"What do you mean? You're the only child I've ever had. And I couldn't raise you from childhood and so I wanted to experience that" Mrs C replied seriously.

She seemed a little confused as to why Muku was asking such a question in the first place...

"Wait, what!? That's it?! You don't have any trauma from a child you lost or something?" Muku exclaimed in surprise.

He couldn't accept it. After all, if there was no deep reason why she wanted to raise him from a baby, didn't that mean he embarrassed himself for no reason?!

Even if he wanted to show his gratitude, such a price was too steep if there were no deep emotions involved!

"Wait, what?... Pfft. Hahahahahaha. So you thought I had trauma and that's why you played along? It really caught me off guard when you began behaving like a baby actually. I almost threw you away thinking you had lost your mind for doing something so embarrassing with a straight face. Hahaha. What a sweet son you are. Hahahaha if I had known I would have extended the period for a few more months" Mrs C laughed her guts out in between her sentences.

She laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes. Seeing her pure reaction made Muku feel embarrassed even more. If his powers had been restored he would have flown away.

"Tsk. Why are you laughing so hard when you already knew everything? You read my mind every chance you get after all" Muku spoke grumpily after Mrs C stopped laughing.

He wished he could go back in time and not come a month too early. That way he wouldn't have to be in the situation he was in...

"Believe it or not. I haven't read your mind once since we came here. I haven't even used my abilities after that mirror I created for you. I thought doing that would take the fun out of it. Plus it would be unfair to lock away yours but still use mine. Anyway, I really didn't know what you were thinking" Mrs C replied while wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"Oh... Well... That's good. You shouldn't have been reading my mind in the first place anyway... When are we going back anyway?" Muku replied awkwardly then tried to switch the topic.

"We'll go tomorrow morning. Tonight we're holding your farewell party. That is if you want to say goodbye to everyone we've been living with for the last month. We can leave now if you want. But it will make them all really sad if you go just like that" Mrs C replied to Muku's question.

She pretended not to notice how he quietly switched topics. She didn't feel like embarrassing him anymore. After all, she felt quite touched by how thoughtful he was despite the misunderstanding.

It made her feel very gratified. She really has the greatest son in the world!

....

Later that day in the evening Muku's farewell party was held.

Everyone he had met during his time at the mansion showed up. They comprised more than fifty people and were all dressed in fancy clothes.

They all seemed to enjoy calling him "Young Master" which he didn't really like... Unless it was Audrey saying it with those sexy lips of hers. But he did get used to it. It will all end after that night anyway.

.....

The next morning...

Muku had taken a bath and prepared for departure. Mrs C had given him the reward she promised. And it was one of the things his current self needed the most. And that was a storage ring!

He finally didn't have to eat the fruits he found in the beast forest on the spot. Or bury his beast cores as well as ditch beast meat... Well, he still has to ditch most of the meat since R4s were really just too big. Even dinos would have to pay their respects to the biggest of R4s.

Anyway, Muku was ready to meet that traitorous partner of his again. He hasn't seen her for a month after all. But he wasn't worried since Mrs C told him that she was being well taken care of before he even asked. And he had no reason not to believe her...

The reason he called her traitorous was because of how much she enjoyed seeing him in unfavourable situations and was always trying to take advantage of him. Like the time he was turned into a baby, he could sense her malice through their soul link. And the damn dragon brat didn't even try to hide it!.

So, yeah, he didn't mind being away from her for a while. Hell, he even hoped she was having a horrible time wherever she was... And it seemed his wishes were answered as he saw the listless Raya lying on the ground when they appeared in Room Zero.

He didn't even ask what had happened, he just gave her a gloating and schadenfreude-filled gaze.

.....

A while later...

Raya had finally pulled herself together after seeing Mrs C's presence and the ghost's absence. She had been tormented by it for a month! Like what ghost was so chatty? The worst part was that plugging her ears with her mana didn't prevent her from hearing what the ghost was saying.

Anyway, that was all in the past. She and Muku were receiving their briefing from Mrs C before their next trial. It was finally time for the fun part!

Or so you would think. But the situation didn't feel that fun after hearing what Mrs C said.

"So yeah. That's what you'll be doing next. What's with the blank looks? Do you want me to repeat what I said? Okay, I will. I said that for the next trial, you will be glass canons! That means your physical capabilities will be lowered to the minimum and you will only have your mana. But since I... cough... the trial feels merciful. You will keep your current power level minus the physical capabilities of course. And you will only face one beast for the trial. On the other hand, since the trial is shorter. It will have two parts. The mana aspect of it and the mental aspect which will come after you're done with the first part. Now, are there any questions?" Mrs C spoke.

"Umm, yeah. Aren't we supposed to be going to the second floor? I mean, shouldn't we pass through ten floors of physical trials before doing something else?" Muku asked confusedly.

"Oh yeah, you still remember that. You're right. You're still going to have to do those in the future. However, you couldn't even pass through the first floor. So going to the next is out of the question. You can probably do it now with Force. But I don't want to watch you breeze through a test right now. Maybe next time. So we're doing this instead. Oh, and Raya passed her test so she should actually go to the second level. However, you, her partner are holding her back since you two have to do the same level tests" Mrs C replied with logic full of holes.

It was clear to see that the rules didn't matter to her. She just did whatever she liked when she liked. And she wanted to see them suffer together in a new environment. After all, they had some experience in physical trials, so sending them there wouldn't be as fun as the first time. At the very least, the first floor they were familiar with wouldn't be too hard the second time around...

"Sigh. Fine... Send us in and let's get it over with" Muku who had learned more about his mother during their month together replied tiredly as he agreed to whatever she wanted.

In the past, he had suspected that it was hard to change her mind once she made it up. But he had actually managed to confirm it in their month together from how she interacted with the other people at the mansion. No matter what the situation was, it was either her way or no way.

So, he was too lazy to bother with something he knew the ending of already.

"Great! Now if you look behind you. You will see a door with the number "1.0". You can step through it whenever you're ready. Feel free to take as much time as you need to mentally prepare" Mrs C directed the duo's attention to the door which had appeared behind them.

"You really like making doors appear behind people, huh? Anyway, why's there only one door?" Muku asked after a little jab at Mrs C for how she always places her doors behind people.

The jab surprised Raya greatly since it wasn't something Muku would have said before. While he was mostly free with Mrs C back then. There was still an element of holding back involved. But now, it was completely gone. It made Raya wish to know what had happened when she wasn't there. But she didn't ask.

She knew Muku wouldn't tell her anything and there was no way she would ask Mrs C such a thing.

"Hey! I'm your mother! How dare you make fun of me?! Anyway, don't worry about the door. It will take you to different locations" Mrs C replied.

"Okay... Is there anything else we need to know?" Muku asked one more thing.

"Hmm, I'll tell you if I think of anything. And you're taking too long! Bye!" Mrs C replied then snapped her finger at the end.

Muku and Raya were sucked into the door before they could react...

It seemed she was too eager to wait anymore...