"One. Two ..." Xion took a deep breath and then shouted his final word. "THREE!!"

With lightning speed, three figures immediately shot down from the sky and were about to dive into the river, to be the first to catch a big fish to win the race.

Since Emma's energy level was the lowest among the three, she was a little behind Xion and Therius who darted like flash and in no time were nearly touching the water.

However, before their feet could dip into the water, suddenly, four very strong vines had caught their feet and wrapped around their ankles. The vines threw their bodies far into the middle of the valley.

Emma smiled slyly when she waved her two hands to create the vines and prevented both Therius and Xion from entering the water.

She knew that the two young men had lost valuable time when their bodies were tossed into the valley. If they tried to enter the water again, the vines would hold them back.

With joy, Emma immediately dived and caught the biggest fish she saw in the water.

In less than a minute, she had returned to the top of the cliff with a fish the size of a dog, and placed it on the ground with a smile plastered on her face.

"Heyyy !!!! You cheateeeeddd!!"

She could hear Xion shouted at her from afar. Emma only smiled faintly as the two men darted towards her, looking shocked.

Ah, she was right to hide her last ability from the men. They didn't know she was also a herbomancer like her father. It had truly become the secret weapon that today gave her victory.

She crossed her arms across her chest and smiled smugly, waiting for Therius and Xion to arrive.

"Was that your doing??" Xion asked in an urgent voice. "Are you a herbomancer???"

Emma didn't answer. She just waved her right hand. Suddenly, from behind Xion appeared a green vine, similar to those vines that had caught Xion and Therius earlier and tossed them to the valley. The vine wrapped around Xion's waist and lifted his body into the air.

Therius said nothing, but the adoring look in his eyes made Emma feel her cheeks turn red.

"You lost," said Emma nonchalantly.

"Heyy ... put me down!" screamed Xion. He created a sharp ice shard in his right hand, ready to cut the vine lose when Emma waved her hand. The annoying vine immediately lowered Xion's body to the ground.

"You cheated" said Xion as he rubbed off some leaves from his bare upper body.

"Cheated how?" asked Emma, ??squinting dangerously. She didn't like being called a cheater by a mage who was clearly so much stronger than her. "I won fair and square."

"You didn't tell us that you are also a herbomancer, so we didn't prepare," Xion said. "After all, the three of us here are aeromancers, so we should have raced using aeromancy. Therius and I always raced using our aeromancy ..."

Emma snorted at Xion's words. "Nonsense. The three of us are indeed aeromancers, but you and Therius are equally strong, while my power is nothing compared to you guys. If you and Therius only competed using aeromancy, that's your business. I wouldn't win against you if I just relied on my aeromancy. "

Xion scratched his head and turned to Therius. "We should have confirmed the rules before the race, because we have a new participant."

The prince apparently did not mind being defeated by Emma. He smiled at her like a proud teacher that he was.

"We lost," Therius said firmly.

"How about you?" asked Emma towards Xion. "Do you admit defeat too? Be a man .. You must be willing to admit defeat if you do lose."

Xion pursed his lips and finally nodded. "Hmmph .. alright. You won."

"Great, you guys can help me prepare this animal for grilling," said Emma. She took a pair of shorts from her backpack and put them on over her bathing suit.

She now appeared practical and fresh. Her wet hair was fashioned into a bun on top of her head, so it didn't get in the way when she did things.

"You haven't told us what your requests are," said Therius, who had been watching the girl's every move. "You've won. What do you want from me and Xion?"

"Hmm .. do I have to ask now?" Emma asked back. "Can't I save that request for later or the future?"

Therius nodded. "You can. But I really want to know what do you want from me."

Emma looked away. She didn't want to spoil the warm and friendly atmosphere between them by mentioning her requests now. Later, when they became enemies again, she would feel more comfortable telling Therius and Xion what she wanted from them.

"Uhm ... looks like Emma wants big things from us," Xion commented. "Please take note, I am a poor guy from the mountain. I cannot give you anything valuable. So please ask only things that are easy to get and cheap."

"Don't worry. I will not ask anything expensive," Emma commented. She directed her words to Xion. "I actually don't know what I can ask of you. Moreover, you said that you are poor. So maybe I'll just keep my wish for the future when I need your help."

"Ugh .. if you intend to ask my help to defeat Therius in your fight five years from now, sorry I can't grant it," said Xion quickly. "That's off-limits. I can't possibly betray my own best friend. If you ask me to fight my best friend, it's just as good as you ask me to die."

"Tsss .. you are so full of yourself. I'm not going to ask you to help me fight Therius to defeat him in five years. I don't need your help," said Emma, ??rolling her eyes. "My request to Therius is for him to back down when we fight in five years. He must lose to me."

Suddenly there was silence.

Only the sound of the waterfalls flowing hard into the canyon below could be heard, along with gentle breeze and rustling leaves swaying in the wind.

Therius and Xion looked stunned, and for a moment, no one made a sound. Meanwhile, Emma subconsciously pressed her lips in shock.

She didn't believe she just told them that she worked so hard to win their race so she could force the prince to grant her one wish ... to lose to her in their fight, five years from now.

Ah .. Emma immediately regretted what she said. What she thought earlier turned out to be correct. The warm and friendly atmosphere that she had felt earlier with the two men, now turned cold and awkward.

Emma gave Therius a complicated look. She wouldn't take back what she said just now, because that was truly the request she wanted from him.

However, her chest was pounding for some reason when she saw Therius' disappointed expression, and his pair of topaz eyes looked hurt.

Ah ... this ice prince did have feelings, and he could get hurt too, Emma thought.

"Very well," said Therius afterward. He looked away so that Emma couldn't read his expression. He then walked over to the fish that Emma had caught and got ready to skin it.

Xion followed in his footsteps and sat beside Therius, preparing to make fire and grill it.

Emma froze in her place when she saw the two men give her the silent treatment.

She knew Therius didn't like her request just now, and he felt cheated. However, the man simply said 'very well' and didn't even try to find excuses to reject her request. This made Emma feel conflicted.

"Very well!?" Emma fluttered her lashes and walked over to Therius. She touched the man's shoulder to ask him further what he meant by his words. But before she could pull Therius to look her way, she screamed. "Aaahh!"

Emma was startled, and her body staggered. Therius' body was hotter than fire!

Emma remembered experiencing the same thing when she cheated during her fight with Therius on the penthouse' terrace in Singapore.

She pushed Therius' chest as hard as she could with her right hand, which was powered with electromancy, but she only managed to graze the man's body slightly. Instead, Emma was thrown fifteen meters away and felt hurt by the heat from Therius.

Therius, who saw Emma stagger, quickly rose and held the girl's body with his hands, which didn't feel hot at all.

"Are you okay?" he asked anxiously. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't touch me carelessly. My body has a fire shield, and it automatically protects me from being attacked by others."

"I didn't attack you," Emma complained. "I just tapped your shoulder to talk to you."

"Hmm .. yes, about that. I am sorry, I was upset," said Therius honestly. He took his hands off Emma's body and let her stand on her own. "Are you okay?"

Emam looked all over her body and clicked. "I'm fine. It's amazing though. I remember that when I touched you back then and was hit by your fire shield, I felt the extreme heat, and my body was thrown away. I think I ended up unconscious for 70 hours. Now... I'm fine."

"That's because you've been training your powers diligently over the past few months. Your energy levels are way above before, and you're much stronger now than then," Therius explained. His voice sounded proud of her accomplishments. He was indeed a proud teacher.