Chapter 22 Now, whos the dominant one, huh? (1/2)

Alex and Alina stayed in their respective positions for around half an hour.

By the time that Alex wondered if his clothes could contain any more water, Alina broke out of their hug.

She let out one adorable sniffle as she wiped her tears away.

”Thank you…” These were the words uttered by Alina before she suddenly disappeared.

Alex let out a sigh, realizing that she went away for real this time.

He then stood up as he dried his clothes with microwaves.

Asteria, who had been watching everything that happened intently, let out a disappointed sigh as Alina left.

”Alex, that's it? You just let her leave? You did not even say anything more?”

”What do you think should I do, huh?” Alex replied angrily as he fixed his clothes. ”Alina is feeling sad! I cannot just say some things to her. In this case, just me accompanying her is enough.”

”Hmph, what if I am the one in Alina's place? What if I am the one feeling sad? Would you also do that to me?” Asteria asked as she looked around her. ”It's not like that will happen anyway…”

”Well knowing you, I will do my best to cheer you up.” Alex said as he began to look at his palm.

”I will pat your head, give you cute clothes, and I will also give you lots of honey. Maybe you will feel better if I did those things.”

”Hmph! At least you know how to please this queen!” Asteria replied, with her tone sounding less harsh than before.

”Ok… now its time to train again.” Alex said as he looked at his clock.

Right now it was 12 Noon, which means that it should be the Ability Training later.

Alex measured his Mental Power, and to his surprise, it permanently increased from 35 to 60.

This increase technically should not happen, since Alex did not do any more training last night.

When Alex inquired Asteria about this, Asteria's only reply was,

”That's the thing that I am talking about to you yesterday. As long as you fight, the cultivation ability that you will use in that fight will also grow.”

”Ok, so that means that as long as I fight opponents while using the Esper Cultivation Body, then my Mental Power will grow? And that principle will also apply on other cultivation methods?” Alex tilted his head as he digested what Asteria told to him.

”Exactly.” Asteria said as she nodded her head in agreement. ”So you better fight many opponents now! The stronger they will be, the faster you will grow!”

After Alex heard what Asteria said, he began to cup his chin as he bit his lips in concentration.

”I have a plan now.” Alex muttered as he closed his fists. ”I just hope my master will agree.”

**********

When Alex came back to Clint's house, he stopped in his tracks as he saw Alina inside the living room.

She's wearing her mask again, and her demeanor was back to the cool and silent Alina that he had always known.

She seemed to be unperturbed when Alex came in, as if what happened to them earlier was already forgotten by her.

”Oh, hi Alina.” Alex resisted the urge to hit himself as he realized how nervous his greeting was.

”Umm, hi too, Alex.”

”...…”

”...…”

Alina actually sounded nervous too!

Both Natasha and Clint, who heard the awkward exchange, gave Alex leery smiles as if they have already seen through on what happened.

”Sigh...” Alex scratched the back of his head as he gave his master and his wife an admonishing look. But their smiles did not falter, which just shows how thick their faces are.

After seeing what they were doing, Alex let out a sigh as he opened his mouth.

”Master, I need you to fight me.” Alex suddenly blurted out, effectively breaking the atmosphere in the house.

Alina almost let out a choke while Natasha almost slipped on the floor.

As for Clint, he did not look surprised at all. He just closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

”So, it seems like you have discovered it already.” Clint said as his eyes looked at Alex with intensity.

”What do you mean discovered?” Natasha tilted her head as she could not fathom what her husband was talking about.

”When I trained Alex two days ago, I discovered that he is a special type of Esper.” Clint said as he began to look excited. ”Alex actually is a Battle Esper.”

”Wow! That is big!” Natasha blurted out as he began to look at Alex with a more… predatory look. ”Hehehe, so you are a Battle Espers huh. Hehehe, I can't wait to run some tests on you…”

”What do you mean by a Battle Esper?” Alex mumbled as he tried to ignore everything that Natasha said.