“Haha! I can imagine!” Fatty let out a laugh but quickly covered his mouth. He had forgotten that Nana was sleeping. 

“At any rate, it was because of the failures that got me thinking about the technique and how what the real meaning of the training was. Once I put two and two together, I began grasping the concept, although even then, it took a bit to understand. But you need very good control of the spiritual qi in your body to be able to use it well.” Yuki explained lightly.

“You really are a genius.” Maiko sighed. She was feeling even more depressed about herself.

“You can’t really put yourself in her and Nana’s shoes, Junior Sister Maiko.” Fatty knew where Maiko was coming from, but there was no need to get depressed about those who were just more naturally talented.

“You can just call me Maiko….” Maiko pursed her lips. She realized she was the only one here whom Fatty spoke so formally to.

“Then Maiko,” Fatty replied with a smile. 

“Speaking of which, your attack earlier was quite good. For spiked monkeys in a swift motion.” Yuki was quite impressed with how quickly Fatty dispatched the spiked monkeys.

“I am just used to it. I have been in the sect longer than you three, so I have dealt with spiked monkeys on more than one occasion. If anything, you and Nana surprised me the most. I guess surviving in the depths of the inner ring was no fluke.” Fatty had been wondering just how skilled the two girls were to be able to survive in the inner ring, but it seemed their skills were good enough to deal with what they ran into.

“No, I would say it was a fluke. We were badly injured at the time. Nana saved me when I was on the brink of death. And even she almost died in the process. We were lucky.” Yuki would not act as if she had done something great. She by no means felt she was strong enough to truly survive in the open in the inner ring. 

If it was not for Elder Nishikawa finding them, they would have been stuck in the middle ring with no way of knowing which way was which. She knew this very well and wanted to grow stronger. So strong that no one or thing would ever be able to put her in such a situation again.

Fatty nodded his head. He was liking Yuki more and more, not in a relationship way but as a friend. He himself had no intentions of trying to get in between her and Nana. Whether they realized it or not. The way they looked at each other…. Maiko, on the other hand, he would not mind buttering up and helping out as her senior Brother. 

Nana slept using Yuki’s shoulder as a pillow for almost two hours before slowly waking up. Her sleepy eyes looked around in confusion as she did not even realize she had fallen asleep. Only when the realization finally kicked in did she blush and push her face into Yuki’s neck. 

“Finally awake?” Yuki asked while reaching up and patting the top of Nana’s head.

Nana nodded, not wanting to face the others causing Yuki to smile. “It’s fine. I asked them to allow you to sleep. You did not sleep much yesterday because of me.” 

“Oh….” Nana slowly lifted her head to see that Maiko was now fully dressed, and Yuki was holding her own robes, waiting to put them on. “Fatty, turn around, please.”

Fatty chuckled, stood up, and turned around. “Don’t worry; I won’t look at your wife.”

Nana pursed her lips and did not comment back as she stood up to let Yuki put her outer robe back on. Yuki was giggling since she found it funny. She knew Nana and her were really close, but she only thought of it as two close sisters. But hearing Fatty call her Nana’s wife did amuse her.

“All set?” Yuki asked after she finished adjusting her robes.

“Mmm.” Nana nodded. She had to make sure everything was perfect before Fatty could turn around.

“Fatty, you are in the clear. Nana will not eat you now.” Yuki teased. 

Fatty rubbed his head with a smile as he readied his axe. “Then let’s continue. We will head to the middle ring first, and then Yuki, I will be counting on you for directions.” 

 “Got it!”

- - -

It was not easy moving through the forest. They were attacked many times along the way. Even Maiko finally got a kill in which made her finally feel useful. However, it was an injured demonic beast that Yuki and the others had accidentally let by them. But it was still a decent battle for Maiko, who was sweating by the time she finally killed it. Her excitement knowing she killed a rank two demonic beast, was enough to really improve her thought process about her future.

After a few hours, they finally reached the middle ring, where Yuki had everyone come to a stop as she jumped up into the air and looked around. But all she saw were treetops and what looked to be some kind of ridge. She quickly descended to the ground. “I think if we head to the ridge that is a little more west of here, we might run into something. I am not sure, though. There are too many treetops to really get a good grasp on if there is a river or not. I might not be able to see anything from our current location. I could go higher, but I do not know if there are any flying demonic beasts nearby.”

Fatty nodded and clapped his hands: “That’s fine. We will follow your lead. Hopefully, we will find something.”