Ruby curled back into the cave, yawning, and lay down beside Leo and Darcy. Within seconds, they were all out cold.
Meanwhile, Alex stayed up, flipping through his comic for hours.
He checked the time and sighed.
"Damn… it's already midday. Wasted too much time… but worth it."
He leapt down from his perch, grabbed some meat, and started roasting it over the fire. The smell alone was enough to stir the others awake.
He handed each of them food. They ate together lazily, then went right back to sleep.
Alex, however, sat crosslegged and closed his eyes.
It was time to meditate.
He began absorbing mana, focusing on breaking through but no matter how hard he tried, nothing clicked. Hours passed. His breathing grew heavy. His aura surged… then fizzled.
"Tch… not today," he muttered, disappointed.
Not wasting time sulking, he pulled out his book on ruin magic. Symbols and glyphs filled the pages. He spent the rest of the evening copying the runes, drawing them into the dirt, trying to decipher their meaning.
But night fell and still, nothing made sense.
Eventually, he got up and woke the others.
He handed them roasted meat again.
"Eat up, then get some sleep. 'Cause starting tomorrow your rest days are over!"
They groaned but obeyed, sleep still tugging at their eyes.
After they'd finished eating, Alex flopped down, his head resting on Leo's lap while he pulled Darcy into his arms. Ruby quietly slid in beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
Alex opened one eye.
"Oh? Madam Ruby's getting comfy. Looks like you're more relaxed than Darcy," he teased.
Ruby replied with a straight face, "I can only sleep peacefully when I'm cuddled next to you."
Alex smirked. "Sure, sure… stop acting. Your ears are red."
With that, he closed his eyes. They all drifted off, safe and warm beside one another.
After a comfy morning
As the first light of dawn seeped through the cave cracks, Alex was already up.
He clapped his hands and shouted, "Guys! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
The others groaned and stirred.
"I said, wake up, fools!" he barked, glaring with his trademark grumpy face.
They sat up groggily. Alex threw open the cave door and declared:
"Alright, people! Training starts now. Follow me. We've got exactly one hour before every monster in this forest becomes a raging predator."
Ruby, Darcy, and Leo blinked, still half-asleep, as they followed him out.
He looked at his team and issued commands with military precision:
"Darcy, Leo follow me from the air, mimicking my path. Ruby, run beside me on foot."
He leapt over the barricade, disarmed a few traps around the entrance, and began sprinting into the dense forest.
As he moved, he slashed at trees, marking them in square patterns.
Once they were deep enough in, he stopped and turned.
"Alright, Leo and Darcy it's time to work on aerial control. See these trees? Never move in straight lines. Zigzag. Swerve. Evade. Darcy, start at minimum speed. Leo keep adapting."
He turned to Ruby.
"You full sprint. Follow all the trees I marked. Keep your eyes sharp. Go!"
Ruby dashed forward, weaving through the marked trees at high speed.
Leo soared between branches with agile shifts.
Darcy… not so much. She kept crashing into branches and overcorrecting.
"Darcy's clumsy no real flight experience," Alex thought, watching.
"Ruby, though… there's something divine in her stride. She just needs to learn her limits."
Once the sunlight fully bathed the forest, Alex called them all over.
"Leo. Darcy. Rest for now."
He walked toward a rocky outcrop bones scattered across the ground: mammoths, saber-toothed cats… ancient remains of predators long dead.
He grabbed a wooden stick and handed it to Ruby.
"Swing this vertically and horizontally. One hundred reps."
As she trained, Alex got to work fashioning weighted armor for their upcoming sessions. Using mammoth bones, leather ropes, and carved wood, he assembled armguards, chestplates, and leg weights.
He tied them around Ruby's body and said, "You won't take these off until you sleep."
"Alex, I'll die if you put these heavy weights on me!" she said.
"Hey you're a divine being. When I started training, gravity was thirty times weaker than what you know, and my body was just a normal human one. Train your body. Perfect it. When we reach the right level, I'll show you the real goal of training."
She struggled to walk with Alex. Later, he pulled out a bone and carved a dummy sword from it.
Alex handed her the training sword, adjusted to the maximum weight she could handle.
She held it and said, "Alex, why are you increasing the weight? I can't hold this any longer… I'm exhausted."
"So was I. I'm an elemental mage but I still trained with a sword. Do it. Don't make excuses," he said.
She walked toward the cave, swinging unevenly.
Alex watched her swings, then stepped beside her.
