Mad God

The part of the Wall of the World where the dwarfs launched their attack against the ents now housed a hastily built-up campsite. Dozens of ents took root around the gray slopes in a half-circle, guarding every possible route in and out from the exposed holes on the mountain's side. The camp was filled with demons from all of the major factions, not just from Thunder Valley but from the foxes, wolves, and big cats' side. Ren was sitting inside the main tent of Thunder Valley, sipping on a freshly brewed cup of coffee prepared by Ariana, who was happily massaging her shoulders. The moment Ren sent back a message asking for help, she took flight immediately.

"We discovered another chamber," Zern said, giving her a fresh report, standing before her table, having a large, constantly changing blueprint of the dwarfs' city laid out before them. His fingers ran from one tunnel to another, adding a new layer to the map with his powers.

"Casualties?" Ren asked with a sigh.

"None so far, but we have a few injured people; we pulled back in time. Their firepower easily cuts through our regular artifacts…" he said, crossing his arm with a frustrated expression. "Those who have earthly affinity fare better, but we have too few people with a lightning affinity to exploit their machines' weaknesses."

"I'll take over after I recover to 60-70%," she replied, putting down her cup and smiling at Zern.

"Rest!" Zern smiled at her in answer, "Leave the rest to us, Master! Isha, Poli, and Emi are planning an attack on the newly discovered force; they can take them down with sufficient preparations! I'll monitor the main city with Yanda and Lulu's help and deal with insurgencies while my own disciples explore the tunnels with the mixed forces from Thunder Valley. Plus…”

"Hm?" Ren tilted her head, waiting for him to continue.

"Frenir is coming with his disciple; he asked me to keep you here. His disciple… would not forgive him if he misses you."

"Huh?" She blinked rapidly. "I am glad that Frenir got himself a disciple, but who is it?"

"Your younger brother." Zern chuckled, surprising Ren.

"Valen? He is not studying under father?" She sat up straight.

"Yep, he went under him in the end! He is pretty upset at you for not coming to visit him and leaving him out of everything!" Zern laughed, drawing an embarrassed smile onto Ren's face.

“I… was a bad sister…” She murmured, lowering her head, honestly feeling bad about it, reflecting strongly in her voice.

"You can't blame yourself, Master!" both Zern and Ariana said at the same time while the latter continued on, "What happened with Uncle Leinor… and everything after it…."

"That is still not an excuse!" Ren sighed, shaking her head. "I barely visited my parents too… when everything is done and dusted here, I'll go back properly and apologize for ignoring them for so long!" she clapped, shaking herself out of the sudden bad mood. "But tell me, what did I miss? Little Valen under Frenir? How did that come to pass? I was under the impression father would be the one training him!"

"Well, he is not that little anymore; he is a young man already, plus… his affinity is special!" Zern explained, "At first, it seemed he was going to have the same as you… but it turns out it was just a byproduct of his true affinity. Sect Head determined it was magnetism! He already flies without an artifact, yet he is not at Harmony! Well… he flew first when only at the 4th stage..."

"Hah! The little rascal has grown up, eh?" Ren laughed, "Have I become an Aunt already?" she asked with an excited expression, making Ariana almost stumble forward.

"Almost." Zern twitched his mouth, "My disciplinary department had a few run-ins with him… he… he is more of a troublemaker than you! He and his girlfriend, to be precise!"

"Oh? Is it Elyse?" crept a grin on Ren's face.

"Yeah! I would say she is a spoiled princess if not for the fact that she is one of the hardest-working disciples we have in the Sect! She did not just win the first competition she entered; she swept it by breaking bones and knocking out her opponents, making us host a second competition just to determine who was second, third, and fourth after a few days… when they regained consciousness."

"Oh my!" Ren clapped, laughing loudly. "I like her already!"

"Well, you are her idol… she always says it. Yet you never were put into secluded cultivation as a punishment! She is already the all-time record holder." Zern rubbed his forehead, recounting her antics to Ren. "At least she also put her name into the Sect's history with something…."

