Max, feeling at ease after learning the details of alchemy, brazenly asked Iris to arrange for an alchemist to teach him. Sophia, who was listening, felt that Max didn't bother to ask if it was possible but instead outright demanded it, leaving her to think Iris might disagree.
To her surprise, Iris immediately agreed without hesitation and asked what time the alchemist should come to the castle to teach him alchemy.
"In the evening, we will be meditating and will likely be too tired to study effectively. Why not arrange the lessons in the morning? After a good night's sleep, the alchemist will be refreshed and free from the fatigue of the previous day," Max suggested to Iris.
Iris thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, and said, "I will contact the Alchemy Guild president and ask him to arrange for an alchemist to teach both of you lessons about alchemy in the morning."
Max happily laughed and started to inquire about their shopping trip and details on what they have brought from their shopping.
Iris enthusiastically began sharing her shopping experience with Max, who listened attentively, a smile on his face as she recounted the details.
Sophia, watching from the side, was reminded of the bond between them and felt a pang of sadness, wishing she had someone to share her joy with like they did.
Noticing Sophia's mood, Iris quickly brought her into the conversation, helping her forget her sadness by involving her in the topic and soon had her laughing happily.
Then they tidied up the table which has tea pot and other stuff and asked the maids to take them away while they prepared to move to the practice ground to practice meditation.
Soon, Iris and Sophia went to their room to change into their practice dresses, while Max headed to his room to change into something more suitable for practice. Once dressed, Max went to the hall, sat on the sofa, and waited for the girls to come back down.
After waiting for ten more minutes, he saw Iris and Sophia coming down the stairs wearing tight-fitting clothes that accentuated every curve of their bodies as they walked toward him.
Max stood up from the sofa and asked, "Did you guys put on makeup or something? Why did it take so long just to change clothes?"
Iris and Sophia rolled their eyes at Max's question and replied, "We had to bathe because we were sweaty from outdoor activities, unlike you boys who can go days without bathing and don't even mind the smell."
Max's face turned red with shame as he realized she was referring to him. He countered, "No, aren't we going to practice and get sweaty? After practice, we can leisurely bathe—what's the hurry to bathe now and waste water?"
Iris then bickered with Max while the three started to moved down the stairs towards the basement where training rooms are present.
Max then started to do warmup to make his stiff body more flexible before the start of practice.
Iris and Sophia saw him warming up and decided to follow his lead. Once they felt ready, everyone settled into a spot in the meditation room and began practicing, allowing them to fully concentrate without any distractions. They all worked hard to enhance their attributes.
Sophia soon finished her visualization method, her face strained with pain and drenched in sweat. She returned the items she had taken out back into the inventory and noticed Iris and Max sprawled a short distance away, panting and utterly exhausted. Confused, she approached them and saw that they were in a trance, their eyes void of light, which sent a chill of fear through her.
She pulled a small stick from her inventory and began poking Iris and Max to see if they could feel it. The pain snapped them out of their trance, and they noticed Sophia thoroughly enjoying herself. Both of them rolled their eyes at her habit of finding amusement in others' discomfort.
"It's not nice to disturb people who are dead tired," Max said, pain etched on his face.
"How did I disturb you? I saw you all looking so lifeless that I was scared to approach, so I just poked you to get a response," Sophia replied guiltily.
"It's all my brother's fault for turning the meditation session into a competition to see who could perform more steps, which left us both completely exhausted," Iris complained to Sophia.
"No, if you hadn't provoked me, why would I have challenged you? You agreed willingly, and I didn't force you to participate, so you're the one to blame for the incident," Max argued back.
Sophia watched Iris and Max bicker like children, even though they were exhausted from all the practice. She reminded them to get up soon, freshen up, and eat, as they had alchemy classes to attend starting tomorrow.
"Not so fast, there's still one segment of today's routine," declared Iris with a mischievous glint in her eye.
Max had a bad feeling, but Iris paid no attention to his unease. She stood up with unusual energy, waved her hand, and the ring on her finger lit up. Several types of statues holding various weapons appeared before them. Max realized it was a space storage system allocated to the island lords by the system.
"What are these statues for." Sophia asked with doubt.
"Hahaha, these aren't statues; they're battle puppets designed by the alchemy guild for the city's protection. I've issued an order for a few to be supplied for practice, and they were delivered today," Iris said proudly.
Pointing to the groove at the center of the puppet's chest, Iris said, "This is where we'll place a beast core to activate it. We'll customize it to either attack or defend, and we can train with it until you're satisfied and enhance our combat skills."
Iris divided the puppets into two batches, one for attacking and one for defending. She placed the defense puppets back into the storage space and then asked Max and Sophia to choose one puppet each as their partner.