"Follow me. The force comes from the legs and proper posture. And remember when you swing, relax your shoulders."
He swung the sword. A wave of force cut through the air, wind bursting outward.
Ruby was still swinging her training sword an hour later, sweat trailing down her face like tears of iron. Her body screamed, but her grip held.
Inside the cave, Darcy and Leo slept soundly, curled up like pups recovering from a hunt.
Alex?
He was slamming a massive stone into the ground repeatedly his expression calm, his body locked in the rhythm of perfect form.
Bash.
Bash.
Bash.
Each hit a prayer to perfection.
Eventually, he paused, checked the time, and headed back to the cave.
He skewered the meat on sharpened sticks and began roasting it, the smell of char and fire drifting through the air. One by one, they stirred awake. He handed the food out.
Ruby was trembling. Her hands could barely hold the meat.
Still, she finished first.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Ruby! And you say you've reached the 8th Circle of Magic?!"
Ruby stopped mid-bite, chewing calmly before replying, "You've been absorbing mana for hours and learning tons of spells. I didn't want to fall behind."
Alex chuckled and nodded.
"Fair. From now on, I'll share every theory I've studied. Every spell, rune, and concept I learned in my time away. You'll practice them all no exceptions."
That afternoon turned into a study hall beneath the canopy of trees.
Notes drawn in the dirt. Runes etched in the air. Arguments. Laughter. Correction. Focus.
By nightfall, they were exhausted but sharper.
They trained together in silence, then fell asleep beside each other like war forged siblings.
Next Morning
As the light crept into the cave, Alex stirred.
He quietly stood up, trying to leave before anyone noticed.
But Ruby's eyes snapped open the moment his foot touched the ground.
"Where are you going?" she asked groggily.
Alex chuckled. "Relax. I'm going to meditate. Whatever happens… don't touch me. Got it?"
He walked outside, took a deep breath, and sat cross-legged in the clearing.
"Remember your training," he said, eyes still closed. "Always push your limits."
Ruby grumbled, "You keep saying that like some broken record."
Alex smirked, then closed his eyes fully and sank into focus.
"Uncle Hercules… I need your help."
In a split second, the world shifted.
Alex opened his eyes and found himself lying on warm, glowing soil a peaceful land pulsing with light, like the breath of the universe itself.
A booming voice echoed.
"Open your eyes, kid! What happened this time?" Hercules said, appearing with his signature lion pelt slung over his shoulder.
Alex sat up slowly, shame flickering in his gaze.
"Uncle… I thought I finally touched the aura. But it's always so small. So faint. Like it's slipping away."
Hercules squinted and stepped closer. "How'd you even sense it?"
"During a desperate struggle," Alex muttered. "When I was close to death."
The demigod knelt, locking eyes with him.
"That's exactly your problem."
Alex blinked. "What?"
Hercules stood again, pacing.
"Aura isn't something you see in nature. It's not around you. It's within you. You've been looking outward when you should've been listening inward."
He pointed to Alex's chest.
"Aura is your heart. Not the muscle the core. The sacred fire tied to the universe itself. It's infinite… but only if you dare to feel it."
Alex looked down, uncertain.
Hercules stepped closer.
"Start asking questions. Deep ones. Rogue ones. Beautiful ones. Then listen."
His voice echoed, low and thunderous, like the growl of a mountain.
"That's how you feed your aura. That's how you ignite it. Forget swinging for perfection swing for your heart."
His finger pressed firmly against Alex's chest.
"Your hustle, Alex. That burning desire that drives you that is the key. That's what unlocks your aura."
Alex sat cross-legged. His back straight, his breathing steady but his spirit? Shaking.
He tried to meditate. To dig deep. To feel that spark Hercules spoke of.
But nothing came.
No warmth. No lightning. No emotion to hold onto.
Just silence.
Empty.
He clenched his fists.
His voice broke into the air, hoarse and low.
"I don't even know what I'm starving for."
Behind him, Hercules chuckled raw and unapologetic.
"If you don't find it," he said, "then it's not the right place. Not the right moment, kid."
He stepped forward, his massive hand landing on Alex's chest again. This time, it stayed.
Heavy. Firm. Unshakable.
"And that's your job," he added, eyes faintly glowing. "Find what sets that heart of yours on fire."
Alex's eyes snapped open.
"I don't understand! What do you mean, old man?!"
Next moment
Alex opened his eyes in the cave, still in his meditating position.