"I'm an earth user. I've pushed your physical limits, but I don't know everything about water and fire. You're capable of defending yourselves now. If I had to guess, you're probably at Tier 3 senior Level or even higher by now."
"No way, you're totally lying,"
Hanjun said, waving his hand dismissively. "We've just been digging holes,doing pushups,helping Elena,running and washing clothes. How does that make us Tier 3?"
"If you want to learn so bad, then there's an elite academy situated right inside the kingdom,"
Barn grinned through his thick beard.
"That's where you need to go. And hey, water-kid... if you go there, you could maybe learn about ice Zheki as well."
The day passed in a blur of quiet preparation. Inside the cottage, Elena gathered clothes for them, packing everything they would need tightly into two sturdy travel bags.
As the sun began to set, they all stood near the edge of the property.
Elena approached the two sixteen-year-olds, her green eyes shimmering.
She hugged them tightly with a massive, warm smile.
Beside her, eleven-year-old Tom was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking incredibly sad to see them leave.
Jayhon adjusted his bag, turning to the giant man.
"So, Mr. Barn... how do we even enter the Kingdom? Wouldn't we need a ton of money, family registration papers, and all that official stuff?"
Elena dropped her chin into her hand, entering a look of deep, dramatic thinking. Beside her, Tom immediately crossed his arms, tilted his head at the exact same angle, and perfectly mimicked her thinking pose.
Barn let out a massive, booming roar of laughter.
"Haha! Of course you'd need those! But with Barn, there's no need for any of those things!"
Before either youth could process his words, Barn stepped forward.
His massive right arm swept out, locking around Hanjun's waist, while his left arm gripped the blue-haired boy tightly, lifting both sixteen-year-olds off the ground.
He raised the Jayhon high above his shoulder, preparing to chuck him like a spear.
The blue-haired boy panicked instantly.
"Wait! Quickly! How are we going to return?! Where are we going to sleep tonight?!"
"Well, you'll just have to find out for yourselves!"
Barn shouted cheerfully.
With a deafening
CRACK
that shook the valley, Barn swung his left arm and launched him straight over the horizon.
"Goodbye to Elena! Goodbye, Tom! You too Mr. Baarrnn!" Jayhon shrieked as fast as he could, his voice instantly trailing off as he became a blue blur flying through the air.
Barn immediately pivoted, adjusting his grip on the Hanjun. The kid remained totally rigid, glaring down at Tom on the ground.
"Tom,"
Hanjun warned loudly as Barn drew his arm back.
"If you touch the plush lion toy that Elena made for me... I'll make sure you never see a toy in your life again!"
Tom's sad expression instantly vanished. He stuck his tongue out with a loud
"Bleh!",
crossing his arms defiantly.
BOOM!
Barn released his right arm, sending Hanjun flying through the air like a rocket, his trajectory perfectly matching his friend's.
On the ground, Elena faceplanted into her palms, smiling, but then she became a little sad that they had actually left. She turned around and quickly grabbed Barn's arm.
"Oh, Barn... I want to go with them! Let me go protect them if anything bad happens!,throw me too fast!"
Barn let out a soft chuckle, wrapping his massive arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest.
"No can do, my love. You're the most important piece of this territory. Without you, the garden and the house are absolutely nothing. They'll be fine."
High above the clouds, the wind was roaring with a deafening intensity. Jayhon and Hanjun flying through the sky in the exact same parallel position, their bodies cutting through the atmosphere like two human missiles.
Far below them, the massive outer walls of the kingdom zipped past, and both Hanjun and jayhon soared clean over the barrier, plunging straight down toward the glittering spires of the inner imperial city layout below.