“Cough…” Virus let out a small cough as he put his fist in front of his mouth, in the meantime, he was thinking with the fastest speed he could to answer the question of why he hadn’t made her a real body yet, ‘Hmm, let’s see… why haven’t I made a true body for her yet?’
“…” At the same time, he was having a poker face outside as he stared at the golden beauty.
“Master?!?” Confused by her master’s poker face, the golden beauty asked.
“Hmm… well, for me to answer that… first, think about the match I just had… remember how it took me a short period of time before my body was covered in scales?” Finally, Virus opened his mouth as he replied to her with a question of his own.
“Yes, but…” Came the golden beauty’s doubtful response.
“That short delay is the answer! Think about it, it might be too late for me to survive in a dangerous situation if my enemy is faster than that small period of time which takes for the ring to turn on and cover me in scales.”
He continued, “A simple example would be a gun! You see, even a mere bullet would be faster than that delay… and ‘that’… is the moment you come into play and instantly move to keep me safe from that kind of danger without any kind of delay whatsoever. Do you understand now? I may be powerful when I’m using the ring… however, I can’t use it 24/7… which means that I’m pretty much vulnerable all the time without you.”
“But…” As she wasn’t totally satisfied with her master’s reply, she was going to continue arguing. However, before she could do that, Virus interrupted her and continued, “Moreover, I said I would make you a true physical body when I’m at least as strong as you, but right now, you can easily defeat me at this very moment before I even turn the ring on, right?” Virus dealt the final blow as he sighed in relief inside.
“…” Unable to say anything more in response to that, defeated by his master’s words, he uttered, “Yes…”
“Ah… by the way master, aren’t going to have another match soon? So why did you change into a new set of clothes? I mean, you’re going to ruin that too soon anyway…” She questioned as her mind was confused by another matter.
“Well, actually that was the last match today… the rest will continue tomorrow… we can leave now.” Virus replied.
“I see, let’s go home then.”
.
.
.
As the two exited the Colosseum, they saw a beauty waiting just outside the exit and the moment that beauty spotted them, she raised her hand as she rushed at them.
“Junior apprentice-brother!!!!” Then, when she was in front of the two, she called Virus in extreme frustration.
“What is it, apprentice-sister?” Virus questioned in a rather calm tone.
“Are you stupid?! Why did you reveal that power?! Why did you reveal that ring at all?? Oh my dear ancestors! Do you know how everyone was looking at you just now? It was as if they would jump on you right there and devour you completely! And you say ‘What is it, apprentice-sister?’ while you’re absolutely calm??!” Hearing Virus’ serene voice, frustrated, she dumped everything that was on her mind in a single breath.
“Heck, even I’m feeling curious about that ring of yours! Don’t you get what that means?” She asked.
“Hmm, that you’re going to try stealing the ring from your junior apprentice-brother?” Virus asked while putting a doubtful expression on his face.
“Of course not! I meant…” Astes got frustrated and stunned by his response as that was truly what should be inferred by her words, but she hadn’t meant it like that, which frustrated her very much.
Amused by her frustration and cute face, Virus finally decided to spare her, “Haha… Just kidding, of course, I know what that means. Now, every greedy eye is eying my ring. But, don’t worry… that’s not going to pose me much of a problem since…” However, he went entirely silent when he arrived at the last part of his sentence.
Seeing him turn quiet abruptly at the end of his words, Astes got a weird vibe, as if, soon, she might not be able to see his junior apprentice-brother anymore and for some unknown reason, that made her extremely sad as she asked, “… ‘Since’ what, junior apprentice-brother? Why didn’t you finish your sentence? Could it be that you’re leaving?”
“Nope, I’m not leaving.” Virus answered with a smile on his face as he pondered to himself, ‘At least not right now.’
Listening to him, Astes unconsciously let out a relieved breath as she continued, “Anyway, since you know what that means… you have to be extremely cautious or you just might really lose that little mortal life of yours! Trust no one, and by that, I really mean ‘no one’! I’m even having doubts if you can trust master since he’s a human being too you know.”
“So, you mean I can’t even trust you?” Virus uttered with a face filled with vigilance all of a sudden.
“Urgh… no… I didn’t mean it that way… I mean you can trust no one other than me…” Seeing his face filled with vigilance toward her, for some unknown reason Astes herself didn’t understand, her heart ached as she felt upset and nervous inside.
“Hahaha, you should see your face right now… calm down, I was just joking…” Feeling entertained enough by watching her cute reactions, Virus replied with a laugh while the golden beauty too was laughing by his side while thinking, ‘Master’s evil!’
“You…!” Realizing he was messing with her earlier, Astes got angry as ‘you’ was the only thing she could mutter before going silent.
Seeing her angry face and knowing she was upset, Virus uttered, “Sorry for that, apprentice-sister… I understand what you mean and I’ll be very careful from now on, so don’t worry.”
“Don’t leave the pagoda on your own as that might be dangerous. In case you want to go somewhere inside the sect, we can go together… and about leaving the sect, that’s a total no-no, so you can’t leave the sect for any kind of reason until you’re strong enough, alright?” Astes further added as she still couldn’t put herself at ease.
“Okay, stop worrying now, I’m not as weak as you think… didn’t you just witness that?”
“I know, but that’s not even close to keeping you safe…” As she said that, she was suddenly interrupted by another voice, “Greetings junior apprentice-brother.”
As their conversation was interrupted by an unknown voice, the trio looked at the source, only to spot a rather beautiful young girl who was wearing very revealing clothes on herself.
“Who are you?” Looking at this unknown girl he didn’t recognize, Virus asked.
When Astes turned around, the unknown girl finally spotted Astes as she bowed in respect and said, “Oh, senior apprentice-sister Astes is also here… greetings senior apprentice sister.”
Since Astes was from the alchemy pagoda and was recognized to be a rare genius in alchemy, even the superior disciples talked to her in full respect and tried to win her favor in whatever chance they could get.
Then, not forgetting about Virus’ previous question, she looked at Virus once again and replied, “I’m called Tinsel, a superior disciple.”
