Chapter 602 - Bonus Points (2/2)

In that instant, he was certain that Aina should have, at least, broken her planting leg. But, her muscles recovered and protected the bones they surrounded as though they had a mind of their own.

The time they had to react? It was none other than the split moment between Aina raising her foot and it landing on the ground. It simply didn't make sense for a young girl at the beginning stages of the Fourth Dimension to have such fast reaction time, and it was even more impossible for her to have honed such instincts so quickly.

But, even as the elder was lost in his shock, Aina had already barreled through another 40 meters, crossing the 50 meter mark with no sign of slowing down.

Her body crackled and popped, her bones threatening to fracture and break. But, to Aina, this sort of trial was nothing.

She was a woman who trained herself by breaking her own bones, rending her inner organs, and sweating until what came out was nothing less than streams of her own blood.

Such tortures, such horrors, they meant nothing.

She faced the howling beasts in her mind as though she had something to prove, as though there was nothing more important to her at this very moment than to face them boldly and confidently.

The fear she felt when facing the Puppet Master was a blemish she had long since seared into her heart. It wasn't a humiliation in the way a man might feel it. Aina just felt as though she had let herself down.

That was the first time she had ever faced true death, the first time she had realized that her talent wasn't enough to leap over the final hurdle.

While Leonel had to deal with such a feeling upon entering his first Zone, Aina most definitely did not. She had been training ever since she was a youth. To her, her first Zone was nothing more than a formality.

It could be said that this was the first time she had had to face the fear of not being strong enough, of being inadequate. It was quite the feeling indeed.

Because she had lost control of her body and had been unable to move, she had no way of telling herself that she had faced the trial bravely. As such, the feeling of helplessness and self-blame only seemed to cycle and grow.

Leonel watched Aina tear her way up the mountain, a light smile still on his face.

He knew well that the scared little girl he saw that day wasn't his Aina. Unfortunately, unable to move, she hadn't been able to prove that clearly to herself.

This time, Leonel was content to take a backseat and allow the limelight to shine on her.

His smile suddenly spread into a grin.

'If my girlfriend is so amazing, doesn't that mean I get bonus points?'