"She is a… spicy girl." Ariana nodded, having some interaction with her in the past few days. "Her affinity is the same as her ancestors, and she uses it to buff herself up. She is like a beast when she goes into an enraged mode!"

"Moooooom!" came a loud cry just as the word 'beast' was uttered, and Kyu rushed into the tent, throwing herself into Ren's embrace. Her human appearance already looked like a 12-year-old girl, but she still insisted on sitting on Ren's lap, even though she was almost as tall as her. "These thingies they brought up from the underground taste weird! I don't like them at all! There is nothing tasty here…."

"Who said you could munch on them, huh?" Ren twisted her ear, drawing out a loud yelp from Kyu. "And who said you should come? Hm? I knew you would only make trouble for us!"

"But it is boring without you mooooom!"

"I won't bring you anywhere if you don't start acting at your age!" Ren stood up, lifting her up and placing her on the table. "We need to find clues as to where the main force of the dwarfs fell back!" She turned back to the topic after Kyu's interruption. "Their so-called 'Sages' are still missing. If we let this thing fester the same way as the ents did, we will have a problem on our hands a few thousands of years later!"

"They will be found!" Zern said as he cupped his hand.

"Tell you what!" Ren looked at Kyu, rubbing her head. "Go down with Zern, and try sniffing them out, hm?"

"I'm not a doggie, mom!" Kyu protested, crossing her arms before her chest, pouting.

"I know, but… oh well! We know they escaped with a ton of raw, rare metals and other things that can't be found elsewhere! We don't know how many they had, so if someone finds them…."

"They can eat-" Kyu finished her sentence, gulping loudly and quickly closing her mouth. "W-well… I can help! Because I am a good daughter!" she hopped off the table and walked next to Zern, starting to pull him out of the tent. "Come, let us go! We got work to do!" She said loudly, marching like a little soldier while Zern just sighed, smiling at Ren before he was dragged out.

Later that night, Frenir did arrive with the young Valen in tow, and when he reunited with his sister, he was grinning ear to ear, comparing their heights.

"Oh boy, big sis, you are now a lil' sis!" Valen laughed, seeing how much taller he was.

"You do know, now that you are a proper cultivator and an adult, no? I can kick your butt without mom or dad saying a thing or two, hm?" Ren smiled at him with an angelic look.

"You wouldn't abuse your little brother with your superior strength, would you?" he said with big, puppy-like eyes.

"Just watch me!" she put her hands on her waist as tiny sparks flew off her body.

"Hey… Sis…" Valen's voice turned much softer and more serious.

"What is it?" Ren tilted her head, but he just hugged her close, not wanting to let go, surprising even his sister.

"It is good to have you back… Not just me but mom and dad were also worried about you after… that happened! Seeing you now, I am glad that you are okay!" Ren just smiled with a warm, love-filled look in her eyes, patting her younger brother's head and hugging him back while Frenir and Ariana just watched on happily.

"I'm sorry that I made you worry! It was a lot to deal with… truly."

"Mm… it is okay! I'm not angry! I always wanted to get stronger, so when I finally catch up, you can rely on me!" he said, letting her go with a proud grin. "With Master's help, I can even cultivate faster than the others!" He exclaimed braggingly.

"Yet Elyse still whoops your ass, boy!" Frenir slapped the back of his head.

"I can't hit a girl! That is… rude!" He replied with a grumbling voice.

"I smell bullshit!" Frenir rolled his eyes, "You just can't do it because she is stronger than you!"

"Well…" Ren cut in, looking up and down at her younger brother. "I have a second guess why he does not do it…."

"You do?" Valen blinked his eyes with a bit of weird light, but then his sister's voice traveled into his ears.

"She wouldn't let you in her bed for weeks if you did, huh?"

"Ugh!" Valen gulped, turning bright red, prompting his sister to laugh loudly.

