Late at night, Freya finally summoned Cao Ye.
Filled with excitement and anticipation, Cao Ye arrived at the goddess's bedroom.
Unfortunately for him, the scene he had imagined in his head did not happen.
"Lady Freya."
As soon as he entered, Cao Ye greeted her.
Freya spoke calmly.
"I've found you a teacher."
"Tomorrow you'll go meet him and study under him."
"A teacher?"
"Yes."
"At this stage, you're already quite strong."
"Your ability values are high, and you have plenty of skills and magic."
"But your combat experience is too shallow."
"So you need someone to guide you in how to fight."
Cao Ye nodded.
He didn't argue.
Freya was right.
His fighting style right now was basically instinct and intuition.
That worked for now, but in the future it would become a serious weakness.
"Lady Freya… who is this teacher?"
"Ottar? Allen? Someone from our familia?"
"None of them."
"It's Finn from the Loki Familia."
"Their captain."
"Finn?!"
"Yes. Any objections?"
"Not really."
"I'm just surprised you'd let someone from another familia teach me."
Freya replied calmly.
"Ottar and the others aren't suitable for teaching you."
"And the rest of my children aren't appropriate either."
Cao Ye internally didn't believe that explanation at all.
The Freya Familia—one of Orario's strongest—didn't have anyone capable of teaching him?
Impossible.
There had to be another reason Freya wasn't telling him.
Still, Cao Ye didn't mind.
Compared to some of the dangerous internal rivals in Freya Familia, Finn was actually a safer option.
"So tomorrow, do I go to Loki Familia?"
"Or does Finn come here?"
"You'll go there."
"I've already discussed everything with Loki."
"How much you learn depends on you."
"Understood."
Cao Ye was actually quite curious about the Loki Familia.
When he first reincarnated in this world, his first choice of familia had actually been Loki Familia.
As one of Orario's two strongest familias, their members treated each other like family.
But fate had other plans.
The Next Morning
Cao Ye woke up early.
It was his first time visiting the Loki Familia, and he was somewhat excited.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, he left Babel Tower and headed toward the Loki Familia headquarters:
Twilight Manor (Hesperides Garden).
Twilight Manor sat between District 1 and District 8, directly across from the Central Plaza on North Street.
Interestingly—
It stood directly opposite the Freya Familia headquarters.
One on North Street, the other on South Street.
"Wow…"
Standing outside the manor, Cao Ye couldn't help but sigh.
Being able to occupy such a massive estate in Orario's most prosperous district—
Only one of the two strongest familias could do that.
Ironically, he hadn't even visited his own familia's headquarters yet.
Yet here he was at Loki Familia's.
A guard at the gate stopped him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Cao Ye of the Freya Familia."
"I'm here to see Captain Finn."
"Please inform him."
"A Freya Familia member looking for our captain?"
"Yes."
"Our goddess has already discussed this with Goddess Loki."
"Please wait."
One guard went inside to report.
A few minutes later he returned—
With Finn.
The difference between races was obvious.
Finn was over 40 years old, yet as a Pallum he still looked like a young boy.
"Cao Ye."
"We meet again."
"Captain Finn."
"I'll be troubling you this time."
"It's no trouble."
"Come in."
Finn led him into the Loki Familia headquarters.
The gate guards watched curiously.
They had no idea why a member of Freya Familia would visit.
As they walked toward the training grounds, Finn explained:
"I discussed things with Loki."
"For the next month, I'll teach you three hours every morning."
"How does that sound?"
"You're the teacher. I'm the student."
"You decide the schedule."
Finn shook his head quickly.
"Let's not call it teacher and student."
"Just a friendly exchange."
He didn't dare acknowledge a formal teacher relationship.
After all, no one could guarantee the two familias would always remain friendly.
They reached the training field.
Since it was early morning, no one else was there yet.
Finn asked:
"What weapon do you usually use?"
"Short sword or long sword."
Cao Ye currently had two weapons:
The Black Sword given by FreyaThe Inverted Spear of Heaven from the gacha
But both were inside his Imaginary Space.
Since this was only training, he drew a regular sword.
Finn grabbed a spear from the weapon rack.
Then the sparring began.
SWISH!
Without warning, Cao Ye attacked.
His sword thrust directly toward Finn.
CLANG!
Finn easily blocked it with his spear.
Then immediately countered with a thrust that forced Cao Ye to step back.
Cao Ye attacked again.
And again.
Finn blocked every strike.
There were no flashy techniques.
Just pure exchanges.
But the difference in experience was obvious.
Every attack Cao Ye launched was effortlessly neutralized by Finn.
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