‘He is a bit lower level than I would have liked, but we are running out of time. He will just have to catch up in the special dungeon.’ Marcus thought while he oversaw ric fighting.


    It had now been a bit more than five weeks since Marcus had given the four skill orbs to ric, and the young half elf boy had managed to reach level thirty-seven.


    Truly this was impressive growth, since only a few months had passed since they started his training in earnest.


    Normally it would have taken someone several years to reach where ric was at even if they were diligent.


    But by pushing him to his limits and making sure he did not die along the way; Marcus had been able to elerate his growth by a tremendous amount.


    Still, it was difficult to level up past thirty, and no longer could ric earn a level in a day but instead needed several. Even when fighting opponents around the same level he was.


    ‘Ah, he won.’ Marcus thought as the rock troll leader ric was fighting died.


    They were no longer in the snowy hills area and had moved deeper into the dungeon to allow ric to fight other enemies in different environments.


    Currently they were in an area that was filled with small mountains and boulders that was very difficult terrain to travel on foot. With everything living her was either very fast or extremely bulky.


    “That was a pretty good fight. You managed to use your death magic very well against an opponent you had no other way to beat.” Marcus said with a proud smile.


    “Yeah, I never knew how difficult it was to fight monsters with regeneration.” ric said as he looked at the six felled rock trolls before him.


    “It certainly is, but you will need to get used to it. The higher your level goes the more often your opponents are going to have ways to heal themselves. Now go ahead and take their cores out and then set up camp. We are calling it a day a bit early.”


    Looking a bit frantic ric obviously did not want to stop hunting today and told Marcus as such.


    “Wait Irene, I can still keep going. You already told me this is ourst day, so I want to make the most of it. I still have not caught up to Lilia yet. You told me she is over level forty. I want to at least get one more level.”


    “No, we are finished. You have made it high enough for now and should be proud. There will be plenty of time for you to catch up to the slight distance between you and Lilia. Anyway, you are already strong enough to stand beside her even if you are not the same level. And right now, I have something very important to talk to you about which will take a while.” Marcus said with a serious look in his eyes.


    Having seen this same expression on Marcus’ face plenty of times ric understood that there was nothing else he could do to argue his point and got to work.


    When he had finished taking out the cores of the rock troll and they had moved around a half mile away, he began setting up camp.


    “That is good enough for now. Come over and sit down so you can listen to what I have to tell you.”


    Doing as directed ric sat down across from Marcus in a chair set up facing him with a table with snacks and tea on it.


    The two of them rested for a little while. Enjoying the tea and a few cookies until Marcus decided it was time to begin a very important discussion.


    “ric, I have to say that over thesest few months you have impressed me with your determination and tenacity. I honestly thought that you would give up before we got here. I did not pull any punches and put you through what most noble children would consider hell. Lilia only got through such training because she was motivated to never be weak and powerless again after experiencing tragedy. You on the other hand could have just continued living afortable life as noble and not worked this hard to get strong. So, as a reward for getting this far, I have two things to tell you. The first is that I will agree to your engagement to Lilia when you bothe of age so long as both of your feeling hold. The second is to tell you my biggest secret.”


    Hearing this ric was stupefied for a moment. Before he jumped out of his chair, threw his hands up in the air, and cheered loudly.


    Up to this point Marcus had not fully confirmed his support for them, but now it was clear he would definitely allow their rtionship.


    In fact, ric was so happy to hear this that he did not really pick up on the second thing that Marcus had said.


    “Okay calm down. I know you are happy. I was simrly exhrated when my own engagement got epted, but I have other things to tell you.”


    Suddenly freezing up from his cheering, something that Marcus had said caught his attention.


    “Wait, you are engaged Irene?” ric said with a quizzical look while tilting his head.


    Up to this point he had never heard about this and was pretty sure that Marcus was actually known for vehemently rejecting any proposals.


    “No, Irene Geist is not engaged. But that is because Irene Geist is not all of who I am. Now go ahead and sit down. What I am about to tell you mighte as quite the shock.”


    An expression of extreme befuddlement on his face, ric did not understand what Marcus was getting at. But still sat down and prepared to listen attentively.


    “To start, I suppose that this might be the fastest way.”


    For an instance Marcus disappearedpletely from ric’s sight and in the next reappeared looking like an entirely different person.


    Going wide eyed ric could not believe what he was seeing.


    “Prince Marcus!?”


    Seeing the person sitting across from him suddenly change forms so drastically, ric could not keep any level ofposure and fell back in his chair and tumbled onto the ground.


    This revtion was just too overwhelming for him to take all at once.


    “Yes, I am Honorary Prince Marcus Ferrous of the kingdom of Borealia. But really, I just prefer to go by Marcus since I did not even start out as a noble.”


    Blinking his eyes rapidly and rubbing them profusely, ric thought at first he was hallucinating. Yet the form of Marcus never returned to Irene and just continued smiling.


    “I understand that this is probably difficult to find out, but please get back up and allow me to fully exin how I came to be both Irene and Marcus.”


    Gulping and realizing that he was being told something incredibly important, ric slowly got back up and took his seat.


    However, now he was no long sitting there calmly but was shaking all over as he was suddenly forced to ept something that seemed impossible.