"Bwahaha! I knew it! I did the same with LeiLei! Ahahaha!" she slapped her brother's back vigorously, almost making him fall forward. "Don't fall for it, Valen! It's a trick! I bet she wouldn't be able to hold it up for long, not when she is the daughter of that bloodline! LeiLei was also… full of energy every day, tsk-tsk! Believe me, she would come to you only a day later, begging you to, well… come~!"

"You think?" Valen asked, embarrassed yet excited, believing his sister already.

"Of course! Trust me!" Ren winked at him.

"Um, what are you two talking about?" Frenir and Ariana asked at the same time.

"Non-virgin things," Ren and Valen replied with a matter-of-fact tone, making the two twitch their mouths not just because of the words but how in sync they were.

"Just so you know, I have someone who is interested in me!" Frenir protested quickly, turning back into a kid in front of Ren, to the same one who watched her marry Leinor back in the Capital city of the Empire.

"Oh? He does?" Ren tilted her head, asking Valen, who just nodded.

"Yeah, but he is too afraid to take a step forward. I tried to give advice to Master, but he refuses to even hear it, saying I am his disciple and not vice versa!" Valen crossed his arms, "Yet I have more experience in things like this!"

"I see, I see, so you need more experience in training too, huh?" Frenir said as he cracked his knuckles, turning Valen's face a shade paler.

"Ah, wait! No, I did not mean it like that!"

"Relax~" Ren chuckled as she protected her brother, standing between the two. "So? You have someone who is interested in you, yet you… do not return her feelings?"

"It is… complicated! She is older than me, more experienced, and honestly… way too beautiful for someone like me!" Frenir sighed with deep frustration as, in his head, he was still someone from an ordinary family.

"Huh?" Ariana raised her eyebrows, the most surprised of the group. "Are you not the next in line for the Sect Head position? I don't think there is anybody who is on par with you!"

"Be real, that is an honorary position only; Sect Head won't step down for at least a few thousand years anyway!" Frenir rolled his eyes, "I'm just a normal boy with a bit of a special gift. That is all; she is a Queen!"

"Wait…!" Ren raised her hands, "Is it Paoma?"

"Yep!" Valen grinned, "She frequently comes to the Sect to do… 'business,' but she is there to try and hook up with Master!"

"Damn! Nice!" Ren aimed a thumbs up at Frenir. "I bet she could teach you a thing or two!"

"Plus, she is relentless; I would have already given up on Master if I were in her shoes!" Valen raised his hands with a sigh before a yelp came out from his throat as an invisible hand twisted the skin on his waist. "YEAOW! M-m-master!" He groaned, rubbing it.

"I did nothing," he replied with an innocent voice, ignoring his pleas. "Anway… it is complicated! I'll deal with it, okay?"

"If you need advice, come to me~," Ren said with a wide grin.

"Master," Ariana stepped next to her, "I think it is best to leave things to them. Let it play out naturally!"

"Haaah, okay, okay! Let's change the topic then!" Ren sighed, giving it up.

"Let's!" Frenir agreed immediately. "Let's talk about you being a Demigod and my Master going through his own transformation! I am feeling close to the third stage of Harmony, and I am thinking about what to do afterward! I don't want to spend thousands of years being stuck like Master!"

"Don't let him hear that." said all the other three in the tent, looking at Frenir.

"That is why I am saying it to you!" He sighed.

"Well…" Ren thought a little as she pulled chairs close to them, sitting down while Ariana served up coffee immediately as it was ingrained into her habits by now. "I can tell you all my experiences, what I went through, and how I see it! But it won't be a short lesson!" She smiled, watching their eyes.

"Wouldn't want it any other way!" Frenir laughed.

The night went way too quickly for them, listening to her words without interrupting at all, and when the sun was rising in the east, they were still sitting there, memorizing everything Ren told them, taking it more seriously than any other lessons back in the Sect.