixated on Cristal who was next to me.

I completely forgot that Cristal was not in her cube-like form anymore, and so, I needed to treat her like a normal human.

"Miss Liu, this is Cristal. She is my… my assistant," I said, introducing Cristal, and she bowed elegantly like a genuine maid.

I was quite impressed by her acting skills.

"Cristal, this is Miss Liu, the one who saved my life," I said, introducing Liu properly.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, "Cristal said, looking as emotionless as ever.

Then Liu also replied briefly, without a trace of change in her expression. "Likewise."

I couldn't help but smile awkwardly looking at these two emotionless women starting at each other.

"Cough. So, are you looking for something Miss Liu?" I asked.

"Nothing in particular."

"Haha, I see. Well, I was on my way to train a little bit when I coincidentally came across you here."

I was trying to keep the conversation going, but honestly, it was extremely hard for someone like me who had limited experience with women.

"Training?" Liu asked. It seemed like she was a bit interested in what I said.

I was a little relieved to know that she was listening. After all, no one could tell just by looking at her if she was listening or just looking at something behind the speaker.

"Yes. I need to get stronger so that I can perform well during the Holy Academy's entrance exam," I said.

I was very talkative all of sudden. I couldn't help but feel like I needed to talk, otherwise, Liu would just stand there without saying anything.

This was a situation that experienced rarely, because most of the time, I was the one listening.

After hearing my answer, Liu stayed quiet for a few seconds before replying.

"Can I watch?" She asked.

That was a question that I didn't expect to hear, so I didn't know what to say.

I glanced at Cristal but she wasn't of any help with her emotionless face.

I didn't know what Liu expected to see, but it seemed like she was interested in my training, or precisely, my power.

This was a delicate matter, as Liu was more powerful than me, so if she saw my actual level, then she might immediately understand my weaknesses, as well as my strong points, which could be very troublesome if things took a bad turn later.

'Maybe I am just too pessimistic… Well, it's not like she will know about everything, so I guess it's fine. It will be bad for future relations too if I turn her down now... And I need to figure out her intentions in one way or another,' I thought.

To be honest, I felt that there was a little bit of chance that Liu and I could develop a certain form of friendship.

Maybe I was just too optimistic, but I didn't want to discard this hope. After all, nothing will happen even if I just waited.

"Fine, you can watch Miss Liu. I don't think there's anything special about it, so if you are watching, can you give me your opinion after?" I said. This was an opportunity to hear the opinion of an actual high-level gift holder, so I didn't miss the chance to ask her opinion.

Liu looked like she didn't expect my answer. She didn't show any expression, but there was a little pause before she answered.

"Alright."

After that, the four of us headed toward the training ground.

*****

:::[Third person POV]:::

Adam and Cristal arrived at the training ground, followed by Liu and Verte.

People who trained in the area got surprised by Liu's appearance, but then it turned into excitement.

Some people became nervous after seeing Liu and were beaten up by their partners. Others tried to show off their skills and their muscles by roughly swinging their swords, or by fighting multiple dummy monsters at the same time; some just stood there and drooled.

However, the center of all this attention, the Forst Queen Liu, didn't take her eyes away from Adam.

Some people were not happy about this fact, but they couldn't complain, knowing that would become ice cubes if they did.

Unlike what Adam believed, Liu was extremely curious about him and the woman that he introduced as his assistant. She just had a permanent poker face, so there was no way for him to guess her real thoughts correctly.

'Does she know something?' Liu asked herself.

She wanted to observe what exactly was Adam's power, and what kind of training he was doing. She might even find some clues leading her to the truth.

She didn't ask Adam directly, because if she was wrong and Adam wasn't what she thought he was, then it would be troublesome.

She wanted to understand what was happening and then wait for the time to test Adam herself.

After all, Liu was very prideful and preferred to wait as long as it took, rather than deal with a humiliating situation.

And when Adam began his training, Liu was surprised yet again and some of her questions were answered, but she was also faced with more enigmas.

'Who is this woman? Why is she the one giving Adam instructions?' Liu wondered.

From Liu's point of view, Cristal looked like she was hiding something behind that poker face of hers.

Liu herself hide many things behind that poker face and sometimes that fake smile, so she was a little bit warry of Cristal.

Cristal asked Adam to gather several fire stones ( a type of mana stone that generated fire), activate them, and then place them around him.

Anyone could activate these power stones as long as they could control primordial particles, and so these stones were used to illuminate the dark during nighttime.

Adam was now surrounded by flames, but Liu didn't understand the point of all of that.

"Now let's try your first technique: 'Neutralization.'" Cristal said.

Adam nodded, and suddenly all of the flames around him extinguished.

Liu couldn't help but get surprised by this. 'What happened?'

This was the first time Liu saw Adam's power in action because when Adam used it on these hunters, she couldn't see anything. 'What kind of gift is this? It is certainly a particular type of gift, but I have never heard about something like this.'

"Gugugu!!"

Unlike Liu who was theorizing about the nature of Adam's power, Verte became very lively looking at Adam.

Focused on the training, Adam and Cristal almost forgot about the existence of Liu and Verte.

Instead, they continued to the next step. "Great. Now let's move to the second technique: 'Barrier.' During this training, not a single fire stone inside of your barrier should stop generating fire; and when you can do that, I will use this mana gun to fire at you to see if you managed to put up a barrier or not. It's not lethal, but it will hurt so be ready." Cristal said, holding a man's gun in her hand. She created it by manipulating some of her molecules.

"I understand," Adam replied.

Liu was bewildered to see how much Adam trusted Cristal. It was as if a master was training her disciple.

However, Cristal was supposed to be Adam's assistant so there was something odd about it, or so Liu thought.

Also, there was Adam's power which appeared more and more out of the ordinary. 'Is this some kind of gift that can absorb elemental power or can cancel them somehow? If that is the case, then I must keep an eye on this boy.'

Liu was now half sure that Adam was not a normal fifteen years old boy.

However, if it wasn't for Verte, then Liu wouldn't have discovered this fact.

After all, if a clueless bystander looked at what Adam was doing, then all they could see was a fifteen years old boy who was playing with fire.

Nevertheless, Liu was still clueless about what Adam's true identity was, and she still couldn't find out the reason why Verte wanted to find Adam.