The moment the grand elder's figure disappeared into the last of the departing crowd, Hannah broke into a run. She crossed the open square at full speed and threw both arms around Jason's waist before he could brace properly.
"Good thing he's finally gone," she said, voice bright with relief and pride. "I've been waiting forever to give my big brother a proper celebration hug!"
Jason hissed through his teeth as the impact jostled every remaining bruise. "Easy, Hannah—I just finished fighting, remember? And do you have any idea who that old man was?"
Hannah only squeezed tighter for a second before loosening her grip. "Mother told me to wait until he finished talking to you. She wouldn't let me move."
Clara arrived at a more measured pace, walking stick tapping lightly against the packed earth. Her eyes moved over Jason's blood-stained robe and swollen face with quiet pain before she answered the question he had asked her daughter.
"That was the Fox family's grand elder," she said. "The strongest fighter the family can still field when conflicts with the other clans turn serious. Age has not made him weak. Never mistake the two."
Jason absorbed the information with a fresh flicker of unease. The man he had just called an old geezer was the family's ultimate combat pillar.
Hannah, undeterred by the gravity in her mother's voice, looked up at her brother with shining eyes. "Now that you won the tournament, it won't be long before we can live and eat like proper people, right?"
Jason managed a tired smile and ruffled her hair. "As long as I keep the position, I'll be able to provide for us. That's the whole point."
Clara's gaze lingered on the darkening bruises along his jaw and the careful way he held his ribs. "You need proper treatment as soon as we get home. No arguments."
They turned toward the outer camps together. The walk was slow; Jason's steps remained measured, every impact sending dull reminders through his body. Clara walked on his left, Hannah on his right, occasionally reaching out to steady him when the path grew uneven.
"Congratulations, Jason," Clara said after a stretch of quiet. "You did extremely well today."
"Thank you, Mother."
She glanced sideways at him. "What exactly did you and that young man discuss that made him forfeit the final?"
Jason exhaled carefully. "He wanted a fair fight. I wasn't in any condition to give him one, so he proposed we meet again in two weeks when I've recovered."
Hannah's head snapped up, temper flaring instantly. "You agreed? After everything you just went through?"
Jason pinched her cheek lightly, the same way he had when she was smaller. "Easy, little lioness. If I hadn't agreed, there was no path to the win. He made the forfeit conditional on the future match. I didn't have a better option."
Clara's voice stayed calm but firm. "If you are going to face him, you will do it only after you are fully recovered. I will not allow otherwise."
Jason gave a short, wry laugh. "I'm not even certain I'll make the two-week mark. The grand elder ordered me to present myself at the alchemy room after three weeks of recovery. If the dates conflict, I can't put a private challenge above the grand elder's instructions."
Hannah's eyes widened. "So you're going to stand him up?"
"Unless he is willing to reschedule, yes. The grand elder comes first."
Clara nodded once. "That is the reasonable choice. If the young man has any sense, he will understand."
By the time they reached the tent the sun had begun to drop. Jason went straight to his pallet, settled into a cross-legged posture, and turned his full attention inward. Heaven's Law circulated in slow, deliberate cycles while the residual medicine and his own recovered energy knitted muscle and bone. He refused every urge to train physically; the foundation was still settling after the tournament's punishment, and forcing it would only create future cracks.
---
Two weeks passed.
On the morning of the fourteenth day Jason stepped out of the tent carrying a different weight in his presence. The sixth layer of the tempered body had arrived quietly during the final nights of recovery—skin denser, bones heavier, spiritual energy flowing with new clarity. He flexed his fingers and felt the difference settle into place like a well-fitted glove.
"Finally," he murmured. "Another breakthrough. The next realm doesn't feel so far away anymore."
*You're advancing quickly,* the bracelet observed. *That's useful. Your actual combat experience, however, is still thin. The beast territory remains the most efficient place to correct that.*
Jason rolled his eyes. "What is your obsession with sending me back there?"
*Because it is the only environment where you cannot afford to hold back. Everything here still has limits and consequences that make you careful. Careful is not the same as strong.*
"I don't have time for that right now. I have to report to the alchemy room."
He ended the conversation, offered Clara a proper morning greeting, endured a quick, fierce hug from Hannah, and set out. The walk from the outer camps to the alchemy pavilion took a full twenty minutes at a steady pace. When he arrived the heavy wooden doors were closed and the courtyard in front of them stood empty.
Jason stared at the sealed entrance, breathing a little harder than he liked after the hurried trip. "I rushed all the way here for a locked door."
A dry voice answered from the other side of the wood. "I didn't expect you to appear the moment your recovery period ended."
The doors opened inward with a low creak. The grand elder stood in the threshold, hands folded behind his back, plain robes unchanged from the day of the tournament. Jason immediately bent forward, fists cupped in formal respect.
"Greetings, Grand Elder."
The old man did not return the greeting at once. Instead he studied Jason in silence, eyes sharp and assessing. The scrutiny lasted long enough that a cold trickle of unease slid down Jason's spine. He still remembered the promised "punishment" for the remarks he had made in the square.
At last the grand elder spoke, voice mild.
"It seems you benefited considerably from the fights against Todd and Larry."
Jason kept his head inclined. "Yes, Grand Elder."
Inside his thoughts the question burned unspoken: *Aren't you going to punish me?*
The grand elder apparently decided the examination was finished. He turned and walked back into the wide, furnace-lined room, speaking over his shoulder without ceremony.
"Enough formality for now. Since you are already here, clean the entire room before the others arrive."
He settled onto a simple stool beside the largest furnace and folded his hands, clearly finished with the conversation. Jason straightened, took in the soot-stained floors, the scattered tools, and the faint chemical bite in the air, and understood that his first day as an errand boy had officially begun.