Step!

  I stepped out of teleportation formation as I appeared back in the Pyramid. The meeting lasted for more than one hour and covered numerous aspects and hard truths which we have to face.

  The meeting had once again reinforced my view that given how steadily numbers of Grimms are rising, a hundred Grimm Monsters wouldn't be enough. If they continued to increase their numbers, they wouldn't even need a final battle at all; they would be able to overwhelm us with their general numbers.

  It had been months since the Pyramid had begun drafting from its reserve, and within two to three months, that reserve was going to hit bottom, and Pyramid would have no choice but tap into the numbers I had created.

  I just hope when they do, I will have enough numbers that even if the tide of Grandmasters came, we would be able to handle that.

  I shook my head after a few minutes of thinking about it; I should not worry about it too much. There are councilmen, and the Grand Lord is there for that; the only thing I should be focusing on is creating more Grandmasters.

  It is going well.

  The king project, which began not even two months ago, is showing great progress and has sent hundreds of great seeds into the little project that Grandmaster Salvador is handling. I have my eyes on a few people; I hope they do well and reach the Tyrant class soon.

  Buzz!

  I appeared in my room and opened the door to the council room before walking inside. It is quite late, and my parents and sister are sleeping while Marina is working.

  I am quite tired, but I want to see Marina before I take the rest.

  I have already sent her the message; she will come till then; I will see the progress all three projects have made in my absence.

  I began to read, and most of the things were going well, except for a few things which made me frown. One thing is the death rate in the little project, which spiked a little this month.

  The deaths are not due to the experiments, we will never do that, and till now, since the inception of the project, not a single subject has died due to experiments. A few have come quite close to it, but a group of experienced healers like Grandmaster Charline and I were able to save them on time.

  The deaths are due to the war; once selected, we do not keep the subject cooped up in the facilities. No, we sent them out in war to fight after their treatments; they return in a week or two again to go through various treatments and experiments before going back to the war.

  Though the projects have lost some very good seeds in the war, there is nothing we could do about it.

  War is one of the main reasons they are progressing so fast; even with my miraculous methods, they wouldn't have improved this fast without the constant battles they fought, which forced them to bring out all their potential to survive.

  "They looked fine," I said as I looked at the names of places we were sent to fight and the intensity of those battlefields, and I did not find any problem there.

  I will change the battlefields this month but will do that next month if this trend continues.

  Buzz!

  I was reading through the material when I suddenly stopped and looked back when I saw the teleportation formation light up behind, and Marina appeared on it.

  "I missed you," Marina said as she appeared beside me, and we began to kiss like the thirsty teenagers with tongues wrestling and hands moving around each other bodies.

  There was hesitation in the movements of our hands as there had been a few months ago. Our relationship is maturing by day, and so are the boundaries. Though there is no haste in our movements, we are taking things slowly and naturally

  "Ahhh,"

  My hands reached her bottom and pressed; just as I did, a low moan escaped her lips. I love the sound that I pressed them even harder, making her moan even louder.

  It took a while before we separated, but the desire in our eyes was still burning.

  "This jacket looks good on you," Marina said as she touched it carefully. "I think so too, and it is also quite useful," I replied, taking her in my lap as I sat down.

  "I have missed you," I said as I nuzzled my nose in her hair, breathing her calm smell.

  In these stressful times, she is the anchor that keeps me sane; if it were not for her, I would have definitely been crushed under the pressure of expectations I am feeling. I tried to not let those things affect me, but what I am doing will directly affect the fate of the whole rare; it tends to make one feel quite a pressure.

  "How was the mission?" She asked as she leaned down on me, "It was good; I got man good things, including this fine jacket," I said to that she smiled.

  "I am glad. It always makes me feel worried when you go out on the mission," she said. "Nothing will happen to me," I replied with more confidence than I was feeling.

  "You should rest; you seemed quite tired," She said, "I am not," I said and pressed her even closer to me, but she shook her head and moved out of my embrace.

  "Rest, Micheal," She said, "Fine," I said tiredly, the first time showing how tired I was.

  I got up and kissed her temple before walking toward the door.

  A minute later, I was in my bed with my eyes closed. I was very tired, it had been three days since I hadn't slept and the battle I had participated in.

  While I did not join the battle for more than a few seconds, it was still stressful, and now I just want to take a long sleep as from tomorrow, I will not have even a second of rest.