I stepped back a little and looked at her.
Finally, she took a deep breath and stood up.
"I apologize. It's just… after being stuck here for so long, I don't feel very confident about leaving. Not with all the security and the strength they have."
I nodded.
"It's okay. You can trust us. We don't plan on staying here forever."
She nodded in return.
Steve stepped forward.
"Anyway, do you have something to eat? We can talk more after that."
Ana smiled.
"Yes, we have some fruits from the outside. Let me go get them."
She turned and walked further inside.
Steve exhaled and muttered, "Well, she seems very… I don't know, sheltered."
I sat back down on the bench.
"Why do you say that?"
He shrugged.
"You can see she's really sad. And I'm not sure she's ever been in a situation like this before."
I nodded.
"Let's see how things go. For now, we can use this place as our secret base while we figure out where the other Ferans are."
Soon, Ana returned from inside, her arms full of colorful fruits. She carefully arranged them on the table in front of us. The scent of fresh produce filled the air, and we didn't hesitate to dig in. As we ate, our conversation stayed light—small talk, passing comments, nothing serious.
Then, out of nowhere, Ana looked up and asked,"By the way, which world are you two from?"
I finished chewing and replied, "Vaythos."
She went quiet, her eyes drifting slightly as if trying to place the name. The look on her face told me she had no idea where that was.
Steve laughed softly from the side.
"Don't tell me you've never even heard of our world."
Ana's cheeks turned red with embarrassment as she smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry. I haven't. I only know that there are three human worlds in our galaxy. That's pretty much the extent of it."
I let out a whistle.
"Well, at least you know we exist. That's something."
She coughed awkwardly and tried to recover.
"So… on Vaythos, are there any Ferans?"
I shook my head.
"No, just humans. Never seen a Feran until I got here. What about Feradros? Do you have humans living there?"
She nodded.
"Yes, we have a good number of humans. That's actually why I was confused when I saw how strong you were. You're young, but your strength is on par with some of the strongest Feran youths I've seen."
A small smile tugged at my lips.
"Thanks."
I tilted my head and asked,
"By the way, how old are you?"
Ana raised a hand to her chin, thinking for a moment.
"If we're counting in human years, I'm nineteen."
Steve looked puzzled.
"What do you mean 'human years'?"
She picked up a shiny red apple and took a bite before answering.
"Ferans don't have a uniform growth pattern like humans do. Every clan matures differently. For example, members of my Redscale clan grow about twice as fast as the Frostclaw clan. That's why I have to convert my age when talking to humans. Otherwise, it wouldn't make much sense."
I nodded, finally understanding.
That explained a lot. If Ferans really did evolve from beasts, then it made sense they'd have different life cycles. After all, in the natural world, even among animals, every species grows and ages at a different pace.
After we finished the fruits, I knew it was time to shift gears. We'd danced around the real issue long enough. I leaned forward slightly and spoke up, my voice steady.
"Alright. Here's what I'm thinking. First, we deal with the collars, disable them somehow. That way, they won't be able to track or monitor us anymore."
Both Ana and Steve looked at me with quiet focus.
"Once we disappear and don't return, they'll start looking. That's when we make our move. We try to capture one of their people—someone important enough to know things. Then we pull information from them."
Ana raised a brow, her tone skeptical but thoughtful.
"Sounds good in theory. But how are you going to handle the collars? And if you're serious about getting intel, you'll need to capture someone high-ranking. The grunts won't know much."
I nodded.
"Yeah. I haven't figured the collar part out yet, but we still have some time. I'll work on it. And yes—we're aiming for someone high-level. No point in taking risks unless the reward is worth it."
Steve crossed his arms and asked, "What then? After we get the information?"
My expression hardened.
"There are two paths we can take after that."
I paused for a second before continuing.
"If I manage to find a way to safely disable the collars, then we wait until they send other prisoners out to hunt. That's when we make our move. We help them escape. Build a small force, gather numbers, then go after the Holts. We hit them hard, enough to shake their control."
Steve gave a slow nod, but Ana's face tightened. I wasn't done yet.
"Of course… there's another possibility."
I looked at both of them.
"If the Holts figure out we've disabled the collars, they might panic. They might stop sending prisoners out altogether and instead launch a full-scale hunt for us.
If that happens, we go to plan B. No more waiting. We take them out one by one—silent, clean, smart. We wear them down, reduce their numbers. When they're disoriented and bleeding, we strike the base directly."
A heavy silence settled between the three of us.
Ana stared at me, her blue eyes intense. Her brows furrowed, and she leaned in slightly, like she was trying to see if I truly meant what I was saying.
"You're talking about freeing prisoners… but how do we know which ones we can trust?"
I shook my head slowly.
"We don't need to trust them. We just need them to create enough chaos. I'm sure even they want to escape this place. But under no circumstances are we telling any of the prisoners about this hideout. This stays between us."
Steve nodded but raised a question.
"All of that sounds doable and honestly, I believe we can pull it off but there's one big problem... the Grandmaster."
My expression tightened.
He was right. That was a serious issue. A massive one.
I had been planning to rush my level, get strong enough to reach Master rank, and only then attempt a rescue. But even with that, it would still be impossible to face a Grandmaster head-on. That kind of power was in another league entirely.
I stared at the ground, forcing my thoughts to move. Searching for some loophole. Some clever trick. Some impossible idea.
But nothing came. Against absolute power, we had nothing.
Then, Ana's voice broke through the silence.
"Actually," she said carefully, "I might have a plan for the Grandmaster."
Both Steve and I looked at her instantly.
Her expression was calm but serious, like she'd been holding onto this for a while waiting for the right moment.
I leaned in a bit and asked, "What kind of plan?"